Mattress or extreme?

In Ukraine, just like in all of the former USSR, there is this notion of mattress (as opposed to extreme) touring (biking, hiking, etc.). Obviously, “extreme” is good, and “mattress” is bad (i.e. for wusses and wimps). The attitude probably stems from the fact that trekking, mountaineering, bicycle touring and similar outdoor activities in the former Soviet Union have been recognized as competitive sports. So, the more impassable your route is the more recognition you are going to receive for it.

I totally dig the concept of pushing the boundaries of what’s possible, but there are objective limits to what a human body and a machine can handle. Beyond those limits a bike ride becomes mostly a hike carrying a bike no matter how good technically and strong physically you may be, and that’s no fun in my book. I believe that, if you go on a bike tour, most of the time you should be riding the bike - not the other way around. On an MTB tour, I can accept carrying the bike up to 2% and pushing it up to 8% of the total distance, but not more than that. The share of pushing may be more significant if you are really weak or carrying too much load, but, if a person in decent shape with reasonable load has to “hike with a bike” a lot, something must be wrong with the route.



I am sure, the guys from the Velotourist club who shot this video in 2010 had a great ride (you can find their report in Russian here). For me, however, this is a little too extreme (and also unsightly with all those logs, branches and stumps; logging does not produce pretty landscapes). I would try to avoid a section like that. Call me a “mattressnik” if you want to...