Is mountain biking a sport, a lifestyle, a cultural identity, or something more?

I find MTB quite complex to define as a discipline. I often refer to this thing we do as a 'sport'. Although in some ways it is (we have lots of races, from a plethora of Enduros to Hardline at the other extreme), it often feels not quite right to refer to MTB as a sport. I wonder if it's because it's more than just a sport.

Is it a 'hobby'? Hmm, just a hobby... feels way too limiting. It haemorrhages cash like the best hobbies out there and wins awards for boring my non-MTB friends senseless when I share but mountain biking transcends mere recreation and hobbies doesn't it?

A health and fitness activity? For both my mental and physical health it is my go to for sure. Descending technically challenging trails is the best switch off mediation there is. 

Is it maybe a 'lifestyle' then? Don't we plan our lives around biking schedules, invest in gear, and engage deeply with the sport's community? This dedication shapes our daily lives and social interactions. 

Sometimes I see it as a 'culture', or more aptly, a 'subculture' as so often it is about shared experiences, a connection to nature, and the feeling (both the discovery and thrill) you get from unauthorised riding and digging. For something so over ground it is incredibly underground. It impacts our fashion and how we dress on and off the bike. We identify with the mountain biking community and see being a mountain biker as a core part of our identity 

Probably it's the intersection of all these things to us!

Still, don't many other sports have this intersection? Basketball, skateboarding, climbing or surfing all have a sport, hobby, lifestyle and cultural resonance. Personally in my own experience, climbing has come very close to MTB. Yet, I still feel MTB is a bit different. Maybe that's just arrogance, delusion and a confirmation bias to justify my single minded obsessive approach to it?

I wonder though if alongside all these things is it our connection with the earth, and the dirt, that makes MTB unique. Unlike those other activities don't we adapt the terrain? We 'sculpt ' the land to manipulate yet work with the flow of the natural environment. We bring 'creativity' to the ride beyond, what we ride and how we ride but in what we ride on. Rampage is the epitome of this in the week-long build-your-own-track with your dig crew (and best mates). Is that maybe what sets MTB apart?

My last thought is that MTB is not one thing. It encapsulates so many disciplines that, although we may dabble across them, are all quite unique—from Dirt Jumping, Trail riding, Downhill, and Freeride etc —yet we are all connected by a common steel thread that makes us all Mountain Bikers.

What are your thoughts?