“Thrilling, adventurous, and challenging sport that requires bravery, toughness, and dedication!” This describes the underrated and amazing sport: mountain biking! Living in Washington is a great asset for mountain bikers, with numerous trails, lots of green forests, and usually good weather conditions. The common main trails close to Maple Valley include Tiger Mountain, etc.
Callen Sholberg, a competitive enduro mountain biker, says that his favorite common practice trail for biking is Tiger Mountain, near North Bend. Callen says that cloudy weather is the best for riding, where it isn’t too hot easily and the trails aren’t slippery (it usually rains). Callen takes his biking career seriously, biking everyday for three to five hours. His competition season starts in spring and goes through the summer, in which he is attending thirteen races total- from here in Washington to states like North Carolina! His favorite thing about biking is the adrenaline rush, getting better, making friends, and perfecting his skills. His advice to people wanting to start mountain biking would be to “Start slow, see improvement. It takes a lot of time, effort and commitment.”
One of the greatest aspects of mountain biking is its abilities to extend its boundaries to harder, difficult, and different trails, whether you’re a novice or seasoned rider, which are ready to be discovered. The dense forests of the Pacific Northwest provide mountain bikers with constant challenges and excitement. Not only does mountain biking give you an adrenaline rush or physically/emotionally hard climbs, it gives you personal growth, self discovery, a kind community, patience, and hard work. Mountain biking allows for you to confront your fears, push past your limits, and develop resilience.
Corson Keithly is also a mountain biker. He mountain bikes more for fun because he also loves the adrenaline rush, making new friends, biking on great-weather days, and spending time with his bike and friends. Corson also prefers cloudy weather because of it not being too hot nor rain/slippery to ride. He bikes about two days a week. His advice would be to others starting out, “Be patient with your skills development and having a positive outlook on everything will help you a lot too.”
Along with the thrill and excitement, mountain biking requires respect for the environment. It offers riders a gateway to the untamed beauty of nature. They practice stewardship and advocacy so they can strive to ensure that future generations can continue to experience the wilderness even more.
In conclusion, mountain biking is a lifestyle, not just a sport. You become very strong and determined both physically and mentally to mountain bike, especially compete! The journey to become a mountain biker is far from easy. As Callen and Corson agreed, “Countless hours are spent training on the bike, building strength and endurance, and perfecting the techniques”. As long as there are trails to conquer and obstacles to get through, the legacy of mountain bikers will continue to inspire generations to come.
