[dwnhlldav]

How long is your history with mountain biking? I was just sitting here reading the thread about the riding addict and realized I have been mountain biking for over 15 years.

I started out following my friends on my Huffy Stalker, they were all on Treks. I got my first real mountain bike 15 years ago in september, a Cannondale M300

I have only had one other passion that long, I have been skiing longer then I have been riding, and recently I picked up surfing, but other then those two no other activity has stuck.

You could say I am addicted to mountain biking, but I'll never admit it, because accepting your problem is the first step in getting rid of it and I never want to stop riding.

I feel old, At 26 it's weird to have things that have I have been doing that long.

 

[Judd97]

About 9-10 years for me. I started on a blue Trailmaster :thumbsup:

You're going to get alot of old timers in this thread I am a relative newbie, I guess. I started on that Trailmaster when I was a kid, but it wasn't an "addiction" until the last 4 or 5 years.

 

[Nonracerrichie]

I have been riding trails on bikes since I was a 6 year old kid in 1977. We all had BMX bikes back then but the trails were made by 50cc mini-bikes, and they wandered through the woods. I got my first 10 speed when I was 12, in 83, bought a real road racing bike in 86, and my first real mountain bike in 1988. Bridgeston MB-6 at 17 years old. So is it 29 years on trails, or 18 years on a "real" mtb?

 

[RCC]

About five years for me.i bought a gary fisher sugar4 to commute to work,hit the dirt five or so months later,and that was it for me! ii got hooked.been doing it non stop since then.peace...

 

[Rev Bubba]

Depends how you measure

If you consider riding fat tired bikes on dirt trails through the woods as mountain biking the answer is 49 years. (Yeah, I'm a bit older than you).

If you want to measure from when I went into a bike shop and bought something actually called a "mountain bike," that would be more like 16 years.

However, just for grins and giggles, I had MBA admit many years ago in response to a letter to the editor that my riding associates and I in NJ actually "invented" mountain biking in the fifties way before it caught on in California.

Of course, no one really invented mountain biking. It is, after all, just a marketing term like All-Mountain, Freeride, or what have you.

 

[MDEnvEngr]

It has been just over 20 years since I bought my first "mountain bike". A big yellow bullmoose-handlebar beast from Nashbar of all places. Other activities have come and gone, but I've been a "mountain biker" since 1986.

I have considered myself a "cyclist" since 1978 though. My best friend and I would load up our bikes and ride to our relative's houses to camp out. By today's standards, a 50 miler isn't much. But when you're 13, you think that you are on the trip of a lifetime.

Last year, for my fortieth birthday, my wife and kids presented me with my first custom Ti bike. It is heaven!

B

 

[RideFaster]

Last year, for my fortieth birthday, my wife and kids presented me with my first custom Ti bike. It is heaven!B

:madman: I wish my parents were like that! :madman: MTBing for 4 years...biking for as long as I can remember.

Glad to have discovered it sooner than later!

 

[ferday]

12 years since i destroyed my knee skiing, and took up mtb to help with the physio...

i don't even bother skiing anymore, i just ride.

 

[rkj__]

I got my first "real" mountain bike in August of 2002. I have more passion for the sport now than i ever have.

 

[fred3]

A problem???..

How long is your history with mountain biking? I was just sitting here reading the thread about the riding addict and realized I have been mountain biking for over 15 years.

I started out following my friends on my Huffy Stalker, they were all on Treks. I got my first real mountain bike 15 years ago in september, a Cannondale M300

I have only had one other passion that long, I have been skiing longer then I have been riding, and recently I picked up surfing, but other then those two no other activity has stuck.

You could say I am addicted to mountain biking, but I'll never admit it, because accepting your problem is the first step in getting rid of it and I never want to stop riding.

I feel old, At 26 it's weird to have things that have I have been doing that long.

That's your first mistake. Just because something is an addiction doesn't make it a problem. ;-) If that were true we'd all be in trouble.

 

[Dangeruss]

If you wanna count my riding my balloon tired Schwinn in an abandoned gravel quarry with steeps galore when I was 10, that's 35 years. My first "official" mountain bike, acquired with that goal in mind, was a Steel GF Wahoo (purple, no less) in 1994.

 

[superlightracer]

Since the summer of 2000.

 

[patrick_b]

Got my 1st mtb during my first yr of college in 89, a Diamond Back Apex. Went to school in the stix so there were plenty of places to ride.

 

[Baulz]

Got my first mountain bike in 1990. Been riding other bikes offroad since I was 6, so that would be about 22 years. :eekster:

 

[dir-T]

Started riding my Huffy Stu Thomson on trails around 1984 then soon bombed a grassy hill on my dad's Columbia 10 speed and was hooked on "adult bikes" for off-road.

Got a Univega Rover ST (actually a hybrid by today's standards) in 1986 and started mtb riding all over the woods near my town.

A 1994 C-dal M-600 was my first full-on MTB and I've been truely addicted ever since. And I still have that bike as my commuter - sometimes trail bike.

 

[mtbfool]

Rode my huffy bmx bike in the "woods" in the early 80s. Got off the bike and on the weights in High School. Bought my first "real" mountain bike in 94. Still have it.

 

[carnage]

lets see, i guess ive been riding for all of 4 years now. I picked up a used Kona and am still riding it to this day, although it is signed up for major surgery soon.

 

[[CrazyRick_11]]

i always biked as a kid, but my first real mountain bike i baught in 2004 when when i got real passionate about the sport. i have never looked back since.

 

[nativeson]

What color was the Diamond Back?

Got my 1st mtb during my first yr of college in 89, a Diamond Back Apex. Went to school in the stix so there were plenty of places to ride.

Diamond Back was my first mtb also. That was back in 86'-'87, I was in 8th grade going into 9th. The bike had a pretty cool faux marble paint job. I remember really wanting a Specialized but they were too expensive. Next bike was a Cannondale circa early 90's, the big aluminum tubing was pretty cool looking back then. Around '94 I bought a Rock Lobster with a Mag 21 fork, and full LX kit from one of the Sycip brothers. I still ride the Rock Lobster (now w/a rigid fork) when I really want to suffer.

 

[RichardinLA]

I road BMX bikes (Mongoose!) back in 1983. Strictly asphalt, but it was a way to get around. I road various (cheap) bikes until I got my drivers license in 1988. Dropped the bike like a hot potato. I road my first bike on dirt paths in 1995, so I guess that puts me at 11 years. However, 5 of those 11 years I didn't touch my bike. I've still got my first mountain bike - a diamond back traverse. Fully rigid (though I did upgrade with a stem shock) 18 speed. Heavy as hell, and rusting away quietly in the driveway.