Mountain Biking Community example essay topic

Spawned from road cycling in the mid 80's, mountain biking received looks of fear from most bystanders. Here were people on bicycles that had fat tires, many gears, and were able to go off road. As the years progressed and the presence of technology created bicycles that suited everyone's tastes, riders began to classify the different types of riding: cross-country, freeriding, and downhill. Cross-country and downhill riding is pretty self explanatory to most people, riders or not. Just incase, a simple definition of each should suffice. Few mountain bikers have the time to train the three days a week it takes to be in cross-country shape.

Most riders ride on weekends only. Downhill and freeride do not require a high fitness level to enjoy. Because of all the climbing that downhillers do in on a chairlift or in a truck, friends with a disparity of fitness and skill can still ride together. This simply is not possible in a cross-country situation where group rides quickly turn into solo experiences. Madness needs time to take root.

Nobody wakes up one morning and decides: "Hey, I'm going to quit bathing, put my belongings into a shopping cart, sleep in alleys and spend the rest of my life yelling psychological advice to passing motorists". We choose the path of our own destruction, one small step at a time, by making a series of bad judgments. Freeriders, downhillers, magazine editors, cinematographers, product designers, and bike company marketing stiffs didn't get together one day and decide to turn mountain bikers into outlaws, either. Somewhere along the road, however, we made a string of decisions that set a course towards self-destruction. Downhill and freeriding are legitimate factions of mountain biking that have a viable place within the sport. Big-travel bikes are not the problem, either.

Without heavy, ultra-specialized hardware, downhillers could not speed down technical courses and freeriders could not ride scary stunts. The danger of both splinter sports is that neither represents passive use of natural resources, nor can they be considered remotely compatible with other non-motorized user groups like hikers, equestrians, or even your average mountain bikers. Given this aura, it is no wonder that many of the anti-recreation groups are so against all mountain biking in general. The fuel for their fires however, freeriding. Therefore, they must have their own code of ethics: you can be free to ride how you want or where you want, but you aren't free to ride anyhow you want or anywhere you want.

However untrue this code is, these things are happening, just not to the degree where we need to end mountain biking forever. Sure, in some cities, mountain bikers, (mainly downhill and freeriders), have destroyed some hillsides and more than their fair share of popular trails. But what if those local governments were to give them a place to ride and build their trails? Would they still be a problem?

As of September 7th, 2003, the United States Congress said, "Unlikely". But the bill passed by congress is not the only thing changing in the mountain biking world. In order to get away from the defiling name of freeriding, the mountain biking community has changed their name to a more politically correct version: Blackdiamond riding. The gurus of the industry chose blackdiamond riding because they can directly relate it to skiing. Skiing anywhere on a blackdiamond run is going to be difficult, there for, you have to be skilled to ski it.

Same goes for mountain biking in the future, if someone prefers to undertake blackdiamond riding, then they will know exactly what the name implies. Instead of using the term "freeriding", we are now able to classify the same type of riding, but leave out most of the degrading aspects the previous name brought upon our sport. Blackdiamond riding combines the best of both worlds. You pedal all over the place to get from stunt to stunt, so it is a lot like cross-country trail riding. When a group finds a sick drop-in or a ramp, everyone stops to work on it for a while. Blackdiamond riding, in the best sense, offers everything good about mountain biking: it is an inclusive, moderately paced, pleasant social cycling activity that incorporates the natural outdoor experience with elements of danger and personal challenge.

As freeriders, but most recently called blackdiamond riders, we have gone the extra mile. We have changed our name, and more importantly changed our definition. Because, after all, what's in a name? You can change the name and appearance of anything, but it is almost impossible to change what it stands for.

However, as a community, freeriders are willing to change everything about their beloved sport just to keep it alive. Isn't that enough?