Most mountain bikers like to think of themselves as more rugged than the average Joe in the street. Out there in the wilds of a Welsh trail centre, GPS on the bars just in case a marker is missed, we make sure we're properly tired out and thoroughly wet and muddy before coming back to a nice hot mug of tea and a slice of cake.
See? Rugged and windswept.
Compared to a life spent in front of the plasma with a sixpack, riding a bicycle in circles on muddy trails arguably is fairly rufty-tufty. But in the wider scheme of things, much of mountain biking is to elite adventure sports what hopskotch is to premier league football: kids' stuff.
Take, for example, photographer Jimmy Chin. Quietly spoken and unassuming (if his Outside online interview is anything to go by), here's a guy who joins an Everest expedition two weeks before the off, summits with his climbing partners, and then follows them down the Lhotse Face. On skis. Stopping at points along the way, of course, to record the event for posterity. His photography is stunning; the fact that most of it is captured in locations that only a tiny percentage of the world's population will ever see simply adds to the sense of drama.
Chapeau (as the French would say). Now, where did I put that bivvy-bag?
