Picture this. You get on your mountain bike to go for a nice long ride in the woods. You didn’t bring anything with you but the clothes on your back and the bike. You get a few miles in feeling the nice cool breeze and smelling the fresh air and then…..raindrops. Just a few at first but then more and more. Before you realize what has happened your soaked to the skin in your cotton shorts and t-shirt while the trail turns to mush. You turn around to go back the way you came and realize your having more trouble than you should be even with the your tires sinking to the mud. Through rain blinded eyes you notice you’ve got a flat. Since you’ve brought nothing to fix this, you get off the bike and begin to walk with it down the path. In a few miles, you realize you’ve taken the wrong way back and you’re a bit lost. Terrible thought right?

Ok, so its an overblown account of what could happen on your worst day of trail riding ever but there’s a point to the story. There is a right way to mountain bike and certain things you need to bring in order to make sure you can live pleasantly with mother nature when she decides to have PMS. These items I mention are maps, extra tire tube, tire levers, granola bars, water, poncho, small bike pump, etc. My favorite of all the mountain bike accessories I’ve used is a hydration pack with the liner taken out. Because of the way its shaped, this provides great balance and the entire back is padded for comfort. I fill it up with nice goodies for the trail to make sure that if anything does go wrong, I’ll be ready. After my last trip where I nearly got attacked by some very angry dogs I’m considering adding non threatening dog mace to the mix!! The problem there is I love dogs and would probably cry the whole way home if I harmed one. Tangents aside, its possible to have a few rough days on the trails when you first start out until you start taking heart of useful tips like the importance of wearing moisture wicking bike clothing and not cotton. The die hards know what I’m talking about here. When your really pushing it up a steep trail, your burning calories and sweating like crazy. It would be nice if some of that would evaporate and leave you dry instead of gross right? I tried a few hard rides without them and figured out very quickly why moisture wicking apparel is one of the best mountain bike accessories that you can own.

The best place to get useful information about mountain biking is from the guys and girls that ride the trails and are willing to share it on their blogs. I’ve learned a lot from these resources and little by little figured out what works and what doesn’t from their advice and my own bad luck. I was inspired enough that I decided to start my own blog for product reviews and mountain bike information.  I ended up pulling the plug though because I never really had time to moderate it.  Everyone loves new toys and who wouldn’t want some nice new mountain bike gear to play with. Not all of it is useful though or well made so reading reviews is a great way to learn from others mistakes. I had a used mountain bike before the one I have now that absolutely fell to pieces after a few hard rides. The labor costs to fix it cost almost as much as the whole bike was worth!! That’s all I have on the subject for now. I hope everyone has a great time riding and I’ll see you on the trail.