Ten Things Every Mountain Biker Should Have Done

Small caption and 3 minute video over at Dirt Rag.

After you've watched, here's the list:

1: build a bike
2: ride at night (best footage in the video)
3: ride in the snow
4: ride in another country
5: sleep next to your bike
6: explore a new trail
7: cross a mountain range
8: ride a race
9: visit a bike park
10: ride to the sea

My report card:  (And this is going down on my Permanent Record.)

1: 80%
2: check
3: major geographic limitations here; does racing through ice-covered puddles count?
4: 0%, unless you count Moab, but that’s more like another planet
5: check
6: check
7: close but no cigar; again, major geographic limitations here
8: check
9: not so much
10: check; making up for some of the geographic limitations in #3 & #7, I could do this on a kid’s tricycle
Total: 5 solid, with GED credit for a couple more.

Things I’d add to the list:
a: maintain & build trails (in order of importance)
b: use an mtb for non-recreational, non-commute purpose: disaster relief, hunting, medical rescue, smuggling, etc.
c: teach somebody else to mountain bike
d: ride hard enough to require a hospital visit afterward
e: effect MacGyver-class trailside bike repairs, preferably in the middle of a race
f: do an adventure race
g: get something published in a major mtb publication – even if it’s a music or beer review
h: road bike, & do it well
i: counter-attack an attacking dog
j: work on professional friendships on a mtb trail (as opposed to the more typical golf course venue)

Well that’s ten more items, and considering that the list ends with the letters i and j, we’re off on the imaginary axis.  Time to call it a night.