[lovebunny]

i saw a thread in the beginners forum and i saw a site where a dude said dh is just a fad so i sent him this email to see what he said. part of it is quoted directly fro ma thread here on rm
hi im TJ Jones and i was checking out your site and i noticed that you
dont seem to like downhill very much.im just curious as to why? i am a
downhiller and i think the sports much more than a fad. and i dont
think that you quite understand it. the point in it is not to have a
free ride up the hill and just bomb down. the reason we shuttle in
trucks or use lifts is ssimple becayse it makes it easier to get more
riding in in a day. and the sport is very much more that jus "bombing
a hill and plowing evrything in sight". weactually try not to plow
into things and the trails can get very technical. and you add this
factor to the speed u have when you go it makes for a very challenging
sport.now i ride cross country and road as well and the thrill i get
from the versions of the sport is a very different one. its not the
adrenaline filled one like downhill but its an endurance thing. love
both parts of the sport. if all mountain bikers rode XC and only XC we
would not have the nice 4-5 inch travel FS trail bikes that keep the
sport alive.DH is a awsome part of our sport. beacuse of DH we are
able to enjoy XC and trail bikes with more travel, that can sometimes
pedal as well as a hartail. And because of XC DHers now have better
pedaling lighter weight bikes though the use of well engineered of bob
resistint linkages and stable platform shocks and forks.beacuse of DH
XC bikes are now lighter and stiffer, beacuse of lessons learned on DH
courses that flex and stress frames,forks and focus large forces on
suspention linkages and rear shocks. its a circle if almost anything
learned from DH can be applied to make a better XC or trail bike and
alot of of things learned from XC can be used to make abetter
DH/freeride bike. basicly what im trying to say is we all love bikes
that what makes us mountain bikers. thanks for your time and i would
love to hear back from you with your opinion. thank you
TJ Jones


and this is his response. judging by it it doesnt seem like he has much uinderstanding of biking at all and he runs a shop?

Mainly 'cause it's not human powered. I see it as a branch of motorcycling.

I have nothing against motorcycles, but that's just not something I'm
very interested in.

In fact, I'm not very interested in any form of racing, and for _me_,
cycling is not primarily a "sport."

For _me_ cycling is recreation and transportation, but that's not to
say that those who are into it as a sport are "wrong."

Some people like sports, but I've never been very interested in 'em.
I sorta like baseball and the Tour de France, and follow them in a
casual way. I'm not interested in any other organized sports. If
that's your thing, though, that's fine with me.

Different strokes for different folks!

All the best,

Sheldon


--
Harris Cyclery, West Newton, Massachusetts
Phone 617-244-9772 FAX 617-244-1041
http://harriscyclery.com
Hard-to-find parts shipped Worldwide
http://captainbike.com
Useful articles about bicycles and cycling
http://sheldonbrown.com

 

[Transcend]

You know who sheldon brown is right? Probably one of the best wheel building gurus on earth.

He is however, slightly out of touch with reality it seems. My DH bike got a motor when exactly?

 

[-dustin]

yeah...um, some of his musings are odd but he does have a fair amount of knowledge tucked away in his head.

 

[Rip]

*Is looking for the motor, but is not finding it.*

 

[Slugman]

judging by it it doesnt seem like he has much uinderstanding of biking at all and he runs a shop?

What Transend said... plus - spend a couple hours on his site and tell me if you don't learn a couple things.

Sheldon's a great resources... in general. Yeah he's out of touch with DH, has probably no clue what Freeriding is, and I would wonder if even goes off road other than by accident.

 

[scrublover]

agree with the other responses. sheldon brown has forgotten more about bikes in general than many folks ever will know.

yeah, he's out of touch with mtb stuff, and the FR/DH side of things even more, but still. he's a brain and a half when it comes to pedal powered stuff.

if he *were* to have gotten into mtb stuff, the things he could have come up with may have been pretty interesting....
he's one of those guys who may have no interest in a particular something, but his general knowledge would still prove pretty damn useful to said something.

edited to add: and SB lives/works near some of the best freakin' technical riding around. sigh.

 

[riderx]

judging by it it doesnt seem like he has much uinderstanding of biking at all and he runs a shop?

Hahahahahahahahah! I'm surprised Sheldon even bothered to answer that poorly constructed, rambling email. Bow down before Sheldon!

You'd get a better return on your time investment if you spent a little more effort on learning how to write properly and less time trying justify DH to one of the world's most knowledgeable cyclists.

 

[Arm On Fire]

Dude, Sheldon is awesome.
He doesn't see bikes as "sport", they are so integrated into his life that it would be like him saying that his life is a "sport".
You can learn so much from him, (and maybe he could learn a little from us).
He's old school, but cool in my book.

-dan in nh (hour north of sheldon)

 

[Echo]

Haha lovebunny just got pwn3d by a bicycle legend

NOW who's "severely misinformed"

 

[DRB]

Hahahahahahahahah! I'm surprised Sheldon even bothered to answer that poorly constructed, rambling email. Bow down before Sheldon!

The nigerians running 419 scams have a better grasp of the English language.

 

[N8 v2.0]

The nigerians running 419 scams have a better grasp of the English language.

BBBWWWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

 

[stosh]

Dude, you're messing with this guy

you have taken your life in your hands.


I wish I could be as dedicated to biking as Sheldon.

 

[stosh]

BBBWWWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

D to the mother f'ing ITTO!!!

 

[Skookum]

i think both people are saying nearly the exact same thing in many ways. Except one is young and dumb and likes the thrill of possibly breaking his bones, while the other is an old fart and doesn't want to break his bones.
neaky:

 

[Echo]

i think both people are saying nearly the exact same thing in many ways. Except one is young and dumb and likes the thrill of possibly breaking his bones, while the other is an old fart and doesn't want to break his bones.
neaky:

Except this is the bicycling equivalent of getting an email response from Mario Andretti

 

[Skookum]

Except this is the bicycling equivalent of getting an email response from Mario Andretti

Who's Mario Andretti

 

[stosh]

Except this is the bicycling equivalent of getting an email response from Mario Andretti

Ha ha!!!

 

[MMcG]

Except this is the bicycling equivalent of getting an email response from Mario Andretti

Maybe Mario Andretti's chief mechanic or something........read Sheldon's response again - doesn't seem like he's into racing (or team or individual "sports" ) at all.

Seems to him bicycles are more a part of how he lives his day to day life vs. most of us who ride for sport or excersise etc. etc.

 

[Arm On Fire]

I'm noticing a trend here

East coast vs. West coast
Biggy smalls vs. Tupac

The people who agree with Mr. Brown are from the east.

Hmm......

 

[stosh]

I'm noticing a trend here

East coast vs. West coast
Biggy smalls vs. Tupac

The people who agree with Mr. Brown are from the east.

Hmm......

Any good XC riding around Exeter?

 

[Skookum]

i think threads like this help me focus on how nerdy we all are. and i mean that in an endearing way of course. Yet so i may clarify my stance on the matter, the beauty of mt. biking is that it is what you make of it. i see alot of hype over stuff and i see big wieghty sometimes unqualified opinions on stuff. Hell i may do it myself, and yes it's funny, but it would be best for all mt. bikers to not go throwing poop into your neighbors yard.

 

[Arm On Fire]

To answer Stosh:

Yup

Ft Rock lives up to its name

If any RM's want a tour lemme know

-dan

www.snemba.org

 

[JRB]

Sheldon Brown is still a weird cat. I don't care how well he can build a wheel or a single speed. He is a rambler just like lovebunny was. His instructions are so vague sometimes, it appears he is covering up the lack of knowledge with ramblings.

That being said, lovebunny should find someone else in cycling to pick on, like lance maybe.

 

[stosh]

To answer Stosh:

Yup

Ft Rock lives up to its name

If any RM's want a tour lemme know

-dan

www.snemba.org

I'm up there from time to time. My uncle lives just South of Manchester.

 

[MMcG]

I'm up there from time to time. My uncle lives just South of Manchester.

I'd love to ride at Ft. Rock sometime as well - I've heard that it is fantastic up there.

 

[Arm On Fire]

Get in touch with me guys

Stosh, you should czech out FOMBA (www.fomba.org) it is awesome, singletrack built by mtber's for mtber's. It is just west of Manch-Vegas, in a town called Auburn (101 east, exit 2).

You have to go there.

The Rock is great too, classic New England terrain

 

[riderx]

He is a rambler just like lovebunny was. His instructions are so vague sometimes, it appears he is covering up the lack of knowledge with ramblings.

Pot. Kettle. Black.

 

[stosh]

Get in touch with me guys

Stosh, you should czech out FOMBA (www.fomba.org) it is awesome, singletrack built by mtber's for mtber's. It is just west of Manch-Vegas, in a town called Auburn (101 east, exit 2).

You have to go there.

The Rock is great too, classic New England terrain

FOMBA no worky!!

Ok I'll have to remember this when I come again.

 

[Arm On Fire]

FOMBA no worky!!

Ok I'll have to remember this when I come again.

Confirmed, they must be "updating", haven't been to the website in a while sorry.

I can give you a tour of that place too, any excuse to ride!

-dan

 

[JRB]

Pot. Kettle. Black.

The difference is, I don't infer knowledge in my ramblings. Maybe you should read them before you pull apart my psyche. :eviltongu

 

[stosh]

Confirmed, they must be "updating", haven't been to the website in a while sorry.

I can give you a tour of that place too, any excuse to ride!

-dan

Ok well it probably won't be till late spring but I will keep that in mind.

 

[-dustin]

hey loco, the 12 days of christmas have come and past....

 

[Arm On Fire]

Ok well it probably won't be till late spring but I will keep that in mind.

Understood, FOMBA is closed April, doesn't open until June, just remembered that.

With the 3 plus feet of snow it's going to be a messy spring.

Break out the road bike!

 

[stosh]

hey loco, the 12 days of christmas have come and past....

REPOST LIKE A MOFO!!

 

[stosh]

Understood, FOMBA is closed April, doesn't open until June, just remembered that.

With the 3 plus feet of snow it's going to be a messy spring.

Break out the road bike!

Yeah I have the slicks on my HT as we speak.

 

[JRB]

hey loco, the 12 days of christmas have come and past....

I don't get it.

Edit - I get it now, and the hat is staying.

 

[MikeD]

Since downhill skiing is really just a form of snowmobiling, I've always figured Sheldon had a point...

I wonder how many such emails he gets a day? He really needs to take that blurb off his site, just for his own benefit.

MD

 

[Echo]

He really needs to take that blurb off his site, just for his own benefit.

Maybe he enjoys fishing, and that's his bait.

 

[MikeD]

Maybe he enjoys fishing, and that's his bait.

All he's going to catch are ones to throw back...

 

[Echo]

All he's going to catch are ones to throw back...

True

I guess it depends if he fishes to eat, or just fishes because he likes fishing