Fast regional racer. Kinda cocky. Fast. He was pure roadie when I met him. Mountain biking was still new. I was one of the few in lycra shorts and a team jersey at the mountain bike races. Cutoff jeans and T-shirts dominated. Ahhh – more on that later. But, you have now dated this story.
He finally decided he would get a mountain bike. He got a nice one with cheap brakes. Remember the date of this story – this is cantilever days. Not the cantilevers of today (I have those, and they are light years ahead). Cantilevers of the 80’s. The ones that your forearms locked up with cramps after a long downhill. The kind that literally forced you to take a rest break not because your legs were screaming but because your forearms were, and you needed to brake hard on this next section. This was also U-brake world for a brief moment – blah. Maybe this speaks more of the terrain I enjoyed, but I do believe it also to be a general fact.
My fast racer buddy showed up with a nice mountain bike and horribly cheap brakes. As we checked out his bike, we all noticed his brakes. We said nothing but he noticed our eyes. His response was, “Who needs brakes on a bike?” In road racing you still need them, but the focus is on speed, so he thought he could save money with these brakes on his mountain bike.
We gathered together and hit the singletrack. Pure North Carolina tight, slick, winter-style singletrack. Yes, back in the days of super narrow mountain bike bars and super tight tree clearances not to mention the ‘wide’ tires we were riding were 1.95. We hit that entry with a slight downhill that weaved between the trees and headed toward a pond, then a 90 degree turn left at a downed tree. We were rolling fast because … downhill. At that downed tree, we each hit brakes hard and carved the left turn. Regional racer buddy did also but … cheap brakes. He barely slowed and missed the turn entirely; hit that tree and over the bars (and tree) he went. No, not as far as the pond. He got up, cussed, then amazingly admitted, ”I guess brakes are more important on a mountain bike”. Ahhhh – wisdom is formed in many a strange location.
Let’s talk gear. My buddy thought brakes on a mountain bike were not really important. He discovered he was wrong 100 yards into his first mountain bike ride. What did you think was ‘not important’ until you discovered otherwise … and how did you discover it? Or maybe you feel something is not important and still believe that – tell us….
When my buddy, Red, put clipless pedals on his rigid Kona Explosif I thought he lost his mind. When I succumbed (and after a small learning curve) I couldn’t believe I ever survived a ride without them!
I can relate. The learning curve can be steep, but I think the rewards are well worth it. In fact, there will be a future story about my experience with clipless pedals soon. Funny that you mention Red. A guy names Red will also appear in a future article – I suspect it is not the same guy though.