'Seniors Who Shred': Mountain Bike Documentary| Qualicum Beach/Errington. Vancouver Island, BC. 2022

When it comes to sports, mountain biking is a relatively new sport. Most people would agree that modern-day mountain biking originated in and around Marin County, California in the early 1970s. A group of riders known as the Larkspur Canyon Gang rode vintage single-speed bikes that had balloon tires. They became local legends by riding their ballooners, and mountain biking evolved from there. Another group of riders organized races, and people rode as fast as they could down the fire roads, riding bikes called clunkers. These clunkers were not made for this type of riding, and the results usually ended up with a broken bike or an injured rider. After the ride, they had to repack their brakes with grease, and these races became known as repack races. These riders are the founders of modern-day mountain biking, and they revolutionized the sport into the sport as we know today. And today, there are many different styles of bikes and many different styles of riding, such as downhill with a huge suspension, enduro, freeride, dirt jump, and cross-country, just to name a few. For most people, trail riding is the most accessible. I love everything about mountain biking. I love the culture, I love the lingo, I love the people, I love getting out on the trails and nature riding my bike. It's just so therapeutic. But lately, I've noticed that I've had some anxiety, and it's kind of crept up on me over the years. And I'm really sure it stems from this childhood illness I had called Legg-Perthy's disease, which affects the hip. So basically, since birth to five years old, I was in a cast. I was on crutches or in splints. So now, as an older adult, I feel like I really try and protect my hip. But unfortunately, that means when I'm riding now, I get really tense. And being tense when you're mountain biking doesn't go over very well. You have to be nice and loose, so you can turn around the corners and things like that. So it's been really, really sad for me, but I've also tried to adapt over the years and just ride easier trails, do the best that I can. And over the years, I've bumped into a group of older riders than me, and they are just amazing. They ride the trails, they ride fast, they look like they're having so much fun, and they just shred those trails out there. So I wanted to know why this group of seniors chose the sport of mountain biking, because sometimes people think that mountain biking can be a higher risk sport. I wanted to make a film about mountain biking when you're in the older years, and I really wanted to tell their story. I wanted to let other people know that just because you age, it doesn't mean that you have to stop moving. You can still do lots of sports, and sports like mountain biking even. I wanted to let people know that just because you age, it doesn't mean that you stop playing. It's when you stop playing that you age. We are 73 and 74 this year, just recently. And we've been married for 54 years this year, so obviously the mountain biking has helped. It keeps us young, it keeps us slim, it's a social thing. We ride three, four days a week minimum. It gets us up and off the couch. And it's important for us. I mean, it's part of our life. It's the most important thing on our life sort of thing. We have to go at least three times a week, or we're grouchy. Mountain biking is so good for mental health because of the sociability, I find. I mean, we're mixing not even just with the club, but you meet other people on the trail, and obviously you've got a common interest. And it's just a whole aura of activity, and age is... It's just a number. Just a number. And my age right now is, I'll be 76 this year. I ride mountain bikes because it gives me that sense of freedom. I got into mountain biking because my road bike got stolen from my backyard one day, and I thought it was a perfect opportunity to buy these new fangled bikes called a mountain bike. And I just have kept on doing it ever since then. I like to be part of the mountain bike club. Well, it's social, number one, and it's a great opportunity to be out with people doing the same thing, offering support to people, and getting outside, and seeing things progress on the trails, as well as in a personal sense. The advice I have for other people who want to get into mountain biking is just to go out there and do it. Start on beginner trails and learn the skills that are necessary to ride over roots and rocks. And you just got to go out there and do it, because the more you do it, the better you get at it. I'm hoping to mountain bike for many years yet. I'd like to hit that 80 level for sure. I am 75. And I just turned 80. Just. Just turned 80. I might look 81, but I just turned 80. Benefits of mountain biking? Well, getting out in the fresh air, having that social interaction. I love it when we're able to stop, as we did today, and stop for coffee, or we might go to a It's something I can do just about every day of the year. Mountain biking, absolutely. It's great for my mental health, because I am making so many decisions as I'm on the path that I'm not really aware of. But I think, I think it probably makes you sharper, keeps your brain going. Yeah. And mountain biking really and truly gives me the ability to kind of handle smaller hills, up or down. And my balance is not affected on the bike. I mean, I feel very comfortable. I'd far rather go down a hill on my bike than walk down. My advice to other riders is to get out there, do it, find a secondhand bike to get you started, and come and join our group. When you're young, you come home from school and you hop on your bike and you're off, kind of invokes that same feeling again, once you get on your bike to part of the kid thing again. Actually, if there is a puddle to ride through, I find myself attracted to that. Road biking basically changed quite a bit as the population grew, and there are more and more vehicles. And it just didn't feel quite as comfortable, and it was getting a little bit boring. So I had some friends that I was riding with who also mountain biked, and they encouraged me to come out. Mountain biking is very therapeutic in the sense that it ties you closer to the earth. Whatever you were thinking about, if anything was bothering you that day, if you were continually lost and thought that wasn't maybe taking you to where you wanted to be, you get on the bike and everything changes. You just totally forget about that, and it kind of allows you to ground yourself, and it's a nice feeling. I got into mountain biking, more seriously mountain biking, when I was 60. Retired, looking for more things to do, and found some other women that I could do it with. And yeah, 70 this year and still going strong. Mountain biking has become a real social activity for us as a couple and me as an individual. Some days we have days that there's just maybe a gal's ride, or there's a group ride. It gets us up and out the door. We have certain days of the week that we generally meet friends and go for a ride. Often there's a thermos of coffee on the bike, and we stop and have a nice little get-together and social time. It's developed a real friendship group for us, and you're out in nature too, and you can't say enough about the benefit of being in nature and trees and having that around you. It's something that's pretty special. I think what I like about mountain biking, it almost makes you feel like a kid. You're just out there having fun, and I think that's the best part of it. I started riding when I was 60, and you know, been sort of riding ever since. I love it. I love it. I'm getting too old for it, however, but I'll do it as long as I can. Let's just do one more trail, and it was this trail that was beside a vertical precipice, but the trail was good, and it was a trail was about three feet from the edge, but on the left to go down, it was about a hundred feet, and it was almost straight up and down, that all of a sudden, I found myself rolling down the hill. I'm going to show you the pictures. My advice is just get on and ride. A lot of people don't do that. They get to be my age, and they just want to sit, you know, and I try not to. After spending time with the riders, I've realized that despite my challenges, I'm not quite ready to give up the sport of mountain biking. I love it too much. There's so much to love about it, being outside, being out on the trails, meeting people out there. It's very therapeutic. I just need to realize that I need just to ride the trails that are suitable for my abilities. Mountain biking is a sport that is constantly evolving and changing. At the end of the day, we love to ride our bikes for the amazing feeling that we get from it, sometimes as a solo ride on the trails, and other days playing in the forest with a group of friends. Mountain biking connects us, and the age barrier disappears. I hope this film motivates you to go get on your bike and ride. Okay, I'll show you my bike room. Oh, I'll turn the light on here. It's going to be cold in here. That's okay. There's the bike. Are there the bikes? So you sure have a lot of bikes. You got a mountain bike there. Yeah. Yeah, like when we used to ride, you rode your mountain bike on the trails. So is that the same mountain bike? Oh, that's about the third mountain bike though. I had quite a few. But you're still out there. I'm still out there. That's right.