With a mountain bike ride, there needs to be a little bit of the boy scout mentality in your preparedness. You want to make sure that you take all of the proper safety equipment; that's going to be a helmet, gloves and things like that. A lot of people overlook the importance of it. They think that because they are not going very fast, they do not need to wear a helmet. Rather low speed innocuous falls can really scratch your hands up or hurt yourself in other ways. So I usually say, try to take cellphone with you if you can, take plenty of fluids and always make sure that the bike is in good working order. A lot of people go out and don't want to check their bike to see if the tires have enough air, and they get a flat tire four miles from the car. They don't have any repair kit to fix it. You need safety equipment (just a few small items) like a tube for in stance to repair your tire and a repair kit. You may only invest very little in that stuff; the tube is $3 or $4, but if you are five miles from your car I would be willing to bet that most people in the ride might be willing to trade $4 to not have to walk five miles with a punctured bike. It's not that the safety equipment is really expensive. Stop by your local shop and if you have any doubts that your bike is ready to go on a mountain bike hike, get them to help you with the bare minimum or essential safety equipment. The shop is not going to try to sell you the stuff that you do not need.
