Is it becoming uncool to ride up hills?

Last couple of years my riding buddies and i have notice a big increase in younger, new to the sport riders pushing there bikes up anything steeper than horizontal, obviouslly i cant tar everyone everyone with the same brush, i appreciate there are some budding liam killeens out there. Has anyone else noticed this at there local riding spot or is it just coincidense the days i ride im passing teenagers riding the downs pushing the ups. Its as if downhill style bike riding is being seen as the norm for younger riders. Your thoughts please

its always been like that

nope. id say the other way. 5 – 10 years ago it was ALL about DH in the mags…

these day Dirt etc. are half filled with all mountain bikes and people riding all directions….

even as a DH racer, i promise you pushing up hills is CRRRRAP. (probably why im a rubbish DH racer)

If they ARE new to the sport, maybe they're just not fit enough to ride up some of those hills yet? God knows I did (and still do) my fair share of dragging my bike up hills when my legs had given out…

People have moved to heavier, more DH oriented bikes over the years. They don't climb as well, and people have obviously thought that they would take the hit on the ups in exchange for the benefits on the downs.

(Said a man who will be wheezing up hills in Wales at the weekend, trying to lug his 6" travel bike up as quickly as possible to go and have fun!)

IT used to be the case people went for a ride some up and some down, far more riders now concentrate solely on the down.

Personnel opinion is that it will end up like skiing, DH being normal and a few doing XC, at least in the UK. There seems to be an anti work ethic in UK sport.

Not everyone is super fit either! Cycling uphill is tough but bloody fun!

It's never been cool to ride up hill I'm afraid…

Personnel opinion is that it will end up like skiing, DH being normal and a few doing XC, at least in the UK. There seems to be an anti work ethic in UK sport.

Agreed. Chipps wrote a column about it a while ago and it put into words what I was feeling.

Personnel opinion is that it will end up like skiing, DH being normal and a few doing XC, at least in the UK. There seems to be an anti work ethic in UK sport.

I think that is just rubbish. And I dunno where you get the wacky idea that there is an "anti-work ethic in UK sport" from?

If you look at the USA, in quite a few places it is a bit like this, with DH being normal, because they have lifts and all that stuff, and a culture of shuttling other trails, and riders who say "I prefer downhill, I don't want to ride uphill, as it tires me out for the downhill sections", whilst really meaning "I'm too unfit to ride the uphills".

But in the UK, the terrain just isn't suited to it – there are too many trails (way way more trails than in the USA), so people are spread out, meaning it isn't obvious which ones to uplift, secondly, in most places the hills aren't that big, so the downhills are relatively short, meaning to get a decent ride in, you need to go uphill as well to get to the next bit of downhill.

I reckon people get this idea, because they pass a lot of people walking whilst riding on the uphill. But if you think about it, you are only going to pass people who are walking (or at least you will pass far more of them than you will people riding), because of your relative speed being different.

I pushed up a hill the other day, although I think it was mainly lack of bike control skill – I couldn't get it so it had traction at the back yet kept the front wheel down. It was jolly steep though, hard to walk up.

Joe

Nah, I just can't see that happening. Even DH cycling is fairly hard work compared to skiing and the like for the simple reason that unless you're in the mountains (eg not the UK) with lifts then you'll always have to ride on the flat/climbs.

There will also always be some people who limit themselves to DH only because 'it's easier' (and more on-trend…) but equally you only need to look at how popular trail centres are to see that there are lots of people who ride up even if only to allow for a fun DH (eg CFH as above).

"it will end up like skiing"

DH will dominate when there is development of proper uplift services, enabling major UK bike resorts to emerge. What we call DH now will be the extreme end of the DH scale. This will unlock huge commercial opportunities and a surge in particiaption.

Until then, we have to ride up and that will continue to limit participation to those fit enough to do it.

Look at the average speeds.
Pushing up hill 2 to 3mph
Riding back down 20ish
That's roughly 8:1. Hence out of a two hour ride on that basis you'd expect to spend about 15 minutes actually riding the bike.

Give me cross country any day.

I prefer DH as it is more fun but it is also very limiting if you are just riding DH. I try to ride up all the hills but I'm unfit so cant but that is slowly changing.

If it was cool to ride uphill all the pubs would be at the top of the hill! People are impressed when you make a climb but they don't think your cool because of it.

Riding uphill just isnt rad to the power of sick!

face it, riding uphill has never and will never be cool.

in fact riding bikes isn't cool.

There seems to be an anti work ethic in UK sport.

You mean as displayed by all those medal winning cyclists we keep producing at the moment?

There seems to be an anti work ethic in UK sport.

really?

anyway you are all wrong because bikes are not cool, makes no difference up or down.

I was riding my bike up to the top of my local DH with fullface and pads in my backpack. My rear hub split, therefore ridign up hills is wrong and if you do Karma will break your bike.

Clubber, I'll be riding up, not walking! Well, as much as possible, anyway!

Ho ho. Since when did you not need to be fit to ride downhill?

I reckon it's the Darth Vader fancy dress that hindering them

idle gits need to mtfu!
kids nowadays eh..

CaptainFlashheart – Member
Clubber, I'll be riding up, not walking! Well, as much as possible, anyway!

Clubber – Member
there are lots of people who ride up even if only to allow for a fun DH (eg CFH as above).

It's never been cool to ride up hill I'm afraid…

Damn right. I get all hot and sweaty doing it!

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😳 😀

I ride up and push down.

No problem – it must get all hot and bothered riding that lump up the hills 🙂

"Since when did you not need to be fit to ride downhill?"

I understand your point, but you still need to be more fit to ride up AND down than just riding down.

Biking won't become a family sport/activity with mass participation (like skiing) until these barriers are broken. When they do break – it could explode commercially. It could be very exciting and I hope to see it in my lifetime.

Pubs should be at the bottom of hills, particularly on winter rides.
Everyone knows that the temperature drops 10 degrees between entering and leaving so you need to ride uphill to warm up again.

Have to pay that when I was younger (couple of years ago) all people were doing to DJing/Downhilling etc.. me included. I think one of teh main reasons is that young people enjoying jumping off things and hurting themseleves etc… As a result riders will progress and teh natural way to go is DHing.

Having said that I have always done XC, tried to get my maes into it, who enjoyed it for a couple of years, but are not too unfit to ride xc.

MTB is the new golf. Soon, people will use electric buggies for uplifts, and caddies will help sir select the best steed from your quiver for each move.

Saw this at CYB in September when we were there, last climb on the long route (the Beast? but included in some other routes as well I think) it's a gentle granny ring bimble, every other "biker" we saw was pushing…It was like we were doing different sports.

last time i was in vancouver, a couple of years ago, I'd happily spun my way up to the start of the CBC trail on Mt Seymour (about an hour's climb) and there was a guy doing trail maintenance at the top – he looked at me and said "woah… riding up as well – old skool!" (it was definitely "skool" rather than "school" because of the way he said it – and he probably said "dude" at the end as well…. :o)

I'm in my late thirties but I genuinely feel no joy when I go blasting past kids half my age pushing their behemoths up the smallest gradient- they should be kicking my arse.
I'd largely agree with mrmo about work ethic.

""Since when did you not need to be fit to ride downhill?"

I understand your point, but you still need to be more fit to ride up AND down than just riding down.

Biking won't become a family sport/activity with mass participation (like skiing) until these barriers are broken. When they do break – it could explode commercially. It could be very exciting and I hope to see it in my lifetime. "

I can what your saying buzz light year, but where are these blue route downhills ?

Wouldnt they be roads ? Why would people feel the need to go off road if they just want to gently roll down a massive hill enjoying the views ? They might get all dirty from the mud.

Im quite happy to believe in places like the alps in the summer people + bikes will be lifted to the stop of the mountain and they roll down the mountain roads.

Maybe with a bit of pedaling at the bottom.

I,ve just got back from doing the wall at afan twice and i quite enjoy the ups,makes me feel like i have a little bit of fitness in the old lungs,and i,m finally at one with my new second hand bike(cove hustler) and am riding really fast at the moment and it feels bloody great.

T'was interesting riding with Sharki on the Q's the other day. We chatted as we pushed up trails I have always dismissed for ascending, because they are too hard to ride-up. As a singlespeeder, being unclimbable was no barrier as he's used to pushing up steep trails anyway. Then it hit me that pushing-up time is socialising time.

The kids push and chat, while we ride and wheeze.

Now regarding bikes: I don't mind a bit of pushing on a big day out in the mountains – but really have little patience for it and prefer to ride up where I can, so need a bike that makes this enjoyable. When we have biking resorts with lots of uplift's, I'll buy a DH bike. Until then I'll stick to riding sub-30lb trail bikes.

I regularly get overtaken on the ups by these youngsters pushing their bikes 😳

"where are the … blue route downhills"

Landegla, Brechfa, Glentress, Laggan are the ones I know about, and they are not forest roads. And Laggan has a popular uplift service.

When I say "downhill" I'm not talking about today's definition of DH – 10" travel, knarly, full face helmet etc. I'm taking about a mix of trails to be enjoyed by people of all abilities, but served by uplifts – just like recreational downhill skiing.

Unless it's 'stupid fall-off the back of the bike' steep I find it less tiring to keep a steady spinning pace uphill. As soon as I get off & walk, my thighs and calves scream at me in a state of lactic acid misery. Particularly if I'm wearing my 'proper' spds, as they aren't easy to walk in. My cheap trail shoes are a bit easier in that respect.

I hate being beaten by uphills. Last time I had to uphill was Cader Idris a month or so ago, but we were only beaten once we got about 100 yds up the steps towards the final ascent bit & there were short sections where we attempted to ride.

I would say I am fairly uncool.

I think a lot of it comes down to fitness levels. When I started getting more into mountain biking I really struggled to ride a lot of the hills, whereas now I shoot up things I wouldn't have previously managed.