Mountain Biking Advice

Where?
I Rode tiger mtn in seattle a couple weeks back. I'm spending a bunch of time lately in socal for work, and a coworker lives in monument, co

 

My brothers the connection. He's lived in Wyoming for years and has competed in the circuit throughout the state's of Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Idaho and I'm sure a few more. He no longer competes but still rides and builds trails. Any terrain you could imagine, he's riding.
I went out for a couple months this spring and he took me out on a few of them. Damn near killed me. But it was fun as hell!

 

Definitely not as fun as surfing but it's still a blast. I recently moved a few hours away from the beach and picked up a full suspension Santa Cruz off CL and I am hooked. In the process of building a pump track in the back yard now.

 

See my above post. Short loops, but at least you can get your ya-yas out. Check this out...

https://www.singletracks.com/mountain-bike/best_trails.php?new_state_id=411

 

You can get great deals at bike shops selling rentals. I bought a specialized in 1999 for 130 bucks and still ride it all the time.

 

I don't really go all into it, but I ride my bike from Manasquan to Allaire Village, quite a few times a year, on that Edgar Felix bike path. I've also biked from Manasquan to Long Branch, mostly using the boardwalks and ocean ave. And from Manasquan to Seaside Park a few times. I only take one of those really long rides once a year, and my ass usually hurts when I ride that far haha.

 

I mountain bike nearly everyday, spend too much money on bikes, and am often recuperating from mountain bike injuries.

My advice is just do it. all of it, cross country, downhill, dirtjumps. I rode a bunch in between swell events back east, and it was a great alternative to whining about crappy surf. I moved out to Bellingham WA a few months ago because of mountain biking, and its pretty hard to not enjoy once you get over the hump of building fitness and balls.

White clay is not a gnarly trail system in anyway, but a co worker of mine broke his neck there, I had to call a helicopter to resucue a dude out of the Utah desert who broke 3 ribs and punctured a lung riding uphill at 1mph, I have had to drag people off trails that were too dazed to move. Its a dangerous sport anywhere you ride be safe and have fun. Unllike surfing Its a sport that people are pretty open and willing to show you the ropes, and as trail users we do a pretty good job of gaining access to good spots.

and always rememeber no dig, no ride

 

Allaire is the closest spot to my house these days (15 min drive) so I get out there with some regularity, but I vastly prefer Hartshorne if I have a bit more time (30 min or so each way). Allaire is getting more fun as I start to learn the trails and can ride faster, but it's pretty flat and for the most part the trails and intersections all look identical. It's kind of fun to get lost there for a little bit, but then it just gets boring (plus I'm only now starting to be able to go there and have any confidence that I'll be able to find my way back to the car by a certain time). Also it tends to get overgrown in summer, the ticks are horrendous, and I swear it is somehow always 10 degrees hotter and 50% more humid than it is at my house during the warm months. And dear god, the sand. I like it best on coldish winter mornings, when the ground is nice and hard, the sand is less of an issue, the bugs are mostly gone, and there's fewer people there. It's far better than not mountain biking, but it's not my favorite. There are some areas with cool jump lines and such, which is not really my thing but if you're into that it would be a lot more exciting.

Hartshorne, comparatively, is awesome for mildly technical XC riding (prob a bit biased cause that's where I learned to ride). Only about 8-10 total miles (though there's a newish connector that allows you to link to Huber with only a couple hundred yards on roads, whereas it used to be a good half mile on the road at least), but lots of short, steep climbs and descents, fun technical features, awesome views of the Navesink river and the ocean and Sea Bright and Sandy Hook, and very distinct trails that all differ from each other (and fairly well marked and easy to navigate). Seems to be dramatically more ticks and sandy sections now than when I first started riding there 12-13 years ago, but so it goes I guess. It's still not nearly as bad as Allaire in either category. By and large it's easy enough technically to have fun on your very first ride, but there are spots and sections with plenty of aerobic and technical challenge... there's a handful of climbs and features that I'm still years away from being able to ride cleanly (I'll probably never get there... of course trails evolve and change over time anyway so it's a moving goalpost sort of situation).

 

MT Penn is fun. Just behind reading and offers it all. We are doing a Thanksgiving group shuttle ride on their dh trail there.

 

PS--Dont ever lay down for a rest at a bike park:

 

So...you want a cookie??

 

Buy a Fat Bike, you will not be sorry. For trails and beach only, though. Not great on pavement. I ride 3+ days a week when I can't surf and am lucky to have trails out my back door. Aerobic, technical, cardio, power. After riding hard tail, full sus, road, cyclecross, I found the sacred path on my fat bike. Up here in New Hammy, I ride all winter on the snowmobile trails and singletrack when it's not too deep. I through tunes on, plenty of water, some extra curricular stuff, and loose my mind for 1-2 hours. It's as good as surfing, but more reliable. And keeps me in shape for year round surfing.

 

Trust me on this... go buy a mid-level hardtail and ride the heck out of it. After you have ridden it for a few months and are getting in "bike" shape, go rent some full suspension bikes. Eventually, you will find the magic bike and then you can buy it. "Bike" shape is different from anything else. Before I started riding, I had run marathons and surfed my entire life. I thought I was in good shape until I tried to mountain bike with my cousin.

Getting a really nice bike will mean a lot, once you can actually enjoy its full potential. If you haven't been riding for long, you will not be in good enough biking shape AND you won't really appreciate what the bike can do. Riding the hardtail will get you in shape and, once you try a full suspension bike, you will really appreciate the difference. You can generally rent nice full suspension bikes for 60-80 bucks a day. When you find the magic one, it will probably run you $3-5k, so you will want to be sure that A) you will actually ride it as much as you think and B) that it is the perfect bike for you.

Once you get into it, you will probably be hooked. It is the perfect compliment to surfing. Going on a long downhill is just like dropping in on a good wave. A trail is also always there, so when there isn't surf, you can ride. There are soooo many awesome trails up and down the east coast. In NC, Pisgah and Du Pont Forests are the mountain bike equivalents of Indo. Have fund and good luck.

 

I agree--I recently bought a Trek model 820....$375. I go off road a lot, and have all the fun in the hills those with expensive bikes have. One difference--when they damage their bike, they cry like babies. My bike--too sturdy to get damaged, but if it does, cheap to repair. Hasn't happened yet.
Similar to surfing, you can surf on any board you wish, you will still have fun. Just ride. Just surf. And STFU.

 

I didn’t realize how many “live strong” Lance Armstrong dudes are on here.

 

I’m just mad because my montain bike was stolen off my porch in my last place when I lived near Tampa. Ghetto ass neighborhood.

 

That's what I am saying. Buy a reasonable hardtail and see if you fall in love with riding. If you do, I promise, your view point on what is reasonable to spend on a nice bike will change. Ride the hardtail, then rent a nice bike on a trip to the mountains.