I have let myself get extremely out of shape, so I am looking to get back into MounTain Biking. Then I realize that for a bike set up to for me to fit, enjoy, and not trash in less than a year, I am looking at a Pretty good precision rig and glass.
SO the question becomes Santa Cruz Heckler XL or Savage 10FP McMillan and a Leupy MK 4?
Short Term + for bike
Ohh, shiny
New/old hobby to get back into
Long term + for bike
Cardio work out
Get some freaking muscles back
Get back with some friends i have drifted from
Short term - for bike
Holy Spit! How much!?!?
I gonna be sore:(
New/old hobby to spend $$$$ on
Long term - FOr bike
I tend to ride beyond my skills
So I see hospital bills and repair bills
Rifle +/-
I am sure you all can figure those out for yourselves;)
I am in the same situation you are bro. And honestly, I should practice what I preach here but thats another story.
I don’t know what you have in your weapon inventory thus far but I am going to assume you have the essentials!
I’d go with the Santa Cruz. They are a great company with an excellent reputation. Given the leaps in full suspension technology have your entertained the thought of the Blur or Intense XVP? I raced a Y-Bike back in the day and while the bike sure looked cool and unique. At the beginning of the race in the sprint I would waste a great amount of energy due to the bobbing of the suspension. With the VPP systems integrated into the Blur and Intense I am thinking that is the wave of the future for full suspension.
As far as the benefits. Again, I am going to assume you have the basic weapons you need to defend yourself and also enjoy a day at the range. I’d get back into the mountain biking so you can inturn live longer and shoot longer! Not to mention all the other benefits of getting in shape!
Hope this helped somewhat bro. As I mentioned I am in the same boat and need to proactice what I preach so I am also looking for that little bit more to push me over the edge to get a new ride and hit the trails!
You have to stay fit and there is no better way to do it than cycling. At the end of last season I joined a new team and rode more miles than I had since 2001 and I felt great, lost 12 pounds, met some new friends and reunited with some old ones.
And while I wasn’t in shape to do any road racing I did do a few mountain bike races, competed in and finished Ironcross (America’s longest cyclocross race) and did a few cross races this fall.
The best part about it is my kids got to go and my boy was able to race in the kids races and he’s all excited to do more!
I’m riding a Gary Fisher hardtail but I put tubeless wheels on it and she’s as plush as an old sofa now so I’m not sure when I’m going to get a new MTB but if I do more racing next season, which I’m planning on doing, I’ll probably get a new road bike first, then a new MTB.
Looked at the Blur originally, but after speaking to a couple dealers they think the Heckler would be a better choice for me. 6’7" 265 ish. Clydesdale bike class, according to to one dealer. I figured out what he meant pdq, but had a couple seconds thinking ‘huh?’
Looked a a Specialized, but once they got it kitted up to take my weight and height was not a big sazings, and the Santa Cruz bikes are cool looking:)
Get both!! If you think about it if you get the bike and get into better shape you will feel amazing. Also if you shoot in comps it will only make you stronger for run and gun. Plus when your out ripping the trails there is no better therapy than when you carve a sweet line through a gnarly section! As far as hospital bills coming from some one who has broke my collar bone, wrist and numerous ribs, fractured vertabrea, and a shoulder blade and o yeah way to many concusions to count (All from downhill racing) . Scars have a High CDIF.
Heh, yeah. I still have the free flight record of the guys I rode quads with. Punched a boulder at about 40 and flew 32 feet before hitting the ground rolled 18 and still managed to turn all that momentum into a standing there making sure noone saw me do it Then I fell back down cause I had hurt myself.
Those numbers stuck in my head, cause I paced them off while my buddies were trying to pull the bike off the rock
You’ll find out that more chicks ride bikes than shoot guns.
M4arc, did you do the race at Trashmore this past Sunday? I was going to go with my cowbell, but… I was feeling the effects of the post race activities from the Cape Henry Duathlon…
you can always jog - it’s cheaper
i used to race bikes at the collegiate level back in the late 80’s - i was in the best cardio shape of my life back then. i only ride occasionally now, and jog/run for my cardio workout simply because it’s more convenient and there’s a lot of traffic in my area, which makes it less safe to ride a bike.
given the choice between a buying a bike for health or new gun, i’d go with the bike as well.
Being in good mental and physical shape is by far the most important aspect of living. If it takes a bike for you to get motivated, as opposed to running and general PT stuff that requires no equipment, then by all means and with great haste, GET THE BIKE. More importantly, actually much more importantly, use the damn thing! In our society, the act of buying stuff seems to placate people sufficiently so that they don’t actually use it. Too many really nice bikes, guns, boats, 4x4’s, etc. sitting around in people garages that don’t get used.
Like MM, I run more since it’s easy to do anywhere and bang-for-the-time is much better running. However, I’ve got a Blur as my full suspension rig and it’s great.
I used to play basketball 2-3 nights a week, until I broke my ankle again. Ortho asked me how many times I had broken it when I told him 2 times he disgreed and said I had probably broken it at least 4 times and had a buncha stress fractures. He was so curious he X rayed my other ankle, I thought it had been broken once, he figured probably 3 times. So he said if I want to walk on my own ankles when I am 50 I need to find a new cardio thing. Low/no impact This is when the getting out of shape began.
I live in Moab, UT (mountain bike mecca). It probably goes without saying but my vote is for the Heckler. The more fit you are the more fun just about anything/everything becomes. And that Santa Cruz will be a friggin’ blast to bomb on!
Then I fell back down cause I had hurt myself.