The times they are a changin...

O the times they are a changing…. The clocks too!

Thats what Dylan wrote in the sixties long before the sport of mountain biking was conceived in the foothills of Marin county, Charlie, gary et al were all still flogging it out on the roads of northern California on their steel road rigs. Things have ebbed and flowed a lot since those days in the bike world, arguably road bikes are pretty much the same, all be it lighter, more gears and even electronic now, but it would be hard to argue that its bike technology that would separate a Merckx from a Contador or maybe more accurately a Bobet from a Ullrich. WIth mountain bikes too, despite all the ‘break through’s’ and money spent on R&D, u would be hard pressed to beat your time up your favourite climb on a steel hardtail from 20 years ago.

Descending i grant you is different ,here the tech or at least some of the technologies do make a big difference. A full susser goes down easy. Soaking up all your mistakes on the way. Multiple runs are the norm with fatigue minimised. Disc brakes too, have revolutionised the sport, wet muddy weather now is of no difference to dry and dusty.

All these advances and still people are riding bikes less than they were in the eighties. Sure there are more people riding but the amount of time individuals ride has decreased. Too busy i suppose, all we hear is i squeeezed in 45 mins after work or half an hour at lunch. People even ‘active’ people are lazy these days. To many distractions, look what i am doing right now writing this, 20 years ago i might have at least be watching a VHS of some mad bunny hops in switzerland, shouting excitedly at the screen ‘ no way, hans rey’.

Of course in truth we all know this, when asked are u into mountain biking you say yeah ‘i really am’ spent 2 grand on a bike and everything, even drove 18 hours to scotland last year for 4, 3 hour rides on amazing trails man, didn’t see one root the whole trip” live to ride, ride to live’ thats me man.

Load a Bolox.

It wasn’t better when we were kids cause we knew no different, it was better cause it was better. We rode way more, were way fitter, rode every thing, every where on shit worthless bikes that broke alot, but some how we always fixed them or ‘found’ a new one the next day and got on with it.

Nyhans pit.

God we loved that place, of course u go there now and its all gone, unrecognisable anyway. Shit bikes, shit brakes, shit tires = great craic. You take the high nelly and i’ll take the womens folding bike with the basket up front, If (when) yours fucks up i”ll give u a spin home in the basket and we can leave nelly in the ditch till next week. I heard Raymond Daly got a new raleigh activator with suspension, someone said he goes so fast on it. Right, we”ll see, i bet i could still take him on my nelly with the worn cotter pin. Q the 400 yard race around the football field, no contest, suspension is pointless.

Hand built in my back yard with a vice grips.

We did cycle a lot but despite all the Drinagh co-op shopping bags on earth keeping your saddle dry we definetly rode more in the summer. There was always a frenzy when the clocks changed. I can clearly remember a crowd of 8-12 year olds cycling their hand-me-down rattlings rust buckets, on the local football field (grass track racing? whats that?!!) on the monday evening after the clocks were reset when i was in 6th class. The feelings i had were ‘wow , this is so cool, everyone just cycling around, messing on their bikes’. I have not seen that happen since in my friends, but hope springs eternal and this year despite recession or in fact because of it maybe they will come out lots. We do need a more social setting, somewhere we can just hang and cycle, be 12 again, somewhere we can just ride round and round and round…..

Originally written on the 29th March 2009.