Old Man Mountain Biker: Why I Ride

The Old Man lives in Denver, Colorado and rides 6 days a week.

I am 51 years old, 5’8” and a tad over 200 pounds. I used to be 41 years old, 5’9” and 170 pounds. How the hell did I get to be so old? There is grey in my hair, on my face, and lets not go into the back hair.

I started riding a mountain bike when I moved to Denver from California 4 years ago. I bought one off the Internet; got myself a double suspension Motobecane Mountain bike. The bike came in a big box, delivered by UPS. The local bike shop put it together for 35 bucks and I was in business. It was sized for a guy who was 5’ 8”.

I started to ride every other day. I didn’t have a helmet; no gloves, no water bottle, and none of those faggy bright bike clothes. I rode for 15 minutes at a time….went up a “big” hill and rode back down; broke a small sweat and man, I was “exercising”. I had bought the bike in the fall and when Winter came along, I didn’t ride for 4 months…and I gained another 15 pounds. WTF was I thinking?

Spring awoke and daylight started to come along a bit early…and there was this big huge state park that my home backs up to. I decided to go exploring; the problem was that the park was downhill and it was a long ride back up. What did I see when I started to explore the park?

Well at first, all I saw were “Road Bikes”. I HATE Road Bikes, but that’s another story. I went “off-road” through the walking trails, through the woods, along the reservoir, into the “hiker-only” trails. I started to ride every day. I saw deer, foxes, coyote’s, Big Horned Owls, mice, bright yellow little birdies, and on occasion hikers, who gave me the finger when I was riding on hiker only trails. I sure as hell didn’t see any road bikers. I also developed some favorite trails, learned to stump jump, and oh yeah, got stuck in the mud….did the face plant over the handlebars in the mud, and broke my back axle.

I eventually got a water bottle holder, some bike shoes and socks; finally got 3 pairs of biking tops; one a cool Irish racing team one….but my daughters refuse to let me wear spandex shorts;;;”euuu Dad Grosse…even gay men don’t look good in Spandex”…ok ok ok, so I wear cargo shorts.

So why do I ride? I wake up every day and think to myself, what trail out of hundreds am I going to ride today? Do I want a hard ride or an easy ride? Do I want to jump stumps? Do I want to ride on the ice? The snow? Do I feel like “mudding” today? I need my FIX. I have to ride. If I don’t ride, I feel like something is missing. I need an hour on the bike EVERY day. Work gets in the way, the wife gets in the way, travel gets in the way, school stuff gets in the way, my daughters get in the way and the dog needs to be walked, but damn it…I NEED to ride.

My articles aren’t about what a wonderful technical rider I am and how much I know about Shimano shifters and graphite forks. After all I ride a POS Motobecane. Its about the Ride; mistakes I have made and Graces I have enjoyed by riding. Here are some of the topics I will be covering with you over the coming weeks and months.

1. How to buy a Mountain bike; how to fit your size to the frame, and the critical positioning of the seat post and how to keep from becoming sterile. (lol)

2. Riding a Mountain bike over frozen lakes and what to do when you hit “slick Ice”.

3. How to ride in the snow.

4. How to fit your bike riding into your work schedule.

5. How to dress for riding.

6. Cool place to Ride in Colorado.

7. Downhill Extreme Mountain biking

8. Why Assholes on Road bikes pass you easily.

9. How to break your back crankshaft while jumping tree logs.

10. Best way to warp your frame; or the difference between carbon and aluminum and why you should care.

See you on the Trail…

Related Posts

• September 10, 2008 -- Communing with the Animal Kingdom: Disney Moments on the Mountain Bike