Mountain biking is the next … Golf?
According to an article from New Zealand, mountain biking and cycling in general are becoming more popular with riders of all ages - leading one bike shop owner to agree that “cycling is the new golf.” The article goes on to say that cycling has alot of positives - it’s good for the environment, builds fitness, and reduces stress. Oh yeah, plus it’s fun, which the article doesn’t seem to mention.
In my opinion, golf doesn’t really compare to mountain biking (shocking, I know). I mean, maintaining lush private courses for golfing isn’t great for the environment (fertilizer run off, wasted water resources, etc.) and for most people, golf isn’t really a “fitness” activity (unless of course you count walking the course exercise, most people just opt for a cart). The stress thing might be true but alot of people get really frustrated when they aren’t playing their best. Entertainment value is arguable, though your adrenaline is rarely pumped in a round of golf.
One reason I prefer mountain biking to golf (other than the fact that I suck at golf) is that you don’t have to pay every time you ride. Nope, no greens fees at most local trails and you don’t even need a tee time.
Mountain biking is becoming more popular no doubt but that might change if we start comparing it to golf. Maybe mountain biking could be the next NASCAR?
Related posts:
March 14th, 2007 at 7:48 am
[...] In perhaps another example of mountain biking becoming the next golf, Paul Kedrosky writes “Everything I Know About Business I Learned from Mountain-biking.” Paul makes some good points about looking where you want to go and knowing your limits. Maybe there’s a book idea somewhere in there? Lance certainly does well on the corporate speaking tour translating lessons from pro-cycling into pricey motivational pitches for businesses around the world, why can’t a mountain biker do the same? One lesson I would add to Paul’s list is tied to his point about embracing crashing. It turns out that in business (as in life) we often learn the most from our failures. Most of us would have never learned to ride a bike, much less learned to put on the gnarly moves, if we hadn’t fallen off a couple times. Analyze your mistake, identify the root cause, and try to do it right the next time(s) until you perfect it. [...]