7 Reasons I Started Cheating on My Road Bike

July 13, 2015

About the Author: Louise Smith is an avid moun­tain bik­er, hik­er and out­door enthu­si­ast. After a suc­cess­ful career in mar­ket­ing, keynote speak­ing, writ­ing and cor­po­rate train­ing, she has semi-retired to a chalet ‘in the Ontario north.’ Cur­rent­ly, Louise pro­vides wis­dom and advice to over 50,000 fol­low­ers on her Lessons of Life Face­book page. 

I used to love road bik­ing. Kilo­me­tre after kilo­me­tre after kilo­me­tre. I loved the rhyth­mic med­i­ta­tive flow of road rid­ing, and slip­ping into ‘the zone’ for a few hours was my idea of a good time. Get­ting in my kilo­me­tres was a week­ly priority.

Then some­thing shift­ed. I start­ed to cheat on my road bike. I picked up a decent used moun­tain bike to add some adven­ture into my rid­ing, and much to my sur­prise I liked it. A lot.

In the begin­ning I felt bad. I would say all the right things to my road bike. I’d caress her as I passed her in the garage. I made all kinds of promis­es that I actu­al­ly believed I’d keep. I tried. I real­ly did. But in the end I did­n’t keep those promis­es. I think she knew all along I’d moved on.

WITH APOLOGIES TO MY TRUSTED AND BEAUTIFUL SKINNY TIRE — HERE ARE THE TOP 7 REASONS I LEFT HER BEHIND:

1. THERE ARE NO CRAZY FARM DOGS ON THE TRAILS.

Yes there are bears — but they are pre­dictable. Coy­otes steer clear. Turkey’s star­tle you, but wad­dle away quick­ly. But those live­stock-pro­tect­ing farm dogs were  unpre­dictable and I no longer had the desire to dirty my panties out­run­ning them.

2. NO SPANDEX.

Oh sure I looked hot in my road­ie kit when I was younger, but my gosh, skin-tight any­thing on most 50 year olds looks ghast­ly. (With apolo­gies to the hot 50 year olds that can still pull it off. You know who you are). Let’s just say bag­gies hide things, and I appre­ci­ate that.

3. NO CARS. NO TRUCKS. NO JERKS.

Well, at least not jerks behind steer­ing wheels, rac­ing past you and gun­ning for your back tire.

4. TREES ‘N’ DIRT.

There’s noth­ing that soothes the soul bet­ter than breath­ing fresh, clean, exhaust-free air. On a moun­tain bike you suck in that air deeply. Real­ly deeply. A rip through nature rights you in a way you may not have pre­vi­ous­ly real­ized you needed.

5. ADVENTURE.

Sure there are some great road rid­ing routes — some twisty, some hilly, some even hilli­er, but truth be told moun­tain bik­ing gives you more bang for your adven­ture buck. Rock gar­dens, drops, gaps, roots, switch­backs ridges, the list goes on.

6. THE WORKOUTS.

There’s no zon­ing out on a moun­tain bike. Your head has to be in the game the entire time or quite frankly you could wind up dead. Don’t even get me start­ed on the car­dio work­out. I’ve lost my lungs and legs a few times out there in the bush.

7.  THE VIEWS.

There’s noth­ing like climb­ing up to the top of a moun­tain ridge and look­ing out into the coun­try. Hectare after hectare of unde­vel­oped, untouched, raw nature. There are no words to describe it, and no road in the world could dupli­cate it.

OF COURSE, WE ARE A LITTLE BIASED HERE AT SACRED RIDES ABOUT HOW MUCH MOUNTAIN BIKING ROCKS. FEEL FREE TO SHARE YOUR COMMENTS BELOW ABOUT YOUR MOUNTAIN BIKING VS. ROAD BIKING EXPERIENCES.