Happy Trails: 8 Tips to Meet a Girl Who Mountain Bikes

There was a fabulous article published on this site a few months back about how to get your girl to ride without dumping you. This is a great article, however there are a good number of guys out there wishing they had a girl to use the tips in this article. I was once that guy who had nobody nagging him about what time he was going to be home from his trail tromp. Since then I have gained some credentials on how to meet a girl who rides. For those biking bachelors this may give you some helpful information, instead of getting your girl into riding just meet one who already rides, and your life will seem like Moab with no flat tires for the rest of your life…sort of. This article has been inspired by and dedicated to my lovely wife Brooke who I love more than life itself.

Since I mentioned that I had credentials in meeting girls that bike let me state them. I met my wife on a mountain biking trip in Moab. We had some mutual friends that invited us both on a biking trip, the sparks flew and the emotions ran high and she actually said yes when I asked her to marry me. Since then we take biking trips all summer long, she understands when my buddies and I want to go on a quick ride after work, and get this, she is actually sympathetic when I get home late because of a flat or mechanical failure of the bike. To make the story even better I actually met my wife while I was on a date with a different girl who also mountain bikes. So I do have experience meeting and courting ladies that pedal. So let me outline some simple ways to meet girls who bike, the rest is up to you. For the record many of these tips are best if you are riding alone, that way your buddy doesn’t tax your game or get butt hurt that you bailed on him for a hot piece of tail on the trail.

1. The Chairlift Approach

One of the easiest ways to meet girls who bike is to ride popular trails. I found this works best at resort areas especially ones with a chairlift. For example our local resort is about a 20 minute chair ride up to the top and that is plenty of time to meet and get to know a lady. What you do is you hang out at the bottom and when you see a girl get in the lift line get in line behind her. Then you must do your best to make small talk and tell her you are alone and hate riding up the long chair ride by yourself and ask if you can ride up with her. I have made some great friends on the lift that I met this very way. A smart tip is to have your cell phone or the very least a pen and paper to get her number to “go ride sometime.” 

2. Knight in Shinning Armor Approach

This technique is also best at popular riding spots, but it can work on any trail. When you stumble upon a damsel in distress, meaning a girl’s bike has broken down or she has crashed you stop to help the lass out. This also can give you opportunity to impress her by your mechanical skills (girls like guys who can fix stuff I am told) as well as your chivalry. This can also lead into the opportunity to ride together thus spending more time together and getting to know her more. Remember cell phones can do more than get you out a jam if you crash or your bike breaks, it can also get the number of any girls you may meet on the trail, so be a good boy scout and always be prepared. This last summer I actually stumbled upon this very situation by accident. I was up at my local resort riding by myself and I come around a bend and there is this girl standing there covered in dirt and crying. So I pull up and ask her if she is hurt, and she tells me that she is fine, but just scared. She has never ridden a resort before, and she didn’t know which way to go, and was scared to go down. I told her she was fine, and that I knew an easy way down and to follow me. She followed me the rest of the way down and when we got to the bottom her dad and her sister were waiting for her there. Her dad was so grateful and impressed that I would help out his daughter that he insisted that I ride the lift up with them again and chatted my ear off the whole time. If I was a single man I am sure I could have worked at least a dinner invitation out of him, and that could have been date 1.5.

3. Networking Approach

This is the one that helped me get married. Plan open invitation biking trips someplace and plan on spending at least one night. I have planned trips with just my buddies and we have had 3-4 guys show up and 7-10 girls. This isn’t always the case we onetime had 10 guys and my wife was the only girl with us on one trip. So be patient and plan trips as often as you can. The cool thing about biking trips are if you don’t meet a girl you still got to ride and hang out with your buddies. So it can be a win win or a win, win, win situation.

4. Cross Training Approach

One thing I have noticed about girls who mountain bike is that they also participate in other action sports. In fact almost all the girls that I have met that mountain bike either ski or snowboard. So if you do not already participate in other action sports or outdoor activities it may be a good idea to spread your wings a little bit and find something that your local area has to offer. In fact the girl I was on a date with when I met my wife I actually met up snowboarding. We stopped for lunch at the same time and through some small talk we found out that we both had the same mountain bike. She gave me her number and told me to call her to go biking sometime. That lasted relationship lasted 3 or 4 dates.

5. Go Clubbin Approach

When I say “Go Clubbin” I don’t mean get out your silk shirt and your Gucci shoes, I mean join a club. This can be a biking club or a club for your “cross training” activities. These are really popular on college campuses. The college I went to didn’t have a biking club, but it did have a biking class that filled up quick. But I was VP of the ski/snowboard club at my college and out of the 800+ members I would say 40% were girls. The cool thing was when we would do club activities more girls would show up than guys usually. A lot of the girls I met were looking for guys that were into the same stuff they were into. In fact one girl told me that she hated dating a guy that was worse at snowboarding than she was. Club trips were the best, because the girls would usually go with their girlfriends on the trip so when we arrived at the destination they didn’t want to go out without male companionship in a new strange place, so they were totally open to any guy hanging out with them, no matter how weird he may be. For those who are not currently scholastically bound a lot of local shops do weekly group rides in the summer. This is not only a great way to learn new trails, but also meet new people that are into mountain biking.

6. Work It Approach

When I worked at a snowboard shop I was constantly meeting girls there. So if you want to meet girls who bike get a job at a bike shop. When a girl comes in to buy a mountain bike or get her bike repaired you know she rides. One thing I learned is offer them a good deal after hours. When I would meet girls at the snowboard shop I would offer to go ride with them to “show them the mountain” or “teach them to ride better.” Another thing I would do was offer to wax their board for them outside of the shop that way I had to drop by their place to both pick it up and drop it off when I was finished waxing it. Then when I would refuse payment for waxing her board I would let her take me out for hot chocolate or fix me dinner, and there you have it date number one. This could just as easily be done with biking. Offer to show her some trails in the area that she would like or go pick up her bike after hours to tune it for her. Either way you are seeing her outside of work and that is moving in the right direction.

7. Sugar Mama Approach

The contrary of the previous principle is usually true as well, if a girl works at a mountain bike shop she usually mountain bikes as well. Instead of being a creep who goes in and hits on her, just become a really regular customer. That way if you get the stones to ask her out you don’t feel like a stranger to her. It is just like asking out the waitress, receptionist, or the nurse. If she sees you once a week for 3 months and you talk to her it will seem more normal than just meeting her and asking her out. The later is in some ways worse than blind dates. This is also a good idea if you can lock it down with her because she can get you great deals on gear. Get a girl and great deals, it doesn’t get any better does it?

8. Hook it up Approach

So you charm up your buddies girlfriend/wife and she wants to set you up with one of her friends because the thought of your charming self being alone in this world is far too much for her to bear. This is a golden opportunity for you, simply ask your match maker if any of her friends mountain bike. If she has friends who bike then she will want to set you up with them. It can be as easy as that. When I was single and my roommate’s girlfriend wanted to set me up with one of her friends, and she couldn’t decide which one, I would always ask to set me up with one who had the same interests as me. If you are going to go on a blind date at least go on one that you can make conversation. Even if you were done dirty by being setup with the woman who looks like she was beaten with a shovel (we have all had bad blind dates, well at least I have) and she is into biking it will make dinner more bearable than if she looks like she was beaten with a shovel and is into kittens, poetry, or something else that you care nothing about. Just remember every ugly girl has hot friends, so be on your best behavior regardless

Now fellas this does not mean that you can neglect things like personal hygiene and tact just because the girl hits the same trail you do. Always be on your best behavior, and even if you follow these tips and it doesn’t work you may still need work on your own personal game, I know there was awhile where I did. And for any ladies who read this, I am not trying to be chauvinistic, I am simply trying to help out my fellow mountain bikers find the same joy and happiness that I have by meeting a girl who mountain bikes and having her become my biking bride.

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