Modern mountain biking is evolving at the speed of adventure. The聽40-year-old sport (with the聽clunker bikes of its early years long enshrined in museums) has matured and had children鈥攁nd grandchildren. These new modes of biking聽jostle for attention, and with them, countless聽technological innovations smudge the lines between traditional cycling categories.
This is, of course, great news for cyclists. Riders who聽love shredding off-road have never had more options, and the exploration driven by enthusiasts has led to the rise聽of a whole new kind of bike. The new category, coined 鈥渁dventure bike,鈥 has pulled the prevailing trends in both road and mountain biking聽together, away from the more exclusive ends of聽the cycling spectrum.
This hybrid approach to bikes聽has gained incredible momentum in the聽past ten years, and it just keeps producing wild, exciting bikes.聽From gravel grinders to bikepacking rigs to powder-hound fatbikes,聽two-wheeled transports are enjoying a species proliferation. And as you鈥檇 expect, with聽all these new species has come the exploitation of new niches.聽Enthusiasts are seeing incredible benefits as so much more of the聽world opens up as a playground for a new breed of cyclist.聽While their steeds may make for a motley assortment, these聽riders all share one very important thing: a thirst for adventure.
But you don鈥檛 have to be out there blazing trails with these adventure聽cyclists to see the effects of their thirst. Spend a few minutes聽browsing MTB Project鈥檚 info-rich trail database鈥攁t聽聽or聽on its handy mobile app鈥攁nd you鈥檒l discover not only the open secrets聽surrounding you but also the huge potential of this fan network. Fresh聽miles are being added, new country is opening up, rails are being聽converted to trails, and connections are being made. Awesome new聽adventure routes are being laid out for anyone to enjoy as riders of聽all stripes link up existing, bike-ready infrastructure and previously聽untrammeled terrain in surprising new ways. From gravel junkies聽stitching together favorite trails via sleepy 鈥渦nimproved鈥 roads to聽fatbikers bushwhacking and route-finding through the backcountry with聽GPS units, adventure cyclists are proving themselves an unstoppable聽force in the evolution of mountain biking.
A serious resurgence in cyclotouring has also emerged, with an allure of self-sufficient travel and exploration by bike.聽But now it鈥檚 more likely to focus on heading off-road聽over as much gravel and dirt as possible. It聽really is easier than ever to plan and execute a trip, not to mention聽pack for it. Whereas once you needed a touring bike that had all the聽necessary eyelets for racks to hold panniers and camping gear, now a聽new faction of the gear industry has grown up around the need for聽bikepacking bags. Building on an idea likely first put into practice聽with the early bikes that appeared some ten years before World聽War I, these bags allow you to take advantage of unused space with聽modular pack systems. Main triangles, handlebars, forks, and seatposts聽are all fair game. Which means that, whether you鈥檙e interested in an聽S24O (sub-24-hour overnight) or a trip-of-a-lifetime ride across聽America, you can make do with almost any kind of bike.
It鈥檚 this exciting 鈥渞un what you brung鈥 attitude that epitomizes adventure cycling and the new spirit of biking. Although the industry is busy chasing these riders, creating bold MTB and road-bike mashups like Cannondale鈥檚 wild new Slate, what鈥檚 most important for members of this movement is simply showing up and having fun. Cyclists haven鈥檛 shared such an inclusive sense of community since the turn of the twentieth聽century. It鈥檚 about time we all agreed on something, and who doesn鈥檛 like a little adventure?