# What got you hooked?



## Tacoma4.0 (Dec 2, 2005)

On mountain biking? Do you have a defining moment? If so what was it?

Mine was in 1989. I was taken to Nobel Canyon in the Cuymacha's east of San Diego. I was riding my new Nishiki on a crisp fall morning. I had just started riding and was way out of shape. But I was game and the people I was with (some have become dear friends since) pushed me on..up from Pine Valley..up Deer Springs Rd, up impossibly steep roads to a parking area under a huge oak tree..up Indian Creek through single track, twisty and gnarley around the sage and manzinita into a perfect Alpine glade... _there_...right there something _happend_ to me. The smell of pine and sage and effort combined with the comadre of those folks I was with and I fell in love with this thing. I have had dozens of other great moments since but this day this _moment_ stands out.

What was yours?


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## kcavtca (Mar 27, 2005)

*its been 20 years...*

Been 20 years since I strolled into my old LBS in Connecticut with my recently purchased Cannondale roadracer and saw a Stumpjumper. Since I had a dirtbike as a kid, just the sight of the first mountainbike I ever saw led me to sell that road racer I had saved for two years to buy.

As for the riding moment, the one I keep going back to is a moment in Vermont in the early 90's when bombing down some fast tight singletrack in a downpour. I caught a little air, landed sideways and shot into the woods. Rain drenched pine saplings were being plowed by my handlebars resulting in bliding spray to my face, and being on original cantelever brakes (2 generations before V brakes) I was really just hanging on in panic waiting for an impact. Nope, 20-30 feet later the trail had curled around and I popped back on without skipping a beat.

The riding buddies didn't even notice anything at the time, but I was a changed man.

-kcavt

PS - cool question. I hope lots of people post to this...


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## Barkdog (Aug 29, 2004)

Mine was different; I was alone.

I'd mountain biked through Oregon mud off and on since about 1989. I loved it but it was never my primary sport, at all. (Snowboarding/skateboarding/surfing occupied most of my sport fantasies; I would run to stay in shape -- with occasional mountain biking to supplement that and for fun, but I'd never hit any really extended or epic trail rides.) But about 3 years ago I broke my foot snowboarding in a half pipe -- badly (lisfranc ligament tear, anyone?), and it was misdiagnosed at first, to boot. So about 1/2 year after the injury, I was still mostly 'crippled' and not doing... anything. Except that I'd just received clearance and encouragement from my Doc to ride my bike lightly, with my stiff-soled Sidis and new ortho-inserts. And we took a little vacation in central Oregon, near Bend (a mecca of Oregon riding).

I risked a trail ride, and discovered the Deschutes River Trail. Rain was starting to fall, and to add to the sense of urgency I had only about a 1/2 hour to explore the winding river trail before I had to turn around, to make a family committment. Keep in mind that I'd been hobbling around for months without any running or sports whatsoever. 

I'd never been on such a picturesque, twisty, fast piece of trail -- and I had it all to myself on that rainy day. I couldn't believe that bikes were allowed to ride somewhere so pristine; and the flowing trail felt like glorious flight to my speed-deprived soul.

I raced out as far as I could go past the gorgeous Benham and Dillon Falls, and then raced back to my family panting, out of shape, dying for more time on that trail, eager to learn all the trails in the area that might allow bikes... and maybe without knowing it, hooked on mountainbiking. It may not provide the constant weightless rush of a halfpipe, but flying a foot or so above the earth through backcountry can have a flow all it's own... as you push yourself further through the woods than you ever thought imaginable under your own power. 

This is now a new stage in life for me: it's my only hobby now (supplemented lately with road biking, too). Still being a bit limited from my injury, I can only jog a few miles or snowboard "nonagressively" (no big air). But, thanks to mountainbiking I can live with those limitations -- they led me to discover the joys of the trail.


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## anthrax (Oct 27, 2004)

I grew up playing in woods just behind my house. Unspoiled areas are pure and simple. This gave me a huge apprication for nature. As I got older the ability to spend hours at a time wandering through the forest seemed to be harder and harder to do. Just wandering through was not fun any more. MTBing has allowed me to have fun again and be in touch with nature. 

That is why I mountain bike it takes me to a place where thing are simple and pure not tainted by human ideals.

I guess to answer the posters question it is that feeling of being deep in the woods with nothing around that hooked me on MTBing


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## Savannahflatlander (Apr 4, 2006)

*Those klunky bikes*

I grew up skateboarding and riding BMX, but I also loved the outdoors, camping and hiking. When I moved to CA in 94 I decided to buy a klunky mountain bike only because my friends had one. I hated it and couldnt bunny hop onto benches anymore. Then one day several monhs after buying this magnificent purple mongoose with no suspension, we went to the Santa Cruz "mountains". "Boy this sure sucks" I thought as I traveled up hill with my lungs and legs burning. And then it happened, singletrack down hill. I was smoking downhill feeling like I was on he verge of no control. The adrenaline rush was like none Id ever known. Man, I sure loved that rigid purple mongoose.


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## ZoSoSwiM (Dec 2, 2005)

I always wanted a decent bike.. last spring I started looking around at bike stuff.. found Bikemag.com and started asking questions.. then started learning a bunch of stuff about MTB.. got my bike soon after... Started riding and found it was fun.. Then I started getting better and it got more fun.. then I got some new goodies and such and it became easier, and more fun.. The passion has kept building and now I'm addicted.


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## Dwight Moody (Jan 10, 2004)

I grew up in the woods, and so my first biking was on logging trails. I still can't figure out why one would ride on the road if you didn't have to. I had an orange chopper with a five speed internal hub that was pretty good, and then I got a huffy BMX bike that was awsome for cruising the trails. I outgrew that and went through a couple K-mart crap "mountain bikes" which put me off riding for a while because my family and I couldn't afford to fix a bike every time I went in the woods. I finally got a bike again while living in Boston and promply fell in love with riding again. I started hitting every bit of dirt I could find.

I guess I always hooked on mountain biking.


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## SwollenYak (Jul 5, 2005)

...lycra...


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## Curious (Jan 30, 2004)

My epiphany didn't really hit me until a year into the sport. I started mountain biking about 5 years ago after years of relative inactivity from high school and college. With a recently acquired, used GT, I hit the trails with my friends and loved the fitness and skills aspect of the sport.

Then one day, when I was alone exploring some unfamiliar singletrack, it happened. I panted and cursed at myself at how out of shape I was up to the top. I got off my bike to take a breather and saw miles and miles of rolling hills and wind-swept canyons. Birds circled high above and coyote played down below. I never realized before how far my bike could take me away from the complications of life. I left that place with a big smile and a promise to feed my need for exploration.

Incidentally, that's how I got the handle Curious.


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## revrnd (Aug 13, 2004)

I wouldn't say I had a defining moment either. Every so often a co-worker would say I should get into biking, but I'd always have some excuse.

Well 2 summers ago my nephew was going to be spending some time @ my parents & he likes bike riding so I figured I'd get a bike to go w/ him. Well fast forward to the present. During riding season here in Ontario I'm usually out twice during the week & @ least once on the weekends.

I guess I enjoy exploring the outdoors & covering more terrain than you could walking.


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## Guest (Apr 5, 2006)

*Lower Rock Creek, north of Bishop*








13 years ago, the day after Thanksgiving. My sister asked if I wanted to try a little mountain biking to work off the Thanksgiving dinner. I said "sure!". Little did I know what I was in for. Beautiful ride. The ride was all I could think about until the next ride, and the next ride, then the next ride. I was hooked! This photo what taken a couple of years ago, summer time, solo ride.


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## Meat Foot (Jan 14, 2004)

Tacoma4.0 said:


> What was yours?


Mine also occured right aroun 1988 and also on a Nishiki. I was into road riding from about 1984 or 85 and was intrigued by fat tires. So, once I got the Nishiki, my friend and I beat up the dirt paths in the orange groves in Irvine, CA. That was the key that unlocked the door. We were no longer amongst the exhaust pipes of cars and risking our lives on PCH.....we were bombing down singletrack.


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## LetsGoOutside (Sep 4, 2005)

I was 13 years old, really into bmx biking as well as backpacking. I was a Boy Scout working on my cycling merit badge when I fell in love with the freedom of the open road and decided I needed a new bike and puurchased a Fuji Nevada. My first ride on that bike was a 50 mile rail trail, I knew I was a bike rider from then on and set out on adventures throughout every local trail system. I would still go backpacking but spent the majority of the time thinking what it would feel like to be riding the same trail on my mtb. I have been a convert ever since that bike 7 years ago, still occasionally riding a bmx bike or backpacking but have progressed into a racing/riding/obsessing cyclist.


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## SS-Rider (Feb 27, 2006)

I too once ride BMX has a kid, I guess blazing trails in the woods on a mountain bikes just seemed like the next choice. Once I tasted the freedom MTB gave me I never looked back.The sport has changed a bit as well have the people but no matter I seem to always have a good time. My real MTB bike was a Kona, My friends and I used to go to Who,ong in the summers take out time starting at the top of the state & working our way down. I miss that!


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## Ricko (Jan 14, 2004)

*'round 13 years ago...*

...my wife and I moved to a new neighborhood. While riding around through the different housing developements on my fully rigid MTB I could always hear dirt bikes in the distance but had no idea where the trails were. One day I found the entrance and was so elated with my discovery that I burst into the house hooting and hollering like I had found the promised land!

In the following 2 or 3 years I spent a lot of time in those woods learning to ride and this is also where I met most of the friends that I ride with today. I don't really ride this area much anymore because it's gotten pretty torn up from the dirt bikes and quads and anyhow I've advanced to areas with more milage and technical difficulty. Every now and then it's nice to take a little ride through there though...kinda' like visiting an old friend


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## YOUR HONOR (Jan 30, 2004)

I was a toddler. Graduated from a tricycle to a bicycle, busted my head open the first morning on the two-wheeler and haven't stopped getting hurt since. Instead of asphalt, its rocks, dirt, roots, sand...My brother and cousin and I were riding farm turnrows and dried creek beds back in the late 70's when we were just young'ins, doing jumps and crap in and around my grandparent's irrigation ditches. Those were the days.


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## smw (Jun 22, 2005)

It started for me just about a year ago, while lying in a hospital bed at age 38 with heart problems. Figured I should do something to better my fitness, and as a kid I raced BMX, so biking was a logical choice. I began for the fitness, and on my second ride that all changed. My second ride was at Soquel Demonstration Forest, an advanced trail system in the Santa Cruz mountians. I was in awe of the scenery and the views, the fast swooping single track, and the friendly people I came across. Im was in over my head on this ride, mainly due to climbing with my 20 years of smoking 2 packs a day, and lungs full of tar. I thought I wouldnt make it back to the car, but I did. I rode that trail every weekend for the next 2 months. I went from 3.5 hrs to under 2 hours for the same loop. I was reminded that first ride at Demo, that I just love to ride bikes, bikes are cool.  

Now a year later Im in better shape then my 22 year old son, and the heart problem has just disappeared. Its also been a year since I quit smoking.

Sean


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## boboso (Oct 17, 2002)

A girl. Now my wife.

She asked me to go riding with a group of them back in 1998 and I wanted to go out with her "real bad". I had to go out and buy a bike as I did not have one at the time, went to a local bike shop, plunked down $400 on a Raliegh M80 and went on the ride that weekend. Aliso Woods (who knew I would end up living next to the park), down to Laguna for lunch, home via El Toro and up Aliso. I was 230lbs, out of shape, coming out of a divorce and drinking heavily. The fact she stayed with me at my "slow to no" pace I will never forget, she was great.

Fast forward to today...
- I ride 3 to 4 times a week and go on yearly "epic" trips
- I have 3 bikes (SS, Intense 5.5, Specialized Hardtail)
- I eat, breathe, live MTB and motorcycles
- I was more excited than my boy in buying his first bike

- She does not ride and calls me crazy for the type of riding we do.
- She supports my riding and tells me to go on a ride when I am bored.
- She is still great
- I bought her a new bike to go riding with me


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## chad1433 (Apr 5, 2004)

I had just come back home from working upstate, back to a small town that I did not grow up in and knew no one around the area. Our neighbors were a young couple who went biking with some frequency, but I never really talked to them about it since most of my time was spent playing hockey. I had purchased a pretty expensive bike the summer before but didn't spend much time riding it.

Then, one Saturday, for no apparent reason, I woke up, saw them loading bikes, ran out and said, "hey, can I go with you?". They said "sure!" and we rode every weekend after that for two years. It was just more about the good friends to share passion with than anything else, though being a bit of a gear head, we'd spend hours talking about bikes, tinkering and cleaning.

That was 1998. Though I've moved, we've all remained good friends and riding has replaced hockey as my Passion.


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## ribaldmanikin (Mar 9, 2006)

In 1981 I saved up to buy a BMX and discovered trails along the river in an undeveloped forest along the river. I had the BMX for a month before it was stolen from the school bike lockup.

I had a 10 speed that was a little small for me, and my brother had just broken the frame on his "dirt bike" bike (remember those ones with the plastic gas tank and pseudo shocks?). 

So, I made a frankenbike out of the two. 10 speed frame, handlebars, wheels and coaster brakes from the "dirt bike". I discovered not only something close to mountain biking but the joy of wrenching bikes.

That bike lasted almost a whole summer before I broke the frame. Over the next few years I had that frame welded by the neighbour a dozen times.


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## Francis Cebedo (Aug 1, 1996)

What got me hooked was the sheer misery of climbing.

I started riding in a hill called Mission Peak in Fremont, CA. It goes up 2000 feet in 3 miles and is an out and back trail. My $150 bike was matched by miserable fitness.

My first time up it, I got up about a quarter of the way up. The next day, I got about 50 feet further. The next time, a little further. Everyday, I rode to exhaustion but I could not wait to get back the next day. This is when I knew I was hooked.

Since then, I learned to enjoy many, many other things about riding.
- I loved parts and upgrades
- the cyclists I met at the top of the were happier and seemed to appreciate life more
- descending singletrack was awright.
- and on and on and on.










francois


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## superlightracer (Feb 11, 2004)

10 years ago. 

I was 10, i was in the 2nd gear, i hit the clutch and dropped to 1st as i entered the last hairpin. I hit the apex and accelerated out hard, as much as my tires let me. Hit the clutch and then 2nd gear, 3rd gear, 4th gear, 5th gear and then top gear. Michael Schumacher had nothing on me. 

Well..maybe there was no clutch or schumy...but hey when youre a kid your imagination is the limit. At this moment I conceded to never being an F1 driver, but I sure as hell will be an mtb racer.

good thread.. im all nostalgic now


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## Christine (Feb 11, 2004)

When everybody had a 10-speed, I stuck with a 3-speed Schwinn cruiser just b/c it was more durable and practical. The 10-speeds were too prissy-looking. I remember my father being incredulous when I chose the Schwinn, and me telling him, "What do I need ten speeds for??" 

Then I started noticing these rugged-looking bikes, and they appealed to me instantly. They could take a beating and go out on trails, perfect for college! But the only other person I knew who was into biking, was a guy in my dorm who was more into DH and trials. But he loooooved to talk about bikes, which at the time was a little overwhelming since I knew less than I know now!

Figured there was no middle ground- just the hardcore riders bashing themselves all over the place, or casual riders. I would poach the hiking trails around my campus thinking that's all there was. Guess it helps that I always enjoyed hiking and jogging, so it was one more outdoor activity to enjoy.

Then I discovered (through books) that bike trails DID in fact exist, and it was downhill from there (so to speak.) MTBs are such a perfect, logical invention, they make so much sense I still have a hard time understanding why the entire human race doesn't own a couple at least.


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## BelaySlave (Aug 4, 2004)

I got re-hooked several years ago. 

But prior to that....just like alot of people, I began riding BMX bikes back in the 80s. Tried that skateboarding thing too in HS. When I got into college I went through a couple of Specialized bikes (both road and mtn.). Also got into rock climbing, backpacking, tennis, working out etc this time too. Graduated from college and still participated in those things, but having to juggle a couple of parttime gigs along with a full time "career" started getting in the way and some things fell by the wayside like riding. Still continued to be in the outdoors, unfortunately the bikes began collecting dust. Fast forward to 2002 and I was just jonesing for another road bike (and bought one) and the Passion was starting to light up. Got a new hardtail then got a singlespeed then got another road bike then got one of them new fangle all-mountain trail mountain bikes. I began riding at night during the winter. I began exploring trails outside of Boise. Hit a couple of the ski resorts during the summer. Registered at both MTBR and RBR. Been wasting the day away surfing around. Began organizing group rides for slower folks like myself. Trying to infect other people with this Passion. Converted my hardtail into a SS. Bought two older fully rigid MTB's. Have spent way too much $ on gear and clothes. Blah blah blah and so the Passion continues.


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## Ryan G. (Aug 13, 2004)

Knees couldn't take trail running anymore, and biking was easier on my knees and I still could hit the same trails I loved, but clock much more mileage!

Kind of kicking myself for not getting in the sport sooner, but I am making up for lost time by spending way to much money.


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## smudge (Jan 12, 2004)

I was 15 in 1989 and had saved my mowing money to buy a mountain bike after reading an article in a bike mag about Roman Dial and some other nutty guys doing their "hellbiking" adventure in Alaska. The photos floored me and reading about how difficult it was to do what they did and that they did it for no good reason EVERY YEAR. I didn't have a driver's license and didn't know that I lived just 20 miles from a great network of trails, but I took every opportunity to "go offroad" while riding the many bike paths around Columbia, MD. I broke nearly everything on that POS bike during the three years I owned it, and still didn't have a driver's license. When I started going to college in College Park, I quickly forgot about biking and sadly, was much more interested in drinking, drugs and was in a generally bad place mentally. 

Late one night while crashing in a friends dorm room, I asked some random guy across the hall if I could borrow his mountain bike. I don't know why, but he let me take it and told me to head across the street to ride the trails around the golf course. He had SPD's and made sure I wore his 3-sizes-too-big shoes and helmet. I was stoned out of my mind, too drunk to walk straight let alone steer straight, but having an absolute blast trying to negotiate the "technical" rooty trails around the course. I have no idea how long I was gone or how I got back. It was around 3AM and I felt like I had found myself. 

A week or two later at a friends party, I made some more huge drug related mistakes. I jumped on the hood of a moving car (I thought a friend of mine was driving. It turns out that it wasn't his car at all) and scared the life out of some girl who sped up and then slammed on the brakes. I was left standing in the street with her broken wiper in my hand, a little scraped up. While I was walking back to where I started, a friend was running towards me and in a ridiculously movie-like act of heroism, yanked me out of the way to prevent this girl from backing over me. After a few hours of sitting on the curb deliberating over what I had become, I decided to bail on my then "group of friends", and I bought another mountain bike a few weeks later. I gave up smoking, drinking and drugs on that very night and didn't touch a drop of alcohol until seven years later (I enjoy about a beer per night nowadays). 

Riding is a drug unto itself and while I admit it sounds completely cheezy, I think that getting into cycling may have saved my life.


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## BelaySlave (Aug 4, 2004)

smudge said:


> Riding is a drug unto itself and while I admit it sounds completely cheezy, I think that getting into cycling may have saved my life.


Not cheezy at all. I enjoyed reading your story.

Often times I try to equate cycling with religion or church or something spiritual.


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## Guest (Apr 6, 2006)

*What got me hooked...2 words*

Biker Fox


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## il2mb (Jan 27, 2005)

*Good question..*

I didn't really plan on getting back into mountain biking. It happened because I was worried that a family member with whom my wife and I had planned a camping trip with would rip me a new one when he saw how out of shape I'd become in the 15 years since we'd last gotten together. Back in the late '80s our two families mountain biked in the Santa Monicas regularly. This guy, actually my wife's cousin, was in such incredible shape he would blow up a trail like a goat on speed. I'd always felt competitive toward him in those days. He moved away but he maintained that fitness level for the next 15 years while I slowing accumulated fat cells. 3 years ago our two families decided to do a camping trip together in the Sierras and of course we would go mountain biking. I hadn't been on a bike in 15 years and weighed in north of 200 lbs. I was so worried I decided to try, for the 20th time to get into shape. Started walking the trails around the house and after 3 months of doing that I bought a mid range bike. I picked a trail with plenty of climb to it and kept trying to ride up it 3 mornings a week. It was only about 4 miles and 1500 ft of elevation but I thought I was going to die. Took me nearly 3 months before I could get up that hill without stopping. I pushed on thinking I would at least not completely embarrass myself on the camping trip. The first time I made it to the top without stopping I knew this was going to be something that lasted the rest of my life.

Well, he backed out of the trip at the last moment so the great rematch never occurred. This was around September and I made a promise to myself that if I stayed with the 3-4 rides a week I would treat myself to a new, and much better bike. Come December and turning 50 I reached my goal. I also lost 30 lbs and felt better than I had in years.

3 years and 4 bikes later I simply can't get enough of this sport. I ride 4 days or nights a week and routinely traverse 20-30 miles and 4k of elevation gain each ride.


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## nonoy_d (Jun 27, 2005)

*Seeing the store MTB*

It was a diamondback. The over bloated tires, and those big threads wow. It was a rigid bike and beyond my ability to buy. But I knew that this will be the sport that I will love. Years after, I got a second hand cannondale M400? I would use it to cruise the lakeshore drive bike path. I was a happy camper then. But the sport evolved to front suspension bikes. It seems that I am missing something, MTB and where it should be ridden. Then there is this ~$200 diamondback front sus. The frame is a mere 16" (my son has it now). I used it first time off road at Waterfall Glen (south chicago). It is a fireroad, some climbs, minor downhill but it was laden with limestone rocks, dust. Now after moving to Duluth, MN my playground is mere 10 min away some will be at most 1.5 hours away. My choice of trail from smooth single track to technical trail for intermediate riders. Now with 2 FS bikes one All MTN and one XC. I have loved mountain biking then and now. It has loved me back.


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## Joe Dirt (Nov 20, 2005)

boboso said:


> A girl. Now my wife.
> 
> She asked me to go riding with a group of them back in 1998 and I wanted to go out with her "real bad". I had to go out and buy a bike as I did not have one at the time, went to a local bike shop, plunked down $400 on a Raliegh M80 and went on the ride that weekend. Aliso Woods (who knew I would end up living next to the park), down to Laguna for lunch, home via El Toro and up Aliso. I was 230lbs, out of shape, coming out of a divorce and drinking heavily. The fact she stayed with me at my "slow to no" pace I will never forget, she was great.
> 
> ...


Great story bro. I don't have a story, other than a buddy talked me into riding with him. He kicked my a$$ all over the hills of WA state. I was tired, pissed off and crashed every 10 feet, so I bought a bike and have been loving mtbing ever since. He doesnt ride anymore though, that bastard, got married or something.


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## ajoc_prez (Jan 19, 2004)

francois said:


> What got me hooked was the sheer misery of climbing.
> 
> I started riding in a hill called Mission Peak in Fremont, CA. It goes up 2000 feet in 3 miles and is an out and back trail. My $150 bike was matched by miserable fitness.
> 
> ...


Whatever happened to that Manitou bike? Those were sweet frames!! Still got her? Post more pics!


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## noslogan (Jan 21, 2004)

*Bob Babbitt!*

Bob Babbitt got me hooked somehow. 
He was a _really neat guy_ (still is) in my world of "elementary" school. Where all but him were just mere adults. He was our PE teacher at a hippy, learn at your own pace, private school in the late 70's to early 80's. He would call me "Noodle" or "The Nood". I was the skinniest/lanky kid in school.
He went on vacation to do the 1980 Ironman. He came back teling of the stories of the race and I was mesmorized and intrigued. His phys-ed teaching technique was stellar. He could get any kid to participate in any game or sport.
We would run through Penesquitos Canyon and swim in the office complex community pool. No biking, as we would all have to bring bikes to school. No "mountain biking" yet in San Diego. If we had bikes I bet we would have ridden through the canyon and had Mountain Tris.
We did the first annual Rosie Ruiz Marathon in 1980. And several biathlons. Running through the canyon towards the pool, kicking off your shoes (or not) and doing three of four laps was really fun. I think they may have been run-swim-runs.
I think that I met Ned Overend. He was Bob's roommate back then and they would train together. Too bad I can't say it was Ned that got me hooked. Actualy it is not too bad, not bad at all!
I would read Bob's tri magazine in highschool in the mid '80s. (still do) I started "riding" in '87. A Nishiki International. I remember when the Alien came out. I thought that was interesting. I did lots of road riding and some Tri stuff. I didn't start riding Mtn bikes until 1990 or 91. A Fisher HKII in white. Then purdie much in '97 I was riding regularly.
Bob was/is my inspiration for being athletic and riding mountain bikes.

Ah, the memories. 
Thanks for asking!


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## berrywise (Jan 15, 2004)

the stripper poured out a line on her breast and I just snuck my nose down there. Took a stint in jail to clean me up.


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## noslogan (Jan 21, 2004)

*Mmm, strippers*



berrywise said:


> the stripper poured out a line on her breast and I just snuck my nose down there. Took a stint in jail to clean me up.


 I stole my stripper/roomate's '74 gothed out Hemied Nova after I dropped her of at work to go the Red Hot Chili Peppers/ Pearl Jam/ Alice in Chains concert once.
Boy, did I get hooked on some of her co-workers. It was tough braking free of that vice.

"Dear Penthouse...."


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## perttime (Aug 26, 2005)

I have "always" enjoyed riding a bike but it had mainly become a means of local transportation. I was looking for some sort of exercise that I could do on my own and recalled how much fun I used to have on the forest trails riding my bike and the moped dirt bike I had at some stage. Next thing, I was doing a round of the bike shops in town. I ended up with a Banshee Scirocco.

It is better than I remembered.


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## serious (Jan 25, 2005)

I don't really have a defining moment like others.

In the early 90s, skiing became a passion, almost an obsession. But there was a void in the summer and I soon discovered that mountain biking can fill that void. I was not in love with mountain biking at the beginning. My first *mountain bike* was rigid, heavy and shifted poorly. Many of the trails I rode were very difficult on that 39 lbs clunker. That was in Montreal and I did most of my riding at the Bromont Ski Resort.

Fast forward to Toronto, where I discovered that skiing sucks (though I am more passionate about skiing than ever), but mountain biking is fantastic, due to the many mtb centers that are well maintained and offer all kinds of XC challenges. When I bought my first entry XC race bike (Norco Nitro hardtail) in 2001 I knew this was my summer passion. The love afair has grown considerably since then and now I find myself obsessing about biking just as much as I obsess about skiing.


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## clarkenstein (Mar 8, 2006)

since i was a kid i always loved riding bikes, or anything that had wheels and/or was fast.

it first started out taking our bmx bikes out around town - i had a black and gold huffy. it had all the pads on it, even across the handlebars. i remember 'ghost riding' that thing into every stationary object that was on my street. we used to have skidding contests to see who could leave the longest scratch in the surface of the dirt road next to my house.

then skateboards got hip, i had two - nice fiberglass longboard, and the sandpaper covered fatboard. i loved the longboard - my friends all liked doing tricks on the fatboards - i just wanted to go fast on the longboard, but mostly i would hang with the skaters on my bike.

then i got a little older. my parents got me a new bike, this black and aqua huffy 10 speed i used to ride all over town. i remember riding up olcott ave in the hardest gear i could. polishing that hill was the best feeling i had - i could swear i did it once in tenth gear.

then i got into skiing - i became obsessed with that in the winters. pirmin zurbriggen was my idol.

a trip to colorado was the trip that got me. my parents took the family out to skyline ranch, in colorado down by telluride. we stayed for about 10 days. on the 2nd or 3rd day, one of the ranch-hands offered to take people out on a bike ride. there was a few of us high school kids, so he took us out on some fun riding. he showed us how to clear logs and streams - it was awesome. i remember trying to hold on to the handlebars of a rigid diamondback while flying down the ski slopes of telluride. it was so awesome. i was hooked (for the time).

as soon as i got home, i begged my parents and they got my a rigid gary fisher. that bike ruled. i rode that all over town and the local trails for a couple years. i took that thing to college. one night every component got ripped off after leaving it locked up outside overnight. i ended up trading the frame for a rigid mongoose alta.

the alta was my campus to campus commuter, but i got lazy (hey its college!)

because of my roommate in college, i started rock climbing. i started to get pretty good at climbing - even helped out with a guidebook for nj.

a couple years later, an old friend of mine and i came in contact again through climbing - we climbed a couple times together, and he started bugging me to get out and ride with him. i remembered how much fun i had on bikes, agreed to go (just this once - yeah right!), and i ended up riding that rigid mongoose into the ground - and now its somewhere in central america (pedals for progress), and i upgraded to a FS stumpjumper. 

its been 4 years since the stumpy and now i have added an SS.

man i love riding. just makes me feel better.


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## MTB1986 (Aug 13, 2005)

I remember I was around 13-14, and my neighbor who was the same age as me took me a few of my other friends out MTB'ing. I just loved the rush/feeling of flying through the woods at the edge of control. Recently though, I've really enjoyed the exploration part of mountain biking.


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## Anonymous (Mar 3, 2005)

I was dumb enuff to think chicks dug it.  
Now it's too late.


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## Trail_Mynx (Mar 6, 2006)

*I think I'm nuts...*



smudge said:


> Riding is a drug unto itself and while I admit it sounds completely cheezy, I think that getting into cycling may have saved my life.


Smudge - I can relate to how mtb-ing/riding is like a drug...I think I'm addicted! 

Ok so I haven't exactly had an epiphany yet, but growing up in a woodsy part of CT and a friend that was into mtb-ing is what got me started. I love hiking the trails, and being in nature. So for Christmas 1998 I asked for a KMart special Huffy. Man, what a piece of junk. I didn't even like taking it out on the road let alone a trail...ya right! Shifting sucked, bike was uncomfortable, etc. So that whole idea was short lived...until...

FF to 2006...met someone that was really into mtb-ing...decided to give it a go since I've always wanted to seriously get into riding. Bought an IH Mav XC...

My first ride was last weekend, beautiful clear day - one of the warmest so far. Climbing those hills - the sheer and utter exhaustion...the burning in my lungs from the air being forced in and out...gasping like a fish out of water...has me hooked. I know it sounds kinda crazy, but the downhills, the adrenaline rush of trying to navigate the trail and knowing that I will get stronger and better with each ride was enough to make me want to do it again. Crashed 3 times...got lots of bruises, couple scrapes/scratches...IT WAS AWESOME!


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## SuperNewb (Mar 6, 2004)

When I started mtbing it was only cause it was easier and more fun then when I rode my freestyle BMX bike along the trail.  My friend had a "mtb" which I tried and been hooked ever since. I forget what kind of mtb it was but I picked up a used spec rockhopper and rode that into the ground. What year exactly I forget as well...but suspension wasnt out.


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## strangeland2 (Apr 8, 2006)

Bought a dyno comp after a couple months of my first job. A friend talked me into getting rid of the dyno for a mountain bike. Our primary riding spots for the 20" bikes were trails so the first time I rode those trails and saw the joys of gears I was hooked. Traded the dyno in for a rigid univega. Traded the ridgit for a full suspension Univega a little while after. Had that bike for years actually sold it then bought it back. Finally upgraded to a sugar 2 and have since pretty much not ridden in a few years. Hoping to fix that this year though. Wish me luck people. Ha


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## Tacoma4.0 (Dec 2, 2005)

Trail_Mynx said:


> Smudge - I can relate to how mtb-ing/riding is like a drug...I think I'm addicted!
> 
> Ok so I haven't exactly had an epiphany yet, but growing up in a woodsy part of CT and a friend that was into mtb-ing is what got me started. I love hiking the trails, and being in nature. So for Christmas 1998 I asked for a KMart special Huffy. Man, what a piece of junk. I didn't even like taking it out on the road let alone a trail...ya right! Shifting sucked, bike was uncomfortable, etc. So that whole idea was short lived...until...
> 
> ...


If you say that last sentence...you have had an epiphany. Welcome to the tribe. Long Live Long Rides!


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## shapirob (Nov 13, 2005)

Barkdog... a fellow lisfranc'er. I though I would hijack the thread a little, as I have a simlar history of a bad lisfranc fracture/dislocation from a loooong fall while bouldering about 5 years ago. I've been pounding away through pain and discomfort and recently returned to mountain biking - treated myself to a nice bike too! I wish life was easier ... i'm still having lots of pain and it seems more limiting. I worry a fusion is in my future, alhtough I am currently trying to work out orthotic-shoe combos as theoretically this should be a great sport for me....other than messing with my neck problems. What's been the most helpful for you to quiet the foot demon?


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## Barkdog (Aug 29, 2004)

shapirob said:


> Barkdog... a fellow lisfranc'er. I though I would hijack the thread a little, as I have a simlar history of a bad lisfranc fracture/dislocation from a loooong fall while bouldering about 5 years ago. I've been pounding away through pain and discomfort and recently returned to mountain biking - treated myself to a nice bike too! I wish life was easier ... i'm still having lots of pain and it seems more limiting. I worry a fusion is in my future, alhtough I am currently trying to work out orthotic-shoe combos as theoretically this should be a great sport for me....other than messing with my neck problems. What's been the most helpful for you to quiet the foot demon?


1) Custom carbon ortho. shoe insert, with higher arch support on the injured foot (I went back to the doc and complained it wasn't high enough, they modified and it's much better). I also spend all my non-work time in some very stiff Merrell hiking shoes (hardly any flex!).

2) Toe/foot excercises! I hit a real turning point about a year after my injury, when the doc recommended curling a towel with my toes/ picking things up with my toes, to strengthen. Helped a ton! I don't do them as much now, because I don't seem to need to.

3) No running (duh). Just biking, in extremely stiff shoes (my Specialized shoes seem more stiff than my Sidis -- go with the stiffest you can find).

Any suggestions from your end? Sounds like you're worse off than me, that's rough. Good luck, I hope you can improve!


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## nachomc (Apr 26, 2006)

I had always ridden a bike as a kid, but it was usually to get places since I couldn't drive. When I was 17, I took my bike out one day, rode for about 15 minutes and turned around.

Last year, I decided to give mountain biking another try, got some friends who rode and we went out. That first day kicked my ass but when I got done, aside from the pain in my legs and chest, I felt great. The views were awesome and flying down the descents was a blast. I decided to go out again and that was it for me. It's the whole experience - being out in the woods with some good friends, hanging out and talking after a good climb, laughing and yelling after a fast descent. I love being out there.


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## shapirob (Nov 13, 2005)

Thanks for the input. Yeah - its been more troublesome over the past year (almost year six), although I don't think my orthotic is stiff enough. I am about to see a highly touted podiatrist to get some high quality (and expensive) orthotics. I had a somewhat flexible one before that has probably contributed to the problem. The first metatarsal joint on that foot is definitely a bit bigger, which I guess indicates some instability. There's a few times I pushed it too hard in yoga as well.

Interesting about the specialized shoes - which ones work for you? I bought some BG comp's but orthotics done seem to fit in those, since it has a bit of arch already. Furthermore, they don't seem flat enough - more like a high heal.

Also - how do you get shock absorption from stiff shoes. I have mosty been going for more absorption rather than stiffness?


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## Fast Eddy (Dec 30, 2003)

*My BMX riding*

When I was a lad of 12 I got a Kawaski BX-200 alu bmx bike with rear suspension. My riding then was what singlespeed MTBing is now. I didn't know it, didn't have a name for it, and I didn't care. I loved the trails. I walked some uphills.

I quit riding during HS in favor of girls, beer, cars and weed.

I found it again in college by way of a 5 speed cruiser, then a buddy got an '81 specialized stump jumper. It took me until '87 to finish school and save up enough money for my 1st 'real' mtb; an '87 Diamondback Ascent EX. It was a tank, but I've been riding weekly, at least since.


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## dwnhlldav (Feb 2, 2006)

I started skiing when I was in 6th grade, and got good enough quick enough that by 8th grade I was skiing with the outdoorsy kids who had been skiing their whole lives, That spring I followed my new buddies down the trail behind our middle school. Me on my Huffy with caliper brakes and them on their sweet trek mountain bikes. I loved every out of countrol second of it. Got my first real MTB, a Cdal M300, that summer. It was my summer time fix for skiing. Guess it still is


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## =ChrisB= (Aug 8, 2006)

The fealing of being free. When I was seven I started mtbing, just on our local trails and "advanced paths" and it went from there.


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## CollegeCatholic (Mar 23, 2005)

I've always loved speed and a sense of danger; getting to the point where there is a very fine line between agressiveness and wrecklessness. I got really into roller blading when I was younger but always loved riding my bike as well. It wasn't until a family vacation to California where I got to race BMX for a couple weeks that really hooked me. I loved the speed, the air, and especially the competition. I won almost every race without any experience. Fast forward a while and not having any BMX trails I all but stopped riding bikes. Living in Nebraska things were seemingly too flat to consider doing much of anything until a friend of mine and I discovered a bike trail pretty close to where we lived and took our Wal-Mart specials out there. "There are trails like this in Nebraska? And only minutes from my house?!" Not only was the speed and difficulty and danger exhilerating but I just remember stopping in a clearning and see some deer feed and breathing heavily and realizing how easy it was to get caught up in life and how I had been taking for granted the many ways in which God can communicate with us. All I could say was "Lord, thank you." I was hooked. Several bent rims and a few bikes later I decided to invest in my first real bike in 2003: a Giant STP 2; it cost me all my summer savings. I thought that I was going to be getting into urban/freeriding/trials but the reality was that I was mainly riding trails as fast and aggressively as I could. Fast forward to today and I now have a raceworthy bike that I got second hand off eBay and I just got done spending way too much money on all the necessary accessories that go along with not only the riding lifestyle but riding during freezing winter conditions. I start training next week as I can feel the urge to compete once again but not just racing am I looking forward to, but getting out and becoming one with the wind and the earth and escaping the craziness of everyday life for an opportunity to be quiet and experience the spirutal side of mountain biking that provides me a wonderful avenue to hear God's voice. Going to Mass and Reconciliation are probably the only other things more awesome.


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## fsp (Feb 15, 2006)

I find it's the best opportunity I have to channel the spirits of the dead. Nothing I like better than launching mid-rock garden into a supernatural seizure and rolling my eyes back into my head as I go limp.


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## gls (Jul 1, 2006)

I used to ride off road motorcycles, but sold my bike when I went to school. I never got back into it because it was too expensive, crazy, dangerous, and I just didn't have the time. I always loved bicycles, but hadn't had one for about 25 years. I got a low-end Trek so I could ride with my little boy, and just putted around on the street and paved trails. Then on a totally unplanned impulse purchase when I was sleep-deprived and a little nutty, I bought a rigid frame 29er made by SE Racing. That bike is so awesome, I just love it to death! Around the same time, I discovered Wissahickon park, a totally beautiful place with some really technical trails, only 20 minutes from my house. That was it. A great bike and a great place to ride. Coming off a jump, getting some air, and landing just right- that's just the greatest feeling. Riding my bike feels like flying to me. I think that's what does it for me.


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## Breznak (Mar 11, 2005)

Wow, this is the best thread I have read in a while!

At the age of 18, I tore up my knee badly skiing, and after an arthroscopy and subsequent ACL reconstruction, the doctors, aware of my track & field activity, said "I hope you like biking." I didn't take them seriously. 

Fast forward 4 1/2 years, I am now out of college and decide to do something stupid upon graduation and move to the Czech Republic to teach English for a year. The guy I was replacing had a lousy mountain bike that he wanted to get rid of, so remembering the doctor's comments from all those years ago, I bought it for a song. 

I lived in a rather ugly industrial city that interestingly enough is surrounded by the Central Bohemian Mountains, a set of not-so-high but steep mountains of volcanic origin that are riddled with some rather technical mountain biking terrain. Whenever I had nothing to do, I headed out to battle the hills. Of course they killed me, but I thoroughly enjoyed the solitude and serenity of the rides, the fantastic scenery they afforded me, the pain of the climbs, and the sheer thrills of the descents. To top it off, I also enjoyed the occassional stop at a local pub for a half-liter of "Breznak," the local brew in that part of the Czech Republic, one of the best lager beers brewed in the world, and the inspiration for my screen name here. 

From that point on, I was an MTB junkie. As a matter of fact, now is a great time for a fix....


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## Damitletsride! (Feb 4, 2004)

It had to be when i took my bike along on a family hike up the mountains when i was about 14. Fifteen speed bike, crappy tires, old type headset and god knows what else. I came to this rocky looking sloping down bit, didnt know what to call it. Turned out to be very rocky. Brakes off and go then! Bikes starts doing the twist and shake all over the place, but i was loving every moment of that almost falling off but not feeling. I remember a huge grin on my face after that, i still search for that feeling on a bike.


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## Scribb (May 4, 2006)

I moved to Marin to be closer to my work, and ended up living right at the bottom of Repack. I'd see all these mountain bikers ride by every day, and didn't really think that much about it. I did a lot of hiking though, and got hooked on spending time in the Watershed. Then one Thanksgiving day, I was taking a break from the family chaos and mother-in-law by raking up leaves in the front yard. Of course, it was the day of the famous Appetite Seminar, which I knew nothing about. I just stood there in the front yard with my rake watching a constant stream of happy mountain bikers ride by--hundreds of them. There was a moment I can remember clearly, when I was standing there with that stupid rake in my hands, and I realized I was missing out on something amazing. The next day I walked into my LBS and walked out with my first mountain bike, a Trek 8000 hardtail. I rode the hell out of that bike until it fell apart and then I built my first full suspension. Now I'm resurrecting the Trek and building a singlespeed.

I get more out of mountain bike than any other activity in my life, and I've just gotten the incredible gift of being able to share it with my 5-year-old son. I've had the opportunity to move, but I can't think of anyplace else in the world I'd rather be than in the middle of a mountain biking nirvana.


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## g550guy (Sep 29, 2006)

just wanted to get in shape and improve my fitness level. just stumbled into mountain biking. what an eye-opener! glad i did. love it.


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## sacto (Aug 30, 2006)

*being able to re-live my riding as a kid in the country*

Grew up on BMX bikes. Got on ten speed road bikes as I got older. Was "twenty something" over a dozen years ago and a friend who worked for New Hampshire hardware store said he could get me a great deal on a Diamondback. He did. Our intentions were to BOMB the city of BOSTON as he did with his friends, but my bike was quickly stolen.

This year I realized that bicycling never left my blood after getting back on a good road bike. Realized that I could have more enjoyment on a MTB, got one... now I have three. Staying fit, staying young, getting outside... it's all GREAT!!!


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## bgmtbiker (Mar 27, 2006)

My passion started when I drove through moab on a family vacation and discovered that it was famous for mountain biking. although i knew next to nothing about mountain biking I decided right then that it was somthing I needed to try. Later that summer back in KY I walked into my LBS and dropped my savings on my first mountain bike: a GT avalanche.
Just the experience of riding that bike home had me hooked. I have been dreaming of going back to moab ever since!


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## plume (May 26, 2006)

Just rediscovering the simple joys of riding a bicycle in the woods. As a kid I rode the heck out of my Nishiki Manatoba (rip) without much thought to it, it was just how I got around. Fast forward 10 years and I needed/wanted a mtb for a camping trip, you know, just to get around. Ended up picking up my father's old cannondale 2 sizes too big but it got me out there. Started finding some real singletrack and the rest is history. No one got me into it but myself, in fact I rode solo for over a year before I found anyone who would ride with some chump in a cotton tshirt, running shoes, plastic platforms, and with no helmet... 

Finally I stepped it up to a real bike that fit me and got some proper riding gear. Got hooked up with the local shop rides and that's where I discovered the comrodory in riding mountain bikes. 

3 years later and I've totally immersed myself in the culture. I'm a total shop rat, and I ride every chance I get. Looking to find a career in the industry someday, now I'm just "enjoying life"

:thumbsup:


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## ecibis (Mar 11, 2004)

*A one armed man....*

Back in '95 I finally laid down the cash for a Kona Condercone after riding some mild trails with an old trek commuter. For a few years I had been hanging out with racers and other Kona enthusiasts before I had enough cash to buy a new rig. When I got it, I used to ride the hot spot in the area that was filled with technical climbs, descents and rock gardens. I would try each section again and again until I could clean it, but there was always another section down the trail that seemed impossible. One day while I was practicing a steep, rocky, rooty climb a guy went flying past me with a couple buddies in tow. I did a double take and realized this guy had one arm! I figured if this guy was cleaning this trail, I had no excuses. After many weeks I was finally able to clean almost everything and my passion grew. From there came clipless pedals, suspension, winter riding etc. etc. I will always remember that guy as being my primary inspiration to get out and ride.

ecibis


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## scorpionwoman (Jul 7, 2006)

=ChrisB= said:


> The fealing of being free.


Oh, indeed. And I get re-infected with the bug every single time I ride.


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## rideit (Jan 22, 2004)

I borrowed a buddies Trek back in 1886...bunny hopped over everything I could, and jumped off every ledge I could find. Hooked. Also Borrowed a Jamis in Winter Park in 87' , and rode for weeks around there. Bought a cheap diamond back, and moved to Marin...went back to Syracuse, saved up, and bought a Nishiki Alien, till I cracked it in Strassbourg, France...Back in Syracuse, bought a Klien Adriot (gator fade) got into racing..then I got really into Trials. Then I really started travelling to ride...every state in the lower 48, England, Ireland, Scotland, Italy, Spain, France, Corsica, Germany...I have been detri-mentally(!) hooked ever since. Now I ride principly here in the Tetons, St. George, Fruita, Austin Texas, and Peru.


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## Barkdog (Aug 29, 2004)

shapirob said:


> Interesting about the specialized shoes - which ones work for you? I bought some BG comp's but orthotics done seem to fit in those, since it has a bit of arch already. Furthermore, they don't seem flat enough - more like a high heal.
> 
> Also - how do you get shock absorption from stiff shoes. I have mosty been going for more absorption rather than stiffness?


I'll start a thread in the "Rider Down" forum, re: "Lisfranc Injuries and Mt. Biking" -- look for more thoughts there. :thumbsup:


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## scorpionwoman (Jul 7, 2006)

rideit said:


> I borrowed a buddies Trek back in 1886..


Jeez, how old *are* you??


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## rideit (Jan 22, 2004)

Old enough to be senile, apparently!


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## El Salt (Oct 18, 2004)

rideit said:


> back in 1886...


https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Bicycle_two_1886.jpg


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## RichardinLA (Jul 29, 2005)

That's quite the picture there, El Salt. Bet those wheels were a b!tch to true!

For me, it's all about convenience. I was vaugley interested in biking going up in West Texas. Made it to Albuquerque and my interest level grew to "somewhat". They have some decent trails around there, but I had to drive to most of them. That kept the passion subdued a bit. Then I moved to Los Alamos. It's hard to ignore the allure of hitting the trails when they are literally staring you in the face when you walk out the front or back door. If it wasn't for the 80-100 miles of sweet singletrack all within a short pedal from my driveway I would probably still be an occasional rider. What can I say, I'm a lazy SOB. But then I started riding with groups and watching those "in shape" riders cleaning stuff I couldn't dream of, and that started me training. And now, I've just got to race a few times a year to gauge how I'm progressing. It's such a vicious cycle...


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## Evel Knievel (Mar 28, 2004)

Discovered that the world I most desire to see, lies on the single track leading away from civilization. Could aways ride a bicycle with decent abillity. So when the trail lead further than my time walking allowed, biking deeper and further appealed to my need to roam.

The culture and friends found on the way have been a great bonus.


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## lebikerboy (Jan 19, 2005)

In 1990 I decided it was time to quit smoking (again) so, everytime I wanted a cigarette I went for a ride on my old road bike. After 3 months I bought myself my first mountain bike and the rest is history. Quit smoking but have probably exceeded any savings I might have had because of this new addiction!


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## Tracerboy (Oct 13, 2002)

I always had a bike when I was a kid. I rode it everywhere, but just to get around. I remember in high school I would ride it to my lifeguard job, maybe 5 miles each way. I remember being made fun of because I didn't have a car, but I hated everyone I went to high school with anyway, so I just assumed they were idiots.

I moved to Chicago from MD to go to art school, and hated it. I bombed out my 2nd semester, and needed a job. I had just read "Virtual Light" by William Gibson, the protagonist of which is a San Francisco bike messenger named Chevette. I figured bike messengers just rode around the city all day, and I could do that, so I got a job as a courier. It remains the best job I've ever had. Even now that I ride singletrack, I can't explain the joy of surfing a good rush hour traffic jam, or beating cabs down the Miracle Mile, or seeing people stare as I passed tourist busses in the left lane going faster than they were, splitting the double yellow.

My stint in Chicago ended with a job offer in Monterey, CA. While I was there, my ill-advised marriage to my high school sweetheart started dissolving. I needed to get out of the house. I tried road riding, but after dodging busses and cops, it was really boring. I had this backup bike, a GT Avalanche. It had a negative rise 130mm stem, and slick tires. I bought semi-slicks on the internet, as they were all the rage in '98.

I went to Fort Ord, and just fell, over and over again. I did the Knucklebuster Downhill in Pebble Beach Golf Course, and just loved the sensation of flying through the trees centimeters away from disaster. I was hooked.

I worked in the bicycle industry for about 6 years. I now live in Santa Cruz, about 1/4 mile of asphalt from some of the sweetest singletrack in the world. I average 4 rides a week. I will probably ride until I can't or I die, whichever comes first. Riding is my meditation, and a way for me to push myself mentally and physically, separate from the bothers of mundane life. People who don't ride watch football on sundays, get fat, and root for some superstar or other. When we go riding, we feel like the superstars, swooping and careening through the trees and over the logs. I can't imagine not riding, it's how I've met all of my close friends, and through them, the woman I love, who now has a shiny 06 SJ FSR Expert to go riding with. About all that's left is for me to get a house so I can have a trail dog....


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## scrublover (Dec 30, 2003)

Brice Creek trail, outside of Cottage Grove, OR. First place I ever rode offroad, and I was hooked.


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## SNPete (May 17, 2005)

Me? I’ve been into bikes since I was a kid. At age 14 I was part of a multi day road tour with The American Youth Hostels in the Sierra Nevada foothills. Rode some POS 10 speed with a 20 lbs pack on my back. Temps in the upper 90s. Only crashed once. A great experience.

When I got my driver’s license the biking stopped

During the early 70s, while in college I got back into riding. We’d do 50 or 60 milers from San Francisco to Marin. We even did off road stuff on the fire roads of Marin. (Pre Gary Fisher, no less! ) Kinda sketchy on slick 28c tires. 

Didn’t do much riding after 1974.

What got me truly hooked was when we bought our 12 year old son a mtn bike in 1992. I rode it and loved it. Soon thereafter I bought my first mtn bike, a Trek 820.


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## btadlock (Oct 3, 2005)

*My story, goes kinda like this....*

I was a 29 year road biker in Florida, when I joined a group of my fellow riders on a 2 week trip to Creste Butte, after riding on real trails in real mountains, I was hooked. I began dreaming, planing on how to move to Colorado, not especially brave, I choose not to just pick and move my new family,(wife and 11mo old son), to Colorado.
5 years later, I left a job of over 11 years to move to NC to work for a global telecom, one that had a significant presence in the Denver area. That was the primary reason I took the job, hoping that getting in the door, that someday I could wrangle a job in Colorado out of them. So I picked the family, (now two sons, 3 & 5) and moved away from our extended family to NC. After only 21 months, I packed up the family and moved them to OH, taking an opportunity with the company, hoping to demonstarte my willingness to relocate for the job.
Then in 2001, after only 26 months in OH, a job opportunity was presented for Colorado.
The dream now realized, I have been living in the front range, west of denver at 8800 ft for over 5 years, riding as much and as many trails as I can, spending 10 days of vacation in Crested Butte every other year.
My passion for mtn biking has driven my career, affected my decisions, as everything was influenced by, "Is this going to help me get to Colorado?" My family has now moved over 2000 miles for our parents and siblings, after moving 4 times, to 4 different states to get us to Colorado.
My two sons, now 15 & 13, have developed a real nterest in mtn biking, which is the best.


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## wickerman1 (Dec 24, 2003)

*Nature" buffs"*

yup...


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## hollister (Sep 16, 2005)

wickerman1 said:


> yup...


hahahaa:thumbsup:


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## cocamoxb (Jun 26, 2006)

*Over the handle bars*

Living in FL for 21 years found me playing hockey and moutain biking. Go figure! Well, after going over the handle bars and having my eyes roll back in my head for about 90 seconds and a 10+ hour ER visit, I became less involved. We even ordered pizza for dinner in the ER waiting room!!

All of a sudden in the span of about two years I meet the best woman in the world and my company offers to move me to Colorado all expenses paid! I take my hard tail from 98 that watched me go flying many times to the real mountains of Colorado. The first time I got to the peak and had enough oxygen to open my eyes.....I was hooked! I can't stop thinking about the next little thing that will help me get out and ride one more time.

There is nothing like watching nature fly by at 20 mph! :thumbsup:


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## frisky_zissou (Jun 4, 2006)

At the age of 14 mum brought me a GT Avalanche With Disk Brakes. I didnt even like MTBing at the time. Now it takes up all my spare time.


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## Evil Patrick (Sep 13, 2004)

Well, I've been trail riding in one form or another since 1972 and I'm still not quite convinced
it's the sport for me.


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## CactusJoe (Aug 10, 2005)

BelaySlave said:


> Often times I try to equate cycling with religion or church or something spiritual.


It must be. When I go biking, I'm more apt to think about God. If I go sit in church, I just think about biking.

There are so many "first times" that got me hooked...I've been constantly re-discovering the joy of biking ever since the first push across the lawn without training wheels. There was however, a time in the late 80's when I first discovered the east end of South Mountain in Phoenix on my rigid Schwinn High Sierra that sticks out as "the one time" that got me hooked. There were a few stops and starts when college and finances prevented me from pursuing my passion, but now mtb riding/racing is part of my life and who I am.


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## Blurr (Dec 7, 2009)

I just had to start losing weight, bought a wallmart bike to ride around town for a few years, then rode a friends early model front suspension GT and was blown away by how much easier it peddled, went and bought a Kona Blast and once I started riding in the mountains and shedding weight I was feeling better, I always liked riding OHV so now that I can ride the mountain bike damned near as far as I used to go on the fourwheeler or Dirtbike its ap retty cool feelinjg to have others riding OHV come up to the top of the hill all wide eyed looking at you like your crazy to be up there.


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## cbd5600 (Jul 6, 2012)

It only took one ride for me. 

We started hanging out with some people from our neighborhood (parents of our son's friend). Through conversation I found out the Dad was into MTB. I started asking questions about it and one weekend he borrowed a bike from his Brother-In-Law and took me riding one Saturday morning. I went that afternoon and bought my Cobia. I am now in the best cardio shape since high school and still improving.


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## KevinGT (Dec 25, 2012)

Longish story but I like to tell it.

I was a passionate, hopelessly addicted snow skier from an early age. I particularly loved mogul skiing. I preferred soft spring bumps to knee-deep powder. My buddies HATED skiing with me on powder days because when they were out looking for freshies, I insisted on finding the tracked up bump runs.

In 1988, I moved to Colorado Springs and my soon-to-be wife and I spent Nov-May skiing as many days as possible. As addicted as I was to skiing, my wife was an equally passionate distance runner. She ran the Pike's Peak marathon and loads of other grueling events. 

Somehow, she convinced me that trail running in the off season was the perfect way to be ready for those early season, thigh-burning bumps. So every so often, we headed to some local trails and ran together.

On one of those runs, we were on a narrow, exposed singletrack trail which wrapped around the contours of one of Pike's Peak's many foothills. As we ascended, I heard an odd sound from around one of the sharp bends in the trail. Whatever it was, it was moving towards us very quickly.

Stepping off the trail, two guys on bikes came screaming past us, with huge grins, thanked us for letting them by, and flew down the trail out of site. My wife looked at me, wide-eyed and asked "What the hell was THAT?" I was equally wide-eyed. 

"I've heard of that! It's called mountain biking and how fun did that look???"

The next weekend, we were at a local shop renting a pair of Specialized Rockhoppers. The weekend after that we were buying a set of Rockhoppers. The weekend after that, we were getting our rear derailleurs adjusted due to having destroyed them by throwing the bikes on top of each other in the back of my Jeep Cherokee Sport. We also bought our first Yakima roof rack that day.


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## Lenny7 (Sep 1, 2008)

Well, I started drinking when I was 9 then moved to mariju... oh wait, what are we talking about?


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## ArmySlowRdr (Dec 19, 2003)

Likely the St Wendel World Cup in Germany. This in 96 or 97. Watching Pezzo and Frishie was superfun. A group of us rode our mtbs from Freisen to the venue.


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## John Lazzara (Feb 21, 2013)

I rode a lot of BMX as a kid. 

When I turned 37 I bought my first serious MTB, entered the Otway race in VIC, and have never looked back.

At 41 I bought a dually Giant Anthem X, and wondered why I waited so long!


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## JaneDoeRN (Feb 21, 2013)

I fell for a crazy dude, tatted up arms, facial hair, tree trunk quads. Dropped $2K on a mountain bike, because he invited me to ride with him. Crashed into a moving pine tree on my first drop. It scared me like nothin' else ever has; hooked I was. While the dude and I are still good friends, I'm in love with my bike. Riding clears my mind... flow state's a beautiful thing.


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## CannondaleF9 (Nov 17, 2012)

First of all, having a bike that works on the trail (hadn't had one until 2011), second, actually deciding to go on a trail, third: LOVING IT!


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## ArmySlowRdr (Dec 19, 2003)

nice first post.



JaneDoeRN said:


> I fell for a crazy dude, tatted up arms, facial hair, tree trunk quads. Dropped $2K on a mountain bike, because he invited me to ride with him. Crashed into a moving pine tree on my first drop. It scared me like nothin' else ever has; hooked I was. While the dude and I are still good friends, I'm in love with my bike. Riding clears my mind... flow state's a beautiful thing.


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## Gouda Cheez (Feb 18, 2013)

I don't really know if this is what hooked me, but I remember as kid I always rode my old second-hand Huffy bike around the neighborhood and built 'jumps' out of everything that I could. Despite the fact I skinned my knees, elbows, face, hips, etc. many times, I kept coming back for more. 

Fast forward 15-20 years and I'm searching for another bike to purchase to get back into things again.


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## JaneDoeRN (Feb 21, 2013)

Thank you. I've been lurking for a while, though.


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## Fiskare (Sep 5, 2008)

I had a Stingray as a kid, then rode BMX (on an FMF), then bought a brand new Varsity from a shop in the next town, so I knew how fun bikes were. I grew up in the woods with a 22 in one hand and a fishing pole in the other. I walked ridiculous miles and loved every moment. When I was about 19 I visited Livermore (Ca.) Cyclery and saw a Ritchey and a Stumpy Sport among a bunch of road bikes. They were sort of in the corner, in the back room, by the mech area. The light just went on for me. Imagine how many miles I could cover with one of them things! I really couldn't afford either because in my house you left at 18 and didn't move back in - so I had real bills to pay. Regardless, I bought the Stumpy and never stopped riding. This is gonna sound corny, but some people are born and raised to do certain things, and wandering thru the woods on a bike is one of the things I was meant to do.....so I do.


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## Escape88 (Feb 24, 2013)

For me it's a couple things.
First of all, I love hiking around in the woods, just being around the trees and seeing the sunlight shine through the leaves, smelling the smells, hearing the sounds, etc etc... Riding my bike is a more involved extension of that. I feel very free when I'm riding.
Second, I love the physical aspect of it. I love the way it makes me feel healthy and fills me with energy. I love the physical and mental battles as well, pushing myself up a hill while my legs and lungs are burning. It's such a rush; I can't really compare the satisfaction I get to anything else in my life.
Third, riding is one of the few things that makes me happy. I'm generally either depressed or just "blank" I guess, but when I'm riding my bike I feel like I am high on life. It's sort of like a temporary salvation.


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## cyclelicious (Oct 7, 2008)

Until 2007 I was a road cyclist. I met a mountain biker who lent me a bike and we went riding. I encountered my first steep down section and I flipped over the handle bars, landing hard on my hip and scrapping my leg. My hip hurt like hell, and my pride got me on the bike and laugh and keep riding, and enjoying the company of my new friend,

The next day I thought about how much I liked that mountain biker and I noticed the enormous bruise on my hip. I swore I would learn to mountain bike. That was the moment I was hooked. And I did, and I married the guy who introduced me to mountain biking. 

Since then I've had multiple falls and injuries but I also learned and regularly dh advanced runs and now I am learning FR on the pump track.


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## Repack Rider (Oct 22, 2005)

Shreddin' downhill in 1976 on my 1930-something modified Schwinn. Pegged the fun-o-meter and bent the needle.


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## cyclelicious (Oct 7, 2008)

Repack Rider said:


> Shreddin' downhill in 1976 on my 1930-something modified Schwinn. Pegged the fun-o-meter and bent the needle.


That is a an awesome pic Repack!

I don't have pics of my first mtn bike ride. But here I am in 2009 on a borrowed bike first time downhilling. Another steep learning curve but I was hooked on dh by the end of the day. That is a big smile under my ff


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## ArmySlowRdr (Dec 19, 2003)

*One of the earliest I have on photo still...*

April 2000 San Angelo, Texas. 1st MTB race in the states. Had done a few in Germany. Helped me remain hooked.


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## The Yetti (Dec 22, 2005)

Early 90's did tons of riding with friends, Would ride to the top of whatever trail we were riding, often enjoy some smokeables at the top before bombing down. Joined the Army and was stationed at FT Lewis, started riding alot. I think the moment I got really hooked was riding a trail at Skookum flats, Just some really fast flowy singletrack and it was done, been riding ever since.


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## 00frontier00 (Aug 5, 2012)

I rode MTB when I was 9-11 years old. Got into BMX real quick from 11-16. Jumps and the whole who can do what better, took over. Started racing BMX on a Kastan expert XL. (I still have that bike) Hit expert class in the ABA and also hit the age of car's and girl's are kick-ass. Wife, kids, trials and tribulations and i'm right back to bikes. 
Funny how life does that.
Flash foward to Sep. 2012. A couple buddies talked me back into it riding again.
Best thing that has happened in along time.
I have been hooked since 4 years old and my Dad saying "here is a Yamaha 50, this is a clutch and this is how you stop"


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## fstrchld (Feb 25, 2013)

I am getting hooked...


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## PaulClift (Feb 20, 2013)

What got me hooked was the fact I'd barely left the house for 2 years and was suffering from severe aggrophobia. I repaired a puncture in the garage on the gf's mountain bike and decided to test ride it to the end of the road and back. Next thing I knew I was happily riding around the city centre several miles away without a care in the world and no panic attacks. 10 years later and I'm successful at my job, I go out without a care in the world and I fly to nice places now and then.

If I'd not got on her bike then decided to get myself one, it'd have taken years longer.


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## Slatham (Mar 2, 2013)

Was a bit of a rogue as a child. Grew up in the sticks without many friends. Spent a lot of time creating my own adventures outdoors and have always found peace in the woods. What better way to see/feel the beauty of nature than on the back of a bike. Caught the bug back in the mid 90's and have been unable to shake it.


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## slipitysmooth (Feb 17, 2013)

I'm military and have been without a bike since an old Haro BMX I rode on the street in middle/high school. Got stationed in Korea with no car and live 3 miles from work...obvious choice was get a bike to get back and forth. Picked up a Korean branded MTB, and served me well to and from for a few weeks..then I heard talk of a local mountain with trails you can bike on. Started doing some research online and ended up on the trail one Saturday. Needless to say its winter here so the trails aren't in the best shape yet. However, in the month since i've ridden every weekend as much as I can. I don't expect this bike to last much more then this year tour as it was $200 and built as such. However, I will push it as much as I can. (safely of course, not DH/Dirt jumping or anything like that) Now if/when it breaks down I will immediately begin looking into options for an upgrade, whether here or when I get to my next duty station in Germany!


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## PdlPwr (Nov 16, 2010)

Slatham said:


> Was a bit of a rogue as a child. Grew up in the sticks without many friends. Spent a lot of time creating my own adventures outdoors and have always found peace in the woods. What better way to see/feel the beauty of nature than on the back of a bike. Caught the bug back in the mid 90's and have been unable to shake it.


Me too, my childhood was a combination of Tom Sawyer and Lord of the Flies. Back then it was BMX and dirtbikes, mountain biking came later.


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## Traildogcharlton (Jan 30, 2013)

I'm in college. Last year I was looking for a sport that kept me outdoors and wasn't dependent on constantly spending money towards it. I grew up on four wheeler's and dirt bikes, that's were the money aspect comes from, they are expensive. I was looking for a more "me" experience. 

I ran across a cheapo diamondback (sub 300$ bike) that I actually ended up getting for free from a buddy. Regardless, I took it out to the local singletrack trails with a good friend. We knew at the end of that first ride when we were sharing high fives and smiles that we had found our sport. I love everything about mountain biking, where it puts you mentally and physically. It's not just a sport its a lifestyle, I see it carrying over in so many more aspects of my life. 
My love for nature and our earth has improved even more since I started mountain biking. I happily just picked up a 2013 Trek Fuel EX 7, I've expanded my core group of riding buddies from 1 to 4. My buddy just got a trail dog, and I plan on taking mine out this year (there is one way singletrack near us to train him on) and I plan on buying my girl a bike this year too. 
Once you invest in a good bike really the sport is free. You pay for travel but that's it. Its rewarding to me because it keeps you in the moment, there is no worries while you're out there - just that exact moment as you see, feel, and hear, nature around you.

I'll travel the world with my bike.. because it has gotten to that level as a whole where people have the ability to take their bikes with them.


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## shamrok (Aug 2, 2012)

doing some photography work of the state championship race series towards end of Summer/start of Fall is what got me wanting to play in the dirt and rocks (have been a roadie since I started biking)

already sold the 29er I bought in Sept for something a little nicer... also picked up a RL Monocog Flight 29er 

yeah I got bit by the mtb bug pretty bad.


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## joel63 (May 13, 2012)

Went to the LBS with the wife for her birthday, she wanted a cruiser for grocery runs and to tool around the neighborhood. I couldnt believe what I saw, full suspension up to seven inches of travel, bright anodized bling and hydraulic disc brakes, where have I been ! I gravitated towards a sweet looking Yeti Big Top for myself, until I saw the price tag, um, we'll, until she saw it. We decided to come down a bit and try it first to see if I'd stick with it. So my first season was on a Alma 29r and I had a blast, the hook was set ! I felt something was still missing and was tired of busting my old but in the rough stuff and pushing out of corners in the tight stuff, now I'm on an SB66 and found bliss :thumbsup:


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## tyh83 (Apr 4, 2011)

My cousin dragged me out to a couple rides, let me use one of his bikes and that was the basis on me getting hooked for sure. From that point, rode a hard tail Kona for a couple years, then another friend let me borrow their new Elsworth for a rocky terrain ride, and that got me onto the full squisy bike. 

From that point on I haven't looked back since.


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## kubikeman (Jun 4, 2010)

When I was 5, my dad took the training wheels off my bike. He held my seat and told me to pedal as he guided me on a grassy grade. He let go of the seat and I (awkwardly) stayed upright and kept pedaling. 

I'm in my mid-twenties now and he hasn't been able to keep up with me since.


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## Tim Kriksciun (Mar 6, 2013)

Needed transportation in the early 1990s. Picked up a Klein Pinnacle. Had to sell that one a year or 2 later. Recently picked up a later 90s Pinnacle and a 1996 Attitude.


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## willdtrout (Jan 14, 2011)

I rode bikes as a kid but got away from it. I spent some time in the military in S Cal but had a car so didn't need a bike (or so I thought). I sold the car my last year and bought a rigid RockHopper. I cruised all over Camp Pendleton Tank trails and cruises up the beach. I went home when I got out but was in a city so no local rides nearby. After a couple years I moved to a small rural town and brought the Rock Hopper. It was a campus cruiser but I remember the last spring I was there I slogged up the hill past the dump and got on USFS ground. Found a trail, hell may have been a cow trail, and took off down it. I was cruising pretty fast and came up to a tight corner. Tried to take it but my rear tire washed out and I tumbled. Didn't get hurt, even without a helmet, and I jumped up grinning.

That wreck made me a mountain biker. Soon after that my ride was stolen (locked to a bike rack, they unbolted the rack and took it all). But I than moved to Southern New Mexico (Las Cruces) which it turns out is pretty impressive MTB nirvana. It wasn't long before I saddled up to a Bridgestone MB5 (and not much later a suspension fork, elastomers LOL) and was soon riding 6 days a week thru that beautiful desert country. I knew I was hooked when I saw woman on a bike and checked out her bike before looking at her.

The wreck got me going but what really did it was the area I was living in. I could count on going for a ride every day, winter spring, summer fall. I could ride to trails from my house and there were a multitude of trails within twenty miles and forested mountains a couple hours away. Got involved with a riding group and if possible, I rode to much.

It also helped that Moab was centered between my school and where I was from in Oregon so I could stop there coming and going.

That was twenty years ago and MTB has stuck with me. My ride is dated but its a carbon Fuel 100 all XTR with Chris King Hubs and other bling. Life has caught me and I don't ride near as much as I like. A big part is because my summers are busy and winters are snowy but around now when thing start to dry out I have time to get her out and still love to ride. Two rides this week. And I still make it to Moab every couple of years.


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## jcerion929rr (Jun 7, 2010)

I used to ride a bmx bike around for hours and hours every day when I was a kid. You would be hard pressed to find me without my bike. I went off to college and the bike sat in the basement of my parents for a long time. 

Fastforward many years later and I am constantly snowboarding in the winter. I decided that I needed something just as awesome to do in the warmer months and thus my love of mountain biking started. I just wish that I could afford a better bike, seeing as how I'm a teacher. Tax time is coming and I think I'm going to splurge and buy a nice bike finally. I'm sick of beating the crap out of mediocre bikes.


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## trail-adventure (Jan 30, 2013)

i got hooked when i was 10 riding my 1972 power light bmx with my dad on the trails. later that summer my bmx was too slow and just not as fun. so i got my first mtb a 1997 gt backwoods.


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## dompedro3 (Jan 26, 2004)

I had an ex girlfriend and was too much of a coward to just break up with her. So I decided to take up a time intensive hobby, I had an old mountain bike, so I just started going mountain biking. I would go for long rides every time she wanted to hang out. Hanging out this afternoon, I would got for 6 hour ride at 1:00 pm, and be so exhausted when I got back, that there would be little energy left for more than shower and sleep. I went more and more and then when I finally got the balls to break up with her, I stuck with the biking. 11 years and 5 bikes later I am married to a woman who encourages me to go mountain biking.


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## criscobike (Feb 21, 2013)

As strange as it may sound; it was during my first race. I was kinda into it and just did some random rides for fun. I was in terrible riding shape, but the idea of race just sounded so appealing. I felt like I almost died, but man it rocked! Been totally obsessed ever since.


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## skiinnyboy (Mar 12, 2013)

I just love the challenge of it, pushing yourself to get better and be outside.!!!


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## CarolinaLL6 (Apr 12, 2010)

I'm not hooked because at heart I'm a natural-borne couch potato. I do it for my health and for me it is the most pleasurable way to accomplish that. So if it wasn't for health reasons I don't know if I'd ride.


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