What's the obsession with the down being the only "fun" bit?

Does everyone really have such little fun on the flat and ups?

Never think about doing anything other than in the saddle, head down, pedalling? Maybe messing about?

Wouldn’t you get fitter/stronger/make more of the ride if you worked the terrain as much on the up and flat as the down?

Discuss.

I ride up so I can ride down.

I get uplifts so I can ride down more than I ride up.

Riding up is ok because I can. I do mess about though, well maybe not so much on the ups but certainly on the flats.

Its probably because most people on here are overweight.

I like being on my bike. Think I’m too old and never developed any decent skills to go fast going down, and not into falling off at appreciable speed, so I just enjoy myself at a relaxed pace on the downs. Have to say I don’t really understand uplift stuff, seems more to do with motorbikes than cycling.

it’s “cool”

I enjoy a good climb! Can’t get my head round pushing up just to ride down! 😕

I ride up and push down.

I enjoy climbing in a strange way – it’s a challenge. A different type of challenge to that big rocky drop-off on the way back down i grant you, but still a challenge.

Depends on the terrain – not much fun to be had “working” fire roads, and much as I enjoy the challenge of a technical, singletrack climb, and cleaning a difficult, steep one, I still prefer the speed and adrenaline rush of a fast descent, with jumps, drops and whatever else is on offer.

Then again, I’m not a middle aged man on a 29er.

I do like a good technical climb, or maybe even a non technical climb if it’s a good gradient and the views are nice.

I ride down so I can ride up (serious). Sometimes.

I prefer up and flat, but then i am a roadie to heart and crap on the downs.

To me its all good. Being on the bike out in the fresh air is whats counts.

I used to enjoy climbs.
I used to be a lot thinner.
There might be a correlation there!

I do still enjoy a climb, especially on the road bike where I’m almost loath to turn around and go down again. I think part of the problem is my mountainbikes are currently a singlespeed (which can do short technical climbs eg at Swinley or Cannock which aren’t long enough to call climbs really) or long non technical ones on the fire road, so not that enjoyable. Or the Pitch, which is just a slog up the fire road and bomb the descents kind of bike, it doesn’t really like going along and the front wheel needs it’s orders signing in triplicate and relayed by a quartet of virgins before it’ll do what you ask uphill it’s so slack!

I like some climbs and a lot of flats, but a good descent is better than a great climb.

I like the downs because I like speed, getting to the top of a horrible climb is a different sort of satisfaction. I enjoy both.

EDIT – what Northwind said

I like DH, I enjoy the odd DH race, also enduro. But then a good XC race is also ace, as is the feeling of beasting out a pain-train on a fast flat section, taking turns on the front. Sometimes it’s good to get your climb horn on up some brutal contours.

It’s all bikes, it’s all good!

You’re posting this on Singletrack, not Dirt or MBUK. I think most folk on here appreciate a bit of everything, not just the descents.

I like uphills and downhills equally, but in different ways. It’s all about testing yourself against the terrain isn’t it?

Controvertially, I don’t like downhills particuarly, I’m too nervous. Flats are awesome, building up to DH speed on fast flowy trails is a great feeling! Uphills, well, I like em! Mostly though because my mates don’t and its the only part of a trail where I can go faster then them

Up and down is all part of the ride to be enjoyed really.

I can understand the obsession with downs as it is more of an adrenaline filled thing but I don’t feel like I’ve had a ride if my legs don’t ache from the ups!

Just being out on the bike is fun enough for me. I have never really mastered going downhill fast, and I have no wish to repeat the injuries I sustained the last time I threw caution to the wind and tried.

I don’t mind climing, and I don’t mind natural obstacles, but I wish they’d stop putting pointless obstacles in manmade climbs – save the entertainment for the downs.

I don’t mind some ups as long as there’s an element of line choice or a decent view with the promise of a good descent. Flat, I mean proper flat, not a very slight downhill I really hate. It probably comes from living in York for a while and the very depressing doorstep riding.

I’m lazy….unfit….and never been suited to long distance/endurance type sports despite being fit in other ways….did kick boxing for years and go gym and push weights.

Used to ride BMX and for me riding is all about the thrill and feeling of rhythm, pumping, jumping, droping, railing, pumping and jumping some more….all curiously of one of the only free things in mountain biking….GRAVITY!

i only ride downhills to get to the bottom of the next climb,

Pretty simple really; Fun (fear as well for that matter) and adrenalin go hand in hand, you don’t get adrenalin hits riding up (scary steep hills aside) so ‘Fun’ is associated with going down.

Technical climbing is more of a challenge than ‘fun’ and anyone who enjoys fire road climbs might as well speak to me in Chinease as I’ll never understand them anyway.

Riding flat Single track is fun too, definitely. But down is more fun if you enjoy that natural high… I’ve seen some pretty big smiles at the top of a long climb though.

A good ride has both.

Technical climbing is more of a challenge than ‘fun’ and anyone who enjoys fire road climbs might as well speak to me in Chinease as I’ll never understand them anyway.

never heard of endorphins then?

Adrenalin on the DH, endorphins on the uphill. What’s not to love?

I like riding my bike. Up, down, flat, it is all part of the experience.

Up, along and down. It’s all good.

About “fun”. There are two kinds of fun: “fun now”, and “fun later”. Hard, draggy climbs are “fun later”.

The term “endorphin rush” has been adopted in popular speech to refer to feelings of exhilaration brought on by pain, danger, or other forms of stress

I hear you but I would not call this ‘fun’ in the same way that a gravity fed Adrenalin rush hits you, especially as it takes so little effort. I suppose it’s a bit like bondage, some people just get their kicks differently.

EDIT; I’m not suggesting that people who prefer climbing are into bondage. That’s for a different thread entirely…

More cautious downhill now than in my 20s/30s mainly because a stack up and injury has greater consequences. Now love the challenge of covering the terrain and enjoying it, singlespeed addiction had brought a whole new set of challenges because it’s a bit lumpy round here.

Because unless I sprint the entire hill in the big ring I am not getting much fitter and/or releasing many endorphins. I am just bored (though nice scenery is always nice).

There’s no skill in a fireroad climb, there’s barely any proper physical struggle either. There’s no adrenaline rush. There’s no sense of fear or speed.

The only positive is a chance to chat to your mates whilst riding; which is always nice.

there’s barely any proper physical struggle either

You’re riding up the wrong hills.

I love climbing up hills
I love blasting downhills

so long as im on the bike i love it 😀

I ride (like most others on STW) up as well as down. There is something special about continual momentum and the way the bike handles at higher speed. I really, really like descending and see climbing as an occasional pleasure. But it’s pleasure in a slightly masochistic way.

Flat trails are interesting as I like the sprinting involved and technical challenge as you can’t just blast through stuff. I like to feel as though I’m flowing through the trail, not puffing and panting at high cadence on top of it.

Each to their own!

Is enjoying DH really so bad?
If I’ve climbed up (not something I particularly enjoy TBH but accept its part and parcel of riding a bike) why should I have to justify the (pretty obvious I’d have thought) pleasure one find in descending on an MTB?

If you really find riding down duller than up might I suggest you’re either doing it wrong or you are just a boring old git.

DH is still a test of skill and stamina…

Everyone I have ever met who prefers going up to down turns out to be way slower than me on the downs. And I am dead slow due to being short fat and crap.

Quoting myself from earlier this year

Preferring xc over going downhill to do fast corners and jumping is like quitting sex so that you can spend more time perfecting your chat up techniques.

Everyone I have ever met who prefers going up to down turns out to be way slower than me on the downs. And I am dead slow due to being short fat and crap.

Does anyone actually prefer going up? 😯

What i’m really trying to get at is, generally, frolicking is only entertained a lot of the time, if the ground points down. A majority of the ride will be spent enjoying being out, but not enjoying the bike interaction to the max, since most of the time riding is the up and flat bits.

What i’m suggesting is, taking the mind frame of only putting the saddle down, standing up, working the bike and the terrain and reserving it for the way down. By thinking of riding like this, you’d be selling yourself short wouldn’t you? Since down is the only time you get any real jollies and the up and flat is a majority of it.

I’m suggesting that surely riding is more fun if you mess around on the ups and flats as you would on a down? More smiles per mile? Bad habits? Lack of motivation? No interest? No skills? Lack of creativity?

The up and flat is an excellent time to perfect your skills and put them into use on the downs? Sit down mashing the pedals, being bored, or messing around?