tea and banana somewhere interesting / or with a view if possible. Not on night rides though.

First time I’ve ever seen a pic of my home town on STW!

Yeah, of course I am taking a philosophical snack break. Not just puffing and panting with sweat pissing off of me trying to get my breath back.

as the late great roy castle sang….If you wanna be the best, then dedications what you need.

No time for stopping and eating pies!! best thing to do to improve fitness and ability is to cane it to the top and then keep on going!

Not always, but there is a spot on the edge of the forest at Hamsterley where I sit for some reason:-)

Good thread btw

I’ll sometimes stop and take in the view, but if you stop for too long then the flies get you if it’s hot. Or as said you get cold.

Nice photo from a Friday morning ride a few weeks back.

http://instagram.com/p/lOv2XQvbGF/

I don’t like stopping bur taking a pee & having a snack are sometimes neccessary & it might as well be done somewhere with a view. Banana or malt loaf.

always…
not much eating but enjoying the view..contemplating and calm down a bit to focus on the descend ..which is preferentially steep,rocky,technical stuff..
and if it is my birthday ..then even with candlelight.. 🙂

@accu thats an epic pic! taking it to the next level with the candle,

@tarquin thats also a vista I could easily spend some time appreciating!

Always – it’s a major part of why I go for a ride in the first place…

Rarely admittedly, but sometimes I’ll stop eating and go for a bike ride.

YES…this thread was made for me!

I LOVE stopping, chilling, chatting, snacking, admiring the views, take a few snaps, re-fuelling, exchanging war stories regarding the last techy section, and of course to acclimatise to the lower oxygen levels that are associated with the uphill trails (yeah wtf is with that!?).

For me, riding is massively social, I ride with my best friends. I love capturing the moment for prosperity, and I’m also into photography so I get to do two things I love at once. I find the ‘quit taking photos and enjoy the moment’ point of view extremely patronising, for the following comic can sum up more eloquently than I:

I also have this theory that food tastes at its best when you are on a bike ride, so I’ll bust out the big guns when at the top of the mountain (Ferrero Rocher, After Eights, Lindt bears, Belgian chocolate shells, etc), at first it was to see people’s reactions to being offered an After Eight at the peak of mam tor (or equivalent), but now it’s just an excuse to have nice chocolates.

I think the only times I loathe stopping is if the weather is particularly inclement or if we’re training for something and the stoppages are too frequent.

_tom_ those panos are beautiful, particularly the whistler one. Nice work.

Yep. Not doing so gives me that feeling akin to being served dessert before I’ve finished my main course.

+1 for “sparking one up” then a pee, then a philosophise. then blast like i meant it 😉

Most of the time i stop briefly at the top to take in the views, tend not to eat there unless its summer, get too cold.

One of my abiding memories is having a lie down in a hollow, halfway up the climb to walna scar, waiting for the rest of the group, munching jelly babies, sun beating down, staring at a clear blue sky, already weary and psyched by some great riding, awesome descent to come and some of my wife’s pineapple upside down cake waiting at the bottom, i was thinking, there is no finer way to spend a bank holiday weekend. Brilliant!

I often stop for a beer. Or a whisky. Or some chocolate 🙂

IMG_0465 by simondbarnes, on Flickr

Handy bike attachment by simondbarnes, on Flickr

I like to stop and appreciate where I am, what I’m doing and just pause for a moment. It came from hillwalking and having a little empathy for the slower members of the group and generally appreciating where we were and the effort it took to get there.
Going out with Munroe-Baggers (not all are the same) made it more important to me. Their focus was on ticking off something on a list, so they were always fixated on the next one and would charge off. I wanted to pause for a moment and enjoy where I was at that moment.

@simonbarnes I endorse your post 😀

@noteeth @jaymoid +1 I bike just as much for the views and countryside as the biking itself, its almost a weekly pilgrimage for me, the week doesn’t feel complete till i’ve reached the top O the trail 8)