Climbing: Fire Road or Singletrack?

I think I speak for 99% of mountain bikers when I say the purpose of climbing is to get to the next descent.
File photo by Pat Goral.

I think I speak for 99% of mountain bikers when I say the purpose of climbing is to get to the next descent. Amirite? With that in mind, sometimes we have a choice: climb up the singletrack then bomb back down OR take a fire road to the top and ride singletrack down. Given the choice, we want to know which you prefer!

(And just to be clear, it’s never OK to ride singletrack up and fire road down. That makes no sense.😁 )