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I've come to the conclusion that the English are a zany bunch. At the risk of a gross generalization, I think this would probably apply to the residents of all those little islands between us and Europe.
A bit of background here. Our friends Pamela and John had moved to New Zealand, and Susan agreed to pick up their mail and forward the good bits until they got a new address. Since the catalogs were not worth sending on, I became the recipient. They must get every bike catalog and magazine in the world, literally. One day, I was going through the pile and found one entitled "The Rough Stuff Journal." I was a bit taken aback, since I didn't think they were into S&M, but upon further reading, this seemed to be what the British call off road riding. But it's not really what we're used to thinking of as mountain biking, which is where the zaniness comes in. The don't do this all decked out in their double suspended state of the art mountain bikes, and they don't seem to frequent the traditional trails. Basically, the idea is that you want to ride somewhere, and there doesn't seem to be a road, well, carry on anyway.
The back cover has a picture of a fellow who looked a lot like Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull, hoisting his road bike across a stream. This gives you an idea of the amount of non-riding these rides entailed (if this were canoeing this would be called a "portage").
One commentary was on a ride that was described as 15 miles long, taking five hours. I quickly did the math and concluded that it would in fact be faster to walk. This was the conclusion reached by the author somewhat later in the piece, but the reasoning was that when you finally popped out onto something resembling a road, you would have your faithful bike with you to proceed on to greater adventures.
Greater adventures often entailed overnights at a hostel, of which, unlike here, there seem to be ample supply in England. Ride reports are also peppered with descriptions of scrumptious tea and cakes, or a fine lunch capped off with one or more pints of beer. Contrast this with our typical ride, where if anyone stops at all, it's for five minutes to scarf down a powerbar washed down with liquid that looks a lot like antifreeze. Comments like "Hot work called for a beer or two.." punctuate the articles. A campsite is described as an excellent choice based on immaculate showers and toilets, but also because of a "location nicely situated between two pubs." Their route choices can also be exciting such as a "road that turned out to be a river."
Cyclists here are pretty well regimented, you have your roadies, your mountain bikers, your randonneurs, and ne'er the twain shall meet. Your "rough stuff" rider seems to be a true hybrid. One article had a discussion of the proper bike for a particular ride, which had to be off-road enough to manipulate the nasty gnarly bits, but then trim enough to not be a drag on the asphalt part of the ride. And they always seem to find time to down a warm one at the local pub. Sounds like I'd fit right in.
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