Friday, July 23, 2010

Mountain Biking.

Mountain bikes are a whole world of money and time I don't have.  I'm already about to lose my job from all the training I do on the road.  How anybody with a semblance of a job and/or a relationship can mountain bike AND be decent on the road is way beyond me.

What I don't get about mountain bikes is how ridiculously expensive they are.  Strange I know coming from a guy with a bike that would retail for like $8k.  But a road bike, if ridden ideally, isn't going to crash.  Of course disaster can strike.  Road bikes seldom crash, but when they do, it's costly.

The first (and only) time I rode a mountain bike, I had good fun, but I crashed like a gazillion times.  I've been told that if you aren't crashing, you aren't learning/progressing/having fun/whatever.  I imagine that as I progressed, I wouldn't crash any less, I'd just be doing it at higher velocities, and I 'd be breaking a lot of shit.  Hydraulic brakes and carbon everything just don't make much sense when a stray branch on that "wicked" descent can snag a brake line, cover you in oily goo, and subsequently snap your carbon frame like a Haussler'd front wheel.

I have respect for people who can do things on a bike that I can't.... i just don't get it.

and yea, I know this doesn't really follow the "rules" format.  Honestly I'm running out of rules.  There really aren't too many of them, just a ton of violators.  Suggestions?

2 comments:

  1. It cost me 6 G's, I crash it into trees.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ru2Dpe1LkNU

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  2. Well, the thing is, this whole biking jamboree is mainly driven by emotion. Yeah, if you ride to work it saves on pollution and maybe money, gets you in shape, etc., but that's not really what drives it. We do it 'cuz it's fun. It makes our brains jump up and dance around the room. It's more fun than getting drunk, and there's no hangover (unless you're Drunkcyclist). So--I guess some people's idea of fun is crashing really expensive bikes into trees. Whatever turns your cranks (pun intended) and makes your brain say, Oh yeah, let's do it again! Me, I ride a moderately expensive mountain bike (as well as road-biking), but I guess I'm the wimpy type--I take it only as fast as I can without crashing much. No significant damage to the bike in several months of riding.
    P.S.--I mentioned you on my blog.

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