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Ferried Mountain Biking

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Submitted By ajamesmueller
Words 759
Pages 4
Freeride Mountain Biking

There are many forms and activities that evolve in the sport of mountain biking. Whether you enjoy riding for fun, exercise, or be competitive in the sport, there is usually a type of riding that may appeal to just about anybody. Various types of riding may include the casual rider, the competition road biker, or from the adventure seeking cross country rider, or maybe you are like myself and love the thrill and adrenaline of the freeriding part of the sport. Freeriding in my opinion is the most fun and rewarding style of riding especially if you enjoy nature, although it can be extremely dangerous.

“Freeride is a discipline of mountain biking closely related to downhill biking and dirt jumping focused on tricks, style, and technical trail features. It is now recognized as one of the most popular disciplines within mountain biking.” [1] The expression freeriding was originally adopted by snowboarders, meaning riding without a set course, goals, or rules on natural terrain. In mountain biking, it is riding trails with the most creative line possible that includes style, amplitude, control and speed.

Freeriding takes place down a challenging mountainside with many single track trails that have numerous different obstacles as you descend downwards through the rocks and trees. In our area, the best place to travel to is none other than Upper Peninsula’s beautiful Marquette that offers some of the best mountain biking around. Single track trails are usually trails that are meant for one direction and most times are very narrow trails that have a variety of manmade jumps, hand built wooden obstacles, or utilize the natural formations in nature such as rock faces that pose as huge drops not meant for the timid. Although Marquette offers some trails that are great for people just getting into the freeriding sport of mountain biking.

If this is something that interests you, you may be thinking where do I begin? What type of bike will suit my needs? Well nowadays it’s not necessarily a cheap sport to jump into with bikes ranging from $1,500 up to $8,500 and maybe even more depending on the brand. Giant, Specialized, Trek and Kona bicycles are the most well known in the sport around Marquette, MI. Depending on the your riding style you may like a range of jumps to moderate technical trails with some smaller drops, then in that case a hard tail bike would suit you keeping a budget in mind. A hard tail is what you might think; it’s a bike with front suspension and lacks any type of suspension in the rear. If you are going to be hitting the bigger jumps, drops and trails with very difficult to rough terrain then you may want to consider a full suspension bike. It’ll be more forgiving and soak up any of the big hits you may encounter, but that comes with a significant cost. You also have gear to consider which I’d recommend a full face helmet, hydration pack, gloves, jersey, etc. You should now have a little insight as to what freeriding is about and how to get started but with that the sport does have its benefits.

With freeriding come some benefits. If you love being outdoors and like to take in what nature has to offer then it’s great for that. Whether you take a break up at the top of the mountain and take in the breathtaking view below or if its just taking in everything on your downward journey it’s simply amazing. It’s also enjoyable and provides a good means of exercise if that’s what your after. Another great aspect is whether you do a group ride or if you meet people along the way it can be a great social hobby as there are plenty of people out doing the same thing as you.

In conclusion, mountain biking has plenty of avenues to choose from whether you are in it for just recreational purposes, exercise, or the extreme adventurous side. What’s stopping you get out there and enjoy the sport today, you are bound to find what type of style your into and stay within a budget that’s right for you. It might be worthwhile to check out freeriding as I think that it is the most fun if you’re an adrenaline adventurer and like to experience pure Michigan.

Works Cited
[1] “Freeride.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 23 Sept. 2015. Web. 27 Sept. 2015. <https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeride_mountain biking_movies#Freeriding_in_film>

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