The camaraderie of biking with good mates. Hurting yourself on stiff climbs... scaring yourself on the downs, listening to your mind emptying stress all over a solitary moorland after a hectic day, night riding in total pitch darkness feeling like you are the last person on earth.... the list goes on
This thread needs pictures.
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That's a cake, by the way.
Competing to see who can get the most muddy.
I don't have the words, or at least can't be bothered to find them but it goes something like this.
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Riding in the pissing rain , in your waterproofs, fleece and base layer but not hot or cold, with your ead down grinding up a hill , good for the soul
or nailing the techy bits on a flowing downhill in the summer thinking your steve peat
The sense of achievement and pride when you clear back a section of trail of weeds and foliage, and the enjoyment you get from being the first to ride it.
Getting up on top of the moors on an icy cold frosty day.
Barely holding it together when skidding on icy patches.
Getting up unhurt after a trip over the handlebars.
Getting intentional and stylish (relatively) air.
Sitting out with mates on the hill(mountain)side having a picnic.
the first ride after a spell of physio (i'd imagine - i hope so!) 🙂
The stinging nipping feeling in your legs after a hot days ride with lots of bramble / nettle leg interaction.
I know I'm always banging on about my vids, but someone on here once described [url=
video[/url] as summing up perfectly the joys of mountain biking!
hope you like it
stealing that one in a million sunny evening along with all the wildlife that's come out to play too (6 baby grouse and weasel with a mouse in its mouth last night...albeit on a road ride *shhh*)
knowing that all the mechanicals in the world are not as frustrating as a computer on a go-slow 😕
Following a ride yesterday evening, and as a postscript to this thread - funny how knotty, intricate problems are sometimes best worked out in yer head by riding knotty, intricate singletrack... 😀
A ride where your bike only has a thin layer of dust covering it when you reach the pub.
Yes, I know - some things are harder to achieve than others
The smug knowledge that the people who think you're wierd for riding bikes in the woods will never know what they're missing 🙂
Spotting a barely visible trail off one of your normal rides and taking it to find it leads to a superb technical descent.
Riding your bike down a mountain, stopping to have a beer in the tiny village in the bottom and having to show the bar man pictures because he doesn't believe it's possible! In fact that's a general feeling of having ridden a fantastic trail which you know nobody has ever taken a bike down before.
going out on my bike and suddenly a pine marten comes out of a hedge,stops in the middle of the trail,looks at me,then runs off into the undergrowth.by the way i live in wiltshire!!!no i wasn't imagining it,and it wasn't a mink(have looked at a load of pine marten pictures on the web,it was definitely a pine marten!!!)awesome moment 😀
The momentary silence when your wheels leave the ground
Lining your tyre logos up with the valves
Burning off your mates on a climb, and the jedi moments when you're blasting along trails and everything just happens without thought. Both are rare though.
Racing a kingfisher along a woodland river.
1) Getting back, knackered, to the car park and wishing you hadn't parked right at the bloody top. Then you know you've been for a good long ride.
2) Looking down at muddy legs after a night ride and thinking "this is a job for the magic sheets"
3) The pride from managing your first proper fart riding a fixie. Honest, you wouldn't believe how hard it is!
4) When the sun comes out towards the end of a winter's Sunday ride after its been cold and grey and rainy - you've had a great time, feel like a hero and you know that tomorrow at work they'll all be saying "wasn't it horrible - nobody would go out in that, we stayed in and got bored"
5) Coming back down Sherbrook Valley on a night ride and catching up/overtaking a group of bats who have no idea you're there, and nearly headbutting them up the arse.
Going out for a ride round town and knowing that you have enough bike to ride down the subway steps, jump off walls and rail the sneaky singletrack footpath linking housing estates 8)
Macinblack - Member
Racing a kingfisher along a woodland river.
*nods*
Racing a deer through the woods 8ft apart at 15-20mph
An owl guiding alongside me along a singletrack going gradual downhill for 100m plus.
A short ride on 'my hill' after work before tea - just the Singlespeed, the dogs and me.
Just cruising on my SS for a couple of hours.
Going outrageously fast, (for me that is) on one of my race bikes after a week or two of SS cruising.
Cleaning the big rock climb, only manage this one in 5-6 goes so a big deal1.
Finding new trails in places that you've been riding for years.
Being accompanied along a wooded trail by (what I think was) a kite.
Stopping for a piss while admiring the view at the top of an amazing descent
Swoopy undulating descents that make you hoot with joy.
Racing buzzards as you both choose the same forest clearing...
Just being somewhere wonderful that you got to on two wheels.
Remembering where you've been while:
a) bunging your kit in the washing machine
b) sweeping the floor where you removed / dislodged said kit
following a big wobbly arsed badger that won't get out of the way on a full moon ride.
not following a big wobbly arsed dogger that won't get out of the way on a full moon ride
