With a little help

MTB is, for the most part, a solitary activity/sport.  You get out in nature and ride the trails with the freedom of being solo and doing it all by yourself.  It is one of the attractive elements of the mountain bike, a self-propelled freedom vehicle that can take you to places that are remote, out of the way, and beautiful.  The mountain bike is a tool/toy that is used for solitary consumption of remote singletrack.  Mountain bikers are notorious for being self-training, self-sufficient, self-riding apparitions of the offroad two wheeled locomotion.

I personally have spent countless hours peddling a fat-tire beast up over around and down, solo.  Yes, it was by choice.  I wanted to ride my pace, my trails, my time, me me me.  No one to slow me down, no one to chase.  Selfish riding, all about me. 

There are no words that I can put down to describe what it is to ride with someone that you can push and can push you back.  It's a one-up showdown singletrack style.  Progression happens when you hear the knobbies grabbing some hard-pack in a smooth right hander a millisecond behind.  That's right, when you can feel the rider behind you without having to "look back", -that is a two handed push toward progress.

I'm lucky to have someone I can ride with that pushes me to be uncomfortable, to ride one the edge, to progress.  I do my best to return the favor.  I have been fortunate to be the lead rider on our rides (thanks to my knowledge of the trail system), otherwise it would be a different story if I were the one chasing.  I am dead after riding in the lead, I would be obliterated if I were the one chasing.

I know why mountain bikers ride alone, and for the most part I enjoy a good solo ride, but when I get to ride with an equal or someone of superior talent -it makes for an experience like no other.  Don't get me wrong.  I enjoy company of any skill level on rides.  Riding with someone else and getting to share in the experience of the ride together is what it is all about.  If I had it my way, every ride would be a shared experience.  Let me know when you want to go.