I think there have always been people for whom every ride is "training", and not primarily fun.
These people or people with this tendency now have the availability of more data to further refine their "training plan".
A significant proportion of these people also don't race. And are noticeable from all the data we can now share on Strava.
I think there have always been people for whom every ride is “training”, and not primarily fun.
You can have both, I enjoy the rides the most where I worked the hardest - possibly it's all dopamine related. Definitely come home high as a kite after a tough ride with fast riders though.
Prompted by an article someone posted to the cycling club page yesterday about people not identifying themselves as a propper / serious / real cyclist because they didnt race, have more bikes, do enough miles, werent 4% body fat, only rode one a particular discipline etc.
Is it just me, or have people in general started cycling more seriously?
I see what you mean. Some of that I would put down to Strava. Not by way of blame, mind you; but because of how it facilitates competition both with others and with self.
You can have both, I enjoy the rides the most where I worked the hardest – possibly it’s all dopamine related. Definitely come home high as a kite after a tough ride with fast riders though.
I totally agree - I like to ride hard, even do the odd intervals ride on my way to and from work, and do a bit of racing, and I appreciate the odd ride out with a fast bunch of riders where you do naturally push each other, even after the promise of just a gentle spin at the start :). But these riders refer to each ride as training, never seem to actually enjoy it...
even after the promise of just a gentle spin at the start
🙂
followed by
http://anello-grande.blogspot.com/2012/01/cat-3-comics-issue-2-part-3.html
But these riders refer to each ride as training, never seem to actually enjoy it…
I do understand the appeal of 'Type-Two-Fun' to a certain extent, however what I certainly don't get and I sadly see more and more of is the negativity and resentment from riders of a seemingly lesser technical/fitness/ability towards riders who are fit and/or very proficient etc riders ...
It often goes along the lines of being critical/snide of riders and brands who promote 'RAD' mountain biking, or 'I can't ride that kind of technical trail, so I don't think that kind of trail should exist here' ... chatting to some riders recently and they were adamant that 'bimbling' was the moutain biking of the future (despite being on big trail bikes) - yes so called 'bimbling' is fine and it certainly has its place but to suggest that all mountain biking is or should be 'bimbling' is perhaps disingenuous.
I've seen this within Winter Sports where certain participants of one sub-group try and dump crap all over another just because it's not their thang ...
I know this is part of human nature (or at least a quality of numerous British folk): when we can't (or don't want to/can't be bothered to) pull ourselves up to other people's level, we have to drag them down to ours. It's just a shame that it seems to be prevelant in cycling in general and mountain biking in particular.
vive la différence
I’ve seen this within Winter Sports where certain participants of one sub-group try and dump crap all over another just because it’s not their thang …
We all know boarders are the spawn of the devil...
I think the industry has got a lot to answer for, although it's found the same way as any other industry to sell more to people (and the people are the same whatever you're selling) - make them unhappy with what they've got.
You need another bike because your current one:
hasn't got enough gears
has too may derailleurs
isn't slack enough
isn't low enough
isn't electric enough
etc
All the sell is about performance, speed, control, and those are serious things. People buy new bikes and become a little happier for a short time, then it's just normal amounts of fun, but they're going a bit faster. Then worrying if they've bought too much performance, or not enough. Start logging strava segment times on one bike versus another...
Every now and then something comes along that isn't necessarily about how much performance you can buy, it's about fun, but these don't tend to last. Exhibit A: the fatbike. It was a sidestep away from the marginal gains of performance and allowed people to have a larf without being bogged down on whether the had the skillz to justify the latest purchase.
But because it was a step away from performance, you can't really sell the next latest and greatest, the "sell" doesn't really resonate. The people that bought them have still got them, and the step away from the treadmill of serious performance upgrades is there just the same as it always was.
Digby mentioned snowsports. On a similar note, I read this the other day which will resonate here, made think of singlespeeders!
https://www.surfer.com/features/the-drag-softboard-movement/
Surfing has changed. Surfing in Australia has become so mainstream and housebroken that a generation of young surfers now prefer to happily identify with the bodyboarders.
A strange new softboard culture has been born, but what is happening now probably has less to do with a wholesale renaissance in bodyboarding and more to do with surfers wanting to get as far as possible from what surfing has become: contrived, corporate, serious. They want something fringe and loose and hardcore, and they’ve found it with softboards.
funny article and entertaining vid, too.
OP, I get where you're coming from.
It gets complicated the more you analeyes.
Is it your inferiority complex, their superiority complex, natural instincts, marketing or just different people enjoy different things. Maybe a combination of all of those.
Learning is a part of human nature so pushing yourself to be better, ride further or compete against other humans feels natural to some.
Some apes were happy eating ants and flinging shit others were driven to crack nuts and learn new skills.
You can have both, I enjoy the rides the most where I worked the hardest – possibly it’s all dopamine related. Definitely come home high as a kite after a tough ride with fast riders though.
Its very odd. When I was years away from racing I used to enjoy a regular Sunday jaunt which was littered with conversation stops and ended with cake and tea.
If I joined - and I have - such a ride now I get mighty frustrated, but I can bimble continuously on my own. Literally now I'm facing the arse end of this and am suffering from some sort of training onset fatigue and its not very pleasant at all, which essentially means I can't even go out on the club social tomorrow for a few gentle miles and a chat.
Kryton, I don't know what training onset fatigue is or consists of but is the negative vibe because you feel you should be able to fight natural instincts? Perhaps you have a naturally high drive to improve but feel you should be able conform to be able to bimble about and chat. Why not find a different hobby to chat and relax and embrace cycling as your natural drive quota. Peer pressure works both ways.
Why not find a different hobby to chat and relax and embrace cycling as your natural drive quota. Peer pressure works both ways.
Its a wonderful thought, but I don't have time. I do have a contradictory personalty in that I'm driven to be above average but am in fact distinctly average 😀
training onset fatigue
I made that phrase up but I'm just saying I'm "training' hard rather than riding and this week have hit a fatigue wall - Sunday I literally stopped being able to ride a bike with much power and Monday was akin to having flu symptoms yet without the flu.
And this is the paradox; I loved the camaraderie of the social days, took up racing and now get impatient with standing around in MTB group riding. My happy medium is club Road riding which doesn't tend to stop until the cafe in the middle/end. So to answer the OP, for me yes it became more serious and I feel like getting back to being not-serious is a bit of an effort.
I think casual cycling has: see power meters, strava, turbos, aero etc for folk that don’t even race.
I reckon this is right, loads of stats so easy to see incremental gains and then strive for them more.
Agree with the comment about clubs too - I'd like to join one, I'm in fairly decent shape, but intimidated that it will be a bit too serious (hill reps not my idea of fun either).
My happy medium is club Road riding which doesn’t tend to stop until the cafe in the middle/end.
I've just got back into cycling after about 11 years off and the current group I've been riding with have quite a weird mix; hard group ride and then stop for a whole hour at a tea stop and then ride back. So a typical 4 hour ride has a whole hour just sat drinking tea, not that I'm complaining, plenty of time to digest two slices of cake or more. Although to be honest, I could take or leave the tea stop.
Agree with the comment about clubs too – I’d like to join one, I’m in fairly decent shape, but intimidated that it will be a bit too serious
Any decent club will split rides into groups, for two reasons 1) ability and 2) practicality - you can't really manage a 60+ pack on a ride. Just turn up and see how it goes. The great thing about road riding is you can just hide in the pack and get sucked along (saving 30% energy); whilst the stronger riders take turns on the front getting their workout. No one cares if you don't take a turn on the front (or shouldn't). Most of the club rides I used to do had a group of 6-8 riders who took turns on the front pushing the pace and a group who just sat at the back; everyone got a good ride and it worked well. If it's a large club, the fastest group will probably be a 'no prisoners taken' ride, so just try the 2nd group and see what that is like.
Cycling is what I do to get away from serious. Being at work, worrying about money, the kids etc. It’s the least serious thing I do and that’s how it should be. I love it because it’s a simple freedom that lets me act line a kid again. People who take playing out on bikes seriously are not to be trusted.
:o) People who take work and worrying about money seriously are the ones I dinnae trust
Kinda have to take work seriously or I wouldn’t have a job. Sorta have to take money seriously too. Kids need clothes and stuff, not easy without money. Cycling on the other hand is fun, serious fun I suppose 😉
Guessing this is basically just a question only an individual can answer for themselves.
Me personally, nope, just the same as it always was. Well cept I've changed from hardtail only to hardtail ebike conversion and a roadbike.
Ethos is the same as it's alway been since I was a wean, I cycle purely for fun.
Had a great afternoon out today on the road bike, 40km, took me 1.45minutes, I'll not be entering races anytime soon, no intention to. But I enjoyed it, immensely. The sun was out and a couple of pints before the train home!
I definitely class myself as a cyclist, we're a broad church.
Guess what it all comes down to it is personal perception, as individuals we do tend to view ourselves as the centre of the universe. So if you think cycling is about competition and pushing yourself to the limit and the latest and greatest, that's how your cycling world will look and you'll tend to immerse yourself in that. Mine doesn't, tis all good though! 🙂
My personal problem as that I can’t sit still / am dulled by doing nothing. I’ve always been involved in some kind of sport and the post sport tiredness takes the edge of my energetic anxiety. I think that’s why I need to compete, even if it’s only to ensure I’m exercising for a purpose in the week.
Yet, when I finally retire from work I want to be a recreational cyclist, and one of those people that’s able to go out on a spontaneous sunny Tuesday bimble in the Lakes with a pub stop, posting envious landscape pictures within STW. To me that’s enjoyable cycling.
Surprised this hasn't gone up yet:
I think it's down to Groupthink. People increasingly live in an online environment that pushes a kind of synthetic hyper-individualism, but in fact what I mainly see is the growth of group activities, mass participation events, benchmark waymarked routes to be ticked off. In that climate, it's probably difficult not to look around at your peers and resist the competitive urge.
Personally, I find it hard to take cycling seriously when I look at the clothing decisions made by otherwise presumably rational middle aged men just because they're swinging their leg over a bicycle.
Surprised this hasn’t gone up yet:
I think the author is a complete half-wit! He laments the loss of intimate sole stuff and goes looking for it by entering a multi 1000 rider Sportive and is disappointed when it turns out to be exactly like any normal person would expect ie not some small intermate bike packing adventure group. Total drivel.
He doesn't mention entering an organised ride at any point. He does mention a particular route - if you think it's not possible to do a certain route outside of an organised event, that probably says more about you than the author.
I tend these days to ride about 30 miles 2-3 times a week. Mainly a mixture of bridleways, cycleways, a bit of 3 ply tarmac and the odd sneaky footpath. I’m not a fast rider but I can usually outlast other riders in my peer group. I let them blast off then I reel them in if the rides long enough, if not they can get the cake and coffee in. It’s a win win! Now’t wrong with bimbling along, Ive been doing that for the last 20 yrs.
