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Do you prefer climbing the hills and that sense of achievement that can come with it, or do you prefer the sheer speed of the descent?
Maybe I'm a little odd but i much prefer the climb to the descent, think maybe ive got too good an imagination to hit the speeds ive seen others descend at.
Suppose it helps i only weigh just over 9 stone as well so not dragging too much belly up the hills!
Climbing. That goes for both road and MTB. Don't exactly know why, other than taking into account I'm not built for climbing yet I find it peculiarly pleasurable.
All hills round here so I have to nail it down any hill to maintain some sort of respectable average....
both on the road.
descents on the mtb.
On the mtb its definitely the descent but prefer climbing on the road bike for some reason!
Oddly neither, I like the flat. I enjoy the sensation of having to continually work in order to make decent progress, best of all is when its a bit windy and you've got someone sheltering behind you and you're just powering on. Im too heavy to excel on the uphills although I like them on my own and the downs give me the he-be-ge-bes as i keep thinking "If I came off now..."
road - climbing
MTB - descending.
I reckon theres a niche for an enduro style race where you race road bikes up the hill then switch bikes and off-road down.
Or perhaps something for the hardmen where you inch up steep tarmac on a mtb with knobblies then **** yourself on the way back down on a road bike?
I nearly crapped myself on some steep wet tarmac dropping off Walna Scar into Coniston yesterday, and that was on the mtb.
What muppetwrangler said. Word for word.
Nothing's flat here. Hate the climbing at the moment, will enjoy in 4 weeks time when I've been out everyday for a fortnight and have lost nearly a stone.
Climbing. Scared shitless descending after a spill a few months back resulting in several broken ribs. It's so bad I nearly pulled out of this year's Fred Whitton on the first descent of the day.
Think I'm too old now to get my confidence back.
MTB: both
Road: it was only climbing, but since I got a disc brake road bike, I'm enjoying the descending a lot more.
My favourite stretch of road is the gorge de la nesque, it's downhill but shallow enough to keep pedalling your biggest gear, sweeping round bends and through rock overhangs.
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Both. I learned this weekend that long distances on the flat are harder than I expected.
(googled that gorge MSP, looks great. I love that part of France but have only ridden in the Verdon area so far)
Had a moment yesterday at the bottom of Ripponden Bank just before you start the climb up it. The lady in front of me braked & i had to do the same, rear wheel started to slide & then the front went - had a proper sliding wobble across the road and nearly messed myself! I thought she was going to power down the hill to get a start on the up, so i had done the same.
I hate climbing
getting slightly better at it - I'm almost up to barely adequate on gradients under 5%
For me descending on both MTB and Road bike but then I am double weight of half you racing snakes so can achieve a much higher velocity downhill with very little effort after winching up the climbs. There's nothing quite like the buzz of descending a big road descent over 50mph and the sheer fear of doing 71mph, once and once only! 😆
Climbing and descending on the MTB. Don't really enjoy flat bits.
Climbing and flats on the road bike. It's a nice sensation clipping along at 20+ mph on the flat under your own steam.
Don't get me wrong, I like whizzing down hills on the road bike, but all the sense of achievement comes from going up.
I love that part of France
Absolutely, I really should set myself up some email alerts for jobs in Aie-en-Provence and see if I could luck out, I could be very happy in that area for less money than I now earn.
Despite my size and lack of aware I prefer climbing on road. Too aware of the consequences of getting it wrong on a fast descent, but I'm less of a wuss this year.
Prefer climbing to descending off road as well but rubbish at both really.
On both the road and mtb I prefer swoopy terrain where the speed never gets too much so you can stay off the brakes and the ups are small enough to power up.
I live on the edge of the Fens now and can safely say they riding into a Fenland headwind for an hour on the flat with zero shelter is harder than any hill I've been on.
Climbing mostly, but 12 months on and memories of the descent down the North side of the d'Izoard still puts a smile on my face.
Love descending on both, starting to not hate climbing as much on both now I'm getting fitter
I like to be rewarded with a good descent after a big climb 🙂
Seriously, I think I love both equally. Except after 100 miles. Then I HATE climbing. 
Road - climbing
MTB - climbing and descending
when on the roadie I find that on the flat I often struggle to keep up over a when riding over few hours with similarish ability people to me, but can drop the same people on the climbs no problem.
I enjoy road climbing in the Alps where you can climb for dozens of miles and feel a real sense of achievement when you get to the top. A lot of the road climbs round here on the North Downs are short and sharp and aren't too much fun. With regards to descending I don't mind long Alpine descents provided there is not too much traffic, and the hairpins aren't too full of gravel. Don't like going much over 35 on the way down though.
On an mtb I don't mind climbing, but if it's too technical I do struggle. Descending again depends on how technical it is. I don't have the confidence to really let loose. Having once smashed my shoulder on a descent in Morzine, I don't fancy another injury which takes months to sort out.
Died in the wool roadie here, and I'm a climber, not natural I hasten to add, but over the years I've perfected blowing chunks and expanding lungs and stretching legs.
Downhill to me is wasted time, too fast to enjoy, too scary to lay off the brakes on steepies, rolling stuffs fine, but if it's 20% and mebbies 15% and open rolling I'm fine, sharp turns and I'm well off the pace, steep technical and I'm back on it..
Theres a momentum and rhythm about climbing I really like, hard to explain, but something like a powered rocking motion combined with chest and heart in sync and legs that just teeter on the edge of blowing up and a taughtness of the shoulders and ass on the seat (or bobbing out a tap on the toes) and a solid grip on the bars.
God brought me climbs to ride 8)
Mtb - it's all about the descent for me. Although as my fitness has been improving due to the amount of road biking I've been doing the off road ascents haven't been as torturous.
Road - the downs are great but as my weight has gone down I'm enjoying the climbs more and more. Remember doing the Fred Whitton this year, going along past Eskdale and actually looking forward to Hardknott and Wrynose 😯
This
road - climbing
MTB - descending.I reckon theres a niche for an enduro style race where you race road bikes up the hill then switch bikes and off-road down.
That would be cool, kinda like hilly TTs where they swap to a TT bike for the decent. That would be Enduroad! Sic!
Climbing, but I'm a strong climber and it comes naturally.
Had two holidays in Europe this year. Majorca and then Italy. I really felt at home in the mountains being able to climb for more than a few minutes at a time up long winding roads. Sa Calobra was something else and just felt right, tapping out a rhythm for 30 minutes.
Also best feeling in a race is riding tempo up a long hill and getting to the top solo or with a select bunch having dropped most people.
You gotta enjoy the climb, it takes the most time.
One favourite memory of my last tour was riding from Chatel to Geneva airport - I freewheeled the first 1.5 hours...
Overtaking cars on conrners is fun too.
I don't mind either, although I appear to be pretty fast down. Currently top 15 down Buttertubs on Strava, and I wasn't even trying.
Oddly neither, I like the flat. I enjoy the sensation of having to continually work in order to make decent progress, best of all is when its a bit windy and you've got someone sheltering behind you and you're just powering on. Im too heavy to excel on the uphills although I like them on my own and the downs give me the he-be-ge-bes as i keep thinking "If I came off now..."
Me to Le Rouleur...
+1 for muppetwranglar and bregante.
I am 100kg although lowi-ish body fat% so climbing isn't my forte but I'm getting better at it. Downhilling is fine but never lasts long at 30mph. So for me flat is where it's at. I can get the easy speed with a nice sustained effort and really enjoy it, especially if sharing turns at the front with my mate.
Suggsey - Member
the sheer fear of doing [b]71mph[/b], once and once only!
Where was that then, and measured on what?
climbing 'the grunt'
descending 'the grin'
like the crashing monkey, climbing on the roadie, then descending hard on the MTB
Being a road noobie and a southerner haven't really had many long climbs but enjoy short sharp ones.
Favourite has to be a series of up'n'downs, preferably twisty 🙂
Would like to find some good climbs in SE though, if such things exist!
Road; I prefer climbing, but I'm better at descending. I like long climbs best where I can sit in and wind it up.
Off road; other way around with added mince.
Hilldodger head yourself to the north face of the eastern half of the south downs, or into the High Weald.
Descending is the reward for climbing.
Is that Eastbourne way?
Its all good on a road bike .. more so with added fitness.
Being a fuller-figured gent, my aptitude is more for going downhill than up. Did the Tour of the Peak which highlighted aspects of a few types of climb for me - Cat and Fiddle is my kind of climb, long and grindy, set a tempo and see it out. Winnats Pass offers the challenge of "how steep can I ride up?", a challenge I failed this year but one I wanna go back.to, hate them at the time but an enjoyable test. My least favourite is constant up and down, I'm too big a bloke to sustain that. 🙁
Oddly, although I'm rubbish at MTB DH, I really enjoy road downhill. I was lucky enough to have a few goes down The Tumble, and that's a fantastic descent, get aero and max it out. There's a great (but much shorter 🙁 ) downhill on my commute, regularly bust 50 on that according to Strava. I think I could bust 60mph on that if I can take the kink without a confidence dab - got four weeks to prove it....
Road - flat bits and climbing
MTB - anything
I've got my weight down to 13 stone 7 which is about the same as when I left School 21 years ago and I'm enjoying the climbing more.
Strangely the fastest I've done on a Bike downhill is 47mph on the Road on the MTB coming back to Bolton from Rivi about 1 in the morning. Fastest I've done on the Road Bike is about 37 mph, I just don't feel as comfy descending on it as the MTB.
I did a bit of the Pennine Bridleway above Settle the other week and was descending when I thought " ooh this is a bit fast " checked the Garmin after and was doing 30 mph, that's the fastest I've done off road.
Both are good and preferred to grinding out a flat into a headwind. Descents are usually hampered by bad sight-lines, crud on the road etc to really let fly though. Still fun though when the moments arise to really enjoy them. Only KOM on the road is a descent - can't get anywhere near them on climbs. Still really enjoy climbs though, especially when I'm feeling good and climbing feels fluid and fast.
Now descending on a tandem is properly fun and bonkers speeds are easily and scarily attainable. 🙂
Climbing. I love it. You feel the pain creeping up on you. You look up and see the road steepens and the pain is there, all over your thighs. Caressing and stabbing them. Reminding you of those winter rides you missed because it was too cold or too wet or too windy. Reminding you that you're weak. But that spurs you on. You dig deeper, gulp the air, push the pedals harder and you accelerate. The road slackens and you gather your breath.