[Closed] Anyone gone from mountain biking to hill walking

I do both. Walking enables me to experience trails I'm not skilled enough to ride down.
(although Cavedale is pretty difficult to walk down too!)

Also both,though hillwalking came first. I only really started cycling as a way to get into some of the more remote hills. Certainly looking forward to the oncoming winter and getting out on the high tops again.

No reason you can’t do both.  Not simultaneously though.

Fell in love with the outdoors walking with my grandad as a child. MTB came later on life for me.

Fell out of love with the bikes but not losing myself in the hills and it’s even better now the kids enjoy it too.

Yep, used to ride quite a bit (but not loads).  Then took up walking and just found it more enjoyable.  Needs more time, but I find the more sedate pace lets me sort my head out!  I've lost more weight as I tend to walk for a number of hours rather than just a quick blast on the bike.

I still enjoy biking though - but I just enjoy the "speed" of walking and appreciating the surroundings and peace and quiet.

I do both, preference is mostly hill walking over biking. Been doing them both (not always called them that though) abiout the same time. I often combine the two, take the bike if it's a long walk in, hide it somewhere and then take a walk up the hill.

No reason you can’t do both.

The severity of the mechanical problem being generally proportional to the distance from home/car.

I push up some hills?

Both here too.

If I had to choose, it'd be the walking for sure. Thankfully, I don't have to. 😁

I would like to do both, but knee problems make walking downhill painful.

We do both...

We even had a holiday this year that ended up being lots of walking, as the Polish are just not organised on routes or hiring bikes...

[url= https://farm1.staticflickr.com/843/43525782821_1f8fae85ec_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm1.staticflickr.com/843/43525782821_1f8fae85ec_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/29je1Pp ]Swinica summit[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/matt_outandabout/ ]Matt Robinson[/url], on Flickr

I am doing more hill running instead. A lot simpler, less gear required, so quicker to just get out there. Plus you can go places that aren't really doable on a bike.

Do both too.

Some like to take their bike for a walk too. I prefer to pedal the bike or take my camera for a walk.

Depends on how I feel - sometimes take the bike, sometimes take a small backpack, DSLR etc.

Feet can go up/down more scrambles etc. and reach more peaks, cols, etc. than wheels, but wheels can cover more scenery in the same 6 hours or so.  Weather decides too. Hiking in a hooly is a lot easier than riding something that wants to be a sail in a force 9.

Both here too. Fluctuate between them. I also do a bit of easy summer and winter climbing...and also some road biking, sorry 🙁

Agree that the pace of walking and time spent doing it does something good for the mind. A long, easy mtb route can be similar.

Ideal day for me is a good cycle in then a nice scambly ridge or a neve day in crampons.  Alas, like many on here I guess, I’ve not much time for that with work and family. Hence the road bike probably sees the most action in truth.

I enjoy the walk up, but being at the top of a mountain without a bike feels so worng.

Me! got a rescue dog at the beginning of summer and also went to Morzine with a mate for a week in August and havnt built my bike up since, far prefer the slower pace of walking and not having to think about bike fettling or washing. The Morzine trip feels like a last goodbye for mountain biking.

Attempting to bikepack the Cape Wrath trail (back before the HT550 was a thing) was the beginning of the end of my MTBing, the bike was basically an impediment and by that stage I was beginning to tire of retracing my steps on local trails.

Wouldn't mind trying bikepacking again with a fatbike and proper luggage, but am enjoying the road biking too much right now

I did both last year when I bought a plus bike. The frequency of punctures that wouldn’t seal meant I got to do a lot of walking.

Im a fair weather walker, no view at the top no walk. Have to admit after ten miles and still maybe 5 to go you wish you had your bike well i do

Hill running for me, much less faff and as has been said above can take you places you can’t go on a bike

Love both, but when I'm away in a hilly area (home is East Northants) I tend to take the bike. Would love to walk the big hills but my wife isn't keen on what she calls "edges" (anything steep), so if I want to get on the tops I tend to ride/push/carry up and plummet down so as to not hog all the holiday time biking on my own.

Both, nearly compleated my Munro’s and it would have been a less enjoyable round on foot. Likewise I have always cycled and wondered “what’s up there?”

I do both because I ride a singlespeed. 🙂

Both too - for different thrills: walking for the ability to take in the surroundings a bit more and explore places you can only get to easily (or legally) on foot; mountain biking more for the adrenaline and challenge. I don't mind biking in the winter though - more mud!

Hardly touched my bike all year just running now

I like hill walking/running. Coming from a running background I am still quite fit so climb quite well. Tend to just pack light then walk/run for a few hours. Allows you to cover a lot of distance. Just walking can be a bit frustrating.

Bikes were always a means to an end, to access the more remote Scottish hills back in the 90s

Hiking is like really slow compared to biking but if you can run it's much quicker

I came from a fellwalking background. Most of my formative years were spent in the hills. Started MTB back in 85 and probably been walking about 40 time since. The lure of the high fells in full winter conditions usually gets me out with the axe and crampons though. These days though, descending absolutely kills my knees.

These days though, descending absolutely kills my knees.

Have you tried poles mate? Once you learn to use them properly, they are flippin awesome, takes a huge pressure off the old knees.

I was walking and climbing for nearly 40 years before I took up mountain biking. I tend to find they take me to different places. I like the technical challenge of biking (though not exactly Gnarr) and also the ability to get in more miles in a day. Like lowey my knees are a bit crocked these days and no, poles don't help. Coming down off Hall's Fell Ridge recently was a nightmare.

I do like the hillwalking, esp with the kids, but I don't find it as relaxing as cycling, find it hard to switch off for some reason. Think I find it a bit mentally harder than cycling, as well. Looking up at a huge summit, I'll be 90% thinking this looks really good, views will be amazing, but there'll be a small 10% voice saying For absolute FS do we have to walk up this?

Whereas with cycling, out on a Leo Sayer on the MTB say, I'd be 100% looking forward to getting stuck into something large.

The noble art of Bike Portage combines to two nicely I find 🙂

Have you tried poles mate? Once you learn to use them properly, they are flippin awesome, takes a huge pressure off the old knees.

^^^This +1 ^^^

Before being introduced to mountain bikes I mainly did rock climbing & walking/scrambles.

My last two holidays were in the Alps,walking the tour de mont blanc last year & this year the Haute Route.I enjoyed both holidays as much if not more than my previous holidays with the MTB to Morzine or Les Arcs,

One of the reasons I got into the MTB's was so that I could use the bike to cover more ground than I could walking.

A good weekend would involve some MTB stuff one day & a good hike the next..

Both for me too, and trail/mountain running as much as I can.

I can't be arsed with all the bike cleaning winter MTB involves, so I'll likely tend towards running or road/gravel biking with full guards as soon as the trails get boggy.

On the other hand, it takes 2-3 hours for me to drive somewhere really nice for walking/scrambling from here in Leeds, but there are nice trails for running and MTB on my doorstep, and really nice stuff within an hour drive.

In an ideal world, I'd just run and be done with all the complexity of bikes, but my feet and ankles can't hack it, so mixing it up with riding works well.

I've been doing loads more walking over the last couple of years. Mainly because the kids are a bit older now and doing their own thing at weekends. So when we've got a free weekend me and Mrs Binners now have a default setting of heading straight to Keswick. As Lowey knows because we're regularly there when himself and Lady Lowe are* 🙂

I used to take the bike up with me, but I haven't bothered recently. We just shove the walking boots in and head out onto the fells. Its just a different experience. I love them both. But with one when you get to the top of a hill, you're itching to get going on the blast down, with the other you just want to sit and take it all in for a while. We've done some cracking walks in the Lakes this year, making the most of the fantastic weather!

* which has lead to other fun activities like trying to drink ALL the red wine in Cumbria

Both. I bought my first MTB when working in Scotland and Munro bagging at the weekends. I got fed up walking all day to get to the foot of a mountain so used the bike to get into remote parts. This was long before open access so it was a bit limited and no wild camping.

Chained the bike to a tree changed my boots and went walking. Lived in fear of losing my keys but never did. I had some of my most memorable rides coming back down to a car park.

If you want to hone your skills try riding by moonlight through a forest without lights. I even saw a bear.

Geologist, yes I tend to mainly hill/mountain walk these days over mtb. In fact I'm typing this sat in a bar in Morzine having just walked the Ressachaux (2,170m). I do far more mountain walking here in the chablais than mtb. I've climbed all but one of the peaks around Morzine. I find where accessibility can be tricky I'd rather walk to be able get further away from others.

Hike-a-bike makes my blood run cold, and heading out on a long itinerant route with an mtb without being certain just how much is rideable I find difficult. Whereas I will back myself to complete high walks over most terrain up to chained routes and scrambling (but not roped). I can walk all day in the mountains although doing big 1,000m+ steep (30-40%) climbs is getting tougher.

I'm 43 next month and I have a dream to keep myself physically capable of walking some of the long distance paths in Europe once the kids have flown. I will also do more cycle touring. I expect I will do less and less mtb.

2hrs ago

In the UK I've walked almost every inch of the brecon beacons, the black mountains and the black mountain. I've walked some of the Galloway hills. I tend to avoid the lakes. I prefer walking in the alps and pyrenees though. I hope to walk in the dolomites this coming summer, and will get a day in the Picos Europa in easter.

Quite a few of my mountain biking chums (a few will be reading this) wouldn't have regarded themselves as hillwalkers until they came on some of the "routes" I'd planned. Then they found they had no choice.

I joined some local hillwalking clubs years back, primarily to scope out areas and routes for the bike. What I learned was that there's lots of scenic Scotland that is worth seeing but is beyond any sensible hike-a-bike ratio, particularly once you take into account weather and ground conditions. Came to the conclusion that the exploration and seeing the scenery was more important to me than the mode of transport, so now walk/run/bike and enjoy all equally. Earlier in the year was running the 5 munros circuit near Lochnagar and passed a chap on bike doing the same, then met him at the end when he came in an hour or so later, he'd underestimated how much hike-a-bike would be involved and looked dead on his feet: sometimes it's better to run or walk these things.

I used to do a lot of hill walking and then discovered bikes.  I've recently started some trail running which is great fun.  Best of both worlds

Great replies , thanks all.

I don’t think I could ever not Mtb, but I think over winter I’ll be exploring my nearest big hills (long Mynd, Black Mountains and Brecon Beacons) primarily on foot. I may even discover some new mtb routes 🙂

eastcoastmike

...What I learned was that there’s lots of scenic Scotland that is worth seeing but is beyond any sensible hike-a-bike ratio, particularly once you take into account weather and ground conditions...

That is one of the reasons I favour light simple singlespeeds.

Keep the bike light and simple, and you don't notice it on your shoulder - especially if you carry a pad. There's lots of disconnected tracks in Scotland that can be joined with a bit of a walk, nothing wrong with a few km on foot. 🙂

I do both. And I love both. Last big walks were the Welsh 3k and the Aiguille du Tour in the Alps, both fantastic. Was walking in Exmoor and North Devon with my 7 year old son last weekend too.

I love biking, but my biking is more exploration than gnar. Walking is definitely more family friendly

Another for both here and I cam to MTBs party from getting access to the remote hills.  I don't tend to do many day walks these days in the big hills.  Tends to be multiday treks  so bike for a day out, walking for multiday epics

Family days in the hills are awesome, and have a nice added bonus of scoping out potentially awesome descents, last weeks day was one of those days. I'm sure our Druid will recognise, and have ridden this one a few times...

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The reveal of Loch Einaich on the final approach to the summit is one of the best in the country. I've watched gliders from the summit - and I do mean below me!

Aye, was a fantastic day Colin, with the help of MWIS, hit a perfect weather window for a clear summit, was shrouded in cloud on the way up, and not long after we departed. I'd love to just spend a day riding along that ridge tbh, just taking it all in...

MrsMoses & I can walk together companiably & compatibly, but we cycle at different speeds so it's not a good option. We've hiked some long distance trails in the UK as well as regular days out from Northumberland to Cornwall,

Aye, good point, my Mrs is bloody quick up a munro, it's a good workout!.