Was I on That Ride?

Join us for some mountain bike riding. Ok I will. I was in Colorado riding a road event when a friend encouraged me to stay a bit longer and join his friends riding mountain bikes. I agree. I call my buddy back home and he ships me my mountain bike. A moment of flexible schedule – nice timing.

I know 1 guy out of 5. They are all nice and welcome me along. I am a day later than them arriving at our lodging.  

We go ride. They are all on the best bikes made – full suspension machines made to eat up the terrain. I am on an old hardtail. My buddy who is 2 decades older than them is on a bike older than that with no suspension and has just a few friction gears. I am confused. My buddy is a strong rider and although a bit of a retro-grouch, he has a newer mountain bike with front suspension. What is he thinking? We are in Colorado after all.  

Then I ride with them and find out. He has downgraded his technology to make the ride more difficult so that he will enjoy riding with his friends. Wow. Nowadays we call that – underbiking. Underbiking is riding a bike that is not best suited to the terrain but doing it anyway. He was completely underbiked. But, he hung with his buds. They were, as you guessed, overbiked. A fair amount for the terrain but even more overbiked for their skill level and riding ability. But, as I have said before, if you can afford it and it motivates you, I will support that choice of yours.  

The funniest part though was at night. It was early GoPro days, so it was a big deal, at least to them. 

We returned to our lodging and the first thing those guys did was watch the video of the ride. Each one had a GoPro and watched the entire ride of each person. Four separate videos of a half day ride. Ouch. I did not stay for much of that show, but I did start off with them. Hearing them talk about it was like listening to them talk about a ride I had not been on. It was almost confusing to me. My retro-grouch friend put it simply. He also put it quietly as to not offend because he is a class act. 

He simply said, ‘sounds like they were on a different ride than we were.” Spot on. That is exactly it. Surely you have been there before. Your riding partner is talking about this hairy drop-off and that big sharp rock to the left and you are thinking – I do not even remember a drop-off. Where was I? Yes, we all see things different. That extreme terrain to some is just a normal day to others. That mountain to some is just another day of climbing to others.

I rode with a woman that would freak on certain terrain. It was easy and well within her skill level, but she would walk down it and still be freaked out. Often mad at me for even thinking she might ride it. I had not noticed that it was worthy of concern; that is until she reacted to it.

How do you ‘even the skill level’ on a ride? Do you ride old tech? Do you take a harder line? Do you pull the entire time? Do you carry more stuff to be heavier?