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Ridden roadbikes for over 4 decades.
I've always found riding them them loads of fun.
Don't get the appeal of suffering at all.
Ridden roadbikes for over 4 decades.
I’ve always found riding them them loads of fun.
Don’t get the appeal of suffering at al
Yep. Too many folk seem to suck the joy out of cycling by concentrating on statistics and relating how much pain they got themselves into on Facebook and Twitter.
TBF there's a similar clique in the bikepacking world who seem to revel in long, boggy slogs. I prefer to ride my bike and will put up with short sections of pushing if it means I can join up nice routes. I don't go out of my way to find them.
There is a certain pleasure to pushing yourself to the limits, it's an addictive drug and a mindset one, something about putting in that extra loop or lap rather than taking the easy trip home or setting yourself a target to see if you can beat it.
Whatever motivates you and whatever challenges you is good, sometimes I need to feel the burn and pain of going too far and having to continue, it's good for the soul 🙂 It's also nice sometimes to find the strength you didn't know you had as you grovel over an ice cream and 2 cans of coke in a random service station you were glad was open on Christmas day!!
I've met quite a few singlespeed soloists too and the mindset and mental games for that are incredible but also seem to bring out the most fun in people.
Someone I know has done quite well out of the idea of suffering and pain on a bike, the sense of humour that comes from it is a little wicked but appeals when your in that state of mind.
The beer tastes way better after too
Some people like to or have the ability to mask everything else and do it, some people have exceptional talent, combine the two and you've got a professional winner.
On a more amateur level, if you're physically as fit as the next guy, but you're prepared to suffer more, and you race, you will beat that guy, it's as simple as that.
geex in "I am an epic rider but never try hard" shocker.
As someone who rides on the road pretty much exclusively nowadays I take a weird amount of pleasure out of the suffering element. It sounds daft but definitely get a weird kind of high out of it, it's like a free drug without the horrible come down afterwards.
Conversly, I find a road ride which im just cruising along fairly dull, hence if there is a hill to be ridden I'll alwaya try and sniff it out.
Slightly worrying quote.
Dr Walter Staiano says the idea of "hacking the brain to go beyond what we think of as our physical limits" has become "a hot topic in the past 10 years".
"I think it will explode after Tokyo 2020," he adds.
I get a high from riding any bike. Certainly don't need to suffer to get it though.
just as Scotroutes predicted
Don’t get the appeal of suffering at al
I didn't say I never try. I said I don't enjoy suffering.
Do you even realise how creepy you are?