Given the number of mountain bikers combined with the population of cities the reality is that most mountain bikers live within the city. That ranges from the central city to the suburbs or even exurbs ... but most are in proximity to the city. Again, that could range from larger metro areas like Vancouver, BC (2.4 million metro) to smaller communities like Hood River (pop: 7,100) or Oakridge (pop: 3,200) here in Oregon. Then there are the "tweener" communities like Bellingham (pop: 85,000) that are either (a) "overgrown" towns or (b) small cities.
Progression is a hallmark in life. The same applies to both business and mountain biking. On the trail we're always trying to progress our skills ... bunny hops, clearing bigger gap jumps, manuals, more endurance, and so on. We ride for fun but we're also developing our own skills. At Loam Coffee we're always in the mode of figuring out how to do things better.
I love origin stories. In light of the superhero craze in Hollywood we love to learn about how each and every comic book hero came into being. For Spiderman it was a bite from a genetically modified spider, for Iron Man it began with attempting to stop shrapnel from reaching his heart, for Peter Quill we learned of his origins on Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 2, and the list goes on. We're intrigued and mesmerized by how they got their start.
I ride. You ride. I drink coffee. You drink coffee. But why? Setting aside the coffee part of this conversation we're left with a lone question ... why do you ride?
A few weekends ago I headed down to Mountain Bike Oregon (MBO) for the day. Up at 4 AM and on the road a half an hour later for a 2.5 drive from Portland to Oakridge. The main priority of the day was to hang out with Nate Miller from Tasco MTB and serve coffee in his booth. After a few hours of doing so the vendor area was a ghost town since the reason why people come to MBO is for successive days of shuttled runs through some of the most epic trails that Oregon has to offer. By mid-morning the shuttle buses had all gone and there was only one thing to do ... go ride ourselves.
When you think about it, we live in an incredible time in the progression of history. Born a hundred years ago and we would've missed out on the sport (and lifestyle) we've come to love ... mountain biking. Even on a yearly basis we see technological advancements within mountain biking as well as riders pushing the boundaries of what is deemed as "extreme" farther and father. It's almost comical to see late 80s DH races on grainy video footage ... narrow bars, sketchy brakes, short travel bikes, and wild clothes.
