which has the potential to put off people thumbing through the mag in whsmiths, with it being the first article.
Really?

Uh – yeah?

consider average Joe who likes riding MTB and wants to know more – picks up mag and reads ”if you dont live/breath/shit MTB then do me a favour and piss off because youre not welcome round ere mate”

Still cant work out your earlier posts either. You seem to thrive on contradiction just like good ol Benji

“I’m making a career, future and life for myself. What about you Benji? Oh you’re riding your bike. Thats nice.”

To be fair, some might say choosing future gains from a high-stress career where you miss your loved ones over a job doing something you love, based around one of the simple pleasures in life, is having your priorities wrong.

I’m not criticising your life choice, just saying it’s not a choice everyone would make.

oh do me a favour ianv – please recommend me a suitable carry sack for transporting my 14 month old son downhill on my back at 40mph.

You might have to lay off the downhill but you can still ride. 2 year olds are fine on tailgators, 3/4 yr olds love pumptracks and skate parks etc etc

Only read the first and last page of this (are there some edited highlights?), but…

To be fair, some might say choosing future gains from a high-stress career where you miss your loved ones over a job doing something you love, based around one of the simple pleasures in life, is having your priorities wrong

If only life were so black and white. I would argue that working on a magazine with tight deadlines, potential for long hours and time away from home is pretty family unfriendly. However I guess many of us on here have reasonable jobs that are not too stressful, afford us a couple of good holidays each year, a nice bike (or several) and give us evenings and weekends free for family or riding.

That said, my subs copy hasn’t arrived yet so I’ve not even read the article 🙂

Fair point Jameso – I’d love to work less and live near the Peak District, Lake District or North York Moors and ride every day. Unfortunately that doesn’t pay the bills.

I make my choice and I live with it. I’ve put work before bikes because (shock horror) there are more important things in life than going for a pedal. I know that comment won’t go down well on here.

You might have to lay off the downhill but you can still ride. 2 year olds are fine on tailgators, 3/4 yr olds love pumptracks and skate parks etc etc

indeed, and he gets ridden in his childseat regular at the park etc, but that hardly scratches the surface when it comes to a ‘proper’ ride out does it?..

My lord, imagine all the trails centres and best trails loaded up with fella’s riding their kids around in trailers.. what would Benji say?

”if you dont live/breath/shit MTB then do me a favour and piss off because youre not welcome round ere mate”

Which might be just the thing for them – “hell, there’s someone who loves riding as much as I do *swoon*”. Doesn’t do it for me, but for those who want deeper entrenchment in their lifestyle choice, it might be just the thing.

Think of all the **** anti-road riding posts you get on here – I remember reading those in MBUK 20 years ago and thinking “yeah, mountain biking is the one true path”. Then, like you, I got it that there’s more to life than that….

My eaerlier possts were: 1 – being all precious isn’t necessary. 2 – riding a bike and having a life is much more interesting than a bloke who only rides a bike. I’m on your side..!

Sure, i’m just generalising, there’s pro’s and con’s to every job. To have a choice at all is a priviledge and balance is what most of us aim for, myself included.

I think Benji’s article was (in part) saying that for some people, something like riding (or surfing, climbing, paragliding..) IS the priority in life, and it influences job / lack of, location, material expectations in life, everything. That’s a personal choice and I can see how some think there is nothing more important. I know I read books about people who spent most of their lives exploring or climbing and usually think it’s a bold but wise choice to make.

I’m on your side..

Bro! alles klar.

oh do me a favour ianv – please recommend me a suitable carry sack for transporting my 14 month old son downhill on my back at 40mph.

Trailer for decent long journeys. If I had a speedometer, I imagine I would know my trailer has been well over 30mph and would have to slow down to stay within the recommended speed limit of 25km/h. Although obviously that is on road, not on any kind of downhill, where I’d go pretty slow.

To be fair, some might say choosing future gains from a high-stress career where you miss your loved ones over a job doing something you love, based around one of the simple pleasures in life, is having your priorities wrong

Personally, I think careers are overrated – everyone I’ve ever known who left uni and did a ‘career’ job has got bored at points and many have changed career / dropped out in some way after a few years, whereas I’ve never really planned very far forward in life, and found myself going from one interesting thing to another, and doing some really fun stuff on the way, plus building up quite a lot of quite marketable skills while I was at it. Right now, my kid is young, so I think being an active part of that rather than an out all the time semi-absent father is an absolute priority for me over massive high speed career gains.

I’d love to work less and live near the Peak District, Lake District or North York Moors and ride every day. Unfortunately that doesn’t pay the bills.

I think I might have thought that in the past, looking at salaries in the Midlands versus salaries in London. But then you look at living costs, and the bills are so much shockingly lower that it is nothing like as bad as you might think – two of us lived a pretty comfortable life on £24,000 a year total up here when we were doing PhDs, I reckon at least as comfortable as when we were on quite a lot more (like double that at times) in London. That’s going from 2 bedroom ex council flat to 3 bedroom semi too. You can even work in a city, where the pay differential is not so bad, and there are actually jobs (Nottingham, Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds) and easily live within riding distance of the Peak District, Dales etc.

I cant believe you are recommending taking kids on a trailer whilst in the pursuit of a true ride out.

kids in trailors = recreation/family time

MTB = blood/sweat/tears etc etc.

Two completely different subjects. You lot are barmy.

Hi, as a 64yr old I identified with the whole of the rant…
You just can’t beat a good rant..
and I have to admit I assumed it was tongue in cheek…
on another tack..
Shame no one at STW thought to reproduce the questions and answers for the cycling cloak of invisibility offered for sale on e-bay a few weeks back…

I was with him right up until he said that you only need to own one bike.

He’s clearly deranged.

At least he never said one set of tyres 😯

It’s like northern soul. Erm or stamp collecting maybe. You need some people to keep the faith. Keep the torch burning. There are flaws to this for sure and ultimately not everyone can do it. For some it’d be daft, a bad priority call, childish, selfish, whatever. Of course. Depends who you are, where you are, blah blah blah.

But it’s great to see something provocative pricking consciences, making people think. Beats reviews of gloves or bikes or whatever any day.

Loved the article.

I cant believe you are recommending taking kids on a trailer whilst in the pursuit of a true ride out.

kids in trailors = recreation/family time

MTB = blood/sweat/tears etc etc.

Two completely different subjects. You lot are barmy.

Depends on how hilly it is where you live, and where you ride the trailer. Yeah, you aren’t going to get a full on singletrack fest, or go downhilling, but even like a 20 mile spin up and down the High Peak Trail with the midget slave-driver encouraging you to go fast up the inclines feels like a decent ride out to me. Even road rides are a lot of fun – there’s a lovely ride from ours, out to Whatstandwell then up to Crich Monument, with the trailer it’s one of the hardest climbs I’ve ever done. I find myself using way higher gears when I don’t have the trailer nowadays with all the trailer training too, so it helps for fitness, which makes other riding more fun.

It isn’t a substitute for normal riding I agree, it is another type of riding, but it can certainly be a proper good ride, plus you have a guaranteed nice person with you (and a good excuse to stop for picnics, play on swings etc.) It doesn’t have to be a 5 minute pootle in the park. At least with our one, it appears kids like going fast pretty much as much as I do – if anything she’ll moan if I go slow on the uphills.

Joe
(not biking right now because I’m doing a babysitting favour for someone, but I did bike here and will bike back later obviously)

Could have been written by Chris Porter. Not his finest work.

The fact is, some people change, while others stay the same. This is nothing to worry, or write a magazine articles about IMO.

Saying it doesn’t pay the bills is a bit of a cop out, mainly because you have made the choice to have a nice car or house or whatever, you could have chosen a different path just like benji has.

Man approaches middle age, having enjoyed some success in his chosen field. Begins to think that everyone who thinks differently to him must be wrong and that the only way is his. Spits vitriol at others, reserving the worst for those closest to his ‘beliefs’. History repeats.

and I have to admit I assumed it was tongue in cheek…

I do hope so, otherwise shut up you pompous twonk.

😆

you could have chosen a different path just like benji has

get a room you two 🙄

jebus, people still greetin about this…

Well, you’ve just posted…..

read this article this morning whilst on the bog..

not great was it.. mainly as it was so contradictory with itself.

pictures were ace though!

Good entertainment, that’s all, and I agree… Great photos.

Nice work Benji, keepin’ the mag different from the crowd. 😀

Well done Benji!. Six pages of debate (mostly). Ideal.

read it the other day, pretty good rant. that is the thing though, it is just a rant…..

He was spot on about the trail centre and skill compensator things though and we all know it. I bet a load of flat field riding dicks hated that.
Those who turned to road bikes were never mountain bikers anyway, just people trying different types of cycling. Nothing wrong with that, mud isn’t for everyone. It was well written and presented as an opinion and as we all know, none of ours match ( it would be very dull if they did).
In short, get your heads out of your **** arses, appreciate that we all have different views ( printed or not) and stop being so judgemental.
Good article benji, well done.

I read it yesterday and I could have written most of it! Wise man, our Benji 🙂

Binners +10

Great link too.

Wish I’d written the piece.