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Mountain biking is more than just cycling in the forest. Marmi wants to give it a go, buys a bike and learns what it’s all about.

The front wheel almost catches our dear Marmi, who is being led yet again by his inquisitive nose. Ouch! A mountain bike. That piques his interest. It opens up all of the hills and valleys. Marmi normally prefers to just hang out in front of his own burrow. But now he wants to go biking, too. It’s a piece of cake. You can quickly find a suitable mountain bike – a sturdy one with suspension, maybe even with an electric motor.

Marmi needs advice because the market is just plain confusing. You don’t necessarily need an expensive bike to get started. One with an aluminium frame and suspension fork will do – a cross country mountain bike. If you don’t want to put your bike together yourself and you need the help of a specialist from time to time, you’ll do better to buy your bike from a specialist shop instead of getting it “cheap” online. And the size also has to be right. There are lots of calculators available online, which need your leg length and body size for the calculation.

Marmi normally sticks to the wide, green alpine meadow around his burrow so that he can make it back safely underground when hostile animals get too close. Is the person on the mountain bike also a predator, he wonders? Only if it gets in the way of his food and there’s no time to build up his winter reserves.

A number of associations and institutions have developed a mountain bike code of conduct: show respect, protect yourself, stay on the trail, take care of the environment, leave no traces and know your limits.

But be aware: each of the cantons has different rules. Some are strict, others very liberal.

Marmi climbs up into the saddle. Downhill! A jump over the marmot burrow, and off he goes down into the valley.