Mountain Biking Has No Soul

Fully Rigid, 9/2/22

Much has been written about the soul of mountain biking and that it is lost. Some say, though, that it’s not lost, that the emotions people feel when mountain biking still exist as they did 30-40 years ago. It goes back and forth in person and online, as well as in print. In a nutshell, much of the “lost” argument is that mountain biking had more soul back in the day, when mountain bikes were less of the engineering marvels they are now or when the culture was more punk-rockish, those days when mountain bikers weren’t soooo mainstream … or that an e-mountain biker certainly can’t be experiencing the soul of mountain biking. There’s a lot of nostalgia, of course. Adventure is part of it and that with all the mapping technology and computers in our pockets and on the bikes, adventure isn’t what it used to be, say the nay-sayers. Flow trails suck the soul right out of mountain biking, is an strong position statement that people use. If all that added together is happening at a moment in time, there is no way “soul” can exist.

I get what they’re saying but come on. Soul? What is that? How can an activity have soul? I guess one could argue that human beings have a soul. Okay, fine.

How does mountain biking have a soul, though?

I’ll contend that mountain biking never had a soul. How could it? Maybe human beings riding bikes in the mountains feel something in their souls. If that is the case, then good for them.

Who cares anyway? I mean, if you’re riding a bike on a trail and not sitting in front of the computer, the TV, or not standing with sore feet on the factory floor or dripping in sweat out in the farm field, isn’t that enough? Why go on a ride and then talk with others or write about how your experience is/was “the soul of mountain biking” AND posit that other people’s experiences are/were not?

Go for a ride. Whatever you feel, know that others feel it too. If you feel nothing along the “soul” side of things, know that others feel nothing like that, as well.

Pedal.

Pedal some more.

So be it.