I don’t socialise much, so it was a bit of a novelty to spend three days on a first aid course with eleven strangers last week.
Naturally, people got talking during the breaks and I soon got the impression that I had done more interesting stuff in my life than the rest of them put together.
While I have been seriously involved in mountain bike racing, motor bike scrambling and sprinting, vintage trucks and military vehicles and had a go at all sorts of things from kayaking to rock climbing, the highlight of some peoples lives seems to be the time they nearly got thrown off a plane for being drunk. 🙄

I like reading threads on STW and other forums about other peoples adventures with cyclocross, bivvying or proper mountain riding, although I find it frustrating that I haven’t got the time or money to have a go at everything.

Other people seem to view sport and similar activities as something to watch on television and going to the pub on Friday night is the highlight of their week.

Oh well, we’re all different I suppose. I just can’t imagine not having a hobby and basing my life around television and pubs.

2nded

‘I don’t socialise much,’

How boring…

The weird thing is people like that don’t seem to understand us with exciting hobbies like mtb etc.

_tom_ – Member
The weird thing is people like that don’t seem to understand us with exciting hobbies like mtb etc.

And quite clearly, you don’t understand them.

People in “different strokes for different folks” shocker!!

What’s different is that the people the op met probably aren’t on pubtrackworld chatting about a boring mountain biker they met…

MTB is not an ‘exciting’ hobby in most of its forms. It’s pudgy middle aged men mincing around in the woods. Which is fine, but hardly going to interest let alone inspire most people.

…the op…

The name’s Graham. 👿

Like I said, we’re all different.
I’ve got minimal interest in bird watching or radio control cars for example, but if I met someone who spent most of their spare time and money following those hobbies, I’m sure we would have some common ground to chat and I’d be interested to learn a bit more about them.

It’s people who have no hobby at all I find strange and they make it quite plain that they find it strange that I should spend a month’s wages on a bike frame and ride it round a field for 12 hours when I could be sat in the pub.

I just don’t get what people who don’t go on STW do all day.

I’m with you on this Graham. I don’t think it’s so much about hobbies but more about passion. Like you say, if you meet someone with a passion about something, even if that something doesn’t float your boat, chances are they’re more interesting than those who base their lives on pubs and telly.

The wife and I met through being active (careful!). Never had any interest in girls that were all shopping and clubbing.

I love to read something sanctimonious in the morning….

My life is boring but that’s just the way I like it. I don’t drink btw….

motor bike scrambling

Rough person’s hobby.

…vintage trucks and military vehicles…

Well, wow ****’ wee! Bet you’re a right hoot.

I love to read something sanctimonious in the morning….

Lol!
If only we were as AWSUM as him.

Dammit I was thinking Surf Mat has some competition.

MidlandTrailquestsGraham –
Member
…the op…

The name’s Graham.

Some people lead such grouchy lives! 😉

“It’s pudgy middle aged men mincing around in the woods. “

It’s all the excitement pudgy middle aged men are likely to get [aged 41, with spare tyre]. Every ride comes with a risk of broken limbs; it’s quite exciting enough for me thanks 😉

Back to the OP’s point: yes it is surprising how unambitious/ unimaginative a lot of people are, particularly young people. It’s less surprising than as folk get older they are a bit more settled or stay-at-home. People get put off little adventures for silly reasons. A friend won’t visit Japan because she read that in rural areas, the toilets are not private. I have friends who get worried if they go somewhere where they can’t see a house or other people about. My sister though I was weird because I like winter camping in the Highlands; it’s a camp site with hot showers and a shop FFS!

When I need first aid, I know who I want to give it to me now. Not some boring fecker.

I sort of understand what the OP is saying. Whenever I go on a course there is always one boring fart who is so caught up in his own interests he thinks everyone else will be interested too. Try telling them about any of your exploits and because it doesn’t fit with their own interests they just tell you more about what they like.

Best just to leave them to it.

I’ve done some amazing stuff on the back of mtbing – cycled all over europe, chucked my self down almost cliffs, climbed mountains, toured the highlands, bivied on cliffs, been dropped off by a helicopter on the top of a mountain, taken a float plane into the middle of nowhere… etc etc

That said, everyone’s life has been interesting in their own way, what’s exciting to me might not be to them.

The most exciting thing i ever did was nearly getting chucked off a plane from Tenerife to Gatwick for being steaming drunk . The plane was delayed by 4 hours, so we spent those 4 hours getting spannered in the airport bar.
The plane was a horrendous charter and the seat pitch was tiny, and Im not a big lad at 5’11”.
Got several warnings off the crew and made a general cock of myself.
Now I stick to mincing round on bicycles.

Well, wow ****’ wee! Bet you’re a right hoot.

Another boring Sunday afternoon at a steam rally…

wheely3 by Vegan Graham, on Flickr

Skip5 by Vegan Graham, on Flickr

Yes, those are my trucks and that’s me driving.

It’s not necessarily about doing something exciting, it’s about doing anything that involves a bit of thought and, yes, passion.

Sitting in a room of 12 unimaginative people talking about how drunk they got last weekend, I’ll sit on my own and read the course book.
Riding through the forest and bumping in to a dog sled race or an orienteering event, I’ll stop and chat to the marshals.

I wonder if they were bored enough to post their opinion of you on an internet forum……?

Sorry Graham, I’m just not feeling the AWESOME in those pics. If they were on fire, and perhaps cartwheeling… Add in a few ostriches, and you’d have my full attention!

Whenever I go on a course there is always one boring fart who is so caught up in his own interests he thinks everyone else will be interested too.

Hang on – have you just been on a first aid course with a bloke called Graham?

How does the truck to a wheelie? I think your problem lies in the point you never gave the others a chance. If I meet someone new I won’t say “hey i have a cotic simple” as they are gonna think WTF. Perhaps these people were making small talk and later on when they went to the pub together (whilst you went home alone) found out that in the group were people who had canoed the amazon, ran across america, etc etc.

Never come out of a club at 4 am with your mind full of sparkles? Seen the dawn come up as the chillout music starts?

You’re a discontented mother and a regimented wife
I’ve no doubt you dream about the things you’ll never do

I’ve been to Georgia and California and anywhere I could run
I took the hand of a preacher man and we made love in the sun

I’ve been to Niece and the Isle of Greece while I’ve sipped champagne on a yacht
I’ve moved like Harlow in Monte Carlo and showed ’em what I’ve got
I’ve been undressed by kings and I’ve seen some things that a woman ain’t supposed to see

I’ve been to paradise, but I’ve never been to me

Never come out of a club at 4 am with your mind full of sparkles? Seen the dawn come up as the chillout music starts?

No they don’t sell proper beer!!

I understand where Graham is coming from.

Most of my friends are like me and do stuff. Whereas a really close friend has never done any of the things I do but she’s happy. Her life appears boring and full of drudgery. When we get together we sort of talk about mundane things, but its worth it as she’s a true friend.

Sadly she’ll never understand the adrenalin rush an mtber can get. Or the feeling of skiing first power tracks on a deserted hillside, or seeing a pair of golden eagles soaring over the Cairngorms. These are things I treasure and will give happy memories in later life.

I too am boring, my job is boring, I’m shy and not too sociable but inside theres mad woman wanting to do stuff.

Each to there own.

A like a mix of stuff. In particular bikes getting drunk and er…bikes. Most of my mates are into biking or skiing/ snowboarding ect… Most of my work mates just live for the weekend p!ss up. No hobbies just ale.

Each to their own. 😕

If all someone can talk about is mountainbiking, sorry, but I’m OUT!

I have kissed the sky.. and have known god.. I have shaken hands with the devil and danced where angels fear to tread..

I don’t really think that it matters if you find a path to enlightenment through the bottom of a bottle and the warmth of your friendships.. or through freefalling above the hindu kush.. riding your bike or playing darts.. countdown or conservation.. through LSD or meditation or even driving an old army truck over a skip..

as long as you bother to look

When I was in recruitment (Seems an age ago now!) I was always amazed at what people put on their CV under “Hobbies and interests” or the like.

Such gems as;

I enjoy socialising with friends, the cinema and eating food

Get a FRICKING LIFE!

Almost as bad as the habitual Monday morning office conversation heard across the land;
Person one “What did you do this weekend?”
Person two “Went shopping. What about you?”
Person one “Yeah, me two”
Person three (Limping past, sunburnt and with a bandaged left arm), “Well, I was playing in the mountains. Fell off my bike, had a great time though!)”

I fail to find boring people interesting enough to want to discuss how boring they are, even the ones who like steam engines…

some people i know only want to talk about my biking ‘adventures’ as they don’t seem to do anything. if you ask them what they did at the weekend they seem to be unable to answer the question and if you ask them if they had a nice weekend it’s either ‘ok i suppose’ or ‘same as any other weekend’

i can forgive people for not liking bikes but not liking anything must be really boring. i’m with you MTG.

🙂

Pub culture and lifestyle ? Now that is a can of worms…..

Anyone with the username MidlandTrailquestsGraham is going to have to try extra hard to inspire me. It makes you sound like the sort of beardy wierdy that selotapes a map to his handlebars and rides a 1994 mountain bike 2 sizes too big round a flat woodland area. And when your not doing that you are on the internet talking to nerds because you don’t go out or looking at military vehicles.

Sounds like the ultimate in boring lives to me.