Video: 10 Things Every Mountain Biker Should Have Done

Dec 2, 2013
by Mike Kazimer  
Posted In:
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mikekazimer avatar

Member since Feb 1, 2009
1,716 articles

151 Comments
  • 218 5
 no trail building ??????? no build no ride
  • 45 3
 how can those be in the top ten -cross a mountain range, -sleep next to your bike, - bike to the sea when there's no trail building or trail care
  • 15 8
 Cool idea. Build/Maintain a trail should be in there. What about join IMBA? Support access legislation and advocacy needs to be in there as well.
  • 9 1
 Very surprised this wasn't on there. I'd easily swap that out for biking to the sea.
  • 9 0
 I think a 2nd part is necessary!
But I really enjoyed the video, there were some awesome pictures and great angles of view. Smile
  • 13 1
 I have rode in places where there is no trail building.....there is just you and the mountain.....there are lots of single tracks made for horses and people more than 500 years ago to connect a town with other places.... there is no place for repair where the jungle rules....those are the best tails I have rode in life....
  • 29 2
 Another thing they forgot is to ride through private property Wink
  • 13 0
 Let's face it, if you've never explored a new trail you aren't a mountain biker
  • 17 0
 this video is soo enduro specific
  • 3 1
 ^so true....the only downhill related thing was visit a bike park??? Xc was fairly represented though
  • 4 1
 more like what every cross country rider should do...
  • 2 0
 Ya, rather build than race. I built trails rather than bikes.
I'd rather clean tough climbs than jump all day. I guess it takes all sorts...
Otherwise, I agree, and I'm good.

(It's funny. Living on an island and riding on other islands, I always took riding to the sea for granted.)
  • 1 0
 Wow. Never thought I'd be a perfect 10... List should go to 11.
  • 2 0
 As much as I like riding through private property... that's what gets our trails here in SLC shut down. So, no, please don't ride through private property. Join an advocacy group and create more trails, work with property land owners to gain access through their land.
  • 97 4
 1. learn bunny hop
2. remember don't mix it (alcohol)
3. stay positive for other riders
4. learn how change the tube
5. when the family asks why you keep the bike in the room response that we don't keep family members in the garage
6. always be on time when you go with a fellows on a bike
7. there is a special place in hell for those who do not allow to overtake during the race xc or downhill
8. don't start riding from the fasion show
9. do not spend more money on better parts just start cycling
10. perfect trail is there wher you can go and ride !!!
  • 7 2
 good ones, although staying positive for another riders is a tough one in this sport
  • 13 1
 *9. spend money on better parts then go cycling
  • 6 0
 @Gora you have 10 points from me!!!!!
  • 7 0
 6. I can relate to that one. To many times I get out there at the planned time and everyone slowly trickles in 30 minutes to an hour late. I already have a lap or two in before the others arrive! I guess they just like having me be the one to clear the trail of spiderwebs.... Frown
  • 4 0
 good list. Can be tough when every 5 minutes you hear "how far" " i cant do another hill" "my legs are gone" "need a rest" "need a piss" especially when I feel exhausted myself - i just keep sayin "theres a good descent/view/berms/drop coming"
  • 2 0
 So true... exept no. 2. Wink ) And sorry for 6. Yes, its me... always! Smile

7/10 done...
  • 1 0
 awsome dude, pozdro polska Smile
  • 10 0
 ..."we don't keep family members in the garage! (I used to bring my bikes into the living room just to look at them - Art is to be displayed and enjoyed!)
  • 4 0
 #2 has got to go. Nothin' like a sip of good whiskey in the middle of a long trail ride.
  • 2 0
 Those are the real 10! Cheers Gora!!!

those in the vid ... were ... hmm ... romantic?!? Or it's just me done em in my romantic times?

In fact will replace 'stay positive' with 'ride when arm in cast' (or whats the english phrase for that ...)
  • 2 0
 - Maintain a trail. TAP RULES!! - introduce someone to mtn biking - donate your bike to someone who can not afford a bike
  • 1 0
 Yeah sorry, number 2 is wrong... Unless you're underage... The rest of your list is great
  • 1 0
 Welll said mate
  • 51 0
 already at 7/10. Apparently I need to ride to the sea in another country at night
  • 12 0
 way to multitask
  • 3 0
 I'll join you seeing as thats exactly what i need to do haha
  • 2 0
 almost there, just need to sleep next to my bike (I'll fell asleep doing full bearing overhauls for the whole familys fleet once so that might count) and go riding in a foreign country (usa counts maybe? we're very different)
  • 1 0
 I think the US counts if it's a different type of terrain. Moab or something would work.
  • 47 10
 I absolutely depise these "X number of things that are the most something" stories. It used to be we just saw that bullshit on trashy covers magazines at the grocer. "The 12 Things You Must Do to To Keep The Pounds Off!" Now these stories clogging up my facebook feed and my favorite websites.

Hint: this story would be far preferable if presented as, "here are some things we like doing as mountain bikers". There's no need number them and then annoyingly claim them as the most important above anyone else's opinion. There's no need to treat your readers that way. Don't shove a lifestyle in their face and say "you should have done this". Instead, present the same material as "Here are my favorite mountainbiking activities. You might like them too."
  • 8 1
 Nudge toward the top...
  • 12 4
 There's your problem, your "Facebook feed" is important to your life...

Obviously you have free time on your hands! If these bother you so much, why click on the link? That's like going to an event, knowing you're not going to like the event, having a bad time at the event, and then commenting on how bad the event was... Why waste your time and energy? Lastly, make your own video if you think it can be done better, I'll watch it. I took 3 minutes out of my life to write this dumb comment...
  • 4 0
 I upvoted your comment @EMR52. Clearly this is the video producer's list. Mine would be different, but that doesn't diminish this person's list. Enjoy it for what it is, or not; that's up to you.

As for me, every time I get the urge to visit facebook, I get on my bike and ride until the feeling goes away. Cool thing is, all I have to do is think about looking at my bike and the urge is history.
  • 4 0
 I (proudly) don't have Facebook account but I do support Dfiler's opinion regarding presentation in this case.
  • 6 0
 Well now hold on just a minute. You can't tell me you didn't bust a gut laughing at 29 Steps To Become a Mountain Biker...
  • 1 0
 I laughed my arse off, Mason... but it was all about presentation.
  • 1 0
 dfiler you echo my sentiments exactly. But I guess these things do have a place for those people who don't have any originality or are incapable of free thought. Those that bike for fashion or to create a rad illusion of their lives.
  • 28 1
 I think a mountain lake is even better than a sea
  • 20 5
 "10 things every mountain biker should have done , with lots of free time and money"
  • 21 2
 i don't think you need lots of money to do those things... and a lifetime should be enough to do all those. you can also combine a lot of these in one holiday. think it through, its not impossible. Wink
  • 8 0
 not true entirely, I'm 8/10 - janky 600$ hardtail doing me surprisingly good service based on this video Smile
But then yea, I might need little more money to build a bike (i guess replacing broken parts doesn't count) and to reach italian shore..
But man, you are from BC!!! MTB paradise, that's a good place to be stuck when you don't have cash for bike trips
  • 8 1
 @Quebracho just take the thing completely apart, clean it, and put it back together. That counts!
  • 1 0
 Then I'm good on that one too! I thought it's meant to be custom bike build.
  • 3 0
 nah definately recommend custom build you will REALLY love your ride & its very rewarding especially if it takes a few months to accumilate the parts. maybe when your current frame/setup is in need of replacing or updating - a few new parts like grips & drivetrain. a few ebay bargains cranks bars & a few keepers from the old bike??
I just turned 40 with 18months riding experience just built bike no.2!!
  • 3 0
 Building a ragely piglet 2 with parts bought over the last few months that I put on a gt xcr 1500 (fun ass bike) and parts off pb buy and sell. @1600$ and just waiting on the frame to get here! There is a lot to figure out on your first bike build!
  • 1 0
 just don't take too long to custom build, I got a friend that grew out of his frame before he finished it
  • 6 0
 In Ireland you get to do most of those pretty easily (many mountain "ranges" only take a day, it's an island and winter means night rides are compulsory, ferry over to Scotland), I must have gotten 10/10 within 2 years of taking up the sport Smile . Obviously some of these are a lot harder in other countries...
  • 1 0
 Scotland and Ireland are just the ideal place for real back and beyond mountain biking.
  • 3 0
 9/10, just need to cross a mountain range instead of climbing to the top! My bike sleeps at the foot of my bed every night. Holga's a big gal, so it's more out of necessity, but she sleeps next to me nonetheless! I think I do need to re-do my ride to the sea though...mine was kinda lame, pretty, but not great riding!
  • 1 0
 same exactly. i thought the last one was gonna be do a road gap with that shot, but crossing a range is gonna take a minute..
  • 6 0
 0/0 crying to myself but i guess im only 13 Smile completing one in a few months xD
  • 2 0
 But.. how do you ride if you've never explored a new trail? Every trail is 'new' at first haha
  • 3 0
 you are a lucky guy Callum. I've been riding for 22 years. mountainbiking is one of lifes greatest pleasures. the friends you'll meet ,the places you'll see, the trails you'll ride and the experiences/character building you'll get, beat every other sport out there, and i've done fair few. keep it fresh and and enjoy every moment, even if its the 3rd puncture in 0 deg rain, mud and dark with ten mile still to ride.
  • 3 0
 What kinda' riders would create a movie titled "Ten Things Every Mountain Biker Should Have Done" - and leave trail maintenance, building and advocacy off it?! Lame, lame, lame...

How about;

1) Join you local bike/trail club
2) Build / maintain / advocate trails - with the club
3) Introduce as many new people to the sport as possible
4) Help a fellow rider on the trail, delay be damned
5) Bake your own cheap n' healthy trail-grub
6) Share trail info' with every new rider that you meet
7) Take as many road-trips as possible - fly somewhere with your bike (experience your own [amazing] country)
Cool Play Hookey in order to ride!
9) Tear-down, clean, grease and rebuild your bike at least once every year
10) DEMO at least two bikes a year - to experience the feel of different bike designs

Andrew Drouin
www.SouthOkanaganTrailAlliance
  • 3 0
 Not a bad list. Here's a few, no particular order:
-Invest more $$$ than you're willing to admit to a non-rider (at least more than you spent on your first car).
-Skip work to ride.
-Ride alone and love it.
-Show another rider a new trail that totally blows their mind.
-Crash hard and come up smiling.
-Never stop riding.
-Be on a first name basis with everyone at your favorite LBS.
-Ride with a girl who is a much better rider than you.
-Regret you didn't get into riding sooner.
-Realize one of your best moments in life took place on your bike.
  • 2 0
 - Freeride with your dog ! Check !!
  • 2 0
 Dally666, got a 10/10
  • 7 3
 So if you done them all, are you a real rider, cause if so, I AM ONE.
#11, trail maintenance
#12 smoke dope before and after the ride
#13 broke bones
to add a few!
  • 2 0
 Good adds. #12: you forgot during...
  • 2 0
 oh ya!
  • 1 1
 #14 Freeride with your dog ! Check !!
  • 2 0
 I live in a great place to a mountain biker but in the NW it's pretty difficult (illegal) to cross a mountain range with your bike. And sleeping next to my bike would be pretty lame at my local trails. Does Canada actually count as another country if you live a half hour from the boarder? I guess I need to bring my bike instead of climbing gear next time I travel.
  • 2 0
 Im sure these are things that at a younger age dont seem high our our lists. but when we're 70-80 and can barely lift a leg over a bike. I bet these will be things we'll all consider a little more precious. According to this list i only got one to go... need a trail to the sea stat!
  • 2 1
 Well I guess I can die now. Done all of those. Plus built trails, work at a bike shop(so I build bikes all the time) in a town where there is a bike park that we ride at night in the snow. I thought doing a Heli drop or plane drop, ride with pros would be in there, but I've done that as well.
  • 1 0
 Do the heli drop, and some long ones like Comfortably Numb if you haven't. Then you, The Man!
  • 1 0
 1. ride naked
2. ride off something taller than yourself
3. ride while on peyote/LSD
4. ride away from someone wielding a weapon
5. build trails
6. have a threesome while at Whistler
7. dig jumps
8. break a bone
9. exert yourself until you vomit
10. 29ers are lame...
  • 4 0
 8/10, just need to ride at night and cross a mountain range - hopefully doing my first night ride later this week
  • 1 0
 To all guys saying that "list" should include trail building, I agree with you BUT you must know that MTBing in Europe is pretty different in the way that many, if not most of the trails that people ride there did exist way before MTB was born. They were used by sheperds, pilgrims, woodcuters and the likes sometimes centuries ago. There's also a lot of forest roads and hiking trails that are shared between walkers, horseriders and bikers and which were created a long time ago. So bikers don't have to build many trails like we do in North America.
  • 5 1
 riding in whistler should be one
  • 1 0
 Agree
  • 1 0
 5/10 Frown havent crossed a mounain range (no mtns in belgium), havent built my own bike yet (im only 15) have not rode in the night, have not slept next to my bike (its in the shed) havent had a race yet
  • 1 0
 u should check out cyclocross in Belgium. I was born and raised in Bruxelles and rode street bikes on trails with the handle bars flipped up! haha good times .
  • 1 0
 there should be some xc... but I'll trade places with you for the fall! you guys got sven nys/niels albert/klaas vantornout/tom meeusen/bart wellens/bart aernouts and a crap load of other insanely good cross riders
  • 1 0
 yeah they got some sick places in the ardennes, but where i live its super flat
  • 4 0
 Surprisingly, all of them. Does that mean I can kick the bucket now?
  • 3 0
 Yeah that's cool. done em all. The best thing you can do with a mountain bike: ride it. Best mountain bike: The one your on.
  • 1 0
 I've done 9 out the 10 here. Only one I'm missing is 'cross a mountain range' and then I can officially check it off. Climbed many hills around here but they aren't what you'd call a mountain lol
  • 2 0
 Missing a snow ride and crossing a mountain range... I live in Florida, what did you expect?
  • 2 0
 Drive 5 hours north?
  • 1 1
 That's expecting too much, Emerett.
  • 3 0
 Learn someone else to ride a bike
  • 1 0
 are these based on pinkbike poll results? we should have a poll to see how we all feel about this...but first lets take a poll to see if thats a good idea or not Wink
  • 1 0
 7/10. Need to Cross a mountain range, Ride in a race and Ride to the ocean. Maybe I'll do all 10 in 2014 just to be sure.
  • 2 0
 Man! 3/10.. I feel like one sad mountain biker right now.
  • 1 0
 Ride across a mountain range.

Got it.

Done everything else, every year, for the past..... three? years? Smile
  • 1 0
 there is only one thing: ride as much as possible and try to have as much fun as possible!
  • 1 0
 Build a trial has got to be on every MTB riders list of things they continually do.
  • 1 0
 I can't believe ride naked didn't make the list, or do we only do that in Portland?
  • 2 0
 #14 rode chainless
#15 fixed a flat
#16 rode with a flat
#17 got lost
  • 1 1
 #18 Freeride with your dog ! Check !!
  • 1 0
 Yay I got 10 outta 10.. but pretty stupid/arrogant list really... Easy if you have money aye...
  • 2 0
 "Ride another country"

Canada!? Count it!
  • 1 0
 ...should have a parts bin, too. But even in good light, there's not much action to 'em.
  • 2 0
 #0 checkin out from hospital
  • 1 0
 They forgot one all important thing on the list > #11 Freeride with your dog ! Check !!!
  • 1 0
 anybody else think that this was going to be another how to be a mountain biker video?
  • 1 0
 funny...I can confidently say that i have done 4 of these things. And i'm 13
  • 1 0
 Pretty stoked that I've done all these thinga in my short 18 years of life.
  • 2 2
 I sleep next to all 3 of my bikes every night.the girlfriend hates it but she understands I could always get another girlfriend!good girl
  • 1 0
 first 7 seconds, anyone over 40 knows this to be true ,,take heed you youngsters
  • 3 0
 Ride naked...
  • 2 0
 m.pinkbike.com/video/238963 The scene at 0:38 seconds is especially for you.
  • 2 0
 thanks Man...
  • 2 0
 List completed, next list.
  • 3 0
 Ride from the police...!
  • 1 0
 I've done all ! and more, Great !
  • 2 0
 All done Wink
  • 1 0
 Only done 4 out of the 10....I am such a slacker.
  • 1 0
 Don't really fancy the London to Brighton..
  • 2 1
 aka all the pretentious things that come with being a weekend warrior
  • 1 0
 Just count me as one more pretentious weedend warrior, then. Another happy poseur with a bike worth more than my car, and scars instead of a passport. (Really, weekend warriors ride at night and take mtb trips?)
  • 1 0
 Being weekend warriors sometimes we almost plan more than we can do on the epic trail side and end up riding home in the dark. With no headlamps, in the snow with a cougar alert. It happened to me this year at Rossland on the Seven Summits trail. It was the last day of their riding season the day before we went on the trip. 1 to 2 feet of overnight snowfall on the high altitude and we started late. Saw the cougar and cub tracks in the snow for 3/4's of the trails distance. Apparently they were not far ahead of us and like bike trails as well. It was awesome!
  • 2 0
 all
  • 1 0
 10! now am going for more!
  • 1 0
 Get so loose you can't control the bike Smile
  • 1 0
 Ive done most of this brakeless... Does that count?
  • 1 0
 RIDE A MARATHON!!!
Trans Alps anyone?
  • 1 0
 Well all I gotta do is cross a mountain range and ride to the sea.
  • 1 0
 #9 is most important!!!!! Bike parks are so fun!
  • 1 0
 1,2,3,4,5,6,8,9,10 Check !
  • 1 0
 10/10, but then its a kinda obvious list..
  • 1 0
 10/10 too. seems easy to reach
  • 1 0
 Only done 3(#4, #6, #10), but i'm only 14, so i've got time...hopefully
  • 1 0
 now all i gota do is cross a mountain range. on my list as of now!
  • 1 0
 so, only two of the boxes unchecked, I am not so bad
  • 1 0
 Missing #3 Ride in the snow, that's a hard one to do in Brazil!! Sheep
  • 2 0
 Studded tires & Fatbikes up here Wink
  • 1 0
 #18 Freeride with your dog ! Check !!
  • 1 0
 ya!
  • 1 0
 Amen
  • 1 0
 Need to do #7
  • 1 0
 Ivd done most of them
  • 1 0
 #11 Break a collarbone.
  • 1 0
 Hahaha lil boys lol.
  • 1 0
 Missing #7...
  • 2 2
 ehhh weak.
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