Boring mountain bike climbs are the best kind

The Stoke is an occasional opinion series highlighting the things that get us stoked about mountain biking. 🤘 👍 👏 🙏

Among mountain bikers, I’m confident that 99% of us can agree that descending is way more fun on a mountain bike than climbing. Where we disagree is whether we’d rather climb on singletrack or fire roads. Me? I’ll take the fire road, which puts me in the minority of riders, two-thirds of whom say they prefer climbing singletrack.

I guess my stoke for gravel road climbs comes down to the fact that boring climbs are less taxing, both physically and mentally. After all, I prefer to save my energy for the descents! That’s probably what the inventor of the electric mountain bike was thinking too, though that’s neither here nor there.

What I’m talking about is a good old-fashioned, 100% leg-powered push to the summit. The kind of climb that you agree to only because you know the descent will be worth it at the end. The kind that consumes the vast majority of your ride time. The kind that makes you wish you were in better shape.

Don’t get me wrong, when it comes to mountain biking, singletrack is king. And there are all types of singletrack, from raw and technical to groomed and flowy. But the things that make singletrack trails fun to ride downhill are the same things that make them physically more difficult to climb than a gravel road. Those rocks and roots we pump off on the way down require bursts of power to get over on the way to the top. We muscle our way through twists and turns, and stand to mash our pedals to maintain traction up the steepest sections of the trail.

They say the brain consumes roughly 20% of our body’s energy each day, or about 20W according to one estimate I found. Compared to the 150-300W our legs put out on a climb, that’s not a lot, but it adds up. I don’t know about you, but I can use every extra bit of power I can get for the biggest climbs! Picking lines isn’t exactly rocket science, but it certainly takes mental energy.

I think the thing I enjoy the most about fire road climbs is the chance to zone out. To let my thoughts wander. To build anticipation for the descent to come. To take in my surroundings and to find peace in my breathing, and in my thoughts. We used to tell our kinds that every meal doesn’t have to be the most delicious thing you’ve ever tasted. In fact, it’s the boring, everday meals that make pizza night all the more exciting. I guess I’m just not convinced that adding a few pepperoni slices to my climbs is going to make the overall ride more enjoyable.

Sometimes we climb the same singletrack trail we’re set to descend. Given a choice, I’ll save the singletrack for the downhill riders and take the fire road up. No spoilers for me; I’ll take the singletrack surprise.

A lot of mountain bikers have recently discovered that riding gravel is actually kinda fun, though obviously in a different way from mountain biking. There’s the freedom from road traffic, the steady push and pull of our breath, the ability to soak in the freshness of nature. Fire road climbs feel the same way to me; the only difference is I get to bomb down a rip-roaring singletrack descent after it’s all over.

For the same amount of vertical climbing, a fire road almost always goes by more quickly than a singletrack ascent, if not actually then at least mentally. If you ask me, that alone is a pretty compelling reason to pick the fire road.

Are fire road climbs boring? Yes, and that’s precisely the reason I choose them.

When it comes to mountain biking, the last thing I would ever want to do is yuck someone else’s yum. So go ahead and take that singletrack climb! I’ll take the fire road and be stoked to meet you at the top.