I am mountain biker

I caught some attitude in the woods the other day and thought this up on the ride home:

I am mountain biker.

I am flat pedals, sneakers, white socks

clipped in, stiff sole, ratchet strap

baggy pants, body armor, full face helmet

skin-tight racing kit plastered with business ads

I am 26" HT, 26" FS, 

29er HT, 29er FS, 

29er rigid 

steel, aluminum, carbon

I am bouncing through teeth-chattering rock gardens

sewing the mountainside's switchbacks 

riding off boulders with names like "separator" and "frame twister"

leaping logs, pumping bumps, carving corners

I am base rides to nowhere and back

intervals until i see spots

begging my legs for one final kick

races won and Dead Fucking Last

I am kicking up midsummer dust

plowing into babyheads covered with leaves

crunching fresh powder with wide tread

covered in springtime caterpillar silk

I am all these things.

So if you see me in the woods and I look different from you,

Know that whoever you think you are, I am that too.

I am been-there-done-that and have the scars to prove it.

I am mountain biker.