Up hill or down dale?

[Ham]

Now, I should start by saying I really don't do 'ills, we don't have them in this here Lunnon, you see.  But, if asked, I'd have to say I prefer riding up to riding down. I don't descend very well, I know I'm rubbish. For me, I can only descend if I feel in control. Last week in the Loire, there are no real hills, but there are some sharp ascents and descents around the rivers. I was not happy. I was not in control, I did not want to end up at the bottom going into a turn across a narrow bridge with oncoming traffic. As a result I was even more cautious than usual. My Ultegra brakes just did NOT inspire my confidence at all. It was only when I loaded the bike back onto the carrier at the end of the week that I realised I had left the QR adjustment open all the time 

The only thing I do worse than going down hills is going up them (they don't like it up 'em) but even so, I'd say that I prefer the work and achievement of climbing to endless whooosh on the way down.

What's your speed?

[Kim]

Down, obviously, though annoying technical descending where you lose hard-earned elevation without covering any real distance is annoying.  As are rolling hills with a junction/hairpin bend/cattle grid at the bottom to gobble up all your kinetic energy.  But I'd rather be climbing and descending than trundling along endlessly on the flat without any opportunity to rest my knees.

Enjoyment of descending is very much about the bike (or indeed trike).  Low CoG, good brakes, sensible tyres and so on all add greatly to the experience.

[Ham]

Enjoyment of descending is very much about the bike (or indeed trike).  Low CoG, good brakes, sensible tyres and so on all add greatly to the experience.

I'm told that closing the brake QR can also add to the experience, I wouldn't know.

[clarion]

I'm a good descender, and (by virtue of rubbish lungs), a crap climber.  I love being at the top of hills, but struggle to get there.

But I like being on my bike.

[Notsototalnewbie]

We were talking about this yesterday; Rob went out with the slow group of the Dulwich Paragon for the first time, and he was saying how terrifyingly quick they descended, and how he made up some time on the uphills due to being a good climber (he'd been braking on the downhills as they were a bit twisty).

I said I would have been useless on both counts, because I can't climb quickly, and I'm also a scaredy descender if the road is anything less than smooth and straight with good visibility. Hills just aren't good for me.

[DrMekon]

I have always thought I was a good descender; at risk of being ridiculed as a Strava[insert derogatory epithet here], the 3 KOMs I have are all from descending. However, I've found when I'm riding on an audax, I'm usually one of the faster people uphill, and that there are people MUCH faster than me downhill.

Re. climbs, I didn't have any problems with the hills on the 3.5AA Delightful Dales, but the triathlete I was riding with took what seemed like terrifying risks on some of the descents, and left me for dead, whereas he had to walk the steepest sections.

For me, if there's not a clear view beyond the apex of a bend, I don't dare anything that might mean I have to cross the centre line. Other people seem not to imagine what might be coming round the bend as vividly as I do. I'll take tasting blood over the worry that twisty descents give.

[Psychler]

On the grounds that I still weigh the wrong side of 23 stones, I can happily say that down hill is best!  By a long way!

In fact I take great delight in over taking people who are pedaling furiously whilst I'm not pedaling at all

[Kim]

In fact I take great delight in over taking people who are pedaling furiously whilst I'm not pedaling at all

This.  Especially uphill.  </heavy darksider>

[Piemaster]

In fact I take great delight in over taking people who are pedaling furiously whilst I'm not pedaling at all

And what does the guy on the front of the tandem think?

[mattc]

This really is a no-brainer.

Cycling gives many pleasures, but rolling downhill is surely its USP!

[matthew]

whilst I enjoy climbing, a nice decent where I can demonstrate to a driver that they are holding me up is just the best. 

To date I can recall 3 such occasions: north off Kirkstone past a landrover and trailer. west off wrynose whenthey pulled over for me and into streetly from the west when I would have first broken 50mph.

[phantasmagoriana]

Pah, no one else has voted for flat?!

I don't much like hills in either direction, but upwards is less scary. I don't do fast descents - the thought of what would happen if I fell off is nasty.

[Kim]

Descending seems to be something that terrifies flatlanders generally.  I suppose that makes sense, if you don't do it very often.  If you're dealing with hills every ride, you get to know how a given bike feels when riding at speed in excess of 20mph / cornering / hard braking on roads where you know all the hazards, which is much less scary than throwing yourself down some random hill^[1] at speeds in excess of R17.


_{[1] Or even down a known hill on a random bike.}

[tatanab]

I do not like too much flat because flat often means open and windswept and I do not like head winds.  Fortunately I live in a fairly hilly/rolling part of the country.

Other than that my preference depends on where I am and what I am doing.  Locally I like the regular 40mph descents as much as the winding roads going up.  When on tour I favour going up because that is when I can see the scenery and wildlife etc whereas hurtling down  a mountain pass I have little time to see or appreciate anything.

So my vote is for going up.

[Kim]

I do not like too much flat because flat often means open and windswept and I do not like head winds.

Quite.  The thing about hills is unlike headwinds there's a top that you're going to get to eventually.

[Basil]

Well, I've just voted for up hill.  I'm not sure why.  Prolly because I'm a rubbish descender¹ and I really hate flat for the reasons given above.

I'd have voted for "Rolling"

¹ Hang on, but I'm a rubbish climber as well!

[PaulR]

Descending while trying to keep up with a bunch is something I hate - I just don't have the same appetite for risk as some other riders, and routinely arrive late at the bottom of the hill with overheated rims.  A while ago I was out with Zilla and MattC and Iddu in the Chilterns and was left trailing behind them on some of the descents - mind you, I recall that Zilla did a bit of offroading when he realised he couldn't safely make the turn at the foot of the hill where MattC saw the snake.

On the other hand, give me a nice lightweight bike and I will happily dance up almost any hill and I will enjoy going up hills if they're not too steep. 

[Jurek]

Climbing for me.
Every time.

The only time I am not a total wuss when descending is when the road has:
a) Been made familiar to me on a previous occasion
b) A good surface
c) Good sight lines
d) Little or no chance of me sharing it with another man, vehicle or beast.

Weighing about the same as a Ryvita cracker has its advantages.

Edit: My brake block spend is huge. I admire those who can drop like stones.

[zigzag]

i enjoy both climbing (except very steep hills and when knackered) and descending, especially on smooth open roads.

[Deano]

I've voted for descending (even though I'm not that confident a descender), but really it's climbing and descending. One complements the other: the views as you slowly climb, the reward of whooshing downhill, and seeing the views flash past and thinking "I'll have to come back and do it the other way, so I can see what I'm missing with all this speed".

[clarion]

Actually, on reflection, I most prefer rolling roads.

    Before the Roman came to Rye or out to Severn strode,
    The rolling English drunkard made the rolling English road.
    A reeling road, a rolling road, that rambles round the shire,
    And after him the parson ran, the sexton and the squire;
    A merry road, a mazy road, and such as we did tread
    The night we went to Birmingham by way of Beachy Head.

    I knew no harm of Bonaparte and plenty of the Squire,
    And for to fight the Frenchman I did not much desire;
    But I did bash their baggonets because they came arrayed
    To straighten out the crooked road an English drunkard made,
    Where you and I went down the lane with ale-mugs in our hands,
    The night we went to Glastonbury by way of Goodwin Sands.

    His sins they were forgiven him; or why do flowers run
    Behind him; and the hedges all strengthening in the sun?
    The wild thing went from left to right and knew not which was which,
    But the wild rose was above him when they found him in the ditch.
    God pardon us, nor harden us; we did not see so clear
    The night we went to Bannockburn by way of Brighton Pier.

    My friends, we will not go again or ape an ancient rage,
    Or stretch the folly of our youth to be the shame of age,
    But walk with clearer eyes and ears this path that wandereth,
    And see undrugged in evening light the decent inn of death;
    For there is good news yet to hear and fine things to be seen,
    Before we go to Paradise by way of Kensal Green.

[Cudzoziemiec]

I enjoy all of these but overall I'm going to vote for climbing. Too much flat tends to mean headwinds and I don't like that. I'm a bit of wuss at descending unless the sightlines are good, and we just don't have that kind of hill round here (IMO at any rate). But climbing, although I'm a bit wussy at that too, is always satisfying. However, for me, the poll is meaningless - you can't ignore the effort required; it's part of what makes a climb satisfying. Getting to the top with no effort just wouldn't be, well, conquering a hill.

[Canardly]

Clue is in the name thinks.

[cycleman]

i voted downhill . i am very slow both uphill and on the flat but enjoy climbing . you get good views up high

[matthew]

I should have added to my earlier post that I have to be on a bike with a freewheel to achieve such feats. When on fixed the flat / rolling is prefered.

Both my Hewitt and the Van Nic feel very stable when decending at speed, but the fixied hits a limit when the cadence tops ~150rpm as I just don't have the suppleness required for faster and will be grabbing the brakes.