Every issue, Barney takes a look at the what, why, when and whatever of a particular mountain bike idiom and translates it for us mere mortals.

with Barney Marsh

Shred

Verb. To, like, totally ride a trail, like, really, really, REALLY fast.. “Woah,dude!DidyouseeCuthberttotallyshredthatlastsectionoftrail?Dudewasgnarly!Sick!”

In the UK we have a reputation for – and a keen appreciation of – reserve. Rightly or wrongly, among most normal folks, our base setting appears to be to dial down the enthusiasm and replace it with wry commentary. Obviously, that’s not exactly how it plays out in real life, but let’s face it, there are worse stereotypes to have. Thus, any exuberant enthusiasms that we mountain bikers seem to have is, therefore, perforce imported, usually from the US. And so it appears to be with – er – shredding.