The hill looks different from a saddle than from behind a windscreen.

Effort changes what a landscape is. From a car, a hill is a shape in the distance and a few seconds of engine noise. From a bicycle it is weather, gradient, and a decision about pace made a mile before you reach it. Neither view is wrong, but they are not the same hill, and most disagreements about how hard something is are really disagreements about the vehicle.

When someone tells you a task is straightforward, ask how they were travelling when they found it so. And when you next call something easy, check whether you had a windscreen between you and it.