I was reading an article in Bike Mag the other day where Thomas Vanderham was being interviewed about his experience riding with Sam Hill in North Shore for the filming of Follow Me by Anthill Films (photo credit). During the interview, Vanderham was asked a simple question…
How do you like being a professional freerider?
His answer…
I am a mountain biker.
Vanderham’s answer to this question set me back for a second, but makes complete sense. It is also how we should look at mountain biking on the most personal level.
I Am A Mountain Biker
Back when I started riding about 14 years ago, there was no DH, AM, XC, Endurance, FR, etc. You bought a mountain bike and your rode it where ever you could find fresh dirt. As time moved forward and technology advanced, different categories of equipment started to pop up to meet the needs of different riding styles. I can remember when the first red RockShox Judy DH hit the market with an unheard of 80mm of front travel. Everyone was ready to huck off their roofs with that amount of DH gear!
But…as we look at the sport and how it has progressed, the classifications of different riding styles are really there to distinguish parts…not riders. Even then…it is not about the classification and what you are doing with those parts…just that you are riding them.
I think it is easy to get sucked into the marketing side of mountain biking and start to classify yourself away from other riders and into your own niche. For those of you that like to stick to one style of riding (and there is nothing wrong with that), you can find a home within the ranks as an XC racer or AM rider, but in reality…you are still just a mountain biker.
Classifications Create Division
I am all about friendly competition amongst different riding styles and riders. Part of what makes the sport of mountain biking so great is the ability to be an individual and challenge other individuals. Where we run into issues is thinking that one aspect of mountain biking is better than another just because that corner of riding is where we happen to call home.
I hear riders say some stupid ass things all the time like…
- “Riding a bike that heavy on this trail is stupid.”
- “How could you possibly like climbing?! No one likes climbing.”
From someone who likes to bring in as much diversification into their riding as possible, those riders that throw out comments like that sound like a re-tard. No matter how you like to get rubber to dirt, we are all mountain bikers. Instead of using equipment and classifications as division, we should be using it as strength to bring up the sport.
Luckily, I think the percentage of riders that create the division is much smaller than those that enjoy the differences…but while we are all out there…just remember…it is all about the ride.