What makes you ride? Why do you get on your bike and pedal? What is it about mountain biking that keeps you coming back to the singletrack, the paths you know and the new trails you discover?
This is the question Californian brand Kitsbow set out to investigate; what makes MTB fun to the people that inspire them?
Why do you ride?
Launching earlier this year, Kitsbow are a fresh new brand that specialise in high-end MTB clothing. Focusing on quality materials and engineering gathered globally from Switzerland to New Zealand, Kitsbow have pulled all these elements together into unique-looking garments.
The ‘Meaning of Mountain Biking’ is a new Kitsbow video series exploring the uniquely personal relationships that we have with the sport of mountain biking. These individual two-wheeled journeys are collections of stories: first times, accomplishments, failures, and of course all the different bikes themselves.
Kitsbow have featured stories of industry pioneers, recreational riders, people who’ve just started riding and those who have ridden forever.
Among them all, one story particularly stood out, and that’s the video featuring Vanessa Hauswald. A former teacher, Vanessa is now in charge of a regional branch of an organisation that aims to get more high school kids outside and on bikes.
In the video she shares her passion for riding, why she finds her work so rewarding, and what it is about mountain biking she loves.
I finish every ride feeling strong, and powerful, and able. Mountain biking to me is about empowerment.
But there’s more to her story, and there’s more to why she rides, than that. Watch and be inspired.
