Mountain biking, snowboarding, and the “why do you do X” question

On the main part of the website, the page why ride sums up some of the reasons that I’ve read people have given for starting snowboarding. When I asked people why they started to ride on the site bulletin board, it became one of the most popular topics. It’s also something we discussed on the Facebook fan page.

Recently I’ve been checking out online forums for mountain biking, and, perhaps no surprise, have found that there’s some similarity in the reasons that people give for both sports. There’s not a total overlap, but a significant one.

To summarize what I’ve read about mountain biking:

There’s something about those two or three “perfect” rides a year that keep you going.

I love pushing my boundaries and taking on a challenge and overcoming it. I never thought I can do this, but I can, and that feels fantastic.

I know that I can always improve, and I enjoy trying to do that.

It gives me an adrenaline rush, especially when I come close to, but escape, a bad crash.

I enjoy riding with friends and hanging out with them afterwards.

I like buying gear and fiddling with it.

I like leaving my cares behind by doing something that requires me to be in the moment. You can’t think of anything else. It keeps my mind active. [Some people speak of Zen and “being one with the trail.”]

It’s a good physical workout and it doesn’t kill my knees.

It’s good for my mental health, and reduces my stress. It makes me feel like a kid again.

I love being outside and part of nature.

Once you buy your equipment, it doesn’t cost much [unlike, say, golf, which requires greens fees.]

All this makes me think that I might actually want to take another college class–say, something in the sociology or sport or theory of recreation. There are lots of different sports, but perhaps a half dozen themes that run through most of them. It might be worthwhile to think through them all in some sort of organized, disciplined way.