WORDS CHIPPS
How is it that I can love listening to a particular band, yet my friend hates them? Or that I can dislike food that is someone’s favourite dish? Or that I can laugh at a comedian who barely raises a titter from others in the office? We’re all different and our wants and likes and dislikes are a complicated blend of upbringing and experiences and aspirations, mixed in with a healthy dose of what our friends are doing, what we’ve enjoyed in the past, and what we’d like to do in the future.
I recently did a classic ride that a friend had suggested as an absolute must-do, bucket-list kind of a ride. It involved a lot of Lakeland-style hikeabike, for a suitably rocky singletrack descent. And repeat. The pair of us barely ticked over ten miles in three hours. While it was scenic and challenging, it was so very different to the kind of riding I normally do and I realised that I much prefer to ride up whatever I’m riding down the other side of. Probably something to do with living here in Yorkshire where the climbs are steep, but nearly always rideable. Does it make his ride not-great? Of course not, and I accept that he just likes that kind of stuff – and likes to earn his descents on the back of an hour or so of hoofing his bike up a hill. I’m more of a ‘ride up, swoop down’ kind of rider. I’ve had a similar clash of pictures of the perfect ride with friends on the south coast, where their idea of a good day out is an endless rolling panorama of chalky singletrack over lush, green hills. Nothing technically challenging, but then also, there’s no reason to stop and rest, eat Haribo, chat and look at the view. When I last rode there, we (but mostly they) skipped and danced on the pedals for nearly 40 miles that day. And while my wheels hadn’t left the ground and I’d not had to carry or push a metre, I was absolutely hollowed out by the end of it.