Personally I take very little joy in hill climbing, but of course there is a sense of achievement completing tricky tech ascents or tough grind's.
To me the climbs are just a way to get to the fun parts, but I know that there are people on here who revel in climbing. So.. does anyone actually
ride along and think "oh goody", here comes a really tough bitch of a climb?
I know I don't.
I'm not built for climbing, so doing well on a climb (on or off road) gives me a sense of great satisfaction.
I was fit for a few months once & whilst i still didn't enjoy climbing, going up a climb in the knowledge that you won't be knackered when you get to the top is quite a nice feeling. Also not having to measure rides by the number of clibs that you've got left before you get back to the car/house is quite liberating too.
I only ride the downhills so I can get to the climbs, love em
Call me a sicko, but the first climb on White's level/Skyline at Afan is one of my favourite bits of either...
I hate climbing, especially if it's long as I find i'm then tired on the downs and can't really go for it!
However - it's the pleasure/pain equilibrium! (anyone remeber the advert? - can't remember who it was for!)
Call me a sicko, but the first climb on White's level/Skyline at Afan is one of my favourite bits of either...
never done it but friends say the same.
climbing's great when you're fit, shite when you're not.
I'm a climber, not a downhiller.
Can't stand climbing. I get no pleasure from it at all, even if I do it well.
specialised in climbing in my formative years on the road bike
(no mountain bikes back then)
now find them a struggle since i'm carrying a few extra pounds 
I despise the boring fireroad slogs that gently head uphill - dull!
But I do love real steep and technical climbs - the White's level being one of my favourite!
DrP
Call me a sicko, but the first climb on White's level/Skyline at Afan is one of my favourite bits of either...
Climbs are the incentive to get fit, otherwise the temptation to drink more beer to increase my original gravity to go downhill faster would be overwhelming.
i used to hate them but they kinda grown on me living in a very hilly area but over where i live you got your tarmac hill climbs which arnt as good but you also got your tricky off road sections too which are alot more fun, i guess its one of those things you get used to, what you have to say to your self is " if theres ups theres downs" 
I don't mind it, but I know it is going to hurt and I'm not going to be happy during the pain...however climbing is part and parcel of it all so as long as you don't think negatively it isn't quite so bad...it's not something I relish but it isn't something I don't worry about - just get on with it, accept it's going to be slow and painful but it'll get you there...
hate em! but to come down you've gotta go up and i'd rather it was 'involving' and 'distracting' than 'boring'
Twrch climb is ok
y Wall climb is mucho boredo
I'm getting pretty nervous about Phase2 of Follow The Dog. There seems to be a lot of climbing and I'm allergic to gravity.
Agreed about Whites, it's a great climb technical enough to take your mind off the pain in your legs. Long dull fireroad climbs are the worst, I just switch off and sing to myself, or recite lines from films, TV etc. Don't mind climbing, it's OK, but then I'm reasonably light and fit, must be shit if your neither
Like downhills, there are boring and fun/interesting climbs. Glentress is much better now that it is singletrack almost all the way to the Buzzards nest car park. It is great fun on the singlespeed, hammering up to the switchbacks, swinging round them then sprint off again. Especially good if you are racing a mate to the top.
I love climbs - on tarmac or easy stuff they're only okay, but nothing beats the feeling of having got yourself all the way up some monster pile of rocky horribleness or over a bunch of crazy roots. Almost as good as hammering back down the aforementioned pile of rocky horribleness.
Some lovely person on here recently posted up directions for a new to me route up one of my local hills - 245m of climbing, and at least 150m of the ascent is on stuff you have to think about at least a bit, finishing off with a fabulous rocky trail to haul yourself up. I think it has to be one of my favourite routes now.
Downhill is more fun when you're fit from climbing too. Although I still suck a bit at downhill I have to admit.
Joe
I enjoy it on my road bike, but not so much on a mountain bike. However it's not too bad if it's a long steady climb out in the mountains somewhere on a nice day.
Devil's advocate: if you have climbing, why not buy a Big Bike and take up DH properly?
i love climbing, especially tough, singletrack/rocky/grassy climbs. i get bored on fireroad slogs though.
Fireroad is simply a means to an end (the downhill). A good tech climb can be a lot of fun and incredibly infuriating at the same time. That feeking of success for every extra yard gained, versus the failure when you cock it up and dab.
My problem is that I have the mindset that once you clear something once, you can clear it everytime. If you don't, the only reason is because you're crap, and if you're going to be crap you shouldn't have gone out in the first place. All of which tends to lead to me losing my temper with myself far too easily if I'm not spot on the ball.
Oh and White's is neither steep or technical. Good fun, yes, but hardly challenging.
"oh goody", here comes a really tough bitch of a climb?
Yep, that's me. Obviously not as enjoyable as the downhill sections, but all part of the pleasure.
Really hate climbs on the road though, especially when they are part of a mtb route.
I love climbs just as much as I love the downs, I also love single track bits which you have to really put effort into enjoy them.
The point where I feel most alive whilst riding my bike is riding up a lung busting hill, glance at my heart rate maxing out then as you reach the brow pushing it a little bit harder change down at the back and pull away from fellow riders, nothing beats it!
if you have climbing, why not buy a Big Bike and take up DH properly?
That's an easy one. I used to have one, but there's nowhere in the UK worth using it without a) paying a fortune to get uplifts or b) travelling miles to get to.
I did W2 on Sunday for the first time, I managed it ok, but I wasn't smiling. My short stem doesn't help, but I don't want to change it. I guess it will get easier the more I do. For some reason I don't even remember the Whyte's climb, I was probably gritting my teeth and wishing I had a granny ring.
Devil's advocate: if you have climbing, why not buy a Big Bike and take up DH properly?
Why not both? I know of very few DHers who don't have an xc or trail bike, it does require fitness you know it's not all fat blokes trundling down fireroads...
As for the OPs question:
Enjoy it? No.
It is a necessary Evil, sometimes I feel a sense of achievement at the top, but often I’m just annoyed at my lack of fitness and bad pedalling technique, and wasted energy I could have used for coming back down…
Some perverts enjoy it I’m sure, but then some people like bestiality, it takes all sorts I suppose…
but there's nowhere in the UK worth using it without a) paying a fortune to get uplifts or b) travelling miles to get to.
Totally agree - I find it bizarre when I see blokes lugging great dh bikes around QE Park... all for downhills which must take about 20 seconds at most!
I like climbing, especially (surprise surprise) rocky technical climbs... BUt i also like climbing on m road bike. I dont like lots of fireroad though. Some is ok, as it means that i get to the top quiker, but too much is dull.
climbing's great when you're fit, shite when you're not.
+1
+1 for JonEdwards. We have a climb in the Malverns known - somewhat obviously - as "The B@stard" and it has to be done. Every time. With no dabs.
Being fit enough to climb stuff that before had you dying over the bars is definitely satisfying. Having the energy to ride the downhill sections more aggressively because you're not so kn@ckered is the real pay off for me.
Living somewhere hilly, there's not much choice really. Either get one with it, or don't do it.
miketually- I have a big bike and have spent most of the last six years only riding DH,4X and 'Freeride'. So pushing up or uplift/ski lift. I recently decided to get 'back to my roots' with more uppy downy stuff.
Fitness is definitely the key, I can do pretty much all climb's, but I don't have enough gas left to attack the descent's the way I would like.
Oh well, I had better get fitter then.
I remember having a bit of an epiphany on one of Mosquito Bikes' "Hell of the North Downs" rides. Lots of long climbs and long descents.
On the first half of the ride, I'd get a sinking feeling the longer a descent was, knowing that the longer it went on, the longer the climb would be on the the other side. At some point I decided that I could enjoy the climbs more the longer they went on, because there would be a bigger descent on the other side.
So the answer is get fit and get lighter!!!! "simples" - so much easier said than done!
WIsh we had the gravity of the moon sometimes!
i always feel like shit on the first climb of the ride then enjoy them afer that, specially the more tech ones.
this means i usually end up planning routes that start off with a road or fireroad climb so as not to waste any of the good stuff. descending is better than climbing though.
I would mountainbike even if it never went "down"
As an (ex) runner I love the long and hard climbs. Having said that my descending skills are pretty pathetic!
riding up climbs is like riding down in slow motion.
all good
riding up climbs is like riding down in slow motion.
I think I'll avoid your training then! You pedal all the way downhills? 
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