Originally Posted by
Gerryattrick
On reflection perhaps I did misunderstand the op's post a bit.
I sometimes ride with a few friends of my age at the local downhill trail centres.
We always ride our bikes to the top before doing the downhill runs because of our old-fashioned idea of earning those downhill rides.
We get about three downhill runs in a morning whereas the youngsters who take the truck lifts to the top get in about twice the rides (although they do pay money for the pleasure).
I'm not 100% convinced that our way is better.
These people just love their downhill rides and get as many as they can in.
Thanks for the thoughtfulness.
i wish I had done a better job of describing this. It is free ride and not DH. For comparison, there is a local downhill that takes a 4 mile uphill ride to get to the top. A lot of folks push, because if they (we depending upon the bike) did not, the downhill would not be all that much fun with a totally spent body. The freeride is a two minute or so run with a lot of flow and speed. The one ride back to the top might be a 1/4 mile and is pretty easy on my SS ( and I am not a stud). The other ride back to the top was some effort on my SS, but not much. Most of the guys who ride this area are in what appears to be good shape and good health (I cannot imagine someone with significant issues doing gap jumps and drops).
It is way quicker to ride back up and not that strenuous. People are always visiting at the top, so there is time to catch your breath, and it could not ruin your ride.
So, I am still surprised and I still think it is laziness. But, again, it is their ride and all I am doing is posting a perspective.