What is the point of driving to a trail to ride a bike?
That is the question that I put to the BikeCommuters Crew. Most of us happen to enjoy riding to work, but we also enjoy riding the dirt trails or riding organized recreational road rides. So is it OK for us to drive to the trailhead and ride our bikes? Here’s what we think:
Jeff:
I think anything that gets a person on a bicycle is worth it. I think bikes can be used for enjoyment AND utility. Personally I think someone who is anti-recreational cycling has as much of a stick up their butt as a hard-core roadie that doesn’t acknowledge commuters or utility cyclists. In fact, I rode my bike to church yesterday, and was just cruising along on my mountain bike while wearing some khakis and a sweater and passed a hard-core roadie and even though I visibly waved to him, he just ignored me. He probably thought I was just some stupid kid who didn’t know anything about cycling.
The bicycle is one of the most versatile machines available – and that is what makes it so beautiful. Any person can find a reason to ride a bike, and that is a good thing (Just like Martha Stewart says…).
Jack:
I’m mostly with Jeff…there are too many bicycling “factions” these days, and they don’t often acknowledge each other with a friendly wave. Using a bike for only one rigid purpose defeats the whole thing — bikes are versatile and fun.
Despite that, I find it very troubling indeed to have to drive somewhere to ride my bike. My nearest offroad trailhead is nearly 20 miles away, and I cannot stand the thought of loading my bike and hauling it all the way over there to ride! Part of it is laziness, I suppose, but it has kept me from MTBing for a long time.
Lance:
While commuting has opened my eyes to the potential of a car-less life, I still am completely torn on the matter. I’m actually driving 45 miles into the mountains this Saturday to ride a 30 mile trail. Sure driving the vehicle isn’t exactly eco friendly but it’s an indulgence I sure can live with after I’m done with an epic and absolutely beautiful ride like this one will be. Additionally I’ve reduced my driving with carpooling and commuting to about 25% of what it was so I’m okay with driving to trailheads on a Saturday to get my ride in.
Riding pristine singletrack in the mountains and being completely isolated from the rush of the city is something I just can’t pass up. I’ll make my sacrifices elsewhere so I can indulge in that respect.
RL:
Well, I think that no one is a poser just because they like to drag their bike elsewhere to enjoy it.
Sure there’s value to using your bike as means of transportation, but at the same time, there are other ways to enjoy a bike.
Being a mountain biker, I don’t feel that I’m being a poser just because I load up my roof rack with my bike that has a big fork a squishy rear suspension and drive 30 miles away to enjoy the fullest potential of the bike.
My opinion:
I believe that a bicycle is not just a source of transportation, but also a source of enjoyment and exercise. I personally enjoy mountain biking and riding recreational rides. I love riding trails where motorized vehicles are not allowed, I like riding with 1,000 other cyclists for charity purposes, I like riding with my family to the beach and back. Yes, most of these activities do involve me taking my truck and driving to a starting point, but the point is riding a bicycle is supposed to be fun. I also love riding my bike to work, nothing brings me more pleasure than to pass vehicles that are stuck in traffic. But like my tag on thebikegeek.com says: Commute, Road or MTB, it’s all good!
What is your opinion? Do you agree or disagree?
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I feel like a Pharisee when I drive to go ride (which also requires me renting a car): espouse one thing, live another. The truth is, road or trail, it is usually too far from the city to an interesting ride.
Now in Japan I could just take the train, not have to do a loop, and cycle through something out of ‘Seven Samurai’… ah, memories.
I believe that the bicycle is a machine with a great many uses. I spend all day on a computer at work, then I come home and tinker some more. I ride to work (or to the bus), then after I get home, sometimes I’ll hop on it and take it for a spin again.
It’s a vehicle. A very fun and efficient one, at that. Sometimes, my trip calls for an efficient and fun vehicle. Sometimes my trip calls for something else. From a transportation standpoint, my bicycles are arrows in my quiver that get used quite often.
It’s a toy. I have a great many toys. Legos, my computers and Nintendo DS to name a few. A bike ride is often a great way to pass some time. Just a nice, slow stroll down the street or on some trails. I couldn’t call it exercise.
It’s exercise equipment. I have to do push-ups or crunches if I want an upper-body workout, but my bike offers me the opportunity to burn a lot of calories while watching scenery go by.
In the end, bicycles have many niches. For some, it’s the only way of transportation available. For most of the readers here, it’s one of many ways we can get around, and it’s a choice we make.
I think the great thing about bicycle commuting is that there are no rules. You don’t need to wear certain clothes. You don’t need to have a certain level of physical fitness. You don’t need to be fast. You don’t need a specific kind of bike. You can pick and choose tricks, equipment, accessories and techniques from any or all kinds of cycling to come up with the perfect cycling fusion that gets the job done in the most enjoyable way possible.
Not having a car seems to limit some of my recreational riding. I have to plan a lot harder…. when I want to take a road ride just for the sake of riding, I have to plan in the extra time to take the bus or extra mileage to get to the “beginning.”
That said, I agree that anything that gets someone on a bike is worth it. Road riding is a much better option than taking a scenic drive, and mountain biking is far better than 4-wheeling.
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Part of the fun for me is riding new roads and seeing new things. However, I’ve pretty much exhausted the roads in reach of a 2 or 3 hour ride. Taking part of the trip by car (train, bus, whatever) extends my rideable area, exposing new vistas.
Wow. There’s a loaded question.
Answer: no.
Before I ever considered riding a bicycle to work or to the hardware store or anywhere on the street just to get there I was a recreational cyclist. It was the enjoyment if these recreational experiences that gave me enough of a passion for bicycling that I would even consider commuting to work on a bicycle in an often bike-hostile area that I live in.
In short, you gotta start somewhere. Name calling is for jerks.
Yah name callers are douche bags….oh wait…I guess I would be a douche my self…dangit!
For me….I feel to each their own….I don’t own a mountain bike because I’m not near any mountains and not having a car makes it impossible to get to any…i do understand the need to travel somewhere you’ve never been before that is far way from the city……that’s why there is bike touring!!
RL- Touche.
Take it from the city recently deemed least friendliest to bikers and pedestrians, anyone using an alternative mode of transportation, especially biking, is part of the solution. I live in Tampa and a ride to Pinellas County or to Dade City is necessary to get a good, safe ride. Not to mention to see Florida’s beautiful environment.
The word poser is used with every type of issue but really it’s only there because people are elitists.
Unless someone is bike touring, I can’t see too many ways to get to a trail if you don’t drive a car (or take a train, or a bus).
Most cyclists I know carpool to a trailhead, and so what? Not everyone is lucky to have a trail an easy distance away from home.
I really don’t get the whole “us” and “them” mentality I witness when I ride my bike. It’s a little bizarre. I wave and smile at everyone. Probably because when I producing lots of happy chemicals when I am riding! I get a huge HUGE kick out of riding and I am even more thrilled when I see other people riding their bikes. I don’t care what the bike looks like, or the brand, or the cost, or the colour, or whatever style of clothes the rider is wearing, I am in my happy place.
Now, I have to wait for the foot of snow that arrived this weekend to go away so I can go out riding again!
Have a Merry Christmas RL, Moe, Priscilla, Jeff, Jack and everybody!
if you drive your car more miles than you ride a bike you are probably a “poser.” if you drive to work and your commute is less than 15 miles one mile, you are a “poser.” if you frequently opt to drive when it’s raining or cold, you are a “poser.” if you spend thousands of dollars on a bike and only ride it on weekends for fun you are a “poser.”
i don’t think any of these things is necessarily bad. i don’t really even agree with using the word “poser.” all those things mean you’re a recreational cyclist cheating yourself out of all the benefits of the bicycle. it’s sort of like you bought the bike instead of the 55 inch plasma. a different “lifestyle choice.”
I only recently got into mountain biking because I didn’t live within reasonable biking distance of good singletrack. Even now my options are limited although I live in the Santa Cruz mountains — my son and I have to bike 5 to 10 miles, most of it uphill, before we actually get to something halfway fun.
But I’m not going to cast stones at other mountain bikers I’m sharing the trail with. He who is without sin and all that, and I have my share of shortcomings that people can criticize me about.
Back in my high school days I used to listen to punk rock. We used call those people who liked to dress like a punk rocker but didn’t listen to the music or believe on the message ‘posers’ or ‘wankers’. So I figured it would make for an interesting title. You may not agree with my choice of words, but it looks like most people agree with what our belief is: A bicycle is a source of transportation/recreation/exercise/exploration and most important, it brings joy to our life.
I never drive to the local trail because it is only 3 miles from my house but the next closest trail is 25 miles away and any others are farther than that so I will drive to those but to drive to any local one is kinda pointless.
Being car-free meant that to go on XC training rides on different trails I had to ride for one and half to two hours just to get to the trail head. I adapted, I’d pack a back pack or my BoB and camp in the forest for the night, or I’d leave at dawn at get back at dusk. It didn’t make me a better person than those who drove t the the same trail-heads, just a better cyclist.
[...] while back I wrote a post that ruffled a few feathers. I posed the question if recreational riders were posers, well, the [...]
It’d be too easy to get lost in the “hard core roadie” or “casual” cyclist debate. A lot of you already hit it on the nose, get out and RIDE! Any reason you might have, saving money on the expenses of owning a car (gas, insurance, carpayment), getting to and from work, health, convenience, etc all have legitimate and viable reasons to get on the bike. I’m an American who lives in Germany and ride my road bike everyday to work. On the weekends I’m fortunate enough to have a trail near my house so I take my MTbike. Anyone being exclusive for the sake of piety to their bicycle God is just silly. Do it because you want to. If you have to burn some gas riding to a pristine trail spot because it helps you zen out cool. At least you rode. You could’ve spent the afternoon eating chips and watching football. Talk about productivity kinda…
[...] to catalog all of the means in which cyclists utilize bicycles for purposes beyond sport and recreation. Not surprisingly, all evidence points to bike commuting as the predominant form of utility cycling [...]