[Closed] Mountain Biking is really, really uncool

What sort of loser goes around telling people they are a "mountain biker"?

You are aware that a motorbike is only a bicycle with a motor grafted on?

is that what you tell hells angels when out on your penny farthing?

Oh.. and the coolest person I know happens to have aspergers

Most people I work with do not appear to have a life - one week rolls into the next, and significant happy events are few and far between.

I think having the ability to do something regularly that genuinely gives you a buzz is so good for you both physically and psychologically. That is cool in my books. Doesn't have to be mtb though.

In times of injury or when for other reasons my next ride wont be for a long time I get quite depressed.

I know a lot of people who think It's 'cool' to be locked up in prison, 🙄
Including one guy who's ambition was to spend more time inside than his dad had!

"Mountain Biking" isn't cool. Never has been. I would bet good money nobody has ever pulled in a bar after describing themselves as a mountain biker. Doesn't mean i don't love it, but I think you've got problems if you do activities to look cool or worry whether your hobbies are cool.

I split my time between here and bmxtalk. Here middle aged men talk about chickening out on 2ft dropoffs, over there middle aged men talk about sending the 30ft doubles at the manc indoor track. But they're not cool either because biking isn't cool to the "normals"

Oh.. and the coolest person I know happens to have aspergers

Gary Numan has aspergers, i don't know him though.

I think a lot of people think we aspire to be Hans 'No Way' Ray:

"let's more interesting make it"

The lack of coverage means many people still think MTB is a kids thing from the 90s from the cresting wave of the EXTREME sports movement. It kind of is, but isn't.

When I talk to people about where I ride, what I see and why I do it they 'get it' a bit more. Similarly some of my non-riding friends seem fascinated by GoPro footage. A lot of people think it's pootling through the woods on a jazzy Apollo saying 'rad!'....which it is for some!

I kayak too, it is a most unglamourous sport 8)

Cycling is not cool to the general populace. To them, being a whore mongering, gambling addicted, wife beating, racist, professional ball kicker is cool. To the general public Robbie Williams is cool. Olly murs is cool.

These guys, are apparently cool.

[img] [/img]

WTF is coolness and why should any of us give a sh*t about it.

To me though, this man is cool

[img] [/img]

Is that esselgruntfuttock?

Danny MacAskill is about the only person I can think of that is actually cool on a bike right now...

And that's mainly down to the awesomeness to humility ratio he's got going on.

[i]WTF is coolness and why should any of us give a sh*t about it.[/i]
I concur.
It's very amusing to see how many do give a sh*t though.

Don, have you got something against me? were you banged up in a Spanish nick at some point or what?

This is me on the right Don, 'cool' or what?
[img] [/img]

[i]These guys, are apparently cool.[/i]

What a great picture. Do those people go round like that all the time or is that something they're doing for a charity comedy show? Please say the former.

As for Mountain biking, or indeed any cycling. If anyone ever thinks it's cool, go look in a mirror while wearing cycling clothes, that should help you understand.

I love cycling in all it's forms but I'm happy to accept that no matter which particular aspect of cycling I'm dressed for, I look like a complete dickhead. If we were doing it to gain street cred, we'd have all given up a long time ago.

LOLZ,

those no talent assclowns ndubz are tools.

it's only a short step between cool and ridicool.

It isn't Gary Newman 😆

when you become a grandad, and still ride a mtb it is uber cool...

Next month then ton

You know what [i]Is[/i] cool?

Don, have you got something against me?

As for Mountain biking, or indeed any cycling. If anyone ever thinks it's cool, go look in a mirror while wearing cycling clothes, that should help you understand.

I love cycling in all it's forms but I'm happy to accept that no matter which particular aspect of cycling I'm dressed for, I look like a complete dickhead. If we were doing it to gain street cred, we'd have all given up a long time ago.

Pretty much sums it up I reckon. And unless someone comes up with a helmet design that doesn't make you look like a mushroom headed twerp it'll always be the case.

Surely 'coolness' is subjective though?

If lots of people hate something, that makes it cool to some people, if lots of people love something, that makes it cool to some people.

I will be 36in a few weeks and have 2 kids, I think I lost my coolness a while ago but, my nearly 4 year old son thinks i'm cool cos i do daft stuff on a bike, that'll do for me!

Dan Macaskil is the only cyclist joe bloggs on the street will think of as 'cool' & thats from the Tv advert.

The rest of us are 100% un cool when riding, if you disagree, your very very wrong

Ah, thats Spanish types for ya! Theyr'e all the same.
I always say that at our place we should have signs up saying 'warning, thieves operate in this area & thats just the staff'
So, what is it then? are you jealous cos I've got a 5?

Cedric est cool.

[img] [/img]

The rest of us are 100% un cool when riding, if you disagree, your very very wrong

I've got mates who I think look cool when riding. I see plenty of people out on the trails that look cool when riding. who gives a f*** what non-cyclists think? I don't ride to be accepted, I ride because it's AWESOME.

So, what is it then? are you jealous cos I've got a 5?

brakes - Member
The rest of us are 100% un cool when riding, if you disagree, your very very wrong
I've got mates who I think look cool when riding. I see plenty of people out on the trails that look cool when riding. who gives a f*** what non-cyclists think? I don't ride to be accepted, I ride because it's AWESOME.

OP refers to none Cyclists.

your mates are kind, nobody cool uses the word Awesome or refers to themselves as 'Cool' be it directly or indirectly.

No one has suggested you ride to be accepted, why make a connection between cool & accepted, not heard of normal?

[i]What's what? 5? You've got to be joking, haven't you. 5s are those masses of metal that I keep passing on the Llandegla black, aren't they?[/i]

The what? where's 'Llandegla'?

We may see some day. My niece lives in North Wales (so it must be there somewhere with a name like that) & has recently asked me down. I'm sure you'll look dead cool beating a 55 yr old granddad on a 5 down the black.

Or will you?

your mates are kind, nobody cool uses the word Awesome or refers to themselves as 'Cool' be it directly or indirectly.

No one has suggested you ride to be accepted, why make a connection between cool & accepted, not heard of normal?

congratulations. you've cured my insomnia.

brakes - Member
congratulations. you've cured my insomnia.

Awesome

Or will you?

There is for me. I'm cool as tits.

there are plenty of four letter words I would call you Don, but none of them are cool. 😉

Specially for wrecker 😀
Probably a few 6 letter ones too, brakes. Bothered?

'thief' is the best word to describe DS 👿

Bothered?

that's more than 6 I think.

[i]isn't enough shit in the world to fill me with for me to ever call myself cool[/i]
Bit confused by that, have you been on the cheap sangria?

Your'e not cool. Cool people don't spout off like you do. Just as well that (like me) you don't care.
see you at Llangdhegla, lLandgl.... Wales
Unless you want to come to Gods county & do a proper ride. 😉

'thief' is the best word to describe DS

Your'e not cool

I think that the first minute of this clip proves why MTB is uncool....

great video. i hope the bikes didn't suffer too much damage. 🙂

don simon - Member
Genuine LOLZ. You've still not told me what value you add to the product that can not be found cheaper or better from other sources, have you?

Your going to have to be more specific, but i suggest you do sone research, you think you know, but as you have proved time & time again, you actually know very little.

don simon - Member
Now who's the thief?

In the eyes of the Law, You & Only you. Morally, again, only you.

don simon - Member
just for your info I'm about to start legal action for stealing and using my work without my permission. If you support cycling and buy magazines related to cycling, you could actually be supporting the thieves in that industry.

wow, talk about contradicting yourself, your truly mental with your reasoning.

Bikes (of all kinds).

Cool when you're a kid.

Not so cool once you're a big kid but can actually afford 'cool' bike stuff.

(actually, not so cool to 'outsiders', but I reckon then even cooler to big kid ooh-look-it's-shiny-and-goes-fast cyclists themselves)

Except fixies obviously, which are ACHINGLY cool.

But then, who actually gives a sh1t about cool? I just want to have childish fun riding my bike.

slainte 😳 rob

Cool? if it were cool I wouldn't be doing it.

I'm thirty seven, work for a well known opera company, have a taste in music that predates the 1990s and I have a side parting.

I have as much chance of being cool as Benny Hill has of being included in the required watching list of a pro-feminist cinema course. Yes, that cultural reference was intentionally uncool.

Reading back through this thread, the BIGGEST problem with Mountain Biking making it uncool, is that most of us that choose to participate in the sport look at the pro's such as the photos of the Athertons on the first page and think "deeply uncool". Most sports people participate in them to be competitive. Mountain Biking, on the whole, is full of those of us who aspire to no more than having a laugh in the woods with our mates at the weekend. So there are no role models for most of us. If we can't even see the top athletes in our sport as cool ourselves when we participate in it, then we are never going to be cool!

Road riding, everyone who takes part (and many who don't) knows who Lance Armstrong, Mark Cavendish, Bradley Wiggins and the likes are. Everyone who rides a road bike would like to be able to spring like Cavendish. Most of us mountain bikers couldn't care less about trying to be anything like pro MTBer's, let alone emulate them in the way we look or act. This in itself means the sport is deeply uncool, as there are no real role models... Save for perhaps one...

Cedric est cool.

Cedric Gracia is just cool... Full Stop.

The fact he rides mountain bikes elevates Mountain Biking from being the most uncool sport in the world, to just deeply uncool. Cedric Gracia is probably the coolest guy in the world, and it is NOTHING to do with the fact he rides Mountain Bikes. He's just inexplicably super cool. Like James Bond, driving his DB9, but because Gracia is French that makes him a whole new level of Super Cool. If he was on Top Gear, they'd have to put a new "Cedric Gracia Fridge" way beyond the current DB9 fridge of the cool wall. Cedric's coolness is probably way more to do with the fact he can make women's knickers drop from 50 paces though (largely cos he's french) than anything else. Years ago, I wanted to own a Cedric Gracia rep Cannondale Gemini DH (and subsequently did) way more than any other bike, not cos Cedric was the fastest racer (OK he was quick, but only 1 World Cup win to his name) but just cos the guy is super cool. Purposefully styling it up over massive jumps in your race run, even though you know it's not as quick, but you've got to maintain the cool guy image no matter what! THAT IS COOL!!!

Face it, coolness of a bloke is made up of 3 things... Other Blokes want to be you... Women want to sleep with you... And you could make any sport look awesome, even tiddlywinks! If you were in the pub chatting to some people you'd never met before and they started taking the piss out of you for being a Mountain Biker, and then you introduced your mate Cedric Gracia to them... They'd be out buying Mountain Bikes for themselves on Monday morning (whilst Cedric was having it away with their wives!). Far better than introducing them to your mate Dave, who's 42, works in IT, and has just discovered the wonderful delights of Singlespeeds and bivvying! 😉

The only way Mountain Biking could ever maintain a state of coolness, was if enough people who participated were just like Gracia. And sadly whilst most roadies are brooding, uber serious, couldn't care less what anyone else thinks types which is in itself quite cool, most of us Mountain Bikers are desperately seeking our peers' approval, either for being able to clear a climb/jump/dropoff or for the new bike/kit we've just bought.

^^^ I am certainly not reading all that shit ^^^

Posts that long on STW are seriously uncool! FACT

Posts that long on STW are seriously uncool! FACT

Helping to perpetuate the problem!

Glad to be of service... 😉