In case you hadn’t guessed, one of my very favourite things is mountain biking. There are many reasons for this:

  • You do it outdoors, often in incredibly beautiful places
  • It’s a big physical and mental challenge without the monotony of road biking or spinning
  • It’s safer than road biking, but admittedly, a bit more dangerous than spinning
  • On a perfect day in the woods, there’s a childlike giddiness to biking that sets your spirit free
  • It attracts some very interesting people

I’m a later-in-life convert to this sport, through wonderfully serendipitous circumstances, which is probably part of the magic for me. Uncharacteristically, I learned the basics of riding the right way—from world-class competitors and riders in the best all-round mountain biking place in the world: Whistler, BC. For details on the amazing camp I first went to five years ago, visit http://www.dirtseries.com/.

Like anything transformative, there are lessons from mountain biking that can guide us in other parts of our lives, even marketing. It’s all here, but I’ll leave it to you, fair reader, to make the analogies you want:

  1. Always look ahead to where you want to go, rather than focusing on where you are, or just slightly ahead of where you are. This is how the rider sets up for a turn to maximise speed through it, gears up or down in advance of an uphill or downhill to minimize energy expended, or successfully negotiates a narrow bridge or raised log (this last one being my personal nemesis). In all three of these situations, not focusing far enough ahead results in over and under-correction.
  2. Live in a neutral position while you are riding forward with confidence and aggressiveness. Bikers position their bodies to be completely neutral so they can quickly react to changes in the terrain. When not powering, feet stay level so the body can be vertically neutral and so pedals don’t catch on obstacles. The body is vertically neutral so you aren’t on the seat, but not so tall that your centre of gravity is too high. Horizontal neutrality allows for corrective body counter-weighting backward and forwards. You get the idea.
  3. Trust your ride. Let it go, so it can do its job. As with so many sports, trusting your equipment to handle that steep, speedy decent, absorb the compression of that big drop or bang through that impossible-looking rock garden is the biggest breakthrough you will ever have. If you just let it, your bike can do it.
  4. Keep your ride in top condition. Biking is never just about the rider, so care for your equipment. A well-kept $800 bike will beat a rode-hard-and-put-away-wet $5,000 bike every time. Check it before and after every ride and you will find those little things that can be fixed easily before they become big problems. Believe it or not, you will come to love the zen [2] of mountain bike maintenance.
  5. Remember that what you are doing is supposed to be fun. Sure there are challenges to be conquered and races to be won—both of which seem a lot like work. And there’s also the falling down. But with mountain biking, even getting dirty is fun, which is a good thing considering you get a little bit of mud, blood or both on you every ride. Wear your riding bruises and scars with pride, because what you are doing is bloody amazing. Your smile is never brighter than when it’s shining through the mud-spatter of a great ride. And fun is always infectious.
Notes and references:
  1. Feature image credit: Thomas Vanderham, pro rider and sometime Dirt Series coach, photographed by Sterling Lorence.
  2. “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values”, Robert M. Pirsig, 1974 and “Zinn and the Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance”, Lennard Zinn, 1996.
  3. Thank you Candace, Lorrraine, Tera, Mike, Thomas and Wade of Dirt Series for what you taught me, and most importantly, thank you Single Track Minds.