[Closed] Surfing buzz more addictive than mountain biking?

Yes. I'm starting to feel that way as well. It's a pain as I live miles from the sea, but the power of the sea is really something quite incredible.

riding/climbing/kayaking etc is just a distraction from not surfing.

i'm 40mins from north-coast, 30 mins from south coast and hatching plans to move closer.

You just need to work your way up from MTB to

Until...

By which time your adrenalin will be peaking so high that you’ll be kayaking mountainside drainage ditches just to unwind

https://youtu.be/rT8fqB9GPBM

I get the same with snowboarding. That's even less accessible

Jambo. Oh dear that's what I suspected. Graham yeah I've deliberately avoided getting into any snow sports as far too expensive and infrequently available. Oh well looks like surf will be my autumn/winter hobby and mtb in the summer months.

A day of deep powder snowboarding, particularly in the backcountry is for me like nothing else. I can remember lines and days from 20 years ago with absolute clarity and detail, it’s rare I can do the same when out on a mountain bike (unless I hurt myself).

Solved this problem years ago by just being completely cr@p at both surfing and snowboarding. Simple.

I've actually just been looking at articles on making your own Polynesian style bodyboards.
Already have a van, no tan and a wetsuit...

I've never found a rush like sitting in a kayak above a scary and committing rapid, putting your deck on and dropping into the flow.
No going back.

I did a fair bit of surf kayaking too ads yeah the thrill of catching a big wave is incredible.

Still second to cleaning a burly and technical rapid though.

Always think surfing, although brilliant, is kinda samey. 😉

I find i go through phases. Surfing did dominate for a bit, then living within 20mins of coast you get to a standard where unless its proper good you opt to ride. Then i ride loads get a bit bored, surf more, miss riding, ride more and miss out average days/busy days.... Embrace having more than 2 hobby.
And everyone knows a proper powder day always wins......

I think the 'advantage' of surfing is the randomness. If you hit a trail one morning on a bike, chances are it'll be identical run 2 (if you screwed it up the first time), and almost identical the following week - sure things can be wet or dry, a bit more or less muddy, but its pretty similar

surfing, at most spots (not including the wave bristol..), every wave is different. You might get one just right, then the very next wave comes it at an angle 1deg further north, hits a different bit of the reef and throws your right over the falls.

Like others, it's snowboarding for me. Absolutely love it.

Nothing beats ripping silently through powder on a snowboard in the mountain air and sunshine. Unfortunately it takes a lot of effort to get that nirvana so slogging round the bleak moors in the mud on a bike will have to do 😐

Never tried surfing. I'm a weakazoid so I'm fairly certain it wouldn't be for me. But it looks like fun.

Yeah, skydiving. One hell of a buzz for about 60 seconds. Three minutes in a wingsuit.

I still get that feeling when I've had a good jump, but I do it to get better at one part of it and jumping on my own when I can't get other people out is getting dull. Even worse, jumping with a team is 'work'. I mean, fun work, but still work.

Who am I kidding? I'll still be at a dropzone as much as I can waiting to get a lift, even if it is just me solo jumping.

Try living 100m frpm the sea. Ok, so its windsurfing but when its a nice 3 or 4ft swell rolling in and you have to go to work....
Or its a f6 forcast all morning and by the time you get back the wind will have switched and dropped off
Im getting old now but ibused to be able to do a 3hr bike ride, get home, carb up amd be out windsurfing for 3hrs in the afto
Then have 3 tooo many beers and do the same the next day

I haven't surfed in over 10 years but I know what the op means. The closest I have on a bike is rhythm section in some dirt jumps. It's the smooth swoosh and acceleration

Best surfs at the moment are when MSW calls it wrong. crowds have been mental this year and still not tailing off.

Had a great surf Sunday morning, chest high, glassy with great banks at polzeath and only three of us surfing a long left on the point between baby bay and the main beach. Must have had 25, 100yd rides in just over 2 hours. Midlength boards are the best thing to happen to my surfing in years.

And if I’m really lucky I get to see the legendary surfMatt....

Should have said about a powder day in my reply.
there is nothing on earth like it. My last good powder sessions were 2 winters ago and they still make me smile.
Japan when the boy is older

The only people I know that have given up everything to partake in their passion are surfers.

my snowboard season starts this weekend. Hype hype!

It's not for everyone - 20 years ago when foot&mouth closed the hills instead of climbing four of us bought surfboards, but I'm the only one still doing it (one having the excuse of being dead, to be fair).

But for me it was like the scene in trainspotting where they inject Tommy (I think) and exchange glances because he just likes it too much. I mean they're all junkies... Except instead of dying of AIDS I've spent too much of my life in carparks wearing smelly rubber, seen too little of my kids, wasted loads on a house on the coast we shouldn't be visiting atm, and let work drop right off the bottom of the priority list. All whilst knowing I was never going to be more than barely competent on a good day.

Still, have a shite session like last Sunday and I just have to do it again to get it right. Have a half okay session, and I really really want to do it again...

I'm the total opposite. Lived by the sea and surfed for 10 years. Eventually, the inconsistant swell, endless driving/wasted time searching for a wave and the cold finished it for me. It peaked when during a surf I just wished I was doing something else. I paddled in and have never surfed since.

I like mtb because it's on my terms, it's not weather dependent and I can make it as dangerous /adrenalin filled as my mood takes me.

Midlength

Yep, doing that.

The only people I know that have given up everything to partake in their passion are surfers.

Indeed. I'm very much a lightweight. Everyone's getting old now, but of people I surfed with in their 20s I think most have travelled/moved/emigrated for better surf

That’s the flip side of MSW. I know pretty much what it’s going to be like and when. My days of driving up and down the coast and ending up paddling out where you started are long gone. Sunday I left the house at 10, in the water at 11, ~25 good waves, out by 1.30, home by 2.30.

Swings and roundabouts for me. Both are good in different ways, I go through phases of preferring one to the other. I try to keep the surfing under control a bit though because the levels to which I’ve focused on surfing in the path are not compatible with family or work.

I don’t really find surfing exercise so don’t get the same post activity calming fatigue as with riding.

Recently I’ve been doubling up and mountain biking to the surf so even if the surf is rubbish I’ve not wasted my time 🙂

For.me yes

Surfing was always #1 buzz, but busier now than when I was keen on it

Snowboarding #2

MTBing #3

BUT, living a long way from waves and snow, I can go MTBing every weekend, that counts for a lot. Plus it's not as dependent on weather (we'll...most)

A flowy berny trail is close to snowboarding for me...but hurts more when crashing 🙂

No sharks MTB'ing !

I don’t really find surfing exercise so don’t get the same post activity calming fatigue as with riding.

I never used to on shortboards, now I’ve traded up to bigger boards my wave count and paddling distance is about three times as much.

I was lucky enough to live in Perth Australia for 8 months whilst playing cricket. During the week I had a lot of time on my hand which got quickly filled with body boarding.

I found myself watching the weather, swells and getting up at 6 in the morning and literally spending all day in the water until sunset. I used to get out for a Big Mac meal at lunch!

At the end of the season we went down to Margaret river and stayed in various caravan parks. Surfed all day and ate BBQ and drank EMU bitter. I was really living the dream. I noticed blokes down there that surfing was literally their life living on next to nothing just so they could surf all day.

I think the beauty about it is the wonder and anticipation of the weather aligning and searching for that perfect wave.

Now back to the 9-5.

Thanks for the thread, brings back nice memories.

The only people I know that have given up everything to partake in their passion are surfers.

I used to think about this a lot. I honestly believe if I had been born somewhere with surf this would be me. I only did it for 6 months but it had such an effect on me.

I think my fantasy lifestyle has always been living next to a big surf break in the Pacific with family and friends and just surfing and spending all day on the beach all day every day.

Anyway im spending a lot of time playing True Surf on my phone. It's amazing! It follows wave conditions all over the world and recently there was a real time swell at Pipeline. 50 footers. Closest I'll ever get

It's all about flow states: https://www.ted.com/talks/mihaly_csikszentmihalyi_flow_the_secret_to_happiness?language=en

I've not surfed for years but, basically, whatever I'm currently into is the most exciting thing ever and whatever I was into last is less exciting.

TBH I do think surfing maybe has the best "moments" of all the sports and hobbies and such that I've done, but then the best moments come rarely. Biking might not quite have the same highs (though, it's pretty damn close sometimes) but it's got reliability and duration, I've never taken a day off to go riding and driven to the place and discovered the wind's blowing in the wrong direction and so the trails are all crap.

Im got into mtb to get fit for surfing then discovered the buzz of mtb.

I adore surfing. The simplicity, you Don't need fancy kit. The ease of waxing a board and heading to the water. And then the joy of catching and riding those waves. Frustrating as hell too, mind!!

I started windsurfing at 13, so that's where my heart is, but I kitesurf much more now. That is a phenomenal experience. More complex kit-wise than surfing, but not horrendous.

MTB, however on a good day is just amazing. I've rediscovered XC in 2020 and enjoy that more than I thought.

Love having the spread of activities to turn to, depending on weather. If I had to do only one activity, it would be surfing, however.......I think!

Biking's all well and good, but for me these days there's nothing beats the combined awesomeness of hillrunning and paragliding. It's an aircraft that fits in a rucksack, what could be more awesome!?

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Snowboarding is pretty good too tbf, but it's not something I have access to year-round, and living in Scotland means it can be patchy (literally) even in winter.

Never surfed, but I think I have enough hobbies already so probably best I don't try it!

Kitesurfing and mountain biking for me. Surfing lost its’ appeal once I discovered kitesurfing. As far as a buzz goes, kitesurfing beats mountain biking but I love both of them for different reasons.

Kitesurfing and mountain biking for me

Very much this, I kitesurfed for 10 years - it ruined my life - in a good way, I live 2 hrs from the nearest beach, I couldnt commit to anything, just in case it was blowing. Spent numerous wasted days sitting on the sea wall talking nonsense whilst we waited for wind... only for it to start blowing just as I got home. Eventually convinced the mrs we should buy an 'investment property' to 'rent out' near the sea, ended up living in it every weekend.

I hung on to my relationship (I have an exceptional partner) but after 10 years I decided enough was enough and took up mountain biking. I love it but its not a patch on the incredible feeling that you get when the winds just right you're buzzing with your mates, rip off the water and get 40ft of air.

It was the most annoying, completely addictive most amazing time of my life.... having said that I am getting sorely tempted by wingsurfing....

I'm 36, I only discovered surfing last year, I'm from Lancashire so it's not exactly the cultural epicentre of sea sports.

I now live in Bristol and popping down to Saunton Sands for a day trip once every couple of months has been awesome.
I get the adrenaline of catching a (small) wave totally.

I don't compare it it MTB though, where I love the exploration side and the outdoors feeling more. Don't get me wrong I also enjoy the buzz of a fast bit of techy singletrack. But to me it's different.

Eventually, the inconsistant swell, endless driving/wasted time searching for a wave and the cold finished it for me.

Teenrat it helps that I'm living in South West Portugal at the moment but I can imagine the frustration of over crowded, inconsistent uk surf.

I don’t really find surfing exercise so don’t get the same post activity calming fatigue as with riding.

Ferrals not the same as doing a huge day on the bike but for me I'm coming out after 2 hours pretty shattered, have struggled to climb the steep steps off the beach at times but as I'm learning still I'm probably expending more energy and the waves are pretty massive here at times so it's really physical getting out the back each time.

The only people I know that have given up everything to partake in their passion are surfers.

Lol that's basically what I'm planning for winters going forward. This pandemic has made me realise life's too short and whilst I'm young enough i intend on enjoying it as much as possible so working and mountain biking in the uk in Spring /summer and winters over in Portugal living in a van and surfing.

Surfed for a bit, never got that good, and had to travel hours to do it, so took up windsurfing, did that for 10+ years - that's a thrill. You never forget the first time you get the board planing, feet not in the straps, feeling like you're going a million miles an hour, with the far bank coming closer at an extremely fast rate... 😀

I bodyboarded before I got into cycling (and then MTB).

Bodyboarding will always have the bigger buzz, just pure fun!

But as my nearest spot is Bournemouth. It's generally always rubbish, and crowded. That lead me to look for other things to do when it wasn't working, so I got a road bike - 9 years and a LOT of time and LOT money spent!! Cycling is part of who I am now.

Got in for a quick sesh a couple weeks back, so good.

Bikes not Boards!

I've biked since my teens, BMX for 20ish years before picking up a MTB for the last few so you'd have thought I'd love other extreme sports, but I dont...have skateboarded, surfed and snowboarded and don't get the same buzz.

Surfing I've tried 3 times now, each time I just find it annoying waiting forever and a day for a wave to maybe stand for a couple of seconds or to be chucked out the front door! I think because I did so many years of BMX where it is non stop - do it anywhere (park, dirt, stree, etc) the slower pace of surfing doesnt do it for me.

Surfing I’ve tried 3 times now

well, you've given it a fair go...I'd just give up now