How did I give up mountain biking for the road?

[Globalti]

From 1988 to 2009 I was the world's number one mountain biker; I ws obsessed by mountain biking to the point of irritating my family and friends; I sneered at roadies and spent money on increasingly exotic frames. Then I started to fall out of love with the mud, the wet, the long drives to ride, the late returns from night rides, undressing shivering in the garage and having to clean the filthy bike and stinky dirty kit the next day. In 2009 I acquired a road bike and since then I have hardly touched he poor neglected and once-loved mountain bike, in fact the last time I rode it was in July 2012.

Now I'm even thinking I might *whisper* sell the mountain bike.

How can such a change have happened? I feel I've betrayed my old bike so badly but I'd rather it was being used and loved than sitting miserably in the garage, chained to a shelf and unridden while the growing collection of exotic road bikes sneers at it.

The question is - sell complete or break? It's a titanium hardtail with a rigid eXotic carbon fork, a fast, lightweight XC bike in well-used but good condition.

 

[snorri]

How can such a change have happened?

Advancing years.

 

[fossyant]

I'll give you £60 and a turnip.

I'd keep it. I still use mine, yup I am a clean freak but a bit of muddy stuff is fun. Got some good real routes that are less than a mile from my house, or can whizz the bike just 9 miles to Clayton Vale. And I'm a roadie through and through (crap off road descending).

 

[dan_bo]

I'll give you £62.23, 8 turkish lira and a dog chewed meerkat toy.

Either that or don't sell it. There'll come a time when you're falling asleep on some god forsaken bit of tarmac and you'll see a bit of brown ribbon that you've never noticed before.....

 

[jazzkat]

I've just succumbed to N+1 and bought my first mountain bike since I bought my first one 20 years ago.
I'm a total roadie, but I quite fancy getting muddy again and while I was never a very good (fast) rider, I liked getting out on the trails and away from 'it'.
Living in the lakes now there are so many great trails I've bit the bullet.

I'd say keep it, you might fancy a change again in the future.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

If it ain't taking up space you need for another bike keep it.

One day your love of the dark side may wane, even if only for one summer's day and then you'll be glad you kept her.

 

[Buckled]

Keep it. If you loved MTBs before, you will love them agan. They're all just bicycles. It doesn'nt have to be tribal or exclusive. How can you bear to sell it and pass up the chance of a nice, rattly, mucky blast across the hills? A year or two of avoiding off-road riding is nothing. Keep it, fettle it and before you know it you'll be riding it again. Road/MTB is not either/or, it's both/and.

 

[Linford]

Mountain bikes unless you are actually taking them up and down a mountain are just the poor relation of road bikes..

 

[jowwy]

From 1988 to 2009 I was the world's number one mountain biker; I ws obsessed by mountain biking to the point of irritating my family and friends; I sneered at roadies and spent money on increasingly exotic frames. Then I started to fall out of love with the mud, the wet, the long drives to ride, the late returns from night rides, undressing shivering in the garage and having to clean the filthy bike and stinky dirty kit the next day. In 2009 I acquired a road bike and since then I have hardly touched he poor neglected and once-loved mountain bike, in fact the last time I rode it was in July 2012.

Now I'm even thinking I might *whisper* sell the mountain bike.

How can such a change have happened? I feel I've betrayed my old bike so badly but I'd rather it was being used and loved than sitting miserably in the garage, chained to a shelf and unridden while the growing collection of exotic road bikes sneers at it.

The question is - sell complete or break? It's a titanium hardtail with a rigid eXotic carbon fork, a fast, lightweight XC bike in well-used but good condition.

slap some slicks on it and use it for commuting

 

[RWright]

Not long after you sell it you will get the urge to ride MTB again, at least that would probably be what would happen to me.

 

[boydj]

The MTB would be handy if it snowed..............

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

Will you regret it at some point if you do sell?

 

[400bhp]

Well, you did say you used to stare at a cow's dismembered head every day on the way to work.

That is all.

 

[PeteXXX]

Be very careful talking about your MTB like that. They have feelings you know! Next time you ride it, you might get chucked into a ditch or muddy puddle or summat..

 

[Globalti]

The reason why it's built up as a fast, light XC bike is that I used to shoulder it up real mountains then ride it along and down them; the High Street circuit in The Lakes was one of my favourite outings. But trips like that need an entire day out so they became increasingly rare as family duties caught up.