Originally Posted by
Bekologist
I don't know if a 'mountain bike' is an absolute prerequisite for riding a lot of terrain in the NW- some of us have ridden technical trails at Galbraith with a 'cross bike' and take cx bikes to places most people think can't be ridden on a mtb.
Galby is generally not considered to be overly technical by most Mountain Bikers (with the exception of the freeride stuff like Evolution - if you rode that on a cx bike you are DA MAN
). Compared to the technical you get on the rides I linked, Galby is downright tame.
The WHIMPS up there keep the trails at Galby in pretty good shape. The rides I linked to, OTOH are pretty much all backcountry rides and these trails don't get much, if any, pulaski love. Mt. Margaret for example - I would never consider doing that ride on my cx - both bike and rider would get beat to hell. Ape Canyon/Plains of Abraham - yeah I could probably do that on my cx bike, but when climbing Ape Canyon I would be wishing for the gearing of my Mountain Bike. Etc.
So, fair enough that you can ride a lot of the NW terrain on a cx bike, but just like I would never take a Mountain Bike in a weekend group road ride, I would never take a cx bike onto a backcounty ride where a Mountain Bike would be more fun and a heck of a lot safer.