Can't we all just get along?

I don't understand.

I don't understand why people insist upon perpetuating the mountain biking vs. road riding thing. They're different, but both are great. They're both fun. They're both hard. They each have their own challenges and rewards. Many people who I know who do both, myself included, prefer one over the other, but enjoy both.

Why the intolerance? Why do some people who only participate in one of the two feel the need to belittle the other? I don't get it. What's the point? Aren't we all doing basically the same thing? We love to ride our bikes. Some of us on the road, some on the trails and some like it both ways. Yeah, go ahead and have fun with that. ;)

I'm fed up with some of the crap I've been hearing lately about how a paved climb can't be "hard" because it's paved. If you want a "hard" hill, you need rocks and sticks and things that move underneath your wheels." I readily acknowledge that mountain biking climbs can be absolutely freaking hard if not impossible. That's cool. There are some climbs that I can do now that took me a couple of seasons of trying before I could ride them all the way up. I appreciate that. But, don't try to tell me that a road hill can't be hard because it's paved. Sorry, but that's bulls**t. Maybe I should send him on hill ride with KL or my friend Doug. Both on and off road hills can be hard, just in different ways.

I get upset when the debate goes in the other direction as well, it's just that this rant comes after an annoying exchange with a mountain biker who thinks he knows everything and that roadies don't know what 'hard' is. Argh.

Seriously, how hard is it to get along???