As mountain bikers, our passion and love for the sport pushes us to keep exploring the new: discovering new trails, skills, bikes, parks, friends, or even new places in our minds with a new breath of fresh air on every new ride we experience.
At the start of 2025’s MTB adventures, I asked my mountain bike community of friends to share with me their MTB New Year’s resolutions for the new year. For some, this was not as easy to rattle off as they thought, because it’s like asking what your favorite ride at Disneyland is, or your favorite flavor of ice cream. After all, there are just too many fun things to choose from, which makes it so exciting and fun, but also challenging to focus on the things we want to do this year.
While assembling this list of 25 resolutions, I discovered something cool. There were so many commonalities among our MTB goals within our mountain biking community that keep us connected and bonded by the sport. It’s hard to keep the promise of fulfilling these resolutions without having the right attitude, partners, tools, and strategies to see them through. So, to help you choose your 2025 New Year’s resolutions, and see them through this year, I welcome you to leverage my 23 Principles of Mountain Biking to make them happen smoothly with less effort and pain while having fun along your journey.
1. Get on a consistent ride schedule.
Add your rides to your weekly calendar. This would include all types of rides, such as recreational fun rides, more serious training rides, and any group rides.
Benefits? Increased ride time to get and stay stronger and fit, while feeling less stressed and having more fun on your bike.
2. Improve technical riding skills, both uphill and downhill.
Pushing yourself out of your comfort zone isn’t easy, but switching up your strengths and weaknesses can create amazing results.
Benefits? Get through new challenges with less physical and mental effort, while increasing your safety and confidence with your new bike-handling skills.
3. Gain more confidence on tight, tricky turns.
Corners and switchbacks can be quite tricky, but by getting your body and mind in the right position before, during, and after the turn, it can be a much smoother transition.
Benefits? Balancing through a tight turn means not stepping your foot off your bike allows you to maintain your speed, while potentially saving you from falling off your bike, crashing, or injuring yourself along the way.
4. Take MTB lessons from a professional coach.
When we hit our limits, but want to keep improving, it’s ok to fall back and let others lead, especially a certified mountain bike coach.
Benefits? Working with a professional mountain bike coach or instructor gives you the advantage of knowing the right bike-body position, and maneuvering with more confidence and control you need to ride more safely and confidently while having a ton more fun on your bike letting go while flowing more effortlessly up and down the trails.
5. Try an Enduro race for the first time.
For those xc riders wanting to venture out into new territories, an enduro race this year might be a super fun and rewarding challenge, even if you don’t step on that podium.
Benefits? Enduro is a type of mountain bike race where the downhills are timed, and the uphills are mandatory but not timed. Riders are timed in stages that are primarily downhill, with neutral “transfer” stages in between. The transfer stages usually must be completed within a time-limit, but are not part of the accumulated time.
6. Compete in your first XC race.
This is your year to try your first-ever XC, cross-country race if you think you’re ready to step up for some intense focus, fitness, and bike handling skills through smooth and techy hills, woodlands, and open country.
Benefits? Get mentally and physically fit fast as the demand can be quite high with 6, 12, and 18 to 20-mile courses hitting around 1000 feet of elevation each lap.
7. Follow through on your performance and achievement goals.
This includes signing up for longer, challenging races like the Lake Sonoma Grasshopper in 3:10, Low Gap in 3:35, and 10 laps at Boggs.
Benefits? Pushing yourself beyond your current limits can be amazing and rewarding not just when you reach the finish line, but all the training and preparation that goes into it, and all the great people you share it with on your journey.
8. Go on an MTB road trip.
This year is about seeing more and experiencing new places that you never have before, like Oregon, Utah, Colorado, or Arizona. If you research and plan out your MTB adventure, you can make it happen.
Benefits? Going on an MTB road trip to beautiful new places to ride like Oregon, Utah, Colorado, and Arizona will give you the experience of a lifetime and let you see the US in new and different ways you could not by car or foot. It’s adventure time!
9. Do an Everest.
An Everest in mountain biking is a cycling challenge where a cyclist climbs and descends a hill repeatedly until you’ve reached the same elevation as Mount Everest, which is 8,848 meters, or 29,029 feet.
Benefits? Imagine feeling the excitement and pride of climbing your bike to the same elevation as the top of Mount Everest, the tallest mountain in the world with the highest altitude above sea level.
10. Do the Great Divide GDMBR.
The Great Divide Mountain Bike Route (GDMBR) is a 3,083.8 mi, off-road bike route from Canada to Mexico, between Jasper, Alberta, Canada, and Antelope Wells, New Mexico, USA. The GDMBR was built in 1997 by Adventure Cycling Association, who continue to maintain highly detailed route maps and a guidebook
Benefits? Seeing more and going further on your two wheels than you ever thought you could while creating the memories of a lifetime.
11. Clean and maintain your mountain bike.
This resolution can be a tough one, especially when you’re excited to get out on the trail, but cleaning your bike before each ride, and checking your air, brakes, and tires will pay off in many ways. Keep that new bike feeling for a long time.
Benefits? If you clean off the dirt and gunk off your bike regularly before each ride, Your bike will run more smoothly and you can save on maintenance by not wearing out your bike’s components, such as cleaning your cassette to avoid wearing out the teeth leading to a worn-out chain.
12. Clear your first gap jump.
Gap jumping is a popular cycling technique that launches the bike off of an object, such as a ramp, and clearing a gap. To overcome the fear of doing a gap jump safely, you can follow this progression: rollers, tables, roller doubles, then graduate to gap jumps.
Benefits? Want to feel like flying without wings? This might seem crazy and scary, but with the right coaching, skills, and mindset, you can do it.
13. Do an endurance race.
This may not be for every rider, but an endurance mountain bike race, like Wente, means mountain biking for longer than normal time or distance, lasting 6 to 8 hours at 6 to 8 miles per lap. Benefits? Accomplish something you next thought was possible, from both a physical and mental standpoint, and become a stronger, more resilient, and healthier athlete while bonding and supporting other riders.
14. Ride from San Francisco to LA.
The SF to LA route is approximately 500 miles spanning across 50 segments.
Benefits? See and explore new places and experiences you might miss otherwise driving in a car missing all the sights and sounds. Gain a better perspective and appreciation for the land and people as you experience California on two wheels.
15. Ride more with your kids.
Dedicating time to riding with kids builds a solid foundation on and off their bikes for years into the future.
Benefits? Riding with kids teaches them the skills and confidence they need to fly on your bikes from an early age, so that as they grow older, that confidence builds and builds as they keep progressing from one skill, and one bike size to the next.
16. Help women riders gain skills and confidence.
Among the 9 million mountain bikers on the planet, only 20% are women and 40% are men. It’s a tough, risky sport with lots of challenges that women can be encouraged to overcome. Check out the skills courses and lessons at the MTB Experience.
Benefits? Helping women to ride more and gain more riding skills can help them gain overall confidence and have more fun on and off their bikes, especially when overcoming new and different challenges as they ride more often and with others who can teach them.
17. Get properly fitted for my bike.
From head to toe, it’s important to feel good and comfortable on your bike, especially when it’s new. Your local bike shop or a professional bike fitter to ride better and avoid pain or injuries.
Benefits? Choosing the right bike size, and fitting it to your exact measurements can lead to a more comfortable ride with improved bike handling and fewer injuries or crashes.
18. Ride more with others on group rides.
Riding solo is fun, but mixing it up on a fun social or group connects you with others in a way that you can’t by yourself.
Benefits? The great thing about riding with others is that you can expand both your social and bike skills while having a blast and bonding over new challenges and trails that you might otherwise be afraid to try on your own.
19. Be comfortable riding solo.
Riding by yourself without a group of friends can seem intimidating if you are not prepared and ready to handle potential mechanical, or other issues on the trail.
Benefits? Learning how to ride safely and comfortably on your own gives you the freedom to ride when and where you want to on your own time and schedule, exploring new trails at a pace that’s all up to you. Then you can teach and share your new trails and experiences with others the next time you ride.
20. Help build new, or maintain old MTB trails.
Volunteering time to build new trails is an adventure that keeps giving back to you and your community. Reach out to your volunteering with a local trails alliance.
Benefits? It’s a great way to give back to a sport that gives so much to our great parks and millions of mountain bikers who enjoy them.
21. Get an enduro bike.
Enduro bikes, unlike trail bikes and XC bikes, have a slack head tube angle, longer front and rear suspension, and a longer wheelbase than trail bikes. This design helps riders feel more planted on steep descents and slows steering for better stability.
Benefits? Feel more confident and ready for rougher, steeper terrain by getting on an enduro bike that’s geometrically designed to shred!
22. Get on a gravel bike.
No, gravel bikes are not mountain bikes, but they can handle paved roads and challenging off-road terrain, muddy dirt paths, gravel roads, and singletrack trails.
Benefits? Don’t let the wet, cold, and muddy Winter months keep you indoors and off your bike. Gravel bikes are great for handling both paved roads and challenging off-road terrain riding.
23. Be a better ride partner.
Mountain biking is one of the toughest sports on the planet with some of the greatest rewards, like experiencing new trails and environments and overcoming features and obstacles you never imagined you could.
Benefits? Beyond the benefit of safety in numbers; understanding how to anticipate the needs of your fellow riders enhances the fun and excitement of the MTB experience. Being a supportive ride partner, as well as having one, gives both riders to relax and enjoy the ride. They can alternate between leading and following, explore new parks and routes, and share the amazing thrill of soaring around the Earth together.
24. Become a better overall rider.
Keep up the good momentum and learn about yourself, others, the trails, and your bike to become a well-rounded rider.
Benefits? Improving your overall skills as a rider gives you the mental and physical strengths to overcome challenges on your bike, so that over time, as you grow as a rider, things that once terrified you soon become smooth and easy to handle, pushing you beyond your limits to new and different challenges.
25. Have more fun on your bike.
All of these 25 MTB New Year’s resolutions can lead to having lots more fun on your bike, either flying solo or with a group of friends, this year and every year of your mountain bike journey as you make your way to the top of your goals, to then bomb down a fun, flowy descent.
Benefits? Enjoying the ride, and feeling free, confident, and comfortable on your bike with the right mindset and gear lets you face new and different challenges with each pedal stroke.
From traveling up and down the California coastline to riding down the Great Divide, this year is all about taking the time for once-in-a-lifetime experiences to place with people that you will never forget. Every year we do our big spin around the sun as a chance to renew, refresh, and reinvent ourselves better than we had before. Getting outside on our bikes gives us the space and time to reflect and commit ourselves to our goals in our resolutions however simple or big they may be until we reach the top of our physical and mental mountains. Let’s ride!
