• Does mountainbiking have a bad image? People on bikes in the countryside at the weekend is better than people in cars in the city. Whether you're on a secondhand hardtail, a carbon gnarwizard or your mum's shopper you're probably having a laugh and that's what biking as a leisure activity is about for the majority of us.

    I can't remember the last time someone moaned IRL about me being a mountain-biker, but I've had a handful of ruddy faced walkers give me a 'Go on my son' or a 'Bloody hell, it's a lass' as the GF and I've slogged our way up a particularly foolish climb in the pissing rain.

    The industry loves gnarly shit, winning stuff and awesome photos, but just because that Formula 1 car runs on Pedigree Chum doesn't make me think I'm Martina Navratilova, and it'd be a fool who does.

    MTBing is still niche as fuck, it's cold, wet, muddy and hurty. Most MTBers only do it a few days per month, many travel a 100 mile round trip to get to a good venue and there's plenty who've spent £2000 on a bike they can't ride for toffee, which may explain the increase in road riders (who similarly can't ride for toffee)

    I reckon most of the general public have no concept of MTBing at all, most think of biking as lycra clad goons on road bikes, holding them up in their last minute dash to Argos to get some nice seat covers for their fucking Astra.

  • Most MTBers only do it a few days per month, many travel a 100 mile round trip to get to a good venue and there's plenty who've spent £2000 on a bike they can't ride for toffee,

    This is basically me

  • The image of the fatbike rider about to faceplant in his fucking chinos a few posts above is a nice example. What sort of cunt told him "Yeah, you hit that sizeable double, it'll be rad" or maybe he is the prime example of the kind of silly sausage who does believe the marketing hype.

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