Mountain Biking is better than Road biking
When people ask me why I mountain bike I answer "How can you NOT mountain bike?" Mountain biking combines fresh air, scenery, vitamin D (in the form of sunlight), fun people, outdoor venues, balance, upper as well as lower body strenghtening, cool technology (usually affordable), freedom from smog and infernal combustion engines and awesome racing opportunities around cool places in the world.
No offense to my skinny-armed, gaily clad, spandex-wearing roady colleagues in the sister (certainly not brother) sport of road riding but our sport is just plain better.
Oh I get the idea of riding in a group with the dynamics and strategey and camaraderie that it entails but really now, is that the only advantage? Lets tick off the list of MTB benefits and compare these two fine sports honestly.
Would n't you rather pick a line out of a rock-studded trail with both vertical as well as horizontal hazards than to stare at the monotony of a white line marking a shoulder on a road?
Would n't you rather wear what you want... something that you can wear to the 7-eleven or mall after you ride than the circus costume of an advertisement-encrusted, rear-pouched jersey worn over spandex shorts that strangle the family jewels even as they display them?
Would n't you rather have biceps, shoulders and triceps that you can show off after your investment in your sport instead of the bacon stretched over bone that comes from road-riding?
Would n't you rather fall honestly out of your own miscalculations than to be brought down by the idiot next to you in the peloton who swerved into you?
Would n't you rather win on individual merit by actually being faster than others instead of sitting on someone's wheel for the entire race and then passing them at the end like so many of the so-called heroes of road-biking do?
Would n't you rather fall into the relatively forgiving arms of a wild bush or tree than to become part of the bug-encrusted grill next to the Ford emblem on an F-350?
Would n't you rather point to your race photo and say that is me there next to the Ponderosa pine by the waterfall than to say.. "that's me there in the middle" as you point to a sea of identical looking riders?
Would n't you rather catch some air in a jump once in a while instead of tasting the recycled air of the rider in front of you that you are drafting behind?
Alas, I fear that I must stop this rant before I offend too many roadies. To be fair, our light weight friends can occasionally come to the mountain-biking trails and crush us into the ground (as long as the course is gentle enough for them). Some of my best friends ride cement and although they can not beat me in arm wrestling they don't look quite as gay as,... well, synchronized divers?
See you on the trail
John