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One of the simplest rewards in GTA 5 is the clicking of a free-wheeling BMX as you glide down a giant hill. It may have (once upon a time) cost me actual health to get to the top of it, but mounting the summit and beginning that leisurely cruise to the bottom is a blissful thing. Away from police sirens, gunshots and NPC screams, a simple bike ride in the country feels like a holiday away from GTA's nasty downtown chaos. The sound of whirring gears and thin tyres on tarmac are soft and unobtrusive, the countryside's ambience coming to the fore as it's set free from the in-game radio and engine exhaust notes. Cycling to the ridge of a mountain at sunset is probably GTA 5 at its most beautiful and serene; a virtual being in a virtual world, happy to be soaking it in rather than having to do all those awful crimes.
I did a fair amount of leisure cycling in GTA 5's story mode, partly as relief from the sheer psychological impact of the characters' downright awfulness. That, and the simple fact that the great outdoors is a fabulous place to explore by bike. There's a multitude of downhill runs to find, marked or otherwise. In these cartoonish descents, the pace is always exhilarating and the leniency GTA 5 gives you is often brilliantly comedic.
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