Uphill, downhill, both, neither?

[pedalsheep]

The Alps, I would love to ride up at 7 kmh but I would be terrified of going down at 70 kmh

Glad to hear I'm not alone in this!

[Vorpal]

The Alps, I would love to ride up at 7 kmh but I would be terrified of going down at 70 kmh

Glad to hear I'm not alone in this!

I don't go that fast on the hill home & I know it very well. 50 or 55 kph on familiar territory is quite fast enough. I guess I occasionally get up 60ish. I don't have a computer, so I'm not certain what my top speed is. I probably went 70 kph when I was oyung and foolish

[Cyril Haearn]

The Alps, I would love to ride up at 7 kmh but I would be terrified of going down at 70 kmh

Glad to hear I'm not alone in this!

We could team up with some crazy downhillers and share bikes, you and I get the bus or rack-railway down the hill
Actually on some of the big passes there are significant downhill bits on the way up

[100%JR]

In my DH MTB days the downs were always a reward for the effort going up.Going down the motto was "speed is your friend" especially on rooty/rocky/rutted terrain.
Now I'm 90% Road only I apply the same Philosophy.I enjoy the long twisty climbs but enjoy the long,twisty,fast descents a little bit more Over taking cars going down the descents in Mallorca is a real buzz and just makes you want to go faster

[The utility cyclist]

Mountain biking uphill is seriously tiring/hard, not just fighting the steepness but often the ground itself, hardly surprising that 20T inner rings were common place. I wonder how having a 20/36 - 15" bottom, compares to get up an absolute pig of a climb riding a 36 ring and a dustbin lid 50 on a 1x setup knowing you don't have the bottom gear nor the top gear so are grinding like crazy going up something really steep/muddy and spinning out because you're limited at top end! This is were I don't get the benefits of a 1x system when you're riding extremes of up and down hill either on or off road.

[foxyrider]

I'm not built for climbing but out of necessity I've come to a point where I might not 'enjoy' it but do have some satisfaction in reaching the top. Living at @ 160m means even 'flat' rides can have significant metres included - its rare to do a ride with anything less than 1000m of ascent! And of course what goes up so zipping downhill features in most rides too - in these parts that's often several kilometres with double figure gradients, unless you like changing brake pads/blocks you learn to go down quickly.

For me, there's nothing more boring than a pan flat ride, you get neither the free ride downhill nor the break from monotony of going up, its a grind for the whole ride without a break. I do enjoy Alpine passes going up and down, there's a degree of accomplishment at the summit and a buzz from getting down in one piece! I try to avoid looking at the comp when descending - I'm a coward at heart and speeds of over 90kph have been seen!

[The utility cyclist]

Riding on the flat is only boring if you decide to make it that way, you can change your pace and tempo any time you like, you have more time to look around you than when coming downhill or uphill when you're more focused on your effort and the road ahead when you're at higher speeds. You can stop and not lose momentum as if you were on the down and not lose your rhythm when going up, and rarely is anywhere absolutely flat for miles on end, only routes taken for record breaking as per Amanda Coker when she cycled on a loop circuit with zero altitude gain, that's probably as close to 'boring' as cycling could be.
I simply never understand people that say cycling is boring because of flat terrain, unchallenging maybe

[Cyril Haearn]

There is a useful little ramp near me to get down to the canal
I walk down, it is frighteningly steep, would not fancy it in winter, would not try riding up either
Signs at top and bottom instruct PoBs to dismount but many do not, some climb up in a 22" gear, some ride down
Which is stupider? Riding down, I think