on road and off road

Today I are been mainly riding off road. Since I got my new road bike I'd
changed my old mtb back to an off road bike by taking off the rack and full
mudguards, refitting the 2" knobblies that were on it when I bought it but
hadn't seen a single day's use since and putting some crud catchers on.
Today I went riding with a group in the Surrey hills (Leith/Holmbury hill
area). I had to travel through sarf London to do it - normally I don't do
sarf London as it is a dark and mysterious place that takes a long time to
get to and even longer to travel through it, and even the tube hardly
bothers to go there, which is not surprising as it is a dark and mysterious
place (I can't think why anybody would want to live there either, but it
seems a lot of people do). But anyway it was worth it. I don't normally do
off road either, the local canal towpath being the only off road I have done
in the past, which doesn't offer much either in the way of workout or
adrenalin, but today, hey, wow! Road riding is just hard work - the most
'fun' you can have is to go further faster, but you really have to work at
it to do that which takes a lot of the fun out of it. At least, there's not
a lot of adrenalin in it, and you're knackered afterwards even if you have
gone a long way quickly. Off road, with a little bit of peddling uphill,
which isn't really much effort (at least not compared to sustained fast road
riding), you can start screaming down slippery-sliddy scary muddy single
track at insane speeds through the trees, and really get the adrenalin
flowing! And you don't have to go very far or use a lot of energy to do it.
Help! I think I'm hooked!

Rich

Richard Goodman wrote:
Road riding is just hard work - the most
'fun' you can have is to go further faster, but you really have to work at
it to do that which takes a lot of the fun out of it.

You don't have to. It is permitted to pootle and enjoy the scenery you know.


Off road, with a little bit of peddling uphill,
which isn't really much effort (at least not compared to sustained fast road
riding), you can start screaming down slippery-sliddy scary muddy single
track at insane speeds through the trees, and really get the adrenalin
flowing! And you don't have to go very far or use a lot of energy to do it.


That sounds like the off road equivalent of a pootle. There are some hills
that can take a lot of effort and technical skill to climb and there are those
that just require a little bit of pedalling

Tony

"Tony Raven" wrote in message
...
Richard Goodman wrote:
Road riding is just hard work - the most
'fun' you can have is to go further faster, but you really have to work
at
it to do that which takes a lot of the fun out of it.

You don't have to. It is permitted to pootle and enjoy the scenery you
know.


Ah, but pootling is something I also generally don't do. I think I might be
a competitive personality type or something ;-).


Off road, with a little bit of peddling uphill,
which isn't really much effort (at least not compared to sustained fast
road
riding), you can start screaming down slippery-sliddy scary muddy single
track at insane speeds through the trees, and really get the adrenalin
flowing! And you don't have to go very far or use a lot of energy to do
it.


That sounds like the off road equivalent of a pootle. There are some
hills
that can take a lot of effort and technical skill to climb and there are
those
that just require a little bit of pedalling


Oh, cutting, cutting. The uphilling wasn't technical, but it was more than
a pootle. In any case the adrenalin came in the downhilling!

Rich

What is 'fun' ?



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"MSeries" wrote in message
...
What is 'fun' ?


Ah, so you're a roadie then ;-)?

Rich

Richard Goodman wrote:
"MSeries" wrote in message
...
What is 'fun' ?


Ah, so you're a roadie then ;-)?

Rich

Of course.

I tried off roading for about 3 years but quit after face planting in the
Coed-y-Brenin forest. Ouch, scarred for life, physically. Never really
enjoyed it. Too much effort for not enough reward, bikes break too often.
Too dangerous for me and little sense of achievement.

Much prefer long rides, (80+miles). Long climbs with long, fast descents
where I can relax and let the bike go. Even here in the UK I regularly ride
up and down hills that are 9 miles long. Don't like standing on pedals going
down hill, not relaxing - not fun.

On road for me is more like a long controlled endorphin buzz rather than a
wham bang thankyou maam rush - over in 30 seconds and then left looking for
more.

Each to their own. Enjoy yourself and don't take too many risks.

Martin
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The Reply & From email addresses are checked rarely.
http://www.mseries.freeserve.co.uk

"MSeries" wrote in message
...
What is 'fun' ?

Being cold and wet.

cheers,
clive

(above definition arrived at while I was still caving...)

Clive George wrote:
"MSeries" wrote in message
...
What is 'fun' ?

Being cold and wet.

cheers,
clive

(above definition arrived at while I was still caving...)

& hungry and lost

--
The Reply & From email addresses are checked rarely.
http://www.mseries.freeserve.co.uk

"MSeries" wrote in message
...
Clive George wrote:
"MSeries" wrote in message
...
What is 'fun' ?

Being cold and wet.

cheers,
clive

(above definition arrived at while I was still caving...)

& hungry and lost

--
....and feeling the gash across my kneecap opening and letting a little more
blood pump out every time I peddle, having fallen off half-way around the
Coed y Brennin 35km route whilst wearing shorts for the first time
(damnstoopidthingtodo - always wear me indestructible lycra leggings now!!)
and landing kneecap first on a very sharp rock!! - ( See M-Series earlier
response)

OR....

It's that thing that lets you know life is worth living 8-D....lying under a
duckdown duvet, in a kingsize fully sprung bed, all roasty-toasty warm on a
freezing cold Sunday morning with the one you love, knowing you don't have
to get up to save the world is also 'fun'

Dave.

(T'other) Dave wrote:

It's that thing that lets you know life is worth living 8-D....lying under a
duckdown duvet, in a kingsize fully sprung bed, all roasty-toasty warm on a
freezing cold Sunday morning with the one you love, knowing you don't have
to get up to save the world is also 'fun'

I tried that but found that the oil from the chain ruins the duckdown duvet.