I'm from Ontario originally, a good little town that offers some nice riding... I recently moved to
Winnipeg Manitoba, the murder capital of canada I'm told. Here's my dilema. My bike, it's at home in
Ontario and it's too old now for any sort of urban riding around here. I miss riding like you
wouldn't believe. I'm sure a lot of you can relate to this. I've been working hard to save my money
for a new bike. Everytime I'm out in my girlfriends car I look at the surroundings around me and
imagine riding whatever obstacle I lay my eyes on. This city is an urban riders dream come true,
there's so much out there but it's just gotta be found. I look through my old pictures from when I
was in High school a few years ago, and I use to go on serious rides at least 3 - 4 times a week. I
can remember getting all my gear ready in the morning, listening to the birds, seeing the sun peek
through the trees, and waiting for my friend Dave to come with the Pontiac and load up the bikes.
We'd sit through 4 classes and a lunch period just waiting to get out of that place only to hit the
trails. I remember one particular ride, we got separated and I wasn't familiar with the area, the
trail I picked turned out to be a helluva ride, perfect sections that let you keep your speed up the
entire time, only to find a massive kicker at the top of a hill. It sent you so far and had such a
nice steep landing that it felt good even on my hardtail. I eventually found my friend in the bush
at the bottom of this kicker, he apparently had too much speed and lost it on the corner. It was
always great to go riding here, but i'm not sure if all the trails still exist because of a golf
course that was supposedly being slapped in there... Like we need any more golf courses when there
are barely any decent places to ride anymore. I'm not bashing golf, I don't mind it, but don't take
the one nice place we have to ride and replace it with flat green stuff. But here's the thing. When
you consider yourself true to the sport, or whatever you would like to call it, you know that
whenever you think of mountain biking it gives you Goosebumps, and when you actually throw a leg
over the saddle and start to ride, you know your free to do whatever you desire and go where you
want to go. In my situation, I can go any direction and be in a new place I've never been before.
Sure you may have been every where in your city by car or bus, but once you take time and explore on
a MTB of any kind, whether it be hardtail, full suspension, or a nice big free rider, it's totally
different by bike... The feeling is like none other when you pass by a fellow biker and give them
the sacred nod. Who knows, maybe they'll join you for a ride, then part, riding your separate
ways... You may bump into them again, you may not... That's part of mountain biking... I haven't
gone on a serious ride in over a year now and I consider myself true to the sport... But with prices
of decent rigs going up and up, it gets harder and harder to ride... Everyone waiting for the snow
to go away and go on their first ride, take it to heart, in fact, take every ride to heart, even if
it's just to the store and back...
Ride to be free