Initially I wasn’t sure I had the energy or the time to get back in to mountain biking after having kids but I was so pleased that I did as its become a big part of our family’s life. My husband and I call it a date if we are out riding by ourselves but quite often we are riding with friends. I am not the fastest, in fact I call myself the turtle – slow and steady, just not winning any races. In fact the only time I might be faster than someone is when we are riding with our kids but I have the greatest time when we are mountain biking and really to me that’s all that matters.

So I wasn’t really looking to take my mountain biking up a notch – it all began when my husband upgraded his bike and it had a dropper seat. I had always looked at dropper seats as something for extreme downhillers but turns out that it was a game changer for this middle aged mountain biking mamma.

It took a lot of convincing from my husband that I should get one. I’d never been one of those mountain bikers who put there seats up and down depending on where they are riding so I just didn’t see the point in being able to adjust your seat at the push of a button. But husband persisted, in fact my husband bought a dropper seat and installed it on my bike himself ( clever husband ) and then I discovered the joy of the dropper seat. It isn’t just for extreme downhillers.

Turns out its not just about putting it down as you ride downhills, although the dropper seat does change the way you ride downhill because you aren’t so high and you don’t feel like you are going to go over the handlebars, giving you more confidence in your ability. I have found I can ride over bigger drop offs now as I can put my seat down quickly at the push of a button. OK now I am sounding like an extreme downhiller – trust me I am not but I can definitely ride downhill better now I have the dropper seat.

Its not all about the downhills though and the dropper seat is also great for switch backs, riding narrow ledges on the side of cliffs, riding across narrow bridges and getting back on your saddle when starting on an uphill – anywhere you want your seat down and feet closer to the ground for more stability and safety but don’t want to get off and manually adjust it.

The dropper seat is also great for riding uphills too because you set your seat as high as possible to get the best leg extension and cranking power without worrying about the seat being too high for downhills coming up later in the ride.

And I recently discovered on a slightly muddy NZ cycle trail ( the Great Lake trail near Taupo ) that the dropper seat is great for getting through muddy puddles and round slippery corners.

So even if you don’t think you are looking to take your mountain biking to the next level you should consider a dropper seat, I totally love mine and how its changed my mountain biking.