What is it about going uphill that roadies love so much?

Another one who enjoys climbing here. I’m fat and slow, but I enjoy the challenge. For some reason that feeling of being on the verge of death is somehow satisfying. And then you’ve got the entertainment to pass the time, wondering whether or not your mates will have waited at the top, and if they have, will they just clip straight back in when you roll up, or will they give you enough of a breather to recover?

That’s only when out with the club, on usual rides, I’m usually in the first 2 up the hills. It’s a constant battle between me and one mate to win. He always wins on one evil local hill, I always seem to win on the other. Efforts are usually just below vomit point, maybe I need to prove how much I want it and cross that line next time…

It makes the dull bits a bit more interesting on the road bike. All the comments about earning descents and feeling all smug because you wouldn’t be seen dead using uplift etc. Get a life.

When completed there will be a 30km ish descending trail here in tassie, it will ride much better without a 40km Road slog up to the top. Whole enchilada in moab was longer and higher and again riding up would make it a very different day.

Yeah, means to an end was the wrong phrase really. I like getting up a techy climb as much as the next person and totally love the whole package of a ride, up and down.

The downs are where it’s at for me though but still, as many here I’d rather be on my bike all day than sat in a sweaty minibus so that inevitably includes climbs.

I just find it interesting that in road biking, the emphasis seems so much on climbing. Not being technical climbing, I suppose I’m just interested in what the big pull is really 🙂

Still no takers for my downlift service then? 😉

Different people get different things out of biking shocker!!

In other news: apparently some people like Marmite 🙄

Not done an uplift here in the UK but have done in the Alps.

I bet there’s a thread on footballtrackworld with someone asking what defenders love so much about defending, how tedious all that tackling must be, and how great it is to be a striker having fun scoring goals.

Speaking as someone who’s a “roadie” that also rides mountain bikes in the same sense I’m “cyclist” who also drives a car etc. ;(

I would say hills are part about getting somewhere, the top of a hill or better mountain with a great view and a bike is great efficient way of doing that and watching a brilliant view unfold.

A sense of challange, many of the big hills are well known and people will have them on the bucket list to achieve.

Physically you get into a rhythm that right for you, your bodies working well and believe it or not that makes your body happy and you feel good.

Coming down is great as well, I have ridden a lot of mtb trail centre type stuff and nothing comes close to the buzz of a long alpine road descent, the speed, the skill needed and consequences of getting wrong are far greater.
Even better for earning it first with a climb.

The road vs mtb stuff is boring btw most decent cyclists I know do both.

I like a good climb on the road bike and downhill on the MTB, plus the other way round road descents/clearing an MTB climb. The most technical thing to do on a road bike is criterium racing on a tight circuit. That is a whole other level of pain but a huge amount of fun on a road bike. I have a number of old pedals with an edge worn off due to occasional grinding them on crit corners. Crystal Palace was my favourite crit.

The road vs mtb stuff is boring btw most decent cyclists I know do both.

^^This^^

If you have to question and pick at what others enjoy about a slightly different subset of your own pastime, you’ve missed the point really haven’t you…

Some people are adrenaline junkies, I’m an endorphin junkie.

I’ve never sought out rollercoasters and the idea of MTB downhilling doesn’t appeal. Give me a technical MTB climb, or a Ventoux/ADH/Stelvio and I’ll look forward to it. I’ll hate it at some point during the climb but love having completed it.

I do enjoy a decent road descent, but it needs to be long and technical enough to be interesting. Pailhères is probably my favourite descent, into Usson Les Bains, or Portillon from either direction.

It makes you fitter.

Any fatty or unfit person can roll down a mtn … There’s no challenge or sense of accomplishment there.
Being able to keep a good rhythm on the pedals as you go up a mtn is where it’s at.

As an MTBer who loves climbs and a roadie who does too, all I can add to this is that climbing gives me a sense of ‘inner peace’. It’s almost like a Zen space. Pure mental focus. Inward, yet outward at the same time.

When you are climbing – you are physically feeling the shape of the landscape through your legs and lungs.

I always find it amazing just how quickly you can gain altitude on a pedal bicycle. From valley floor, to wide vista in what sometimes can feel like only a few moments dancing in the warmth of lactic burn.

Bicycles are awesome! 😀

Not my thing.

I’ve only ridden the 21 bends of Alpe d’Huez one way. I don’t have the patience/attention span for massive climbs.

Don’t do a lot of climbing on the road as it’s – erm – fairly flat round round here.

Off road, hated climbing for many years, but have gradually trained my mind to at least tolerate it and very occasionally enjoy it. Trail centre fire road climbs just destroy my morale but I like a proper singletrack climb. Got to the point now where I have a reputation in our club as a decent climber – I’m not in the grand scheme of things at all, but do seem to be OK at stubbornly grinding up stuff a couple of gears higher than most of my riding mates. Can only imagine it’s the lure of getting a longer rest at the top while waiting for everyone else.

The bit I dislike the least about road riding is climbing.

The bit I like the best about off-road riding is climbing.

Pain is weakness leaving your body. 😀

Because, getting it right feels bloody great.

Right = fast, but no bundering.

What no_eyed_deer said.

Getting into a good pace over an hour or more long alpine climb is a great state of mind.

This

and

endorphines

This.

I still reckon the biggest buzz I’ve ever had in 20 years of XC MTB, DH MTB, bikepacking and road riding was a nice long climb in some remote Scottish hills, found the right gear, the right rhythm, felt like I could maintain it forever, and then ‘When the Levee Breaks’ come on through my head phones which deserved a massive stupid sprint in an even bigger gear 😀

I’ve only ridden the 21 bends of Alpe d’Huez one way. I don’t have the patience/attention span for massive climbs.

I enjoyed the challenge of going up it, and the thrill of going down it. And it’s not that massive by Alpine standards – Galibier takes a lot longer.

It’s possible that I’m a colossal pervert, of course.

cookeaa – Member
The road vs mtb stuff is boring btw most decent cyclists I know do both.
^^This^^
If you have to question and pick at what others enjoy about a slightly different subset of your own pastime, you’ve missed the point really haven’t you…

I know the fashion these days is to try to make internet discussions about this versus that and make people out to be attacking others, but I wasn’t m’kay.

Just interested in what others get out of something is all.

I get the thing about endolphins etc too. I did a lot of climbing today as it happens and it felt good.
I’m spent now mind. 🙂

In your OP you mention its not that exciting or pleasurable but it can be. Seeing yourself getting fitter, beating your mates is pleasurable. Going into the red to beat your previous attempts can be exciting. Ok maybe not the visceral thrills of mountain biking though the downs can be. Overall I’d say its more satisfying. Cycling 100/200 miles or whatever is satisfying, climbing 1000/2000m is satisfying. Riding the Fred Whitton course for instance is not pleasurable all the same but it is exciting (and satisfying)

It allows us grimpeurs to compete on a “level” playing field. I raced up Milland Hill nine times last week. And at 75 kilos (including bike) I felt like a climbing god. I didn’t feel quite so god-like on the descents!

Climbing is all about power to weight. And I at least have that. Absolute power for sprinting is, sadly, absent. As seen this afternoon.

One of the nice things about strava is measuring your performance on a climb from one week to the next. I get a lot of satisfaction when I beat a previous best.

I like the challenge of climbs on a road bike, I also like riding off road climbs on my road bike. But then I don’t subscribe to this us & them nonsense. I’m a cyclist not an mtber or roadie. Climbing is ace, as is descending

If you like riding bikes you might as well learn to love going uphill you’ll spend most of your time doing it.

Around where I live you wouldn’t get much riding in if you don’t enjoy hills a bit. You’ve got hills that take 45 minutes to get up and then you’re down in 5!

PeterPoddy – Member
Road riding is tediously boring, so it gives them something to boast about.

Yet your ride round on a touring bike on the tarmac. 😆
At least roadys try and make it exciting by going fast.
You just bimble round like an opinionated nob. 😐

If you don’t get it you don’t get it. Doesn’t make you a bad person 😉

This year our annual bike holiday isn’t going to be MTB, it’s going to be road bikes in the Italian Alps and Dolomites. 3 weeks of beautiful and iconic climbs. The longer or steeper the better.

Check out Col Collective videos on YouTube, or the books Mountain High and Mountain Higher by Daniel Friebe.

If you like riding bikes you might as well learn to love going uphill you’ll spend most of your time doing it.

Words of wisdom there.

*likes*

Yet your ride round on a touring bike on the tarmac.
At least roadys try and make it exciting by going fast.
You just bimble round like an opinionated nob

PMSL

smashed a 25%er today.

Hated it.

Sherry?

Apple Sourz

😆

Slumming at 13.5% here. Still the more I do now the less I’ll need to do on the bike tomorrow.

😀

Carb the f#!k up!

I don’t particularly like climbing uphill. I like uphill more when I am not at the back of the pack and struggling….

Downhills are ok on a road bike (apart from the coastal side of Fairlie moor, which just gets too steep without decent brakes) , when fit and feeling good, a decent uphill is a bit of a rush..a good test of the work you’ve done for strength and conditioning….

Climbing focuses the mind. It’s very involved. Thoughts of pain, efficiency, pain, breathing, pain… It sounds perverse, but every time you do a climb you want to do it better – it’s a natural human instinct.

And much of the time it really isn’t that painful. On a long ride, over a steady long gradient of say 5-6%, you can really keep a good pace, but right on the edge of what is comfortable. I’d kind of agree with some of the comments above, that massively steep climbs can become less enjoyable. Especially the choppy ones we have in the UK. They break your rhythm, and it’s hard to get any sense of efficiency when you’re wynching yourself up at 6mph, completely on your limit. They still offer a similar challenge, but definitely one that is more difficult to ‘enjoy’.

If you like riding bikes you might as well learn to love going uphill you’ll spend most of your time doing it.

+1

It’s all just time on the bike. And whilst a nice sweeping road decent is a joy, most are a mixture of fear, off camber corners, oncoming traffic and drystone walls.

And if 90% of people were honest then most of the gnarrcore “i only do it for the downhills” fraternity are the mtb equivelent of the sportivits (wearing too much kit, on an expensive bike, going a bit slow, pretending it’s a race, likely to be overtaken at some point by a fat bike).

And if 90% of people were honest then most of the gnarrcore “i only do it for the downhills” fraternity are the mtb equivelent of the sportivits (wearing too much kit, on an expensive bike, going a bit slow, pretending it’s a race, likely to be overtaken at some point by a fat bike).

If only people were as honest as some are condescending….

Today I’m going to winch up a mountain taking the path of least resistance to the fun bits that all go downhill. If they build the cable car they keep promising I’d probably do 6 or 7 laps of the good stuff. The prospect of climbing 3-4000m for that just doesn’t appeal.