“Drop Rides” ? Is that really a thing?

Yes folks, to be having fun you must be seen to having fun…including laughing your tits off in the middle of a chain.

And no amount of training and getting fitter/faster makes it any more enjoyable.

I play tennis a lot

Tennis 😂

Tennis 😂

It doesn’t sound like a lot of fun, as in giggle fun, like in MTB where you have obstacles, challenges, opportunities to cock up, jumps, berms, etc etc etc.

I’m sensing a theme here…

It sounds like pure fitness

When you’re fit, the fast rides are fun. And its as true in reverse.

Everybody just loves riding with the fun police.

Riding fast in a group is thrillingly fun, like playing in an orchestra but with your heart rate bouncing off the ceiling. Each rotation through the group is unique. It’s quite rare to do shared tasks with the kind of synchronicity you get in good through and off. Yes, the end of the ride degenerates into a battle between those who want a sprint for the last sign and those who want to gap the sprinters, but that’s fun too.

Also you eventually end up with a weird body shape 😂

Ahh, I see you’re getting confused with e-bikes.

An easy mistake to make, the slow roadie groups and e-bikes are both limited to a 15.5mph average, and both eat a similar number of bacon sandwiches and cake.

Everybody just loves riding with the fun police.

These threads always descend to the same logically falacious point.

1) I’m self declaring myself to be fun
2) I can’t join a fast roadie group
3) This must be because it’s incompatible with 1, no other reason.

Thankfully this generally means that the fun police don’t actually turn up.

Isn’t that just line dancing on bikes?

No, that’s gravel riding – checked shirts, beards and beers.

;)

No, that’s gravel riding – checked shirts, beards and beers.

👍

I’m quoting this because I’m too tight to renew my membership 😂

Sorry I didn’t mean to upset.

By body shape I meant the tiny torso super skinny thing.

I accept there are loads of ways of having fun and that suffering can be fun so apologies.

I meant fun as in laughing / smiling, which I quasi never see roadies do. I am in Lanzarote this month and quite a massive sample. All seeming miserable, sorry.

Yes folks, to be having fun you must be seen to having fun

It’s possible to laugh just because you’re happy and without caring what anyone else thinks.

By body shape I meant the tiny torso super skinny thing.

XC racers are no different to road cyclists , nor cyclocross. Runners are likely even leaner.

On the subject of build types, it might be the “You don’t choose your sport – the sport chooses you” thing though..

You can’t really compare the roadie world to MTB

Watts, KOM, Strava, aero socks, gel drinks, integrated cockpits, carrying things in a funny pocket that’s impossible to reach, not having a sun visor, 80psi, proprietary seat posts, getting dropped, carbon rim brakes

vs

Sending it, endos, stairs, gnarl, loam, berms, mud, rocks, slack

It’s apples and oranges

XC racers are no different to road cyclists , nor cyclocross. Runners are likely even leaner.

On the subject of build types, it might be the “You don’t choose your sport – the sport chooses you” thing though..

All very true. I find a day at the bike park inherently far more fun than a day sharing tarmac with cars but I probably need to stop viewing things from my probably narrow personal prism. And perhaps I should try S&M too 😂

I probably need to stop viewing things from my probably narrow personal prism.

That will never catch on here on this forum!

And perhaps I should try S&M too

Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it

I meant fun as in laughing / smiling, which I quasi never see roadies do.

I mean; I don’t quite get how your supposed to judge the mood of a bunch of people riding at 25-30kph unless you are riding alongside them; and I guess you weren’t ?

I ride with a road club; I also mountain bike. I’ve met great people on both sides; and the notion that roadies are all miserable barstewards is just totally wrong.

I think what is most baffling is the people who don’t like the idea of road riding seem adamant that it *can’t* be fun; rather than accepting that maybe it’s not for them.

It’d be like me whinging about people doing massive drops and jumps and how it can’t possibly be fun because it’s terrifying and makes me feel faint. I just ain’t built for that !

I ride with a road club; I also mountain bike. I’ve met great people on both sides; and the notion that roadies are all miserable barstewards is just totally wrong.

90% of the roadies I see are grimacing not smiling.  75% will not knowledge me because I am not wearing the uniform.  I really does not look like they are having fun

A smiling roadie that waves is a rare thing indeed

does not look like they are having fun

Why do you think they do it then?

Not read all the way through, but drop rides have been a thing for generations on road, it’s high level stuff though, but no different to group rides in mountain biking where folk drop off as they’re not up to doing hills, or the DH runs, you have the option of stopping and returning to base.

It’s all hobbies for different mindsets, i’ve never been much of a road rider, same as when i used to run i couldn’t do pavement pounding, i’ve not got the attention span for it, i need stuff to keep me refocusing, otherwise i’d be in the back of a car every week 😂

Roadies are just ‘different’, probably why I prefer to ride off in a small group. 

It’d be like me whinging about people doing massive drops and jumps and how it can’t possibly be fun because it’s terrifying and makes me feel faint. I just ain’t built for that !

Fair enough Steve. The drops and jumps don’t have to be massive, just start small and learn.

If we ignore the cars/vans/trucks and the fact that the road doesn’t offer much variation in levels of grip (which off-road is a great source of fun/hilarity/, what does road riding offer that MTB doesn’t?

Sheer speed? Acceleration? The challenge of twisty descents on skinny tyres?

Sheer speed? Acceleration? The challenge of twisty descents on skinny tyres?

Well, yes.

And faster access to scenery than heavy draggy MTB

Isn’t that just line dancing on bikes?

No, that’s gravel riding – checked shirts, beards and beers.

Sound a helluva lot more fun than riding to max heart rate watching the arse of the guy in front for multiple hours…. I’m in!

😉

It doesn’t sound like a lot of fun, as in giggle fun, like in MTB where you have obstacles, challenges, opportunities to cock up, jumps, berms, etc etc etc.

Try bombing down a fast alpine road descent some time.

Guess what, you can enjoy mountain riding and also enjoy road biking. Not line dancing though.

Well, yes.

And faster access to scenery than heavy draggy MTB

Fair enough. Didn’t think of that as my access to scenery off road is 150m away. That prism again 😂.

Try bombing down a fast alpine road descent some time.

Sounds like fun if you live in the Alps although cars etc?

Also, how does the impression of speed compares to going down the same mountain off road on a MTB I wonder? And which will be more fun? (if you have the technical skills and are not terrified by drops and jumps of course).

https://www.instagram.com/stories/ukgravelco/3284330192485654700?utm_source=ig_story_item_share&igsh=MTBsNGlqeDhmYm04ZQ==

I feel an idea for a new sticker coming..

Most of this thread comes down to a lack of good faith in other people’s choices.

– that person is doing something recreational
– at the point in time I perceive them, they do not look to be enjoying themselves
– they are miserable
– their choice of leisure activity is bad

There’s certainly an overt seriousness to some riders on the road I dislike – it does not cost you watts to say hi – and I can’t do much about that.

But: talk to those grumpy looking riders at the end of the ride, sit in the pub or cafe with them, and you’ll find it harder to believe that whatever they just did wasn’t fun.

And whilst this thread started out about drop rides, it’s descended into general distrust that road cycling can be enjoyable at all. I am never going to be athletic enough to enjoy a drop ride – not least for the co-ordination a chain gang requires – but I also made peace with it being something another person can enjoy.

And road riding isn’t all just grimacing out watts. It’s casual social rides with friends, it’s early morning hill climbs and laps, it’s 200km+ audax rides, it’s touring, it’s going from my front door in a city to rolling hills faster than public transport, it’s hill climbs and TTs and a miniature world run on Windows XP, church halls and custard creams.

(Just like riding off road is trails and XC and gnarr and DH and enduro and entertaining drop bar bikes and Big Mountain Days and local bimbling and ultras and messing around in the woods)

I don’t like everything on either list, at all, in some cases. I don’t distrust that somebody else does, though, even if that somebody is a straw man I have invented. “It’s not for me,” isn’t a sentence that needs qualification.

Bikes are great, and so is what a human body can do on them.

– that person is doing something recreational
– clearly there’s something in it if they’d rather do that than something else
– obviously it’s not for me but go them
– maybe I’ll go do the thing I enjoy doing later
– god, bikes are great, aren’t they?

Also, how does the impression of speed compares to going down the same mountain off road on a MTB I wonder? And which will be more fun? (if you have the technical skills and are not terrified by drops and jumps of course).

Which is better chocolate cake or fudge brownies? Assuming you’re not terrified of chocolate of course. Or a dog…

If you really want to know, why not give it a try? I’ve done both from the same lift station, both a hoot, just different. 

my access to scenery off road is 150m away

The problem with local trails is that there aren’t many of them by definition. Eventually if you live somewhere long enough you end up riding it all over and over again. Of course this happens to everyone, but being able to ride further always opens up a bigger area on either type of bike.

Also, how does the impression of speed compares to going down the same mountain off road on a MTB I wonder?

Depends how fast you are prepared to go.

What about when you do through and off on a mtb ride, winding the speed up on a flat section – should there be self-loathing or not ?

What about when you do through and off on a mtb ride, winding the speed up on a flat section – should there be self-loathing or not ?

Probably just giggling ime. Particularly if you catch an innocent roadie in the process :-)

@infovore – good post.

I do MTB and road riding, both are great fun in their own different ways. I don’t do downhill but I’m sure people who ride that are great guys too and have a lot of fun, however unappealing I find it personally.

In terms of personal experience, when I’m riding the MTB and wave to a roadie I find they usually wave back. Maybe roadies in the SE are just nicer?

variation in levels of grip (which off-road is a great source of fun/hilarity

Not for me. I hate sliding around, it ruins rides for me.

FWIW if I’m riding with a group of folk on the road I’d prefer they kept their hands on the bars. If anyone waves at me (a rare occurrence) then I’ll usually just nod back. I’m not sure what all this waving thing is about anyway. I certainly don’t acknowledge every cyclist I see when out on either road, gravel or MTB because there are just so many.

 I’m not sure what all this waving thing is about anyway.

I read an interesting piece about saying hello to people, strangers, who you encountered and how it was a positive thing to do because it basically sends out the signal that the world isn’t such a dangerous, hostile place. Just smiling and nodding does the same thing.
I suspect the flipside of this, for some folk, is that being ‘ignored’ by another rides is a sort of low-grade hostility. Bear in mind that we’re talking sub-conscious, visceral stuff here, not logical, rational level reasoning. Being blanked when you say ‘Hi’ to someone is similarly a little jarring, even though you know rationally it’s not personal.

Personally I tend to say hello to people / smile / nod / maybe a gentle raise of the hand, not so much because it’s profoundly important, but because if it makes someone else feel generally more positive about the world, then that’s a good thing.

It’s more problematic when there are lots of people – ever ridden the opposite direction to a sportive or some charity mountain bike challenge, you stop bothering pretty quickly or turn into some sort of nodding dog – and there’s definitely a cultural norm thing going on too. Say hello to someone you don’t know in London and you’ll likely be arrested, here in the Peak, it’s quite common, especially in the outdoors, though not quite the norm, not far off though.

I used to ride with a guy who’d weaponised saying ‘HELLO!!!’ incredibly loudly to the point where people looked genuinely surprised and borderline scared. That seemed a little excessive,  but was also quite funny to watch.

It’s more problematic when there are lots of people –

Definitely an issue around here. Away from the honeypot areas I’m more likely to chat to other outdoors folk, be they biking, walking, working, whatever. In fact, on Thursday I bumped into a guy who was with his husky, sledding between bothies. We had a good old chinwag about fatbikes, temperamental dogs etc. I think it’s maybe that the clannishness means little to me, so I don’t feel the compulsion to acknowledge everyone who just happens to be on a bike. 

There’s a similar vibe when driving on single track roads too. A wave to acknowledge someone who stops in a passing place is generally accepted practice, though it gets a bit old when you are, for instance, driving anticlockwise on a section of the NC500 in Summer 😀

I always thought the “miserable roadie” stereotype was just a low level cliched bit of internet banter, which is fair enough, but interesting/amazed to see that some people really believe it.

More interesting that those same people still refuse to accept roadies might enjoy the pastime they undertake voluntarily, despite:

A) Loads of people on this thread saying they enjoy it and explaining why,

B) the entire history and concept of road cycling the world over- which, let’s face it, is in terms of participants, is likely several factors larger than mountain biking.

It’s a pretty wild take.

It’s an inferiority complex 😂

Duggan
Full Member
I always thought the “miserable roadie” stereotype was just a low level cliched bit of internet banter, which is fair enough, but interesting/amazed to see that some people really believe it.

More interesting that those same people still refuse to accept roadies might enjoy the pastime they undertake voluntarily, despite:

A) Loads of people on this thread saying they enjoy it and explaining why,

B) the entire history and concept of road cycling the world over- which, let’s face it, is in terms of participants, is likely several factors larger than mountain biking.

It’s a pretty wild take.

I don’t know who you mean by “some people” but while I can totally see that fun can take loads of form, I think the likelihood and opportunities of having fun off road seems greater unless of course, as someone said it involves an unacceptable level of injury risk or fear, and in which case then I can see why staying on the road is the obvious choice if someone doesn’t want to develop the skills to access the fun that can only exists off road, like sliding, jumping etc (I am not talking about massive jumps here, that basic fun can be achieved very easily and progressively, no need for an inferiority complex). So again, does the sheer speed and Alpine descents offsets for that?

I accept the subjectivity of it of course but probably only up to a point. I don’t think my perception of roadies tending to be more grumpy is fair however. They may have more restraint in displaying how much fun they’re having, nothing wrong with that.

Lol no I don’t see why I should deconstruct why I personally find road cycling more fun than mountain biking- just accept that some people do, it’s a demonstrable fact.

I personally cannot see the appeal of caving, it looks to me  like something that would happen in a nightmare. I accept that lots of people love it and even dedicate their lives to it though.