Post Ride Beer Stream of Consciousness

PRBSoC #7: Burgeon Beer Company's MTN Mode DDH IPA

Here’s a thought: mountain biking is dead. That’s what was being kicked around on a forum on the interwebs, garnering hundreds of responses.

Dead.

Nah, it ain’t dead, but it sure is different than what it was, which is to say, it’s never been stagnant, which is to say, it’s always evolving … changing … but is it such that maybe something like “the more things change, the more they stay the same” can be part of the conversation these days?

Enter gravel bikes. I recently heard, while standing in a crew of whitewater rafters, a dude from the midwest who had plenty of MTB credential say the following: gravel is what mountain biking was when it started.

Hmm?

I think I can go there. Skinny tires by today’s mountain bike standards, using fire/forest/gravel roads to connect actual singletrack … yeah, there is something to be said about gravel bikes and mountain biking of yesteryore.

But … drop bars? Well, then I saw a photo of Tomac riding drop bars “back in the day” and thought, I do remember that now that I see it.

Gravel, fat, DH, XC, down country, enduro, e-motos … ugh … suffice it to say, it has a good bit to do with the industry and selling bikes. Are we all “mountain bikers” when we are riding those different kinds of bikes?

I’ll offer that I think mountain biking as a culture has certainly changed, if there ever was one actual culture. Today, it’s not so much about being on the outside looking in and being “radical” and dare I say, about being somewhat counter-cultural (in the year 2024) like maybe it was 30-40 years ago. We’re mainstream. While not like “we’re on TV on Saturdays in the 90s” mainstream, we have more seats at the decision making tables and well, like it or not, there’s more of us on the trails.

Is mountain biking dead? Nope.

It’s changing, like always, and I’ll add … it’s currently changing in the direction of ease and comfort.

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