[DiscountedCycl]

Win an O'Neal Fury helmet from our friends at DiscountCycling! It's easy: just post what makes you passionate about cycling.
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Hey Ridemonkey!

I wanted to personally introduce myself, and launch a little contest that will kick off a whole series we're running over this season. We're massive fans of Ridemonkey here at Discountedcycling, and we're incredibly excited to be involved in the community. We've been working with the staff here to come up with some fun ideas for how we can help out, and our first idea was to run some contests!

Biking is something that I'm super passionate about, as it has done a ton for my own life. I want to see the passion that other people feel about biking, so we're going to give away a helmet to the most passionate biker on here!

Here's how it will work: You make a post in this thread that is 100 words about why you love biking. We'll run the contest for two weeks, and at the end of the run, I'll be working with the Ridemonkey admin team to pick our favorite post. That person will get sent a brand new O'Neal Fury Helmet.

http://www.discountedcycling.com/products/O'Neal-Fury-Helmet.html

Happy to be involved, and can't wait to read some of these entries. Please feel free to contact me with any questions you might have.

Mike Gardner

www.discountedcycling.com

 

[bullcrew]

Cycling is like surfing theres that time for yourself to push it and reflect on what you need to do different and just get in tune with yourself and your fears.
Sometimes racing around the trampoline on my bike with my kid is as much fun as actuall DH racing. As I make riding memories it makes them for him too...
Other times doing a new gap or double makes you light headed at the sight but its too late now, regret is for quitters.... So man up...

 

[A-NON-A]

Lurker for a while but newly registered so for my first post here we go:


Life's decisions, bullets fired incessantly at me.
Decisions, choices, and daily routine.... a mound of stressors
that build and weigh heavy. Only to be washed away by sweat,
earned on the trail. Terra firma's many routes to relief:

A slow ride soaking in the beauty the freedom and tranquility,
of being outside lifes constant hustle.
A blistering fast ride:the trail spitting obstacles
with such speed and constance that life gets pushed to the back.

Returned to the trailhead, and lifes routine, with new appreciation
a cold beer, a burger, my kids smile .... cycling a catalyst,to life the celebration.

 

[dabomb7]

The feel of tearing down the mountain on the edge of your limits, barely in control is a feeling like no other. Pushing your limits, going bigger, faster, and father is what its all about. There isnt anything else that can compare.

 

[InfinityXX]

Why do I ride, you ask... well for many reasons.

That feeling you get when you are staring down that sketchy jump you and your friends made in the forest, knowing that nothing good can come from it. But also the great joy you get when you are in the air enjoying that short flight...feeling almost free... and finally the landing where you are overcome with both the joy of success and thoughts to come of endless days of fun with your friends...

 

[ZHendo]

I love cycling because it is one of the most versatile and accessible sports in existence. My dad rode with me and I will someday be able to with my own children. There are no limits to cycling; you don't have be near the ocean or in the mountains to get that adrenaline buzz. The lifestyle that surrounds the sport allows you to be introverted and zen-like on some days, while other days you can have a great time with friends or even race. It's something that I will be able to do for most of my life and never tire of it, because for me cycling is the only "timeless" sport.

 

[DiscountedCycl]

This contest ends in 24 hours. Everyone get there Submissions in. The next contest everyone is going to love.

 

[gonefirefightin]

heres my version

in 2005 I was hit by a roadside bomb while in combat in Iraq and put in the hospital as an inpatient for 3 years.

in short I am blind in the right eye, no right ear, hemipalegic on the left side and a myriad of other injuries.

I got tired of sitting on a stationary bike for over a year while in physical therapy getting motor skills returned and wanted to actually accomplish somthing rather than spinning indoors.

I bought a Turner DHR while in the hospital and against hospital policy I rode outside in the parking lot with doctors supervision

I basically told them, "your either with me or without me"

after a while I was getting faster, and challenging myself more I decided to ride trails in the bay area.

the hospital broke the rules and let me go out with therapists and docs to supervise. after getting passed by other riders at riding spots like carlmont/DMC/pacifica/boyscout/jmp I felt lame and wasnt happy with not being able to keep up with the groms riding around me. so I decided to race.

I thought "if I cant beat one person without any injuries or disabilities I can feel good about my recovery process"

the hospital wasnt very keen on this but yet again I told them "your either with me or without me"

my very first race as an inpatient was right outside of laguna seca at the CCCX series wich was a complete disaster in my book. I placed dead last several minutes behenind everyone. at that event I met several monkies who have been friends since then.

allthough I was determined to make a podium finish I continued to ride.

thus brings this video

http://www.mercurynewsphoto.com/blog/2007/06/05/an-injured-soldier-finds-new-purpose/#more-1684

after sea otter I took a 3 week leave from the hospital and rode the national series across the country (still as an inpatient)

I hit colorado, new york, the carolinas, new mexico and finals at vermont.

I ended up taking second place at national finals in vermont and felt I had accomplished the simple goal I thought was to recover from an injury.

but what actually happened was a chain of events that crossed paths with some of the best peeps in the industry and best from all over the country and landed me on the monkey.


so there

 

[bizutch]

I got into mountain biking in college. Back home, I was in big trouble for the lifestyle I led. I rode motocross, flipped a car on my arm, drank way too much and practically wrecked my life growing a false circle of friends.

I ran to college to get away from my mistakes. For my birthday one month in, my dad bought me a mountain bike. I was fit to play all sorts of sports, but cycling owned me. I could not get fit enough to get to where I wanted to ride. It pushed me like no other exercise and rewarded me with an adrenaline rush all the way back down on terrain that was never the same.

I've been riding since 1992. Mountain biking and downhill have given me lasting friends, my sanity in times of distress, an outlet for my angst and even set my morale compass. I've put on downhill and slalom races, traveled across the country to ride with strangers and even met a woman who accepts my obsession. Correction...she encourages it!

I can only imagine where I might be without mountain bikes!!

 

[Quo Fan]

100 words. Difficult for a person that doesn't use a lot of them in one day, but I'll give it a go.

I rediscovered cycling back in 1997 or so. I biked while growing up, because that was my only means of transportation. I bike while in the service, because I was fiscally irresponsible, and a bike was all the transportation I could afford. After departing the service, I had a series of failed relationships and marriages, and finally, after discovering the martial arts, got back into cycling. Since then, I have gained new friends, and many bikes. It has given me stability and led me to the woman I'm going to spend the rest of my life with.

I wish I had a story like gonefirefightin, but I'm just not that awesome. I'm just a schmuck that normally doesn't win anything, but that doesn't keep me from trying.

Wow, 137 words. That is quite a lot for me.

 

[Kntr]

I dont think anyone loves mountain biking more than me. I wake up every morning thinking about getting on a bike and getting on RM. There are currenty 8 bikes sitting in my garage. My wife rides and so does my 7 yo daughter. My daughter absolutely rips. She will be passing a few riders at Whistler and Silver Star this year. We are a mountain bike family. In short, the main reason I like biking is because it has given me the best friends and best memories I could possibly imagine.

 

[MMike]

I.....oh nevermind......

 

[splat]

OK

What Cycling has ment to Me . I really got into cycling back in the early 80's , first primarily as a means of transportation in college. Then the Passion grew, after I got out of college I tried my Hand at Road Racing, I also did a lot more Socil road rides were I would meet my eventual wife. as our family has grown, My children have been right in the thick of things. they use to love going to Pedro's Fest and were very upset when that ended. My Son loves to ride almost as much as Me, He is my Stoker on the tandem , he hits Bigger Jumps/drops then Me and he is always eager to go out and do trail work. If I were to win this , the Helmet would not be for me, but for my Son. Since he has asked for me to take him to Highland MT bike park. and I have told him I will he will need a helmet.

 

[slimshady]

Riding... Well, it stands for so many things to me... The first thing that come to my mind around that word are friends, freedom, and a sense of self-accomplishment. I ride because riding has brought to my life the best people I know, and has taken me to the best places I have been. Nothing can beat the feeling of a lightning striking a tree 30 feet away from me, while I was running down the mountain at Cordoba, about ten years ago... Or can it? Every time I get some air (you know, those tiny seconds when you can escape the dictatorship of gravity), I realize I took the right path. And I will keep pedaling even when my body can't take the jumps and turns of a fast-paced downhill trail. I don't know where, and I don't know how. But surely my bike and a couple of good friends will be around.

 

[johnbryanpeters]

Even though it wobbles a bit if I follow the wheel it gets me someplace. Wise, that wheel, I don’t nag it or untoward, annoyed, it will pitch me. Let it run as it will. Ride the tunnel, relaxed, eyes yards ahead, loose, streaming. No music, no work, no distractions, in the ride for itself, for its lessons, for kinesthetic unity. Flow like this for hours, might be days, who knows? Crashing? It’s there, a lesson, roll with it, keep flying the plane, part of the ride, get up and move on, keep rolling, with luck it will never end.

 

[Prettym1k3]

Because I love it. People ask me all the time why I love it, but I don't know why. The speed, the adrenaline, the risk... it's all fine and dandy. But at the end of the day, all I know is when I'm off the bike for a few days, I miss it. I need it. I crave it. And when I get back on the bike, my addiction has been satisfied. My craving has been met. My thirst quenched and my hunger fed.

 

[DiscountedCycl]

only 6 more hours there has to be some more great submissions

 

[mantispf2000]

4yo daughter liked to go on bike rides with me. Daughter went to Heaven. Got idea to do endurance mtb events when brother did a marathon in her honor. Though I don't podium, the number of laps I complete usually have meaning (age, date of birth, etc). Location plays a part, too, as she loved Mammoth, so I ride there.

I wonder if it's the wind or daughter pushing me when I ride???

 

[binary visions]

We got a bunch of great entries here guys, I really appreciate it.

In the interest of protecting his head from further injury, since he only has one good eye, and one good ear, we're going to offer gonefirefightin the helmet. While I know the "wounded veteran" story holds appeal, of course, it was really just a post that captured the spirit of the contest.

I have to confess, I read these entries about a dozen times - some of you guys have personal stories on here that go back a lot further than a few words in a giveaway thread and it was hard to choose.

More contests coming up... Thanks everyone!