How many people here ride mountain bikes?

[trener1]

I ride MTB occasionally, I rally enjoy it but the closest trail is about an hour away and the good ones 75-90 minutes.
If I lived closer to trails I would probably ride 2 x a week on the dirt.

[fmradio516]

Originally Posted by trener1

I ride MTB occasionally, I rally enjoy it but the closest trail is about an hour away and the good ones 75-90 minutes.
If I lived closer to trails I would probably ride 2 x a week on the dirt.

whereabouts are you located?

[Gummee]

Originally Posted by dan_hudson

Clearly NoVA denotes a large area but if you're within riding distance to the Fairfax Cross County Trail (via W&OD?) you can use that as a spine to get to Riverbend, Lake Fairfax, Wakefield, Accotink, and Laurel Hill (north to south)...

https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/parks/...nty-trail/maps

Yeah, try S and W of Manassas. It used to be 10mi to get to the closest grocery store.

Civilization has encroached and now it's less than half that. Grrrr

Wakefield is completely closed. The rest of the parks are seriously busy on the weekends.

Closing all the parks has had the opposite effect: people are MUCH more concentrated in the places they can go as opposed to being able to go to one of several parks. Basic 'law of unintended consequences' stuff

M

[clyde the point]

Whatever happened to Ray from that crash several years ago?

[Buzz]

Started in 1990 on a Fisher Supercaiber in LA. Had the Santa Monica Mtn fireroads more or less to myself for several years. Some really sublime riding back then. Not too technical but a great match for a hard tail with no suspension. Then a Klein, then a specialized 29er. My backyard in No Cal is straight up or down with rougher terrain so it’s been a challenge until I got this dual suspension Pivot. Wow. It has opened up terrain not really doable with a hard tail. It just plows over and through everything. A blast to ride especially on something like the soquel demo trail. Probably 75/25 road to mtn bike these days.

https://youtu.be/MZfSgqFhOq0

[djg21]

Originally Posted by Buzz

Started in 1990 on a Fisher Supercaiber in LA. Had the Santa Monica Mtn fireroads more or less to myself for several years. Some really sublime riding back then. Not too technical but a great match for a hard tail with no suspension. Then a Klein, then a specialized 29er. My backyard in No Cal is straight up or down with rougher terrain so it’s been a challenge until I got this dual suspension Pivot. Wow. It has opened up terrain not really doable with a hard tail. It just plows over and through everything. A blast to ride especially on something like the soquel demo trail. Probably 75/25 road to mtn bike these days.

https://youtu.be/MZfSgqFhOq0

I’ve had my eyes on a Pivot Trail 429 for a while. I’m riding an old 2008 Specialized Epic that has seen better days. I try to get out on my MTB at least once a week when conditions permit. I prefer the MTB in cold weather when it’s too cold to ride a road bike.

[John H.]

I ride all sorts of bikes- Here is my current hardtail and full sus.
The full sus is brand new. Orbea Oiz with 120mm front and rear. It is fantastic!

[joosttx]

Originally Posted by John H.

I ride all sorts of bikes- Here is my current hardtail and full sus.
The full sus is brand new. Orbea Oiz with 120mm front and rear. It is fantastic!

Just dying to show that full suspension Orbea

Looks great

[weaponsgrade]

Among my road, FS, and gravel bikes, this rigid 29er Field has been getting the most riding time.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[texbike]

My journey into cycling started with mountain biking around 90/91. For a couple of years, I exclusively road mountain bikes. It helped that there was easy access to some great trails close by to the school that I was going to at the time. I started hanging out with a group that was also into road riding as well and picked up my first road bike around '93 and fell in love with it.

I continued to mountain bike but over the years it slowly fell off in favor of road riding. Especially once our kids came along - I just didn't have the luxury of time needed to load up my stuff, drive to a trail, unload, ride, load it back up, drive home, unload, and then clean everything up if needed. It was just easier to fit in a quick 1.5-2 hour road ride and get more out of it. The road/mtb time split ended up being 95% road and 5% MTB with some years being 100/0. However, I've always had at least one mountain bike in the garage over the years. Usually a hardtail and and a XC dually.

Fast foward 10 years or so and my kids are now ready to ride trails. My son is now on a local interscholastic MTB team. I wouldn't say that he's loving it just yet as he's more into just casually riding trails as opposed to hammering. What it has done is expose me to mountain biking again and I'm loving it! I joined NICA and signed on as a coach to help out my son's team and am spending a lot more time on the trails as a result.

Outside of that, one of the biggest surprises to me so far is the dizzying amount of tech on mountain bikes these days. It's just absolutely crazy and hard to keep up with it all. My time on the trails so far has been spent on a Redline MonoCog 29r (with flats!) that I've had for over 10 years. Kind of the opposite of what most of the other coaches are riding or my coworkers that I've been out with. I like the simplicity of the SS and am more than able to keep up with the guys I'm riding with and am often able to clear stuff that they're not able to manage. However, the bike does beat the hell out of you on the faster rockier/rougher downhills. I'm casually looking for a new MTB, but haven't really decided which direction to go. The tech seems to be moving so quickly, I'm almost tempted to just upgrade to a nicer SS platform with front suspension to keep it simple for now.

Anyway, apologies for the rambling post. Good times!

Texbike

[etu]

Doing mostly off road these days with the Jones!

[EB]

Stay-at-home orders have ended my commuting for now. That has only accelerated the transition to MTB, which was already well underway. Like Houston, I sold off my last road racing bike to fund an "all-road/gravel" bike, and I do not expect to buy another road racer again. At some point, I do want a full suspension trail rig to complement the Mosaic.

If we still lived back east, I would probably still have a road racer, but for Marin County, this is all I could ever want.

[fishwhisperer]

I've been moving more and more of my miles to the dirt over the last 7-8 years, and today I do most all of my riding off-road with the exception of my commute. I got back into MTB two years ago when I got my Stinner and fell in love. My old CX bike turned gravel bike still gets the most mileage but the hardtail gives the most joy.

[proxient]

MTB party!!!

Yellow is my single speed 29er Sweettooth Fab (made in Brooklyn NY)


Brown is the bikepacking 29er Sweettooth

and squishy is a Commencal meta am 27.5er

[fa63]

You all are making me want to get a MTB now It has been many years since I last rode one, but I have been doing some singletrack trails on my gravel bike lately (and wishing I had at least a front suspension fork)...