photo: oakridge.kval.com
A TV newswoman in Eugene, OR does a monthly piece in which she engages in and documents her experiences in a variety of extreme, or somewhat extreme, sports new to her and her viewers. Recently, she tried mountain biking. For the piece, she contracted a local MTB guide/shuttle company to provide her with an introductory experience–and the results were disastrous!
Perhaps seeing that she is reasonably fit and athletic, and desiring to show her and her viewers the kind of thrills that we MTB junkies thrive on, the guides took her and her film crew to a trail in the Cascade Range that is known for its fast and fun, twisting and turning, totally rockin’ downhill, but which is also popularly considered to be both technically and aerobically difficult. In fact, it rates as a black diamond, or advanced trail on the MTB maps of this area. Although she is indeed fit and athletic, she was also totally inexperienced and not ready for such a challenging trail.
Their error didn’t end there, however. They also put her on a bike she had never ridden before, locked her feet into clipless pedals which she was apparently totally unaccustomed to, and took her out wearing biking shorts and a short-sleeved jersey when the expectation that she would fall from the bike onto sharp rocks or into bushes was glaringly obvious.
Before they had made it even 2 miles up the trail, she had crashed so many times that they all gave up and returned to the van, without her ever having experienced even a taste of the exciting and satisfying experience we all know mountain biking to be. Watching it all unfold before me on the nightly news was both disheartening and frustrating. I can only imagine how many potential MTB riders were dissuaded from taking their first ride after watching this fiasco on TV.
It was not all for naught, though. There is a valuable lesson here to be learned for those of us who wish to introduce others to this thing we love so much. Namely, we should carefully and intelligently choose just how and where the neophyte’s inaugural experience will unfold. Having successfully introduced a number of now-regular and enthusiastic riders to mountain biking, I believe there are some cardinal rules we should always observe, and some fatal mistakes we should avoid.
Foremost among these is to select a trail that offers some of the features that make MTB so enjoyable and exciting, without subjecting the new rider to undue technical and physical challenges. We must keep in mind that what we are used to grinding up and flying down is most likely too much for an inexperienced rider, and very well may forever taint his or her impression of MTB.
Second, pedals with clips (a.k.a. clipless pedals) should be avoided at all costs for beginners. Even on a flat, paved road being locked into the pedals is a sensation most people find discomforting at the least, and panic-inducing at worst if they’re not used to it. Flat pedals are the way to go; they afford the new rider the psychological comfort and physical reality of being able to put a foot down should the need arise.
Third, we should keep in mind that our outings with introductory riders are not opportunities for us to get a workout or to tear it up on the trails. I know it’s hard to reign in these desires, but our exuberance should never cause our tutees to feel that they need to keep up with us, thus exposing themselves to exertion they are unaccustomed to, or to taking risks they are unprepared to face.
Undoubtedly, many of you are wondering why I would write an article that really only points out the obvious. I pondered the same question myself before putting pen to paper, not wanting to insult the intelligence of the readers of this blog. However, the reality is that for some reason the professional guides mentioned above failed to indentify and avoid the pitfalls this writing addresses. And if professionals, who should have ample experience in guiding people toward appropriate trails to ride, are capable of committing such egregious errors, it seems reasonable to assume that the rest of us might also be capable of the same.
Mountain bikers have to learn to walk, so to speak, before they can learn to run!
38 Comments
Oct 20, 2012
Oct 21, 2012
Oct 20, 2012
Yes, the guides need to know how to say no, but a lot of people who don't take cycling seriously just don't grasp that "real" riding is a very different animal from what they learned to do when they were kids.
Oct 20, 2012
Mountain biking is fun and is accessible to beginners, but it most definitely is NOT easy.
Oct 22, 2012
Oct 22, 2012
It'll be tough to have her trail you but you'll be able to check behind you often and stop and give advice/show her how it's done for trickier sections.
Oct 23, 2012
Oct 22, 2012
Oct 22, 2012
She is 11 now and she can pretty much decide for herself what she wants to tackle, but it was a tense couple years when I couldn't see what she was doing every second.
Oh, and I also started her at 7 on a similar bike.
Oct 19, 2012
Oct 19, 2012
Here's the video feature.
Oct 25, 2012
Oct 20, 2012
I know I've made mistakes in this area; heck, this summer I took my 65 year old dad out for his first MTB ride in years at Phil's World and he took a nasty spill. I felt horrible and wished we had started somewhere easier. Now it will be a while before I can get him back on the trail with me...
Oct 19, 2012
The fact is, while maybe this did turn people off from the sport, mountain biking is not a walk in the park. Sure, there are easy trails out there, but even those can come back and bite you if you are new or if you aren't paying attention. Mountain biking is painful... ESPECIALLY when you're doing it right.
Oct 19, 2012
Oct 19, 2012
Oct 20, 2012
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxhWjhHDjEA
Oct 21, 2012
Oct 25, 2012
I agree that both parties are at fault; the news station for not realizing the dangers of what they wanted to do and the guides for going along with the station's requests, even when they had a good idea of what the outcome would be.
Oct 19, 2012
It is pretty obvious however that she received no instruction beyond here's a bike, go that way, try not to run over the cameraman. The places where she fell didn't look all that bad, it's just that her body position is all wrong and she was looking at what she wanted to avoid. By contrast, the Denver News segment I linked really dives into the preparation, gear selection, etc: basically the things an actual noob would need to deal with.
For this piece, I guess I can accept the premise of "this is what hardcore mountain biking looks like" but they still could have handled it very differently.
Oct 19, 2012
Oct 20, 2012
Oct 20, 2012
That said you are totally right. Mountain biking can be freaking terrifying and you should go lightly with new people. I've been doing this for maybe 6 months now and it's very easy as I develop to lose track of exactly how confusing/terrifying an entirely routine part of the trail was.
On the other hand, watching better people handle the trail is probably the fastest way to learn.
Oct 20, 2012
+1 to that. And getting dropped by faster riders over and over again until you eventually start getting dropped less quickly and then less often, and then eventually never, is the best way to get fast too.
Oct 22, 2012
Oct 22, 2012
I did the same thing. My daughter stopped in her tracks, so did I. I then proceeded to do the slow tip over because I couldn't get unclipped. She looked at me like I didn't know how to ride. :lol:
I learned to pay extra attention to keeping a larger buffer between us.
Then I switched to flats because I had more fun riding that way. Oh well, lesson learned!
Oct 19, 2012
And thankfully, they did mention walking some of the sections that were too difficult.
Oct 19, 2012
I love getting newbies into the sport -- it's an easy ride, take them to a fun trail, and get people to enjoy the thrill of it all. The world needs more riders!
Oct 19, 2012
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbfKepg48kY
She was accompanied by then-president of COMBA Terry Breheny as well as some MTB guides and other riders. They went to Bear Creek Lake Park, which is generally considered to be the tamest MTB trail in all of Denver. (It's where IMBA hosts the Take A Child Mountain Biking event)
The piece covered everything from selecting gear, fitting on the bike, basics of riding, etc. (She used flat pedals, but with toe straps, eww)
Anyway, the complete opposite of the stunt that KVAL pulled.
On the flipside, if you watched the BBC coverage of the Olympic mountain bike races, they had a BBC news girl try the Olympic course, and she endo'ed, several times. In that case though, I think it was on purpose in a "see how hard this is" kind of way.
Great write-up, and something we all definitely need to keep in mind when we go out with the newbies.
Oct 20, 2012
Oct 20, 2012
Oct 24, 2012
Oct 19, 2012
Oct 24, 2012
I usually let them take the lead and just let them know which way to go so they may go at their own pace. Of course its most important to start them on a trail which is fun but will not scare the crap out of them.
Better still...I will not take someone out if I know they will not actually like the fact that its a sport but its also a workout..
I try and make them feel completely comfortable and they must definately be prepared with a helmet etc.
The best part is that I now have more riding partners!
Oct 25, 2012
Oct 19, 2012
I wonder if the TV newswoman situation was partially intentional... like they wanted her to get in over her head for a few laughs. Thank goodness she wasn't hurt--hopefully it didn't turn the viewers off from trying mountain biking one day.
Oct 21, 2012
Oct 20, 2012