When I was 10 years old my family lived on a butte in Bend, Oregon. Next to our house was undeveloped land that was home to single track trails (though I didn’t know what it was called at the time). I loved exploring those trails. Somehow I learned that people rode their bikes on them. I very clearly remember thinking “why would anyone want to ride here, there are so many rocks, they must be crazy.” Since that day I have never even considered trying mountain biking.
This weekend I watched the documentary Ride the Divide. It’s about the unofficial mountain bike race, Tour Divide, which follows the continental divide from Canada to Mexico. The camera crew follows the entire race but ends up mostly focusing on two of the riders. It really was very interesting and if you have a Netflix account I highly recommend it. This movie made two main lasting impressions on me.
First it made me actually want to try mountain biking. This is not an easy task, like I said, mountain biking has never appealed to me. I don’t even know what exactly it is about the movie that makes me want to try mountain biking. I suspect it has something to do with seeing the terrain they get to ride through. It also might have to do with the fact that they don’t show any major falls.
The second realization I came to while watching Ride the Divide is that the reality of this coming summer has not set in yet. Here I am watching these people on their epic journey across the country and I am jealous. My riding with Bike & Build this summer still feels more like a dream than an impending event.
