cookeaa – think you’ve come to the wrong conclusion.

I’m suggesting that climbs are pretty rubbish, they’re hard because of the internal battle of fitness of boredom. I’m suggesting that by doing more than sitting in the saddle, being bored, grimacing, you could put them to good use by getting out the saddle and messing about. By doing this, you reap increase in skill, increase in strength, increase in fitness, decrease in boredom.

Skills, strength and fitness to put into the down it make it even more awesome. Plus if you’re fitter and stronger, you can ride more up which equals more down. Win, win and win, no?

May be you are not trying hard enough if you do not hurt at the bottom of a descent?

you could put them to good use by getting out the saddle and messing about.

Do you have any videos of this? 🙂

Genuinely not really sure what you’re on about.

virtuous suffering

Yes, a good way of putting it. I like the feeling of pushing myself physically and mentally. A virtuous exercise, and strengthening against life’s natural calamities. Very little in life that’s easy is worthwhile IMO.

where they get to tell us how utterly awsome they are

Way off-the-mark. But I do take secret pleasure in stepping-up to, and overcoming a challenge. I’m sure you do to.

This thread smacks to me of someone caught up with the idea of virtuous suffering

well it is kind of virtuous, you get some pretty cool stuff happening to your body endorphins and what not. You get fitter, the hill will be easier to climb next time, you’ll be able to climb more and as a result descend more. Win win. Getting to the top of a huge great hulking hill by human power is a nice acheivment. I (sometimes) like the burn of anaerobic workout and the gentle buzz in my legs while sat in the bath later. Feels good waking up with tired slightly tight muscles knowing you’ve damn well earned it.

Don’t think people can be accused of trying to be awesome coz it’s all pretty personal, a ride that fried my legs might be a gentle bimble for you. We’re just enthusing about another part of our sport

Find uphills boring and tedious, but if they’re a means to having 20-30 minutes hooning down the other side of the hill I’ll grin and bear them. I know they make me fitter and stronger, but I take no masochistic joy from them 🙂

climbs are much more fun since I lost a shitload* of weight.

* 3 stone

I enjoy a nice single track climb. Up to Minch Moor at Inners is a nice climb.

I do enjoy the descent more though!

I like downhills, whether yee-haa brain-out stuff, technical pick-your-way down stuff, or meandering trails. Climbs are OK, and it’s occasionally really fun in a look-what-I-did way to grind up to the top of a horrible ascent.

But mostly I prefer the downhills. And warp speed DH descending gets my adrenaline levels up more than almost anything else I can think of.

do people really just switch off their brain on climbs?

No… we think of other enjoyable things.

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honourablegeorge – Member
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.

What is this “middle age” of which you speak, and what’s that got to do with it anyway?
Anyway, I’m past all that middle age bollocks and now I’m just old – I prefer 69er’s, by the way (and I’m partial to a nice technical climb or two).

Cwm Carn twrch trail has the most techy climb I’ve ever ridden in a trail centre. I’m still trying to clear it dab free despite many attempts but I’m down to about 3 dabs at regular locations.
Its the main reason I continue to ride there.

There is a road not 10 yards from the trail which runs parallel to the summit.

Every time I do the climb I get passed by loads of riders spinning up the road. They’re obviously there just for the descent which I think is OK but certainly not worth the half hour road climb for.
Each to their own we all ride for our own reasons, but surely not enjoying or having the fitness to climb, prevents you from experiencing the amazing big mountain natural epics that Britain offers.
Wouldn’t give that up for anything.

Does anyone actually prefer going up?

Not exactly, but I really like climbing. I look at it like this: if you go riding in typical UK hill areas – Peak, Lakes, etc – you actually spend more time going up than going down, unless you’re on a linear route maybe. So you might as well enjoy the climbs as well as the downs and be good at them too.

The whole idea of enduring uphill grinds, just so you can enjoy the descents thing seems absurd to me. It’s a bit like buying a full plate of food, just eating a sausage and leaving everything else.

Oh hang on, a new STW diet fad… which brings me to, secretly – yeah right – I suspect that a lot of people who hate climbing are simply fat and unfit, but would rather rationalise their own laziness by claiming to hate climbs. If they made the effort to get a bit fitter, they might actually enjoy them. 😉

Just my opinion, obviously.

I’ve always really enjoyed climbs, whether on the road or off road, but have noticed over recent years mountain bike design has moved away from geometry and design that make climbing easier to bikes that are more oriantated to going down easier.

Then theres the fact that people these days are buying in to the marketing hype of mountain biking being all about flying down hills being gnarr and rad, completely missing the fact that you need to slog up a hill first (but that wouldnt sell mountain bikes on the whole)

I did the Colne Valley mtb challenge at the weekend and loved the 3 mile climb up Wessenden, good views, and a nice long climb to get in to a good rhythm.

awaits BWDs ensuing flaming 🙂

funkydunc lock/wind down forks are the answer, short high bouncy bikes can climb steep techy stuff pretty well if the front end is lowered, well you can manage it without lowering but you have to lean uncomfortably forward to keep the front down, long grinds are still ‘orrible tho.

funkydunc lock/wind down forks are the answer, short high bouncy bikes can climb steep techy stuff pretty well if the front end is lowered, well you can manage it without lowering but you have to lean uncomfortably forward to keep the front down, long grinds are still ‘orrible tho.

But a lot of the horribleness is that the bikes, whatever you do are crap at climbing, soft squidgy suspension will always make climbing more unpleasant than a stiff race full sus or a race orientated hardtail.

Yes you can get an AM bike uphill and the suspension might help on roots, rocks, etc. doesn’t mean that dragging 35lbs of squidginess uphill will ever be pleasant.

I’d be scuppered if I didn’t enjoy the ups too.. I live in a part of Devon that very much resembles a giant eggbox..

I suspect that a lot of people who hate climbing are simply fat and unfit

Quite incorrect – I ride 15-20 miles daily, run and swim on the odd occasion, and am a very healthy weight for my height.

I just find climbing dull. I ride for the adrenaline buzz of going downhill whether it’s on a bike, snowboard or ski’s.

Sorry if you find the hard to compute.

I suspect that a lot of people who hate climbing are simply fat and unfit, but would rather rationalise their own laziness by claiming to hate climbs.

I suspect that a lot of people who say they like climbing are too scared/technically incompetent to enjoy the downs, but would rather rationalise their own ineptitude by claiming to prefer climbing. 😉

Then theres the fact that people these days are buying in to the marketing hype of mountain biking being all about flying down hills being gnarr and rad, completely missing the fact that you need to slog up a hill first (but that wouldnt sell mountain bikes on the whole)

Or, people enjoy the descents more so buy bikes that are more suited to the descents. Why does pretty much every topic on STW have to involve so much looking down on others who have slightly different preferences? ‘I like climbing because I’m better than you’ sums up half the posts in this thread.

soft squidgy suspension will always make climbing more unpleasant than a stiff race full sus

well yeah but think of it as a training aid, soft squishy bikes can ride up anything it’s just a matter of fitness and gimping your self with 35lbs of marshmallow will get you fit quick 🙂

The best thing about climbs is the rare occasions when you get up to the top a nose in front of your riding buddies who weren’t racing you but who were, really.

Not a fan of climbing on a mountain bike, if lifts were installed across the country that would be just perfect. Shuttling runs all day on a mountain bike is awesome. Perhaps I should ride motocross as someone sarcastically mentioned earlier, well I did and guess what, it’s even more fun. Everything is faster, jumps are waaaay bigger what’s not to like? It’s like your favourite downhill on steroids only they went right ahead and carried on building it back up the hill and gave you an engine.

The small problem with alpine holidays and motocross is the cost and faff involved. After years of pushing up to do 6 or 7 (2 ish minute) runs in a day I browsed a (now very old) dirt magazine where Mr Jones was testing a Spesh epic of all things and he suggested that in a good 4 hour xc ride you might get an hour of moderately good down. Totting up the 14minute good downhill of a day spent pushing it up vs an hour of ok downhill for an xc ride and the DH bike was sold. So the reason to ride up – more thrills per hour than pushing up.

As for the overweight people prefer downs, I’m an underweight, leg shaving roadie with a 100mm travel xc hardtail (gets the up’s out the way quicker so I get more down in per hour.)

Iain

I’ve always really enjoyed climbs, whether on the road or off road, but have noticed over recent years mountain bike design has moved away from geometry and design that make climbing easier to bikes that are more oriantated to going down easier.

And rightly so. The roots of mountain biking is in downhill (klunkers etc) so it is about time the roadie geometry and daft long stems are left to road bikes. Mountain biking is about going up and down, but lets face it, anyone who is saying they prefer climbing to going downhill is probably lacking in the skill/balls to make descending fun.

I think the future of mountain bike racing is in Enduro, a mix between skill and fitness. If you look at Enduro racers they are very fit, can climb like xc racers, but are also rapid on the downhills.

awaits BWDs ensuing flaming

I’m not saying that it’s bad to be fat and unfit. I respect people’s right to choose to be that way and even to blether on endlessly about diets on here. I just can’t imagine why you’d bother riding, say, the Peak, if you didn’t enjoy climbing as well as descending.

And yes, you can enjoy both going up and down hills. I realise that black and white thinking is a characteristic trait of this forum and its hard to grasp the idea of any sort grey middle ground, but it’s not ‘either / or’, you can actually be good at and enjoy both.

Or you can be like me and be equally poor at both climbing and descending. But at least I enjoy being bad at both 🙂

Loving the standard STW holier-than-though attitudes that are popping up here, and a sweeping gneralistion will always win an arguement/discussion.

I ride up because the hills/climbs are there, but its down that I enjoy. Some people like riding up hills, some do not. What does it matter, and why do some people get so aggressive that others enjoy themselves in a different way?

If you are happy at what you are doing, good luck to you, whether it is climbing, descending, sitting on a forum moaning, etc 🙂

I’m always a little surprised to see people pushing heavy DH bikes to the top of Spooky Wood at GT. It seems to be a lot of effort for little return. Especially, when a lighter XC/AM type bike would mean that they could get in many more runs in the same amount of time.

Flatish, tight, wooded singletrack (like Thetford or most of the Gorrick courses) equals 70-80% funtime with a bit of riding along on link sections. With big hills even the fittest riders are going to be spending at least twice as long climbing as desceding hence only 20-30% funtime. QED

With big hills even the fittest riders are going to be spending at least twice as long climbing as desceding hence only 20-30% funtime. QED

Only 20-30% funtime but that funtime will be at least 100% more fun than piddling around on the flat for longer. SCIENTIFIC FACT. 🙂

And rightly so. The roots of mountain biking is in downhill (klunkers etc) so it is about time the roadie geometry and daft long stems are left to road bikes.

My sentiments too.

And rightly so. The roots of mountain biking is in downhill (klunkers etc) so it is about time the roadie geometry and daft long stems are left to road bikes.

Is it though, the roots of off road cycling in the UK go back a long way, think rough stuff fellowship, cyclocross, etc. just mountain bikes are more sensible for rough tracks than touring bikes.

It’s another example of the ‘playstation generation’. The younger riders will be into the downhill and freeride as they’ve all spent too long on the sofa and don’t have it in their legs for more than a quick spin up to a jump or two. They just don’t have the power or stamina to learn the joy of drifting the back end accelerating out of loose corners repeatedly. Go to any XC meet and see how well subscribed the oldies classes are.

…another example of ‘clueless moronic drivel’ ^^

*sent from my playstation

Is it though, the roots of off road cycling in the UK go back a long way, think rough stuff fellowship, cyclocross, etc. just mountain bikes are more sensible for rough tracks than touring bikes.

Lets not compare a sport where you cycle round a muddy field with mountain biking.

It may well be that people rode penny farthings off road, but it wasn’t until the guys in the 70’s started riding modified bikes downhill, did mountain biking start going places.

I rode my DH bike on the Cwmcarn XC course once, it was a push up but the descents took on a whole new dimension at speeds previously unattainable – it was fun.

younger riders will be into the downhill and freeride as they’ve all spent too long on the sofa and don’t have it in their legs for more than a quick spin up to a jump or two

What about those of us who are young and mostly ride dh/fr/bmx for the fun bits, but also ride road bikes?

kudos100 – Member

Is it though, the roots of off road cycling in the UK go back a long way, think rough stuff fellowship, cyclocross, etc. just mountain bikes are more sensible for rough tracks than touring bikes.

Lets not compare a sport where you cycle round a muddy field with mountain biking.

It may well be that people rode penny farthings off road, but it wasn’t until the guys in the 70’s started riding modified bikes downhill, did mountain biking start going places.

Err, you’ve ignored the Rough Stuff Fellowship in your reply.
About as far away from cyclng around a muddy field as you can imagine.

internetidiot – Member

Loving the standard STW holier-than-though attitudes that are popping up here, and a sweeping gneralistion will always win an arguement/discussion.

I think most people are just trying to have a bit of fun.

Think of the ‘You’re not real cyclists until you’ve coughed up a lung on Buttertubs’ brigade, me included, as just some old duffer at the bar gently taking the piss.

but it wasn’t until the guys in the 70’s started riding modified bikes downhill, did mountain biking start going places

They were American and don’t know how to ride in mud. Danny Hart proved that.

Think of the ‘You’re not real cyclists until you’ve coughed up a lung on Buttertubs’ brigade, me included, as just some old duffer at the bar gently taking the piss.

Ye gods, I’m not alone then.

What about those of us who are young and mostly ride dh/fr/bmx for the fun bits, but also ride road bikes?

You sound very well qualified to do well in XC. The opposition won’t be much cop.

They were American and don’t know how to ride in mud. Danny Hart proved that.

This has sod all relevance. Mountain biking is about climbing up to come bombing down. Not climbing up a mountain so you can mince your way down or carry your bike because it is too steep and gnarly.

Mountain bikes are designed to go fast downhill. If take a road bike and put knobbly tyres on it you will probably be able to climb off road reasonably well on it. Get up to speed on a rough downhill and you will be over the bars, sooner or later.

The modern mountain bike was designed to be able to ride up the mountain and come flying down. Something you cannot do on a road bike or cyclocross/love child bike.