The UncomfortaBull Thrill podcast hosted by John Franklin
The experience of “sending it” down a dirt hill, weaving between trees, popping jumps and skidding around corners on a metal frame with two wheels bolted on, is an exhilarating one, and one that can be experienced by riders of all abilities. The memory of this adrenalin-induced experience likely lingers and provokes deep rumination of how fast one took a particular corner or the amount of air time one got on that last jump. What is much less likely to provoke contemplation is who built that jump or raked out that corner. Like many sports, what is less known are the forces that drive the deep social bond seen in many mountain bikers, who not only ride together but build together. This is an attempt to investigate some possible explanations as to why mountain bikers would ditch their bikes for a shovel.