[Closed] Riding without a agenda.

Every time.

Yes today

Just needed some air. Ancient slick tyred Mtb. pathetically short ride, pathetic speed

Made my day!!

This concept is new to me. I think I like it. Please elaborate....

Yep nearly all my rides.

do you?

I would say about 10-15% of bods off here ride it like they stole it/fast as funk.

The other 40% are just out for the crack.

...oh, and the other 45%-50% don't actually have bikes 8)

I started riding in my primary school holidays with a frying pan and sausages on sit up and beg singlespeed wartime bikes. We'd light a fire in some remote place, fry our sausages and ride home.

I still ride with that same carefree spirit 40 years later, though seldom with the bangers. It could make a comeback.

I don't have a competitive gene in my body.

Most of my rides are like that, but 99% of the time I'm on my own, so its only my choice. Having said that I'm lucky enough to work for myself, mainly from home and have a network of trails right from the door, so I can just head off out when I feel like it.

Of course.. It's one of the ways to discover stuff, you know..

Often ride the same trails here ( ease of access and distance) but quite often get out of the front door and let my front wheel guide me.. Quite refreshing not knowing where you'll end up going/seeing/doing.

Tomorrow will be another one of those days for me..

I only have a competitive gene when I'm winning, so almost all of my rides are just for fun.

Liking the idea of riding with sausages. Red sauce, brown sauce or no sauce 😀

I have lost my competive streak due to a ****ed leg so now I,m a plodder we need to hook up Ton 🙂

'[i]an[/i] agenda' please fix or its gonna drive me mad.

I race, but i race myself, and my mp3 player, for the rest of time I'm just riding...

[i]Riding without a[b]n[/b] agenda.[/i]
😉

[i]but to just get out without a care for speed or distance or even direction.[/i]

Aye, thats [b]real[/b] cycling. Either you get it, or you [i]race[/i].

Most of my riding at the moment is about giving the dog a good run.

I think bike, talk bike, live bike. Infact, I am a bike.

That's what the missus claims of me, anyway.

Bloody love it and hope I never shift opinion. I ride because it's my mode of transport and my means to pleasure.

Everytime i go out its for fun, nothing more

Liking the idea of riding with sausages. Red sauce, brown sauce or no sauce

I cant remember any sauce,it only came in bottles then, a snaffled sachet* would be possible now, but we carried butter for our rolls which we toasted. Sometimes we took tea too.

*makes mental note to start snaffling sachets of condiments.

we carried butter for our rolls which we toasted. Sometimes we took tea too

Course you did, to do otherwise would be uncivilised 😉 I'm liking the sound of these rides more and more. Makes a bottle of beer and a hip flask seem half arsed.

I don't ride fast because of an agenda.

I ride fast simply because it's great fun.

What a wonderful, warming, real thread! Cycling's been an important part of my life since I was a little kid - the best means of transport, the best way to get some thrills, to explore, to get far away (or that's how it felt at the time), to meet mates, to be on your own.

I grew up (sort of), worked in a bike shop, lived, loved, raced, explored, ate, sleep and drank bikes. Then it wore off a bit, then I got back into it and started to love it again.

Recovering from my brain surgery almost 5 years ago now, cycling became pivotal to my recovery. I remember emailing my mum shortly after I was allowed to cycle again to tell her I'd ridden to the post box and back. That's all of a 1/3rd of a mile. I was so chuffed. I had a Roadrat then that became my independence. Bear in mind I'd get to the shops and forgot why I'd gone there, but I gradually built up my miles and explored more. I started recording all my rides in 2010 and have continued to do so to date, but it's only really the last 6 months or so that I've started to "train" at times on the bike, so that means the vast majority of the 4000+ miles I did last year must have been for the heck of it.

I don't need to ride 22 miles each way to work, but it's fun, so I do it once a week. I ride from the door, on the road, off road, more often than not on my own, but it's riding without an agenda that's helped me get better, helped make me who I am and I genuinely don't know what I'd have done without that opportunity.

Sometimes I like to potter about the local area. Go exploring around the back streets. Discover things new despite living here my whole life. It's amazing the things you find on your doorstep, and it makes for a very relaxed carefree ride. No real effort, no destination, just a small sense of adventure required. It's good fun.

I shred the gnar and go fast not because of an agenda but because it is fun, pootling downhill is unpossible 🙂
I ride one of these daft fatbikes, which gives some idea of my agenda when riding...

Never had an agenda and never will 😆
No agenda with anything I do, just float along 😛

“When the spirits are low, when the day appears dark, when work becomes monotonous, when hope hardly seems worth having, just mount a bicycle and go out for a spin down the road, without thought on anything but the ride you are taking.”

? Arthur Conan Doyle

He did )

Sometimes make vague plans when going out solo. But no matter what mindset i leave the house with, it can change in a second. A gentle cruise can turn into gnarrrr fest as easily as a brisk fitness run can morph into a manualling session. I can't ride past a jump, and that ****s things up sometimes. 😆

I'm not riding - with an aim at the moment. My next ride (the first in a while) will have an agenda of sorts - steady as she goes, and see how healed i am. It'll be tomorrow or Sunday or both, fingers crossed.

My general aim is to make it to the end & enjoy the view. Couldn't race pace if i tried.
Need a new thread what backpak/ bar pac to fit stove, bacon and rolls in?

Driving on my way home from work tonight I passed by a country lane turn off where after living here most of my life I realised I have no idea where it leads. I can guess 'ish but decided to not look it up and have spent the whole evening avoiding google maps and am going to get out on my new road bike tomorrow and see where it leads. not a massive adventure but should be able to spin it out to a nice little ride. No agenda, just curiosity and fresh air.

Yup..

Oh, and Tony? Yes to next Sunday mate.. Just let me know what time? Head here, and we'll ride in. 8)

Every time I bother to drag myself out that's how I roll, ie slowly 😉

oh, and the other 45%-50% don't actually have [s]bikes[/s]Audis

Need a new thread what backpak/ bar pac to fit stove, bacon and rolls in?

It's not the same unless you get home smelling of woodsmoke.

I used to be a really competitive person but really cannot be arsed to be competitive when it comes to biking. I much prefer riding at my own pace for as long as I can as opposed to being fixed on a time limit. I am growing to dislike trail centre 'race tracks' and much prefer the 'natural' out there rides. I like pootling up the climbs, taking in the views and vistas as I go, so that on the way down I can go as fast as I can within my skill and scare levels.
I dont care what people think of me, the choice of colour of my bike or my clothing but it is nice to ride with like minded folk and have some banter but it can be equally as refreshing sometimes just exploring those lanes/paths/worn trails that you drive by in the car.
Now I have my hardtail rebuilt with some working forks I am going to go explore locally this weekend as this thread has got my juices flowing.

Most of the time these days - when there is an agenda it's usually ride longer, but only as it's fun

Just ride for the cake.............

Do some endurance races, but never train, just spend long days out riding with mates with no proper plans

Liking the idea of cooking sausages 🙂

smiling is always on my riding adgenda 🙂

I don't pootle and I don't ride without reason, eg racing, training, getting from A to B. But the A to B rides are normally with friends who don't cycle much, A being home, B being pub/cafe or place of interest.

Other things generally mean I'm riding with some sort of an agenda, most of my riding is commuting these days - and I'm usually on a mission to get home in time to see my daughter or in at a not horrendously late hour.

When I get to just go out and ride where I like though, now that's good.

I've done a couple of sub 5 mile (but with plenty of incline) rides in the last couple of months, one was probably the time I've most enjoyed just being out in ages, despite a fairly leisurely pace up and no shredding to the gnar on the way down.

Even if I'm doing something challenging I like to take in the surroundings when the weather's nice. Taking the long way to work if it's dry enough and the like.

But I do also like to do the odd race - I've got no chance of winning but I'll still pedal like **** to try and lose less badly.

I ride because it is what I do in my spare time. there is no specific purpose to it. Sometimes I'm slow and others fast, just as I feel at the time.

I ride because I enjoy it. It clears my head, and helps me maintain some level of fitness. But mainly because it gets me outside in a natural environment, which I enjoy.

I'm learning to ride without an agenda. I'm not very good at it yet, but I will get there.

I like to ride in groups who push me, I like to ride in groups who dont but make me smile, I like to ride on my own and set my own challenges but I also like to ride solo and take time to enjoy the scenery....most of all I like to ride.

In the last couple of years we have taken sausages (spicy bean burgers, eggs, porridge whatever) 20 or so times. Not to eat mid-ride, but to ride to go and eat. In the local woods. Sometimes before dawn.

It's not always about finding the holy grail trail, but the people and the experience and the laugh.

Most of the time though due to family restraints my rides do have an agenda. Be it route, speed or time, but that's ok I like that too.

All riding good.

See today is an ideal example.. As said earlier its either Roadie or MrSchmancy, it's a bit damp so I'm going to get wet either way, I'm mulling and eating breakfast but pondering over which bike to ride, not yet decided which is a good thing, but my brains conjuring images of wet forests and sticky trails again, so I guess my minds made up.. Only destination I have is Bere Forest, how I get there and what route I take I have no idea.

Relaxing thoughts....

I'm really into my fitness, but 99% of my riding is completely without agenda. I just want to get outside, ride and feel happy.

I just like riding bikes.

Once a year, I ride at Hit the North, where my agenda is not to get in too many people's way.

Apart from that it's just all purely riding for the sake of riding.
I usually take a book. 😀

I admire those who race.
I can understand people who train for racing.
But I struggle with people who don't race, yet still push themselves [b]all the time [/b]into a grumpy, sweaty mess.

Nothing wrong with pushing yourself, but it's not the be all and end all. Relax, it's supposed to be fun.

Audax I like - good rides, nice company excellent cake, a nice little personal challenge and a reminder that older people can be much, much fitter than you.

But Sportives?
What's that all about? Racing for people who don't actualy have the balls to race?
An excuse to fleece a bunch of gullible idiots?
Fantasy fuel for those who watch the TdF sat in their team kit?
Honestly, they're just as silly as people who ride R1's round the crowded Dales in team replica leathers every weekend.

Like soul surfing on a bike. 🙂
I like riding on my own so every ride is an adventure.
@Mcmoonter - top idea - rack and panniers will be dragged out of the garage for tomorrow's ride to lunch.

Loving this thread!
I think variety is everything and cycling gives you that.
I make plans with friends and we plot routes, sometimes we just meet up and decide where we should head but most of the time we just make it up. I love the adventure of trying new places but then equally enjoy the local loop I have ridden hundreds of times.
On top of that I love riding by myself and shutting off for a while. Stick on my mp3 and take my camera and just follow my front wheel. Found some places which normally you would never find.
I love the fact that even though I bought my first decent bike about 15 years ago I still get really excited about going for a ride and having new adventures. If I'm not riding I'm either reading about it or on the net looking at it.
So many plans for this year already, bikepacking to try. The sport has diversified so much there is always new ideas and places to go.
In a nut shell - Love it!

Almost all rides have one or more agenda and a schedule.

The hardest is the schedule, whether it was when commuting or just fitting in a ride around family commitments.

All my riding is for fun, but not usually just for fun.

Still love it every time I'm on the bike (even the turbo...).

Never have an agenda, I just ride my bikes because I enjoy it.

Got a couple of mates into riding last year. Same age as me 57 seeing their health and fitness improve has been brilliant . We are off later today to a pub ahem ! Most of my rides are like this which is fine and dandy until I ride with someone younger and fitter ! then I get properly found out ! 😳

I ride because I love to ride, no agenda.

In about an hour around Punchbowl. Need to finish revision supervision and fix puncture first.

But try to balance with some ball-out XC stuff or a technical sessions on some aspect of my poor skills

Every time.

There you go see.. I went out with a little idea to get somewhere and didn't get there at all, in fact no where near it!! Random left and right turns followed by " ohhh wonder what's down here then?" And the recurring 3 front punctures didn't stop me from giggling to my self when I put some effort in..
There was only about 20mins when I wasn't smiling, that was hacking through some of the deepest and gloopyest mud I have seen in a long time on a trail I haven't been on for about 3 years..
So there you go, front wheel took over and 4.5 hours later it found my front door, amazing. 😆

just got back from a road pootle on a few roads i aint been on for a few years.
it was very quiet, not many cars and best of all, i did not have to get undressed in the back yard to stop a muddy trail to the washing mashine.
halfway round it became a ride with AN agenda.............to only have 2 glasses of Dalwhinnie when i got back. cheers all 8)

[quote=unklehomered]'an agenda' please fix or its gonna drive me mad.
Actually, agenda is the plural of agendum, to be gramatically correct.. 😉

Vast majority of my rides are solo and my only aim is to enjoy myself. As cycling is my way of resetting my head, it usually works.

[b]Me [/b]- My next ride (the first in a while) will have an agenda of sorts - steady as she goes, and see how healed i am. It'll be tomorrow or Sunday or both, fingers crossed.

Well, this guy says it better than I ever could 😀 😀 😀

I ride to escape the agenda. Fast or slow, short or long matters not.

I just ride because I like riding my bike.

Guessing I don't walk with agenda ( other than getting some where) or driving my car.

Perhaps the only time I might think I am riding with "agenda" is if I am wanting to ride a particular section without bottling it.

I just usually start from a river or Bridge because thats the lower point descent wise,apart from that I have enough knowledge of the lakes to make the day up as I go along,I do like to find a new trail each time I ride if possible,sharing it with willing riders is always great for me,and thats the main agenda but nothing else, I think its important to consider the weakest riders thoughts on the ride, and thats one of the main things on my mind for most of the day.

Its good to hear Tons shreddin the trails again too.. 😉

Of course, its base miles isn't it 😉

I took sausages with me today, they still tasted as good as they did when I was a lad. Woodsmoke and sausages were made for each other. Must remember to take marshmallows next time.

[img] [/img]

moonter, that is fantastic mate....well done 😆

I think I might have an agenda as far as getting to a particular place for sunset, if that's the reason I set out, but that's about it, I like just going for rides, the things I want from it appear as I go along, like being a bit braver or keeping a certain amount of effort going. I might be wanting to be get fitter or see how much fitness i've lost, but the most important thing is to be enjoying my day or few hours out, so i'll get off and walk if the mood takes me. Enjoying myself is the the most important part of going out on my bike. Getting fitter and better is always good though, but if nothing is happening in that area i'll switch back to just enjoying riding my bike.

I definately have the nicest time when I set out without any particular aims, but getting to Stanage Pole intime for sunset, especially during the winter, is always pretty cool.

Today I rode with an agenda, for the first time ever (apart from races). It was quite good actually, I might do it again

It is good to feel like you're making progress in your riding, but it's nice to enjoy the journey for it's own sake as well.

I like riding out the front door sometimes and deciding which way to go when I get to a fork. One choice opens up endless others. Very refreshing.

Every ride has a different agenda. All require a form of joy as the outcome.

Purposelessness is priceless

If there's an agenda; must someone take minutes?

I ride with an agenda most rides, but that agenda is 'find something new'. Even if its just a short section of new trail, I try and explore something new on every trip out.

^^haha @ minutes.

Does "going out to enjoy being on the bike" count as having an agenda?

I only have a speed agenda if half way on a fast ride I think I've been riding faster than normal. Then I might see if I can turn it in to a 10km best time or something.

Think not having an agenda can probably be best described as pootling, either physically or mentally. 🙂

remind me never to ride with an agenda

sounds awful

Riding a bike without a purpose gets me down. I struggle to derive enjoyment through the simple matter of being on a bike I need to have some sort of goal or purpose whether it's gnar, fitness, distance, speed whatever

apart from commuting pretty much the only agenda is riding the bike, what else is there? Training/racing is the only one I can think of *shudders*. I guess having a particular route in mind (i want to go up [b]that[/b] hill) could be loosely classed as an agenda if you're being pedantic.

I'm only out riding a bike coz I like riding bikes, everything else is a bonus.

Jamies summary sounds spot on 😉 and mcmoonter's frying pan rides sound ace.

Great idea.
Needed to go to bank this morning, jumped on old steelyshedfind down to high street.
Thanks.