Hi all, I am struggling to decide whether to use the term “All Mountain” or “Enduro” or “Freeride” to describe non-XC non-DH more-descending-than all-day AM rides like
1. the “Steptoe to Death Metal” ride described here
2. rides which my Italian and Dutch journalist friends describe as Enduro (for Italians Enduro means between All-Mountain and Freeride, you would be quite happy to get a lift up and ride down on your bike which could have 160 mm travel; here’s the Elvis referred to in 1. on one such ride
I know that in UK Enduro means marathon…for Dutch (and Germans as well I think) people Enduro means much more technical than XC.
I am tempted to use the two terms All Mountain and Freeride (mentioning uplift), and underlining the Alpine similarity,
1. ‘cos these are the categories into which we’ve classified rides in the guide we’re writing to Sardinia (ONE RIDE LEFT TO DO)
2. the Enduro word seems too open to different cross-european interpretations
I ask ‘cos we are starting to discuss with publishers Versante Sud translation into either English or German, and need to describe what the riding’s like here.
I agree with Jodi but that pic looks either like XC riding if you ride up the hill to get to it or DH if you or only riding down it.
It was all so much easier before mtb marketing got sophisticated and people started thinking they needed to pigeon whole the type of riding they do and if they have the right bike!
Look, if you’ve got flat pedals you’re hard as nails; chicks dig you and check out your scars, innit. This means that you’re a real man and therefore it’s proper DH.
But if you ride the same trail with clippy pedals (or faggot-pushers, as my uber-masculine friends call them) then you’re a screaming queen who wants nothing more than to have sexual congress with other such riders. This means you’re a complete girl, and thus the riding is best decribed as fairy-like XC.
We have the same problem, many of our italian and French guests call our pedally but Downhill trails as enduro trails but if the re is no pedalling requireed its called freeride or dh.
I tend to call it all mountain as its more linked with longer travel bikes and long downhill sections often bit more gnarr and with climbng involved….
god i have confuesed myself again
Nice site BTW, We may visit you sometime later this year…. If you fancy some riding in Liguria then give us a shout rivierabike
OK thanks for all the comments, enduro is OUT as a term.
Freeride IMO means hucking big gnarly rocks and sick woodwork.
We have these
(BTW I have yet to ride these two.)
I still think “All-Mountain” puts off those who are quite happy to get a lift up before riding down features like the ones in the photos here (my Elvis photo above was a reference to the linked article 😉 ) and is a label we use for rides like the one in this video[img]http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/pNfTN0OLA5M/default.jpg?v=4dd00002[/img]
where we don’t wear elbow/knee protection and it’s a big day (or weekend, in this case) out in the hills, requiring a level of fitness and navigational ability that Freeride certainly doesn’t. On an AM ride, one of the criteria for tackling an obstacle is that you really don’t want to break yourself or your bike ‘cos you’re on your own.
I think it should all be given names based on facial expression;
1) ‘tricky slow bits’ – tongue out of corner of mouth.
2) ‘mtbing’ – mouth closed but face relaxed
3) ‘uphill’ – mouth like a fresh landed trout, eyes lookign at front wheel
4) ‘downhill’ – mouth smiling, teeth clenched, eyes lookign 30 yards ahead
5) ‘freeride’ – lips open, teeth clenched, eyes saying ‘I could get hurt doing this so I’d better be looking good’
and its just easy and better to call it Enduro (with variations) as we know its got a mountain in it already as we are riding a ‘Mountain Bike’. Just cos the UK called the boring races around a field Enduro doesn’t mean it can’t be coined in its correct use.
In My Opinion
To the French, it would be “Enduro”, no question. For the Brits, I generally just call what we do here “Technical Singletrack”. Think that would probably work for you too. Takes out any confusion over riding up/down, etc.
If you’re getting lifts/vehicles up then it’s “Lift-accessed Technical Singletrack”.
If you’re not, we call it “Backcountry Technical Singletrack”.
We were looking at coming down your way this Spring, but ended up spending a few days in Lake Garda instead. Maybe in the Autumn!
I think Brits are slowly waking up and realising what Enduro means. Hopefully the term should stop meaning riding round a field until you’re very tired indeed. If you call it Enduro All Mountain, then I’m sure people will know what you mean.
Having said that, I still think the term Enduro to mean some sort of staged event, but that’s probably just me.
This thread appears to be a good excuse for some pictures of some nice riding spots. Hardly boring in my mind, but then if you’re only on here to pick fights and have no interest in mountain biking, then I suppose it might well be like naval gazing… 😛