not enough Sundays in the week to go riding.

Cleaning the bike.

This is less of an issue if you largely don’t bother*, But I’m fortunate to have the use of a garage to store my filthy machines.

*I do clean the drive-train and the suspension stanchions. And pick off the bigger lumps of mud.

Sticky pistons.

Some of the twunts who frequent cycling web-forums.

Nay-sayers and doom-mongers who resent progress and change in the technology used and the attitude of the sport itself.

Snobbery
Inverse Snobbery
Cliques
Cleaning bikes
Cleaning kit
Traveling to the trails
User conflict
Breaking bits
Wearing bits out
Crashing
Not being to keep up with the latest kit developments

Punctures
****
****
****
Cars
Arseholes
Sloppy emulators
Selfrightous pricks
Dickweeds
Cockbags

So basically crap people and thorns.

And not forgetting

*****
*******
****
And obviously ***********

The only real thing I don’t like is getting home and having to wash the bike, freezing cold when all you want to do is get warm.

always needing more bikes.

“the next big thing”
i’m all for innovation, development yadda yadda, but i’m not keen on the guff that surrounds the marketing horseplop thats delt out.

Other bikers who ignore a cheery “Hello”.

Not being able to because of bl…. family commitments!!

people who scoff when I don’t return their cheery hello, because I’m trying to recover from riding up a hill over LT threshold.

Wot ton said.

And replacing broken parts is pretty annoying.

Maintenance and the accompanying expense

Dickhead car-drivers, and the various other motorized forms of attempted murder we have to watch out for.
Arsey walkers and horse-riders, although there’s really not many of those about where I ride nowadays, and I can’t remember the last time I had a proper run-in.
Things breaking or not working right, either on the bike or on me. I like fixing and tinkering, though; I just don’t like it when busted stuff spoils a ride.

Those are all pretty minor annoyances in the grand scheme of things. Everything else about it is pretty smashing really… 😀

Uphills.

Cleaning my bike.
Not having an uplift nearby.
Breaking myself and having months of from riding.
Not being able to pull big whips!(this will be remedied by next year 🙂 )

Ticks, Cleggs and Midges.

Everyone else riding the trails that were nice and quiet in the 80s

The idea that somehow riding your bike at the speed and over the terrain you enjoy isn’t good or ‘rad’ enough. That could be why I prefer to ride on my own. If I want to ride the bike of my choice and mince my way down a slope because I don’t fancy a crash, then surely that’s my perogative?

Cleaning my bikes at night in the cold in readiness for the next ride. Thankfully, so far, it’s not been so bad. And the other thing that really bugs me are people worrying about the type of bike they ride, along the lines of “I’ve just bought x and have ridden it once and decided that it’s too much bike for me because I might be tempted into doing something silly or I only ride at trail centers and all the magazines say I only need a singlespeed 29er with no suspension” If you like it, just ride it.

Oh, and why is it so bloody expensive!?

Many of the above, upgraditus a fair bit recently

Having ridden ‘properly’ for ~5 years I thought uphills might have become easier by now. They seems just as painful, admitedly I might be spinning a lot more in SPDs and a gear or two higher but ..

Cycling not doing anything about my michelin man tyre

Not really being upto singlespeeding

Riding solo, too often recently

Not knowing anybody with offroad lights

Riding with my brother for more than a day or two at a time – the level of incessant faffing gets to me

Other riding mates who at the merest hint of a cold, a chance of rain or temperatures less than ~10degC aren’t interested at all

The winter bogginess of many ROWs

My job having loads of overtime when the weather is good for going biking

Wanting to find/ride new (to me) trails all too often

Snow, when its deep enough that its just in the way

Ice, and all too often on the best bits .. I give them a good go, but my falling reactions are getting slower

Breaking things

Nothing! Nothing at all! I’ve just spent tonight bringing up the rear. As always. Loved it! As always! On an inappropriate bike. As (nearly) always. Because it’s my only bike* But I LOVE IT!

Now FFS Stop moaning and get on with it 😉

* road bike doesn’t count

ermm……………………………..
not being out evey day.
injuries.
not having the latest must have kit.
dabbing.

snobbery, wild assumptions about my physique, slow people who don’t pull over, fast people who think they have right of way because they can ride faster than me, people who can wheelie, roadies who don’t say hello, mountain bikers who don’t say hello, miserable sods, I could go on

Dog walkers!

Effing dog walkers who cannot control their animals. Their dogs (there are usually more than one) come running toward you get in front of you wheels and as you make your very best effort not to run it/them over the owner stands there shouting at said animals and giving you a look of disgust. This is not at speed either – this can be bimbling along chatting pace. Keep your dogs under control you muppets!

Dog walkers #2 – allowing your animals to crap in public and not cleaning it up. I don’t care if it’s a footpath brindleway or kids play park it’s just not acceptable – at all.

I’m usually quite a calm person but these people make my blood boil.

Winter, injuries, feckling, upgraditus.

I just had to google “feckling” to see what I was missing 😯

dog eggs

Thick mud, I don’t find it fun.
Having to drive at least 45 minutes to the nearest half decent trails, hour and a half to two hours each way if I want proper hills.
Expensive parts.

None of that really applies to bmxing though, just mtb.

pidgeon holes
riders who belittle other riders achievements
but mostly i hate the fact i have to sleep everyday and can’t ride during that time 🙂

having a screwed back and not being able to cycle 😥

Skipping gears
Sticky brake pistons
Dog kenneth flicked up onto brake levers/gloves/lip/eye lid/camelbak mouthpiece 😯

Forums and how people give it the ‘large’ on them

People who moan

People who claim they dont moan but in reality moan more than anyone else.

People who judge

People who claim they dont judge but in reality judge more than anyone else.

People who use the term ‘over biked’

people who dont like people who dont like the term ‘over biked’

Halfords

Crap employees of otherwise good bike shops

Having to work meaning I cant ride

The fact that the wife will ride one piece of difficult black graded singletrack but refuse to ride the simple fun red piece of singletrack and then vice versa the week after.

When bikes fall apart in the middle of a field 20 miles from the car

The cost

Dog poo

getting lost

The conflicting thoughts about cleaning my bike after every ride or not cleaning my bike after every ride.

Riding on the road (not road riders before anyone gets a grump)

People who’ll take offence about my comment above

The fact that ive sat here and typed all of this

……Otherwise I love the sport 😀

Hurtingness
Breaking stuff
Dropper posts
Sanitised trails
Breaking the nipple off a presta valve
Punctures
29ers – really don’t see the point
Breaking a chain
Spinning out on a climb
Missing out on a ride

The people. Don’t get me wrong there are some great people that I love biking with, it’s just as a collective mtb’ers are a right funny bunch. I started late at 40 after having done rugby, football, golf, skiing, fishing and judo. Some of them almost semi professionally given that my employers let me do them in work time.
The wanting to be part of a scene but then not really committing to the bigger group I find quite funny. Everybody seems to eye up everybody else in an envious or disparaging way. Everybody’s clique is better than the others and their trails are better etc etc etc. Everybody likes to think it’s a real social sport but it’s really not. I mean, how many of you are going to a mtb club Christmas dinner? I hate that. And the fact that the scene buy in has made it a stupidly expensive sport.

The boring 5 miles on a road or canal towpath I have to ride to get to anything vaguely interesting.

I try to tell myself “its all riding and its all good’ but it isn’t.

(nothing against riding on the road…on a road bike)

People who moan

People who claim they dont moan but in reality moan more than anyone else.

People who judge

People who claim they dont judge but in reality judge more than anyone else.

This has to win the “ironing of the day” award!! 😉