But you don’t, so you can’t, right?

A Border sporting club aims to change that thought process through a project that reduces a key obstacle to participation.

Albury Wodonga Mountain Bikers has bought two mountain bikes to loan free to people for two weeks at a time so they can sample the sport.

Committee member Rebecca Eberle said the borrowers could ride when and wherever it suited them during that fortnight.

“They can just take it out for rides, join in one of our social rides, juniors might like to use it to go into one of the junior races,” she said.

“They can really use it for what they want and then see how they like the feel of it.

“We can help them get it set up for them, just go over the basics and then it’s really up to them.”

The loan bike project has been funded through the Victorian government’s sporting club grants program, which tries to make sport more accessible and inclusive.

Sport and Recreation Victoria said so far the program had provided more than $2.8 million to help 2131 successful applicants from more than 60 different groups.

Albury Wodonga Mountain Bikers believes more women and juniors in the community might enjoy mountain biking but lack access to a mountain bike.

“Who maybe thought, ‘I wouldn’t mind trying it but don’t know whether I would like it or not’,” Ms Eberle said.

“Or they might have a friend that goes mountain biking, but there’s no spare bike.”

 Perhaps one person in the family already has a mountain bike, but their partner or child do not.

“Women, we don’t spend money on ourselves first, so they’ll be thinking it’s a lot of money to spend,” Ms Eberle said. “There’s a range of prices, but even so, it’s still bit of an outlay on something that you think, ‘Oh, would I really use it or not?’.”

The club can offer advice on places to ride in Albury-Wodonga or further afield, like Yackandandah, Beechworth, Falls Creek, Bright, Mt Beauty and Mt Buller. Riders could also stick to bike paths if they wished, although there were mountain bike trails suitable for beginners.

“You’re always going to have some ups and downs in mountain biking, that’s sort of the fun of it,” she smiled.

Anybody interested in borrowing a bike can contact the club through its website or Facebook page, or by emailing info@alburywodongamtb.org.au.

“Hopefully it will encourage more women and juniors into the sport and then into our club,” Ms Eberle said.