-A-

Acro-brat
n.little kids who use their bikes like pogo sticks, with pegs coming out of the front axle. Should be confined to the Circus or other freak show reviews.

Air
n. space between the tires and the ground. (Both tires must be off the ground or it isn't "air".) Said to be caught or gotten. See sky.

Anchor
n. your child, or children (anchors) that keep(s) you from riding. "Wait till you anchors grow up, you'll have road rash for breakfast and prunes for dinner!" To be used as an endearing, not demeaning, phrase.

Ano
adj. frequently-misspelled abbreviation for "anodized".

ATB
n. All-Terrain Bike or Biking. A synonym for MTB.

Auger
v. to involuntarily take samples of the local geology, usually with one's face, during a crash.

-B-

babyheads
pl. n. roundish rocks which tend to be found in a loose jumble on hairpin corners or other dificult-to-negotiate sections of trail.

bacon
n. scabs on a riders knees, elbows, or other body parts.

bail
v. to jump off in order to avoid an imminent crash.

beartrap
1) v. to slip off a pedal, causing it to slam one in the shin, when one gets kracked with a pedal. 2) n. the toothlike scars resulting from being beartrapped.

betty
n. any female rider.

biff
n. a crash. Synonyms: wipeout. v. "I biffed and then wiped away the blood."

biopace
adj. a now-discredited Shimano techno-fad where the chainrings were made intentionally not circular --instead, they were elliptical, in order to (allegedly) smooth the power delivery, by giving the rider an effectively lower gear for part of the spin cycle. Now used to describe any uneven pedaling motion. Also used as a synonym for pogo-ing.

boing-boing
n. a bike with full (front and rear) suspension. Might possibly be considered offensive by certain owners of said bikes.

boink
v. same as bonk.

bolt-on
n. a woman with breast implants. Derived from the term for after-market bicycle parts that are literally bolted on.

bomb
v. to ride with wild disreagard to personal safety.

bombers
n. the earliest mountain bikes, converted from cruiser roadbikes to race down mountains.

bonk
v. to run out of energy or grow exhausted on a ride. "I bonked so early it was embarrassing."

bra
n. the rubber strip placed inside the rim to protect the tube from the nipples.

brain
n. a biking computer, usually featuring an odometer, speedometer, clock, and other "important" display modes.

brain bucket
n. helmet.

brain sieve
n. a helmet featuring more vents than protective surface.

bring home a Christmas tree
v. to ride (or crash) through dense bushes, so leaves and branches are hanging from your bike and helmet. See prune.

BSG
n. acronym for "Bike Store Guy".

bunny
n. 1. same as betty, but used to emphasize the female rider's body; could be considerd insulting to some. 2. female novice rider.

bunny hop
v. to lift both wheels off the ground by crouching down and then exploding upward, pulling the bike with you. Useful for clearing obstructions, such as curbs, potholes, logs. Differs from its older BMX & trials meaning -- see jump.

burrito
n. a rim braking surface that's bent inward towards the tube, forming a section that looks rolled like a burrito.

buzz
n. euphoric feeling. Commonly used after a particularly hard passage is successfully completed. "I got such a buzz after that uphill grunt."

-C-

carve
v. (from skiing) to ride with great speed around the corners of a twisting fire road.

captain crash
v. to "go down with the ship". Usually the result of a novice spud-user failing to clip out in time.

cashed
adj. to be too tired to ride any farther; bonked.

chainring tattoo
n. the dotted-line scar you get from gouging your shin on the chainring. See rookie mark.

chainsuck
n. condition when the bike chain gets jammed between the frame and the chain rings, or when the chainring is so worn that it holds onto the chain and lifts it up to meet the incoming part of the chain.

chi-chi
n. extravagant parts used to dress up a bicycle to make it more impressive looking.

chunder
v. to crash.

clean
v. to negotiate a trail successfully without crashing or dabbing. "I cleaned that last section."

cleanie
n. one who desires to remain clean; a wimp who will not have fun, stays on the clean trails.

clipless
adj. misleading name for a pedal-and-shoe system where the clips or cleats clip onto the soles of special shoes. Called "clipless" because they replaced toe clips.

clip out
v. to disengage one's spuds.

cloon
n. slamming into the ground, resulting in a ringing head, or a delay in the action. Term used in biking, skiing, and snow boarding.

cockrotter
n. one who allows his bike to fall in disrepair, and whose bike invariably fails him at some point in every ride. These people don't know why their bike always breaks, and often would rather buy new parts than keep their bike in good condition.

condom
n. the little plastic or rubber thing that protects your tube's valve stem from rim damage.

corndog
v. to become covered in silt, usually after a fall.

cranial disharmony
adv. how one's head feels after augering. "When my lid nailed that rock, I had a definite feeling of cranial disharmony."

crotch-testing
n. sudden impact between a male rider's private parts and something very hard and pointy, such as a handlebar stem or seat.

curb grind
n. expensive erasure of low-hanging, shiny parts of the bike on a curb or rock.

curb slide
v. to place the front wheel up on a curb and allow the rear tire to scrape along the curb, usually resulting in a loud tearing sound.

cyclephernalia
n. the parts used to upgrade/dress-up a mountain bike". See also chi-chi.

-D-

dab
v. to put a foot down in order to catch your balance on a difficult section of trail. "I made it without crashing, but I had to dab once."

death cookies
n. fist-sized rocks that knock your bike in every direction but the one you want to proceed in.

death march
n. a ride that turns into an investigation of your endurance limit. "The bridge was out, and I had to go all the way back the way I came. So the morning's nice, easy ride turned into a Bataan death march."

dialed in
adj. when a bike is set up nicely and everything works just right.

digger
n. a face plant. "Look at that guy on that gnarly single track... he's going to go over the bars and do a digger."

dirt bike
n. an off-road motorcycle. Usually louder than MTBs.

drillium
n. any part with lots of holes drilled in it to make it lighter.

dual-track
n. a dirt road used by four-wheeled vehicles rarely enough that their tires have made ruts that became parallel singletracks. Also called doubletrack.

-E-

endo
n. the maneuver of flying unexpectedly over the handlebars, thus being forcibly ejected from the bike. Short for "end over end". "I hit that rock and went endo like nobody's business." See "superman". In BMX riding, "endo" used to be a synonym for front wheelie.

engine
n. the rider.

enscarfment
n. a food break at the edge of a cliff

-F-

face plant
n. hitting the ground face first. "Joe hit a tree root and did a spectacular face plant." Synonyms: auger, digger, soil sample, spring planting.

fair grunt
n. an expression exclusively used non-chalantly by others to describe a death march, in hopes others will try it, fail, and revere them as bike gods.

first blood
n. credit to the first rider in a group who crashes and starts bleeding as a result.

foot fault
n. when a rider can't disengage his cleats from the pedals before falling over. See horizontal track stand.

fred
n. 1) a person who spends a lot of money on his bike and clothing, but still can't ride. "What a fred -- too much Lycra and titanium and not enough skill." Synonym for poser. Occasionally called a "barney". 2) (from road riding) a person who has a mishmash of old gear, does't care at all about technology or fashion, didn't race or follow racing, etc. Often identified by chainring marks on white calf socks. Used by "serious" roadies to disparage utility cyclists and touring riders, especially after these totally unfashionable "freds" drop the "serious" roadies on hills because the "serious" guys were really posers. According to popular myth, "Fred" was a well-known grumpy old touring rider, who really was named Fred.

front wheelie
n. what endo used to mean in BMX: a trick where the rider applies the front brake and lifts the back wheel off the ground; this is the basis for many BMX tricks. Most riders cannot pedal effectively while doing a front wheelie.

FS or F/S
adj. an ambiguous term, can mean Front Suspension or Full Suspension. Not used by anyone who wishes to be understood.

Copyright © 2000 Mountainbike.nl All rights reserved by Rogier Mensink