ALL TERRAIN VEHICLE

A bike is the purest of mechanized transportations. Get away from powered traffic and it's just you and nature. No noise. No pollution. Life is so peaceful this way. Pushing your body to its maximum athletic capability, you control your destiny. If you think of going somewhere on a bike, it's easy to feel that it will take forever. But even in 30 minutes of biking it's amazing how much distance you can cover. When you're going home from work, and see someone biking home, observe the distance they cover compared to yours. When you're stuck behind lights and slow traffic, someone at a casual pace on a bike can easily keep up in local traffic. Though I wanted to I never did end up riding my bike to work, it's just having to deal with getting all sweaty and messed up, extra clothes, etc...that kinda sucks.
Unlike speed bikes, you are not limited to the terrain you ride on. Maybe a little suspension adjustment, and that's about it. You can find fast hard packed dirt/gravel, wet mud, construction areas, you name it. You've got off road capability. Even the tough construction comes in handy for the city for hopping and jumping those curbs which would destroy the rim of a speed bike.
FREE STYLIN'
After seeing what you can do with a BMX, I think I might pick up a used one just for fooling around. Or at least use it to practice those freestyle tricks, then try it on the mountain bike when I get a bit better at it.		Sometimes we'll just practice freestlying stunts in a parking lot. Though Derek and I try our best...and I've spent countless hours practicing, Frank takes the cake when it comes to freestyle. Here he is holding wheelies forever, this fly trick of moving backwards on the front wheel, and a 180 degree front wheel axial spin. Which are just a few of the tricks under his sleeve.