Am I the only one that rides bikes entirely for fun?

I was chatting to a group of guys on in the department a few days ago and one of them (who I don’t really know that well) commented that was I the guy that raced XC? Not really having done much racing in the past year, I said I rode anything off road, almost entirely based on what I fancied and thought would be most fun to be riding that day. This got a very confused look from the group, which turned out to be almost entirely relatively new track or road cyclists, not understanding that I rode bikes for something other than the sole purpose of competing!

Over the last few days I’ve ended up speaking to a few more cyclists, each saying they do some rides entirely for the purpose of training, one even admitted he dislikes Saturdays as he does endurance training!

Yes I do occasionally enjoy entering a local XC/CX race, and on the day may get quite competitive, but I never go out on the bike for a “training” only ride, each ride is a fun activity in itself! I even sold my road bike as I found that I preferred to ride my too small CX bike on road as it was more fun.

Am I the only one that has this attitude or was I just talking to a load of idiots?

Nope – it’s what I do too.
To be fair – they probably really enjoy some aspects of it and find the reward worth the effort. I enjoy attacking a hill for example, but put me on a straight road and I’m immediately looking for the fun.

No, you’re not alone!

Sort of. I love riding my bike, but I particularly love riding fast and hard.

So yes, I do go out on rides to hurt myself and that may be classed as “training”, but I bloody love those rides.

In 12 years of riding bicycles as a hobby I have entered 3 races, all of which were Uni champs so I dont think they count really.

Purely for fun and the adrenaline rush here

yeah it’s getting a bit that way on here of late with talk of training from base and taking time out of plan 😕 yeah I plan to ride from base every ride, my house! and my plan is to go out and have fun spanking it downhill as often as possible.

I do some racing but just for lolz, riding is for riding.

Mostly an exercise related chore for me. Hurts less than running. I do the odd race to motivate me to actually do some riding.

I’ve never raced in my life and I’m unlikely to start now.

So yes, I do go out on rides to hurt myself and that may be classed as “training”, but I bloody love those rides.

Yeah, I often do a fast (so maybe called be called training) ride, but always make sure it’s a fun or interesting route as 5 laps of the local bypass (as one of the roadies does every tuesday and thursday) would make me want to stop riding bikes altogether!

If I even get back from a ride and think it could be classed as a “chore” then to me that was a failure and a waste of a few hours!

I’ve found there’s always the question asked talking to people who only road cycle that goes along the lines of “Why don’t you try out a ride with us?” to which I reply “Mate, if I have to ride past every gap in the bushes, I’ll be bored shitless within 10k”

I’m on your wavelength oliverracing, ride for fun. If I feel fast I go fast if I want to bimble, I bimble. Ride with racesnakes but we sort out before we ride. Group ride is a social speed for newbies & the unfit. We arrange to meet up for other rides to go faster.
So far so good(only one falling out but all resolved for now LOL).
Happy trails……..

Your username does suggest you’re of a competitive nature though! Perhaps you reputation precedes you!?! 😉

Personally, when I race I want to feel like I’ve done myself justice, which means that I train, and training is different from riding. So sometimes, I have to do a training ride which isn’t as fun as a non training / fun ride. I see it as a short term sacrifice for a longer term satisfaction.

But I’d always try and make the training as fun as possible!

I enjoy every single ride I do, however most of my rides are training rides. I love going out with a purpose, no ride i ever come back thinking I wish I hadn’t bothered. If I did I would pack it in entirely.

I don’t really have any training loops though, I go wherever looks interesting 🙂

I dislike riding full stop. I just post on here instead. It’s like being just to cycling without the effort. Think I might buy an EBIKE just to get some strava KOMs and annoy everyone.

… I am of course joking, off on a night ride tonight and if I’m honest I’m looking forward to the pint at the end more. However once we get going I’ll be grinning I’m sure.

3 or 4 enduros a year, but I’m not really racing, just having a massive amount of fun.

Only ever ride for fun. Fun is fun.

No racing, never got past half arse thoughts of a sportive. Even once looked at a sportive web site.

I ride for health reasons and because I enjoy it, I try and improve so I can stay out longer, once it turns into anything like a weekly gym session or training I get bored and take a break.

We only ride for fun here, we are doing some structured rides at the mo, but thats only because we want to improve our climbing ( hilly routes really wipe us out, its pretty flat on out local stuff ).

I used to race when i was in the local road club, but the training rides i was doing to improve my TT times really sucked all the fun out of my rides, so i stopped racing.

We mostly ride because we like to be outdoors and enjoy single track riding.

I ride to be out there in all that nature stuff luv it

I did try road cycling but fell asleep at the bars.

I blame strava and cycle computers i did put one on for a tour once they are handy when reading the map from point to point.

I sometimes ride to get to and from Good cake or beer…..the miles in between are purely coincidental 😆

I ride because I love it! I do it for fun, fresh air, fitness, social reasons. I do the occasional MTB event or road time trial, but that’s just because I like doing them, even if I were to finish last.

Unless you are financially rewarded for your riding you’re doing it for “fun” but some people’s idea of fun is following plans, measuring hr zones, watching their diet etc to be the 57th fastest person to ride along a dual carriageway one day. I’ve never entered a race, never had a training plan and never been bothered about the lack of either. Equally not bothered if someone is interested and motivated enough to do all those things though, they must get something from it otherwise they wouldn’t do it.

I ride for utility as well ie commuting to work and running errands as well as riding for fun

Slightly off topic, but I recently started using STRAVA!!!!!!!!. But only to map the rides I was doing on the CX bike. Ride along here, “ooh, where does that go?” ride down there, “I wonder if this leads to….” Just to remind myself where I’ve been. Then after doing a few of the sections again and linking up new bits, STRAVA!!!!!! started to give me badges for PRs and “King Of The Bimble Section”.

The one thing it did was make going for a bimble even more fun. Not to try and beat my best time, but give me the knowledge of how to link up the fun bits. “That fun bit links to that fun bit links to a dull bit links to that fun bit that links to the pub.”

My racing career consists of 3 Mountain Mayhems. I managed to do 11 laps solo on my first one. My last one was sacked off after 4 laps. The BBQ, beer and dry camper was much preferred to the rain and mud.

Never entered a race on bike in my life, do it purely for enjoyment and always will.
I know I’m not the fastest or the fittest but I’m the one that’s always got a smile on my face what ever bike I ride.

Never ridden a race, always go out for fun.

Have done the odd organised ride, charity run etc. The closest I’ve been to a race was the CYB Enduro a few weeks ago as it had electronic timing, but it’s not the reason I did it! I do go out for ‘training’ rides as in I’ll choose something I need to work on (stamina, climbing or a tech skill) then choose a suitable ride to suit, but it’s still for fun. Strava helps me map my progress and encourages me to explore new places via the heatmap but I don’t go KOM-hunting.

Can honestly say that I’ve not gone for a ride and regretted it afterwards for well over 5 years, even in atrocious weather. Adds to the adventure 😀

So yes, entirely for fun 8)

Unless you are financially rewarded for your riding you’re doing it for “fun” but some people’s idea of fun is following plans, measuring hr zones, watching their diet etc to be the 57th fastest person to ride along a dual carriageway one day.

Exactly this – people have different ideas of fun. Where’s the fun in just riding around with no purpose and no intent of getting better and faster?

Where’s the fun in just riding around with no purpose and no intent of getting better and faster?

What happens when you stopping getting better and faster? Will you give up riding?

I only ride bikes so I can subsequently restore the calorie deficit

Most of the road clubs over here seem to be OTT with speed ,stating minimum speeds for groups.
i went out on one run and was advised on losing weight off the bike (my cx bike),hinting that i was slow,that was the last run i bothered with.

Go out on my own now on road runs when the fancy takes,but mainly use the mountain bike.
Doing local off road event end of month so uping off road rides when i can ,concentrating on climbs as the event has a good climb to start with https://www.facebook.com/events/304993653197741/

Purely a fun, social and adrenaline thing for me. Absolutely love cycling, just makes me feel free. If I’m competitive at all, it’s just with myself. Trying to learn something new, find a new line or go quicker than last time. Might have to sell my bike to fund a new front door and it makes me feel genuinely sad 🙁

For fun, transport and utility. Because it’s all fun on a bike!

I bought my bike to get fit/have a healthy hobby.
No intentions of racing, and now I just do it for fun/scenery.
I only bother to record rides once a month or so to keep a vague eye on any improvement or loss.

I plan on doing a long distance cross country race next year, the crossing, so I guess I do do some timed training/endurance rides, but that’s only to make sure I can actually finish, I don’t care about what position I come, I just want to prove to myself I can do it, and enjoy the view.

Once I’ve done that, I’m not fit enough at the moment, I’m not sure what to aim for next,I’ll still rode for fun but I like having a goal, maybe some kind of bike packing/bivvy trip somewhere.

Your username does suggest you’re of a competitive nature though! Perhaps you reputation precedes you!?!

Haha – yeah good point, I am competitive and I do use strava, but mostly to be able to go back and find bits in the future. I’ve actually been back through my last 2 years of rides on strava and only found a few rides that I would class as “not for fun” and most of those were commuting when I didn’t have a car.

The username actually comes from me being a motorsport engineer by trade.

In 30 years of riding bikes about 15 of that mountain biking, I’ve done one race. The 2007 Megavalanche.

I don’t have a GPS, or a heart rate monitor, I’ve never used Strava. I just blast around in the woods looking for fun stuff.

I take the DH bike to the Alps most summers. No desire to race that either.

I can confirm that Schmiken rides wherever looks interesting, it’s not a good cake ride unless there’s some hike a bike!

Oli I only ride so I can beat you 😉

Last race I did I finished last. Actually… I forgot to finish as I was hiding in the bushes having a fag, so I didn’t have to do another lap.

It taught me a valuable lesson though….

Oli I only ride so I can beat you

You might have me on the climbs at the moment but I still have you on the descents! 😀

I think I ride for fun, I have a goal in mind to get ‘properly fit’, which is an ‘I’ll know it when I feel it’ thing, but it’s so I can fit more new places to ride in during a ride from my home, and have longer more interesting journies on my road and mtb. I think enjoying cycling hard for the physicality of it is still probably riding for fun, just a different kind to pottering along or ‘just riding’.