BACK TO OUR ROUTESOUR BELOVED SPORT SURE HAS MOVED ON OVER THE
YEARS, BUT IS IT ALL FOR THE BEST? HAVE WE LOST THE
MOUNTAIN AND STUCK WITH THE BIKING?BACK TO OUR ROUTES
WORDS AND PICS: STEVE THOMAS
Given how long bikes have been around for
and how long people have been riding them
offroad it’s hard to imagine that the mountain
bike as we know it and the very name tag
itself were not around since the dawn of the
wheel. After all there weren’t exactly many
paved roads back then (not that I can quite
remember that far back).
Messing around with Frankenstein-esque
contraptions and blasting them on the local
trails while hopping over brick-high and
planked ramps was something most of us did
as kids. Ah, those were the days and seemingly
so very long before these monsters actually
developed into the glorious beasts we now ride.
Back then (and in the pioneering days of the
Californian clunkers) it was all about having
fun, which as we all know can also get a little
competitive at times.
Beef up the bikes some and put them through
a long drawn out evolutionary process and we
now have a whole showroom full of mountain
bikes to go at. These all come pitched at us
with their own distinct (and often indistinct)
specialities, labelled along with their ever-
increasing levels of professed greatness and
price tags to match.
Not so long ago (in relative terms) there
were very few (if any) man-made trails around,
yet today riding around perfectly manicured
and hand carved trail centres has pretty well
become the norm for many riders. In so many
ways this polarisation is a real shame – in my
humble opinion that is.
I can still remember getting my first real
bike – which was way before the creation of
the mountain bike. To me, and I guess to many
others, those two wheels represented a whole
new sense of independence and freedom.
That Raleigh racing bike was to change my
life, and apart from in those black dog moments
I rarely look back and wonder just how different
things would have been had Santa not turned
up with that spanking diamond shaped and
bright red gas tubing contraption.
Despite having previously been lured into
a life of racing bikes around the world, those
two wheels and the saddle perched between
them have also always represented adventure
to me. They’ve taken me to some of the most
remote locations on the planet and led to
many of the greatest experiences in my life.
That’s where the conundrum comes in. I have
ridden numerous trail centres and bike parks all
over the world. Along the way I’ve ticked off a
few legendary trails in the process too.
As much as following in the polished
wheel-marks of thousands of others is fun
(guaranteed and regulated fun), it simply
does not touch the very sides of the soul that
instantly drew me not only to cycling, but even
more so to mountain biking.Tracks v trails, where do you stand?