Based on something that came up on another thread: are you mountain biker, but not a thrill seeker?

I’m not a mountain bike, I ride one though.

Yep definitely more of an mtb rambler, or off-roadie as you put it 🙂

I’m not a mountain bike

Oops, copy-paste-edit error.

That’s what I was just typing, I’m more of a mtb rambler then a thrill-seeker… I’d like to get braver though and take on more hardcore challenges 🙂

I’ve had my moment at being Rad, it’s not for me.

Yep definitely more of an mtb rambler, or off-roadie as you put it

Matt Chester described himself as a dirt roadie in a blog post. I think that best describes the riding I do – I even have drop bars on one bike now.

I confess to seeking thrills too 🙂 How shallow.

PS for a while after you make it you can go back and edit your post…

I suspect I’m more of a mountain biker than most of the so-called thrill-seekers who seem content to circulate the same bit of spruce monoculture.

I’m not happy unless I’m scaring myself, dont see the point in going out otherwise. Apparently its a sign of my inner failing?

I just like cycling or as someone said, rambling about on a bike. I am not an adrenalin junkie or at all competitive. I just like bikes and the fun of being out ambling around on them.

Death or glory.

I wouldn’t class myself as a thrill seeker at all.

For me, you can’t beat those moments where you nearly lose it and recover.
The bits where you actually lose it are good too (unless they hurt a lot.)

Just ride because I like & enjoy it so won’t be pigeon holed into any particular style.Same as I don’t get this freeride,extreme xc,etc, etc…. bollox.I just ride my bike & try to ride up/over/across/down or sometimes even jump over whatever I come up against on the trail.Don’t always manage it but as long as I’m having fun who cares…..

PS for a while after you make it you can go back and edit your post…

Didn’t realise that I could edit the thread title too. Now KINGTUT looks silly 🙂

how anyone riding a mountain bike could ever define themselves as a thrill seeker is beyond me.

it’s a colourful shiny push bike with chunky wheels, for god’s sake 🙂

I guess people get their MTB thrills in different ways.

Some are happy to pootle round a nice smooth red route at a trail centre, while still being at the limit of their skills and experience.

Others aren’t satisfied unless they feel like they’re on the cover on MBUK.

it’s a colourful shiny push bike with chunky wheels, for god’s sake [:-)]

I don’t think that’s relevant, it’s what you DO with it that incurs the thrills (if any)

I HATE “mountain bike rambling”! it’s a lot of effort for absolutely zero fun! – sitting around on bikes chilling out and talking shit is good though.

well, simon, credibility as a ‘thrill seeker’ isn’t enhanced by dressing like a clown in colourful lycra nor riding something which looks like it should be ridden by a twelve year old gangsta around a manchester housing estate.

though you may think differently. as i suspect you will…

Another dirt-roadie here. I ride a bike and ignore the trail surface as much as possible. Road, track, trail or scramble up/through stuff…its all good.

SSP

GW is right in my mind – bike-rambling is the epitomy of boredom for me. Its why I stopped riding the UK for a long time – I’d experienced the thrill of massively long alpine descents and couldnt find anything like it in the UK within sensible reach, so biking totally lost its appeal. I started kitesurfing instead – kitesurfing in (officially recorded) 28ft breaking waves off the south coast in a storm really does count as survival and then life in general seems dull afterwards.

they do kite surfing off mui ne in the central region of vn. it looks totally insane. i was asked if i wanted to try, but i value my beauty too highly. all credit to you for trying though. i wish i had your sense of immortality.

I suspect I’m more of a mountain biker than most of the so-called thrill-seekers who seem content to circulate the same bit of spruce monoculture.

Ooooh, get her! 😉

Its not as hard as it looks, it just has plenty of places to make mistakes! No sense of immortality here, which is why it’s fun I think – I just love the rush you (I) get when you’re holding on with everything you have and still getting semi-drowned every few minutes. Cant really explain it. I think its about overcoming fears – I was very scared of going out at first but macho bravadoness sent me into the waves, at that point I realised I could survive, so went out further, harder, faster etc and every time you do something new/more dangerous and survive you get a massive endorphin rush, which spurs you on further. Was nearly drowned at least twice (wave breaking on head pinning me to the sea bed for quite a while) but as soon as you’re out of it you’ve conquered it and need to move on to bigger.

I dont like heights though, I dont get the same endorphin rush from climbing/abseiling, I just get very worried and then glad to be down/up! Odd eh!

off-roadie

That describes, me, I think. Actually, I was riding my road bike off road the other day.

not really, i get the heights thing. skill can get you out of many sticky moments, but nothing can save you from gravity.

i’m hoping someone brings a hobbiecat to mui ne. that way i get the fun of the wind without the risk of …waves breaking on my head pinning me to the sea bed. i think i can live without that sort of experience 🙂

well, simon, credibility as a ‘thrill seeker’ isn’t enhanced by dressing like a clown in colourful lycra nor riding something which looks like it should be ridden by a twelve year old gangsta around a manchester housing estate.

uh, do you know me ? I think it’s safe to say I do not seek credibility as a thrill seeker…

Are you allowed to like both? I like to be out in the mountains away from it all and don’t mind if there’s a bit of road, forestry track or landy track. I also like to scare myself sh*tless on tooth rattlingly rocky descents and challenging myself to try bigger drops. My latest hyperventilation inducing challenge has been trying to learn to do rocky, cliff-edge switchbacks in Spain and Italy. Not quite got it down without squealing and swearing a lot though.

Sometimes I am, sometimes I am not.

uh, do you know me ?

uh, why would i want to know you?

I think it’s safe to say I do not seek credibility as a thrill seeker…

uh, did I say you did? i was replying to your comment…

I don’t think that’s relevant, it’s what you DO with it that incurs the thrills (if any)

and my point was that if you look like a moron then whatever you’re doing you lack credibility. and, like it or not, thrill seekers do it to wow others, though they’ll never admit it.

like it or not, thrill seekers do it to wow others, though they’ll never admit it.

Not sure that’s the case really. Its fun to tell people what you do and for them to look a bit amazed, yes naturally thats a bit of an ego boost, but its not the REASON I go out kiting. I saw kiting and thought it looked exciting. I spent 2 years teaching myself, virtually alone on a beach in high winds and cold water. None of my friends like that sort of sport and it just annoys my other half because I force her to stand about getting cold and wet. Bragging about it afterwards is fun, but you could simply lie about that and get the same effect – it doesnt explain why people actually DO the stuff.

SfB – your reaction to the Roosevelt quote says a lot about you and your prejudices I’d argue. I read it as a reaction against people who do nothing and prefer simply to critise/complain/say that things can’t be done rather than advocating throwing yourself down a vertical slope to prove that they’re ‘macho’. You don’t have to take the whole thing literally (particularly the ‘almost died’ bit) for it to have relevance beyond the obvious.

In fact, by getting out mtbing, taking your photos, and dare I say, even inspiring some other people to get out riding with your Bog Trotters group, you’re actually one of the people that the quote is giving respect to and I suppose that you seem to suggest should be classified as macho – ie people who do get out and do stuff.

(and FWIW, I’m a moderate thrill seeker – you won’t see me throwing myself off any big drops/etc but I do like a good bit of fast singletrack that pushes your skills a bit)

I kind of get it but dont ? If you go for a massive ride knowing the return down was going to be a thrill seeking epic yeah I can see that but for example took the mrs and nipper for a walk round some local woods that have d/h runs etc and for a good hour we were seeing this group of freerider/dh lads that basically camp up in the middle and one of them would basically do about 15 secs of riding on the bike to do a jump ( have to admit pretty big ball scarey stuff) then park up again?? then maybe 15 mins later another would do it ???

Hmmmm guess its what floats your boat

one mans “thrill” is another mans “comfort zone”.

plenty riders can pull amazing shit on bikes virtually effortlessly and it’s not often to “wow others” IME

Yeah it’s all relative; 1st time I rode a Trail centre it was more thrilling than it is now – more fun now I suppose. Also, is it more thrilling to ride familiar technical stuff that’s close to home or easier stuff hours into the middle of nowhere with light running out?

I was going to say that it’s all relative, but I have just been beaten to it by GW and mudshark.
I would call myself a thrillseeker in that I like to try going as fast as I can on descents and getting my wheels off the ground occassionally on the way down.

BUT, what constitutes fast and scary for me is probably mundane for a lot of others. My erm, ‘jumps’ are very tame affairs over the features at trail centres that make it easier to jump than not. 6″ of clearance is all I probably manage but it’s good fun and I am cak at jumping so that feels about all I want to handle for the time being.
I also go to Chicksands every now and again and try my luck at the northshore and 4x course. But, I hardly jump on the 4x, while 12yr olds go rocketing past jumping all over the place. On the northshore, I scare myself enough on the basic stuff, let alone the high bits.

I just like to push myself at least a few times every ride and attempt things that i might not have attempted last time. Riding in the Sierra Nevada mountains last yr certainly opened my eyes as to how unskilled I actually am.

I like to try going as fast as I can on descents and getting my wheels off the ground occassionally on the way down

I don’t like that bit.

and my point was that if you look like a moron then whatever you’re doing you lack credibility

that remark undermines your own credibility, even though I have no idea what you look like

thrill seekers do it to wow others

I disagree, sharing the excitement afterwards is part of the fun, but at the time it stands for itself

I suppose that you seem to suggest should be classified as macho

I was thinking more of those who fight for its own sake, and rely uncritically on someone else to tell them who to do it to.