We went hiking just up the street from us on Saturday, how we haven’t gone on the trail despite being literally a couple of mins away blows my mind, but that’s besides the point. We walked on part of what is a nearly 9 mile loop which is pretty popular with MTB’s so seeing people out having fun on their MTBs both filled me with FOMO and has me looking around in the off chance there’s a really decent deal. It’s a rabbit hole I need to get out of, MTB is not cheap and I have a CX and road bike I barely get out with already!
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Welcome to the fun side. Take advantage of that trail no matter what you do please, some of us (ME) have to drive to visit fun trails, whether it’s a hike or a mountain bike ride!
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If you can afford it and have the interest then I would 100% recommend getting an MTB. It is massively fun and the skills side opens up a whole new area for improvement.
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Totally agree. You really see it on the gravel. People who MTB have much more control when the bike starts moving around, and are much more likely to stay up and stay fast. Did you see what happened to Keegan at the end of BWR when he had no front brake? Most roadies would have blown right into that crowd.
Every time I think about getting into MTB I watch Pink Bike Friday Fails. 
But I agree, generally, it looks like MTBers are having more fun while they’re riding.
I’m tempted for many reasons to try a schwinn boundary ($250 from walmart) because there’s this youtube channel I like to watch (kevcentral) who does upgrades to walmart bikes to show how they can become more “real” mountain bikes.
As someone who calls himself a CX racer, I really should do more off-road stuff. I race pretty competently as it is but I’m sure if I did more skills stuff I’d be better. It’s just hard to not do trainerroad every day, I’m hooked on indoor workouts!
So if you’re tempted to go walmart then I’d at this point wait to see if Viathon has black Friday sales again. I got a great deal this spring on the M.1 GX and am totally happy I got back in MTB just for some fun and variety. While some carbon hardtails get better reviews for the price pretty sure it can’t be beat.
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