A strange phenomenon is sweeping our local trail networks. Roots are disappearing. Rocks are migrating. The cuts in the side hill are getting wider. At it’s current rate of growth, every corner will be bermed by 2015, and terms like “off-camber,” or “bunny-hop,” will quietly make an exit from most mountain bikers’ vocabulary.

While masses of sheep cheer for faster, smoother, flowier trails, the lions left among us are growing worried. This growing trend in our communities may actually threaten the very foundation of our still great sport.

Many early mountain bike trails were all but un-rideable by any but the most seasoned riders. It may have taken years to gain the skills to clean what today are our favourite trails. At times sections of them were humiliating, frustrating, and even down right enraging, but they managed to  get us hooked and kept us coming back for more. These challenges earned us great skills, confidence and power. In short, they made us better. Failures made us smarter, cuts and bruises made us tougher, and overcoming our fears made us smile! These were the principles that made mountain biking as popular as it is today. Obviously people could see that we were having fun because many of them are now trying out mountain biking for themselves.

All over the world, the sport of mountain biking is undergoing a major growth spurt. In our community we are seeing quite literally hundreds of new riders each year take it up! But this exponential growth is changing the face of mountain biking in a very significant way.

Apparently not every rider has the patience, perseverance, or courage to devote the time to becoming good enough to ride some of the more technical sections of trails, yet for some odd reason feel entitled to an experience free of getting off their bikes and walking!

I find the trend towards making the trails easier for everyone to be a disturbing one. I was fortunate enough to grow up with the sport of mountain biking from its early infancy, and have developed a lot of technical riding skills along the way. I don’t always miss all the roots and logs on my favourite climbs, yet out of principle, I can’t support the sterilization of our singletrack in any way. The individuals involved in the dumbing down of our trails are robbing themselves and other newer riders of opportunities to push themselves and become better. How can this be good for the soul of a sport that thrives on the progression of rider’s abilities? How can we prevent turning exciting rivers of singletrack into stagnant ponds?

If there are any of you new trail yuppies out there reading this, please be considerate, and think to yourself for a moment before you alter that section of trail you don’t like or can’t ride. Ask yourself these questions: Is it difficult? Is it challenging? Is there anybody who can ride it? Is it possible that someone could actually enjoy the difficulty and challenge? If you answer yes to any of these questions, then I suggest you put down your tools, pick up your bike, and try that section until you clean it, or have at least given it three to five honest attempts. Then go home, and come back to it another day and try it again. And again, and again, and again! After several years, go back to that section and look at it again. Are you a better rider now than you were before? Do you want to remove it now? I didn’t think so!

Also keep in mind that although you may believe that what you’re doing to the trail is improving it and increasing it’s sustainability, think again. Roots and rocks are like the rebar in your house’s concrete foundation. They’re helping hold the dirt together, and keep it on the trail. Removing them will make the trail faster, which may seem like a good thing for a while, but give it time and you will see the negative results. With more speed comes more braking, and with more braking comes more braking bumps. Deep braking bumps are every bit as rough as the roots and rocks that used to be there and much less satisfying to ride over. At least in my opinion.

Mountain biking is hard. It’s supposed to be challenging. This is the spirit the sport grew up in. Let’s not bring the trails down to our level. If you have no easy trails in your area, then build a new one, but let the difficult ones remain difficult. You’ll appreciate it once you’ve learned to ride better.

It’s funny the things you begin to look forward to once you become a parent. Before learning that I was going to become a dad, I never would’ve thought that I’d so anticipate being one of those parents seen pulling a child carrier behind their bikes. Now, however, what used to look like a chore before becoming a dad, is now a great excuse to get some new bike related swag! As cycling parents, behind-the-bike child carriers make perfect sense for transporting kids around, so when our baby girl was born, my wife and I couldn’t wait to go shopping for a child trailer to tow behind our bikes. After some looking around, we settled on the Joytrax SE2. 

Since our baby was too small to place in the Joytrax right away, (they were relatively new to the child carrier scene and did not yet offer the needed accessory to safely  and comfortably carry a newborn baby,) we had to put the trailer away in the shed for the winter. I spent that rest of that season eagerly awaiting the spring, realizing more and more just how fun it was going to be to pull my little girl around in that sleek and sporty looking little red waggon!

The infant supporter we ordered with it was only good once baby had gained ample head stability and was strong enough to sit herself up mostly on her own. About 5-6 months, which for us worked out to be the beginning of March, just as the sun was really beginning to shine and the roads were drying out! To be honest, during the early months of a babies life, it really is a lot easier to walk her in a narrower stroller that is higher off the ground, as the 2 seater chariot is a bit too wide to walk around the grocery store or the coffee shop for example. In this light, the lack of newborn carrying capacity was not a real concern for us when it came to choosing the Joytrax, though it might be for other parents. Chariot brand carriers, after all, do offer baby slings and bunting bags for carrying newborns.

Biking with the Joytrax

The first time we took the trailer out, I was half expecting it to be a bit of a grind. We have some hills in our little mountain town, and the bike legs aren’t that strong first thing in the spring, but pulling the Joytrax proved to be almost effortless, even when climbing hills. Of course you feel it when you first start out, but once rolling I find myself pretty much unable to feel it, to the point that I have to take a look back and make sure that baby is still attached! The negative to this trait, is that even over rough stuff, what the trailer is really doing is anyones guess, unless you happen to be riding along side it, as my wife was when she cringed and gave me hell for jolting the kid through a huge pothole in the pavement, (I really had thought I navigated around it succesfully as I dind’t feel the trailer smash anything. Oops!) Lesson: Be super aware of where those trailer wheels are, as you don’t get much feedback on your end. On another note, the profile of this trailer is very sleek, so it’s also fairly aerodynamic and doesn’t seem to make the bike any harder to pedal into the wind than it would normally be.

The Joytrax comes with suspension which works really well, as even after smashing into a deep pothole at 10 to 15 km/h, baby didn’t wake up. The springs are adjustable, so you can start out soft while child is light, and with the flip of a lever, step it up in increments as the trailers load gets heavier. Both wheels move up and down independantly, offering great balance through corners and over uneven terrain. The wider wheel base of the two child carrier lends itself toward stability. When rolling onto and off the sidewalks at an angle for example, the carrier has much less lean angle than a single child trailer would have.

Attaching to the bike

Hooking the SE2 to the bike couldn’t be quicker and easier, and the attachment that remains on the bike when the trailer is detached looks super light and clean. No big ugly chunks of steel hanging off the left side of your axle. The joytrax attaches to the rear axle of the bike using a slick little bracket that must be atleast ten times lighter, and much lower profile than  the big bulky knuckle that the Chariot brand uses. Its back plate is thin enough to use your own quick release skewer (A big plus as I really hate using anything other than a shimano QR!), where Chariot’s trailers need to use the extra long one they provide, which always seems to have an inch of rod protruding from the nut on the other side.

That said, it does make you wonder about the strength of it when comparing it to the attachment that Chariot uses. When it comes to the safety of your little ones, we probably shouldn’t be concerned about things such as weight and looks, but for now, after three months of use, there haven’t been any signs of wear on any of the hitch plates or universal joint on the hitch arm. Everything so far looks good, and I ordered a couple of extra ones (their not much money, $20 each) so we can just leave them on the various bikes we will be using too pull it with. All -in-all, a clean design, that works quickly and doesn’t interfere with the bike at all when the trailer is not attached.

Features

The SE2 holds up to two children, weighs 22 pounds and has a carrying capacity of 100 lbs. The trailer boasts 2 ¼ inches of suspension travel that’s easily adjustable for stiffness as the load increases by a simple slide of a lever forward or backward beside each wheel. The 20” wheels are spoked, and have poper tires and tubes. They detach easily by pushing a button and pulling them off. In fact, this thing folds down really quite small in just one simple step. flip the two cam levers at the back and slide back the handle and the trailer lowers from 34” to just under 10” (wheels off) imaking it really easy to pack in the car, or store nicely tucked away when not being used.
For a full list of features, check out the BX Trailers website.

Joytrax and BX Trailers?

Sadly, while working on writing this review, I tried to find Joytrax’s website only to find it no longer existed. I thought of what a waste of time it might be to write a review on a great product that was no longer around. Fortunatley, with a little more searching, I stumbled across the website for a company named BX trailers, and noticed that what they were selling was a carbon copy of the Joytrax. I promptly emailed BX trailers to see what was up, and they quickly replied with the following:

Joytrax, as many start-ups, had financial difficulties. The assets of Joytrax (design, IP, tooling, etc.) were acquired byBX International LTD which branded the product as BX Trailers. BX Trailers have substantial improvements over Joytrax trailers, these includes:

1) Improved look.
2) Stronger and more water proof fabric.
3) Completely redesigned Cover.
4) Aluminum tube inserted in the sides to eliminate wrinkling and create more interior space.
5) Intermediate steel plate in the Axle receiver.
6) Hitch Arm backup strap.
7) Improved QA/QC program.

 

For 2013, we are focusing on European distribution. We are currently sold in Germany, Netherlands, Austria, Belgium, Sweden and other countries. Hopefully we’ll be in North America next year.

I was very relieved to find out that the product carried on, and that although they were no longer being sold in North America for the moment, the new company has intentions to make their way back here within a couple years. In the meantime, atleast the last time I checked, the previous distributor of Joytrax trailers in Canada still had a decent number of parts and accessories in stock on clearance, so if you purchased one already from a dealer in Canada, you can still get most of the extras that you need if you act fast!

Conclusion

All-in-all, my wife, myself and my daughter are all super happy with our Joytrax SE2 (BX Trailers) and see no reason why it won’t be the last child carrier we ever need to buy! I will update this post if anytime we encounter a problem we think people need to be aware of, but for now it has been a great trailer. Canadian retail price was around $700 dollars but you can still find some being sold on clearout for more around the $400 range, which in my opinion is a fantastic deal for what you’re getting. The SE2 places itself very near the top of the line in the child carrier world.

Apart from the questions pertaining to warranty and availability of parts and accessories in the future, the only real con I’ve come across when comparing this trailer to some of the other players in the game, such as Chariot and Burley, is that so far there are fewer attachments and add-ons available, the most notable, being the lack of any infant support for children under around the five or six month age group. I’m sure the guys at BX trailers are working on that however, and I hope they will succeed at it. Otherwise, I love the SE2 and highly recommend it!

Actually, it’d be closer to the truth to just tell you that I work in a bike shop that sells skis in the winter. For five months of the year, we all are avid skiers, but the truth is, and I think I speak for most of my co-workers, although we are skiing, selling and tuning skis, mounting bindings, and fitting boots, the truth is we are thinking about mountain biking.

It’s true that the skiing sucks during a long dry spell and there is no fresh snow to shred, but droughts like this one we just went through don’t ruin my mood. The snow all needs to melt off again in the spring, so the less of it we get now, the sooner our trails will be dry enough to ride. The less snow falling in March the better! That’s a mindset much different from that of the customers we’re serving this time of year. But it started snowing again this week, so I trust they’ll be happy.

In this part of the Canadian Rockies we may just have the shortest bike riding season in North America. Winters are long, and we are often plagued with cool springs that seem to last well into June, a month that has come to be known as “Mon-June” Usually the rainiest month of the year.

Luckily for my mountain biking self it didn’t snow for almost the entire month of February, and the weather mild but below freezing, adding up to some of the best mid-winter mountain bike trail conditions I can remember. It’s always nice when we get enough dry days allowing the snowshoers to pack down the local bike trails hard enough for us to ride our bikes on. If conditions are right, as they were this year, you don’t even need one of those goofy looking fat bikes. On one of my outings last month, I came to the realization that there was more mountain biking this February, on top of two meters of firm frozen snow, then there will be in March or April when things warm up! That’s weird, but the fact is in many ways this is the best mountain biking of the year made all the more special because it is so limited. At max we get about two weeks of these conditions. That’s if we’re lucky!

So when all the tourists and seasonal people come and see us working in what to them is a ski shop, (they came for skiing, and think we all did too,) I choose to just pretend that I’m in love with winter and am eagerly awaiting the next big dump. It’s outright lying, but most of them just wouldn’t understand. There are a lot of fun activities for every season, but when it comes to true love, you can really only have just one, and in my case, it is the bike.

As exciting as it is to see it dumping snow on us, the pleasure of skiing it only lasts until I get home and see my bike just sitting there in hibernation. Then starts the thinking about that spring bike trip to someplace warm. Utah? Arizona perhaps? Heck, even Kamloops or the North Shore will do!

I look toward the end of the summer with sorrow, and await the end of the winter anxiously. I do what I need to get by, and sometimes that means distracting myself with a little winter sport. But it’s not out of passion that I ski, though I really enjoy it. Mountain biking is my one true love, and jealous lover at that!

Okay, I better wrap up this post, because it’s snowing hard now and that might be it for biking for the next few weeks. I’m really going to try a little harder to live in the moment, and just be happy for the epic skiing ahead. Back into the basement for my bike.

I was just watched the full length premier a movie named “All or Nothing” on Pinkbike today. If you haven’t done so already, I’d say it’s worth checking out. It’s one of the funner bike films I’ve watched this year, containing a variety of riders, bikes and riding styles. The film also seems to focus on up and coming younger riders, including one that was particularly impressive. The opening clip in the movie is an 11 year old kid named Gerard Trueba riding a modified 20″ trials bike with incredible skill. I dug up an edit on Youtube for you all to watch here, and afterwards I would suggest you follow the link over to the All or Nothing movie and at least watch the first five minutes. You’ll be happy you did.

Gerard Trueba

Who says you need a bike with four inch wide tires to ride in the snow? You don’t know until you try. Just get out there and give it a shot, you might be surprised what your ‘skinny’ tires are capable of!

I have a confession to make. I’m a hoarder. But I’m not one of those senile nuts you see on an A&E television series, buried alive under bottomless piles of useless  junk. Certainly not like them, but a hoarder nonetheless. I like to think of it as just an innocent little case of bike hoardery.

I have always considered myself a mountain biker, and have pursued as many aspects of the sport as I could. For as far back as I can remember, I have not just liked, but loved, my bikes. When I was a child, my one and only bike was all I needed. It could take me anywhere my heart desired. It was a child’s ticket to freedom! Only after finishing school and finding a job as a young adult did it even occur to me that I could own more than one bike. I don’t remember the exact event, but at some point in my late teens, my life as a bike hoarder began.

It looked a little something like this:

When all there was to ride in my town were XC singletracks and forestry roads, one bike was all I needed for mountain biking.

When our local ski hill opened its lifts to mountain bikes the first time, I discovered that I needed a downhill bike.

When the city built a sweet outdoor skateboard park, and the dirt jump scene was starting to take off here, I discovered I needed a 26” dirt jumper and a BMX .

When I became old enough to go to the bar and get drunk enough to become really irresponsible, I discovered I also needed a really cheap and shitty town bike, to ensure my really good bikes wouldn’t get stolen out from under me.

A DH bike, an XC bike, a DJ bike, a BMX and an old shitty townie.

Sounds like enough doesn’t it? But, as you are about to see, it didn’t stop there.

Owning and maintaining five bikes, (though in reality, i guess it would have been four since it is against my unwritten law to spend money, or much time on fixing shitty town bikes) is probably too much for most people, but for me it was a hobby. Hacking on bikes is something I love to do almost as much as riding them. Of course, the thing about hobbies is that if pursued to their max, they eventually turn into jobs, and thus began my career as a bicycle mechanic. A bike hoarders dream come true!

Eating, drinking and sleeping bikes is a great life, but it can get expensive. Working in a bike shop helps keep the costs down. I already had enough bikes, but it wouldn’t be wise to waist a pro-deal, would it? More bikes, more bikes, more bikes…

My XC bike was fast on the uphills, but it I really liked the way my DH bike descended, so I soon learned to keep an all-mountain bike in my fleet.

And for XC, the five inch travel bike was usually the fastest, but sometimes you just can’t beat the efficiency of a hardtail, so I got one of those too.

So far I’ve only talked about the ‘proper’ bikes at my house, but that wasn’t all of it.
Outside the house was a growing pile of dumpy, old, used shit bikes.

If your shed looks like this, contact me. I can help!

You see, my hobby, (or problem,) entices me to bring home every broken bike I find at the dump. I think it is a shame people throw away bikes that can still be made to work (sometimes people even throw away bikes that are in working order!) so, out of my own good will, I toss them in the van and take them home to fix-up and give a away to some deserving person needing a bike for around town. Good on me.

Actually, there are some problems with that last sentence.

It’s not so much good-will that beckons me to bring dump bikes home, it’s the hoarder within. And though I do give some of them away, my hoarder self will get the best of me and I keep the ones I like most.

But enough already. I hope I wasn’t  boring you while bragging about how many bikes I own.

As time goes by, some of us need to grow up and take on more responsibility. Sounded good to me, so my girlfriend and I got married, and we moved into our first home together. With the addition of her two bikes, (a mountain bike and a townie. She’s not a hoarder,) something had to give.

For the first time in my life, I felt the push to come to grips with my problem. First to go was the pile of townie bikes in the back yard. I kept the three i rode most, and gave the rest away.

Getting rid of the junkers in the backyard wasn’t so hard, but could I part with one of my precious mountain bikes? if you have as many bikes as I had, it gets to the point where you barely have time or reason to ride some of them, and they just take up space in the house. So it didn’t take too much nudging from my wife to convince me that I should get rid of the bikes that aren’t being ridden so much.

I don’t like selling my bikes. I hate it. I don’t have time to get into the emotions involved when a bike hoarder “let’s one get away”. Let’s just say…its complex.

You’ll be happy to know that I was a good husband by selling two of my all-mountain bikes, but you might be a little disappointed to find out that I turned around and bought another one with the money I received for them.

What can I say? Making a full recovery from anything takes some time.

Two more years have ticked by, and now my wife and I have a 4 month old baby girl. With the addition of her Chariot trailer and stroller, we are tight on space in the shed again!

So I have once again made the brave decision to sell some bikes. I plan on whittling my quiver down to just thr…choke…three mountain bikes! A dirt jumper, a downhill bike, and an all-mountain hardtail.

Can I live with only three mountain bikes? Other people seem to do just fine with only one or two, so I’m prepared to give it a shot.

I still don’t feel good about getting rid of bikes, but I can’t say I feel bad about it either. Just sort of indifferent, I guess. After all, there are more important things in life these days, like raising my baby girl. Biking for me this next couple of years is now mostly about temporarily escaping from my hectic new family life. It doesn’t matter so much what I’m riding, only that I can get away for an hour or so each day!

Wish me well. Bike hoarding is not an easy habit to kick. I realize I’m not in the clear yet. I just ordered my wife a hardtail for a second bike, and though I keep saying to myself that I did it for her, I can’t help fearing that this action’s been tainted by my hoarder self. Worse yet, maybe she’s caught it from me, and next thing you know, she’s looking for a downhill bike or something else too?

Then there’s my daughter, who next summer is going to be getting her first balance bike…

Now that I think of it, we should just get a bigger bike shed!

There are a lot of mountain bike blogs on the internet these days, and if you are a regular blog seeker, you will have probably encountered some of these blogs already. As a mountain biking blogger, I am constantly on the lookout for new blogs about mountain bikes, ten of which I have picked out for you here. This list is by no means exhaustive, as there are no doubt hundreds or even thousands of mountain bikers out there writing their own blogs. These are my favourites, at this moment, and I will likely need to update this list once a year or so, as I discover others I like. So here we go, BikeFAT’s list of 10 blogs about mountain biking, in no particular order:

1. Bike198

Bike198.com is a popular blog created by Robb Sutton, and is perhaps the foremost inspiration for BikeFat.com. You see, not only has Robb built a fantastic blog, full of great product reviews, stories, photos and videos, along with an active forum for riders to meet and discuss, he is also very active teaching others how to create their own successful blogs. The saying,”Those who can, do, while those who can’t, teach!” is not true in Robb’s case, as he can so obviously do both and it’s for this reason that Bike198 goes first in this list of best mountain bike blogs.

2. MTB 4 Her

MTB4Her.com was created after one female mountain biker grew tired of digging through the internet to find content about women’s mountain biking. Written by a group of ladies who share our passion for the sport of mountain biking, MTB4Her gives a refreshing view on the fastest growing, yet most overlooked segment of mountain biking. Even though I am not a member of the female gender, I still enjoy checking out the articles and videos on this site. After all, what could a guy enjoy seeing more than girls killing it on their mountain bikes?

3. Fat Cyclist

If you’ve spent any time searching the web for blogs about cycling, than I am sure you’ve seen one blog consistently surfacing. FatCylist.com is one of the most read cycling blogs on the internet. If you haven’t read it, you should. Eldon, AKA “Fatty”, began his blog to share with us his quest to lose weight riding bikes. Besides keeping us up with his body weight, and the rides and races he participates in, he also takes the time to share with us his various musings on biking and life. Not only that, but he puts a tremendous effort into raising money for cancer research through Fat Cyclist, which gives one more reason to join in and support what Eldon is doing on this site. Fat Cyclist is humorous, wise, fun and entertaining and deserves a place on the list of best blogs period, not just blogs about cycling. Nice work Eldon!

4. Singletracks

Singletracks.com is a blog about mountain biking. and with it comes most of the common content types including photos, videos, news, reviews and other articles about mountain biking, but what sets this website apart from the others is the extensive cataloging, mapping and listing of singletrack trails in the United States, Canada and all around the world. It’s the best place to submit a review of your favourite trail, see maps, get directions, or plan your next mountain bike vacation.

5. Drunk Cyclist

Looking for a bike blog with and edge? I think this website might just fit the bill. At DrunkCyclist.com, obnoxious, obscene, cynical and politically incorrect cyclists amuse and entertain by reminding us of the unruliness that made mountain biking great.  Not for the faint of heart though, as even the commenters on this site are a little rough around the edges. Woe to you if you can’t stand seeing f-bombs and middle fingers on your computer screen!

6. Fat-Bike

Not to be confused with yours truly, FAT-BIKE.com is the online place to visit to get your fill of fat bikes. Many of you readers probably aren’t exposed to this type of bike and style of riding, but where I live in the Canadian Rockies, fat bikes are common sight, especially during that half a year we call ‘Winter’. Brrrr! Skiing can distract most of us enough to get through this period with our sanity, (or insanity!) in check, but for some of the real mountain bike die-hards around here, only fat bikes can keep them moving. If you are at all curious about what I am talking about, then don’t keep reading this, click the link and check out FAT-BIKE.com!

7. Bike29

29’ers have been gaining in popularity these past few years, with sales matching, and in some regions surpassing those of the once “traditional” 26 inch wheel. The reason? 29’ers are faster, better, um…faster…oh! and did I mention better? I don’t actually ride a 29’er, though I have tried several of them. They have their good and bad sides just like anything else, but I must be careful who I say this too. You see, there is a growing brigade of evangelical 29er converts out there who swear they are the best things ever, and will soon make those other “puny wheels” obsolete. If you are one of these, then this website is for you. All 29er, all the time!

8. Straight Shot Blog

Have you ever looked at a bike and wanted to know the story behind its frame design? Or were watching your favourite DVD of bike porn and found yourself wondering how they ever got that shot? The Straight Shot Blog covers all aspects of mountain biking, including racing and events, but at it’s heart is the dedication to bringing you closer to the mountain bike industry’s leading artistic minds. We’re talking about the ones who build the bikes you ride, the parts that are on them, the trails you ride them on, and the ones who capture it all, in picture and in film.

9. Sterling Lorence

As much as I hate to repeat this old cliche, I really can’t help it… A picture paints a thousand words! And nowhere is that statement more true than in the work of Sterling Lorence. If you have never heard of Sterling Lorence, than I take it that you have not read very many mountain bike magazines, or watched many mountain bike movies. His work has appeared on the covers and in the pages of more mountain bike magazines than any other photographer known. And for good reason. His photos make the sport of mountain biking come alive for the reader and do more to inspire and stoke the flame of longing to ride than the thousands of words printed between the covers of our favourite publications. For your dose of daily stoke, I recommend visiting Sterling Lorence’s Photo Blog. Few words. Many thoughts.

10. Lee Likes Bikes

Are you looking to improve your game? Or maybe you want to learn how to build trails good enough for the pros? Then check out LeeLikesBikes.com, the official website of Lee McCormack. Who, you ask, is Lee McCormack? Lee is a professional mountain bike trainer, trail and pump track designer, and writer. He has created some of his own unique instruction programs that help improve any rider’s enjoyment of the sport and his website is a literal fountain of riding knowledge. No product reviews or industry hype, just content that can make you a better mountain bike rider. Visitors can also purchase some of Lee’s books, including the one he wrote with the help of Brian Lopes entitled: Mastering Mountain Bike Skills. A must read for any level of rider.

These are 10 blogs about mountain biking that I think you should check out. The term “best” is to be taken as meaning my own personal favourites at this time. If your blog isn’t listed here, please don’t take it personally! I probably don’t even know about it, so please leave a link for it in the comments. I am always excited to discover new mountain bike content online.

You’ll notice that I’ve left out some of the most popular bike websites, and for good reason. I’m sure all the mountain bikers out there who are reading this already know about the big sites such as Pink Bike, Vital MTB, Sick Lines, NSMB, Bike Radar, MTBR, Bike Rumor and the like. If you haven’t heard of some of those, then you should check them out too.

And finally, below is a sort of honourable mention of other blogs I have looked at and would like to support in this post:

• Sheldon Brown
• The Mountain Bike Life
  
• Grizzly Adam
  
• Bike Snob NYC
  
• Berm Style
  
• Ride Monkey
  
  

I’ve been holding out on purchasing a new frame to replace my ageing Banshee Rune because I had a sneaking suspicion that Santa Cruz would soon be releasing an aluminum version of their popular Blur TR 5-inch travel trail bike. It seems my waiting hasn’t been in vain, and readers can expect a full review of this bike as soon as I get my hands on one, I will be placing the order as soon as they send us the price list!

Check out the press release on Bike Rumor, along with the video of Santa Cruz Syndicate Team rider Josh Bryceland killing it aboard the bike.

It’s been one year since the first post was published on BikeFAT.com. I took a life filled with mountain bikes, mountain biking and trail building and added just a little bit of curiosity about how the internet works behind the scene, and this site is the outcome. Considering how hard it can be to find time for this new blogging hobby of mine amid the full-time bike mechanic job, the bike riding, and time with the family, I am relatively pleased to see that more and more people stumble by this webiste each month. Hopefully the second year coming up will see an increase in both quantity and quality of content for more riders to discover here.

Let me celebrate this little milestone with a look back at some of my favourite work on BikeFAT this first year. Whether quick commentaries, short lists, reviews or how-to’s, they represent my idea of what this blog should consist of. I really don’t get much pleasure out of posting product press releases, race results or the latest MTB video edit. I post those things because I’m interested in them, and think others may be as well, but there is nothing particularly creative or enriching about it, they’re basically just filler! Where I really gain enjoyment from BikeFAT is from creating something that comes from my own experience, in my own words and which I believe can be of some value to others, be they cyclists, trailbuilders, bike mechanics, or anyone else. Here are seven of them:

Keeping Your Local Bike Shop Alive Without Missing Out on the Online Deals

This was, in fact, the first original content posted to this website, so for that reason alone it should belong on this list. Online and mail order bike stores have been around for quite a while now, but the Online Bike Shop vs. Local Bike Shop debate is really just starting to heat up. To see for yourself, just read through the comments on Pinkbike.com’s recent post covering the topic. I think we’re all aware that online shopping, at least for the foreseeable future, is growing and here to stay. But it is also clear to most cyclists that the Local Bike Shop is an important part of the bike community in many neighbourhoods, and it would be a shame to lose the near-at-hand services they provide. It’s my hope that in some way the bike industry and the riding community will be able to settle into a balance maintains the best qualities of both the local and the online worlds. At the time, this article reflected an approach that could help with that.

Snow Biking: Finding Singletrack to Ride in The Winter

Where I live up in British Columbia, Canada, it is winter about half the year! BikeFAT.com was started during one of these super snowy and long winters that was, just as it is now today, white and cold as hell (if there really is a hell, I’m sure it’s freezing!) That doesn’t mean that we all put our bikes away when we pull out the skis. I grew up riding my bike in the snow and have always thought it was a lot of fun. I might go so far as to say that the funnest ride of my life has been on the snow. Not only is it fun, but I think it makes you a much more competent rider. Many people have difficulty at first equating snow with cycling, so I always love when I can introduce somebody to it. Hopefully this article will be able to help someone cope with the off-season blues by introducing them to a whole new world of mountain biking opportunities. And yes, it is possible to find really sweet singletrack in the winter time. Check it out!

10 Ways to Make Your Mountain Bike Trail Awesome – Part One
10 Ways to Make Your Mountain Bike Trail Awesome – Part Two

This was a long article, so I split it up over two posts. I have devoted an incredible amount of time building trails. For a few years it threatened to take over my entire mountain biking life. Attempting to build the perfect trail, whatever that means to you, can be one of the most rewarding things any rider can do. It is great to truly understand the planning and effort put onto your favourite loops from the first hand experience of building a loop of your own. Just be careful because taking on this task runs the risk of having it become an obsession. I feel I put a lot of thought into this article, and I really hope that it will give readers a better insight into the soul of building singletrack. Perhaps you’ll want to build your own mountain bike trail?

Bike Review: Banshee Rune
Review: KS Supernatural i950 Seatpost

These two posts were my first attempts at writing in-depth product reviews. They are some of the harder posts to create. I wanted to be as thorough and thoughtful as possible, while remaining unbiased. I have no need to make other people want to buy any of the products I’ve written reviews about so far, so the unbiased part is easy, but trying to explain the characteristics of a bike, for example, in a way that I feel the reader will know exactly what I’m talking about isn’t easy at all. This I found surprising, considering that I work in a bike shop and people are buying stuff everyday based at least partly on my input. But then again, at work I am basically just helping find what I feel is best for any given person by eliminating what I know they don’t need, then presenting them with a choice between a few items that might suite them. I rarely have to get in depth with the workings of the product with them.

There are several reviews I am working on in draft form at the moment, but I can’t post them until I feel that I’ve got the essence of the product properly nailed down in words. Let me know what you think of the two reviews above, and what can be done to improve on them if you have time. It might help me with these future reviews.

25 Best Tools For Trail Building
20 Things Every Mountain Biker Should Carry

List posts are really easy to write, and seem to do quite well with the search engines, driving a lot of new traffic to the site each day. These two are a couple BikeFAT’s most popular posts, the first one, 25 Best Tools For Trail Building, has had over 6000 page views since being posted in March, so I see it as sort of a success. I know that’s probably not a lot of traffic for some websites, but for this one it means that about a quarter of all visitors to my this site begin with this page. The post is simply a list of my favourite tools used for building mountain bike trails, so its very useful as well along with being easy to read. The second post here, 20 Things Every Mountain Biker Should Carry, was written just over two weeks ago, and has already been viewed almost 1000 times, which is certainly off to a faster spread than anything I’ve written so far. That post was simply a glance over the tools and stuff I pulled out of my Camelbak at the end of the riding season. It should make a good starting point for any new rider wondering what might be good to have with them out on the trail.

I think that about sums it up.

Thanks for reading this far, and checking out some of my work. Hopefully you will check back in periodically to check out BikeFAT.com’s perception of mountain biking and mountain bike related activity. I’m excited to see if I can keep this thing growing!

Happy Trails,
BikeFAT.com

My last ride of the season before snow flew, I was taking Giant’s new Trance X 29er demo bike for a test ride. After work that day, in the last hour of autumn daylight, I set out on one of my favourite local singletracks. It’s the trail I’ve probably ridden most, so was a fitting place to test and compare this demo bike to other bikes I’ve ridden. The trail consists of about a 2km climb of moderate grades traversing a steep side hill slope, making use of seven major switchbacks, From the top, riders look forward to savouring those hard earned 450 vertical meters by blasting another 2km, (about 10 minutes worth,) of fast, buff, bermed, flowy, singletrack downhill. This trail holds a special place in my heart mostly because three years of my life’s spare time were spent building it, (and with a lack of all modesty I must admit it’s a damn fine trail!) An encounter I had with a motor biker that evening forever changed the way I felt about my trail and the people using it. More on that in a bit.

For the past three or four years I’ve heard local mountain bikers complaining about their encounters on the trail with people riding motorbikes, but never really gave it much consideration. There didn’t seem to be many of them, and because I couldn’t see it being much fun to ride up tight narrow trails with switchbacks and steep side-hill on big, clumsy, awkward motorized machines, motorbikes didn’t concern me. The technical, twisty downhills in this neck of the woods can be ridden at least twice as fast on a mountain bike, as on a dirt bike, so why should it could catch on? And so what if once on a blue moon, some motor biker finds his way onto a trail? Its no big deal.

Or is it?

It is difficult not to be a little over protective of a trail after digging into steep sidehill like this for 4 kilometers!

When I unveiled my trail to the community, its popularity soared. Things begin to look different after investing so many tough hours into building a pristine trail, and then watching the effects of rider traffic take its toll. Like having a child, after releasing a trail to the world, you feel a duty to protect it from all harm, and so every braking bump, skid mark, or animal hoof becomes a soldier in a marching army out to destroy your hours of selfless work! The thing is, you can’t really defeat them all, and learning to let go of your creation and let it ‘grow up and live its own life’ is an important part of the trail building process. After all, you built the trail for people to ride, so it’s insane to believe that it will stay exactly the same throughout its life.

I thought I was doing good at accepting my trail’s graceful ageing. One year it hosted two big bike races, both with around 500 riders, and it came through with only a few loose corners and a few new braking bumps. I felt pretty secure that my trail would continue to exist for future decades with only a small amount of touch-up here and there. Of course, I only factored in traffic from mountain bikers and hikers. Even though I built it as sustainable and by the book as I knew how, I never envisioned having to make it motorcycle proof. Honestly, I don’t even think it’s possible to do so with the terrain involved here.

The issue surrounding motorcycles and the impact they can have on trails finally came to light on me this summer. My wife and I were enjoying a peaceful ride up this trail on a drizzly day in mid-summer, when that peace was horribly interrupted. What began as a dull, motorized roar in the distance, soon became closer and more obnoxious. We were passed by two motor bikers, skill-lessly revving and spinning the hell out of the switchbacks and climbs ahead of us. Dressed in blue jeans and donning ball caps where their helmets should have been, we could tell these guys were not out there for sport. They were probably just bombing around the dirt road below us when they came across a singletrack trail that they thought looked interesting to explore. Innocent enough, yet I was left feeling deeply disturbed by the event. I believe it’s fair to say my wife, who’d put in some digging hours out here herself, was downright angry, “They’re wrecking our trail! You should tell them not to be here.”

I, however, know better than to argue with the red necks around here, (by their style and attire, these two were definitely “good ol’ boys”) so I avoided any confrontation, and pulled off the trail and let them pass up ahead far enough that we couldn’t hear them any more. As I said, their presence on the trail disturbed me, but it wasn’t anger I felt, rather something more akin to fear. Fear that my precious work was not as safe as I believed. I was appalled at how much trail these two dirt bikes could eat up in such a short time. They left a rut in every corner and loose dirt on every short little steep pitch. It wasn’t enough damage at the time that it needed fixing, but I figured if even just these two boys were to ride this trail once a week, within a year the trail surface would be totally f*%#ked!

My lovely Wife enjoying a sweet DH section of the trail she helped build.

Fortunately, the fear subsided some throughout the year as I didn’t have any more encounters with motorcycles on my trail. At least not until my last ride of the season. Remember the ride I started telling you about at the beginning of this article? I left off with a surprising encounter I had that evening with a motor biker riding my trail, which I’ll now get to.

The fall weather here is certainly moist, so the trail, was damp, but it wasn’t soft. I was alone, and running short of daylight. I had made it up the climb at a fast pace and dropped straight into the downhill, not bothering to stop at the viewpoint at the top. About a quarter of the way down, there is a really tight, banked right hand corner that I wouldn’t call ‘technical’, but does tend to throw off newer riders, and is probably the one spot on the trail that some inexperienced riders will actually get off their bikes and walk. As I was nearing this spot on the trail, I heard the unmistakeable buzzing of a motorcycle engine. The fear, (and maybe a bit of anger this time,) came back as I thought to myself, “Great! Some stupid dirt biker is probably trying to climb up my downhill. I bet he’s spinning out the entire way!” I was not looking forward to the confrontation I felt approaching.

However the scene on the trail was not quite the image I was expecting. At the very corner I described above, I met the guy on the dirt bike. Unlike the encounter with the two red necks months before, this rider was dressed in proper gear, and was as alone out there as I in what had by then become dusk. I stopped and said “Hello,” and he removed his helmet smiling and greeted me back. He explained that he had been at this spot for a while attempting to clean the tight corner, and asked me if I could do it on my bike? And I told him I could, but some mountain bikers can’t, so wasn’t surprised he was having difficulty on his huge ass motorcycle. He then proceeded to go on about how amazing he thought this trail was, and admiring the hard work put into it. He also told me that he had just gotten some new tires for trail riding, so he wouldn’t spin out on the uphills, and expressed some disappointment in himself for accidentally spinning out on one of the switchbacks, which surprised me as I couldn’t remember seeing any sign of trail damage on my ride up, (and believe me, I am always looking!)

Though most mountain bikers would prefer not to encounter motorcycles on their trails, they still need to consider the ways they might react when they do.

Something important struck me at this moment. I realized that he was not an enemy. He was out there trying to perfect his riding of a section of trail that he found challenging which showed me he had a genuine love for his sport and was trying to get better at it. He also displayed gratitude and respect for the work put into the trail he was on, which is more than I can even say about some other mountain bikers. He was kind, courteous, respectful and genuinely having fun in the mountains. What wasn’t lost on me in that moment was that he was basically just like me, just like anyone with a passion for mountains and sport. After a quick chat, I couldn’t help but admit to him that I was the one who put most of the work into this trail, and I told him that I was happy he appreciated it. I also thanked him for being both respectful and considerate of the trail surface, and since it was starting to get dark, I left him and continued my ride. When I got home, a new outlook into my trail began to take on form for me.

Now, I know that motor bikes are not something you ever want to see on one of your local singletracks, the noise alone is reason for distaste, not to mention the erosion they can create. However, I couldn’t shake the feeling that this particular guy had every right to be there on my trail. He had the same right myself and any other mountain biker, hiker or other user claims to have. We all have the right to use this earth, challenge ourselves, and have fun so long as we respect this land and the other people using it. The moment we stop respecting, is the only moment we lose our right to be there, no matter what user group we are. Any one can litter, any one can do damage to a place. Even hikers can do damage. I mean, existentially speaking, what damage could a motorcycle do to the side of a mountain worse than the meter wide, and in some places meter deep scar I’ve already left in the side of it when I decided to dig a “trail”? To the earth, my work might be interpreted as an act of vandalism in itself!

I also thought about how different that situation could have been. I could have gotten angry and told him that he was going to wreck my trail, (as if I own it or something,) told him he shouldn’t be there and should leave. I wonder what would have been the result of that? What respect would he have for mountain bikers, and all the work they do out here if I had done that? Less, for sure, and if he is to encounter enough mountain bikers like that , he is sure to lose any respect he had, may even grow to hate us and take pleasure in ruining our trails. What’s worse than a motor biker on your trails? A motor biker that thinks mountain bikers are all a bunch of ass holes! I know that in that moment, I worked to help create less conflict between motor bikers and mountain bikers. I know that he will try to be even more mindful of the trail he is riding and the other users on it.

Most people’s first reaction is to create controversy by telling them that they’re not allowed to be there. The result is a loss of respect and ultimately more controversy. These are how wars are started, and in war there are no winners, only dead soldiers. I can only hope that the others he is bound to encounter on the trail in his pursuit of freedom via motorized machine will not be the type that cause him to lose respect for us. I hope that he will go forth as an example to others of his kind, and so grow a community of trail conscious motor bikers, as opposed to renegade ones. We can’t keep them all off the mountain bike trails, anymore than you can keep all the mountain bikers off the hiking trails, (come on, don’t play innocent, I know you have!) but we can form a friendly relationship with them, open up a peaceful and mutually respectful dialogue with them. Who even knows, but that we might be able to join with them for a common cause, because after all, we are probably more alike than we are different.