MTB seems so much harder than road riding

[JulesMaximus]

I bought myself a mtb and have been riding it pretty regularly with a friend of mine, we did 14 miles yesterday half on paved trails and half off road. It took about an hour and a half and it felt pretty good. It has taken me longer to get my cycling legs back than I anticipated but I'm feeling good on the climbs now.

Really enjoy riding off road actually. Kind of nice not sucking car exhaust and having a decent bike helps too. :biggrin:

 

[sdifox]

...

 

[Capt Caveman]

I bought myself a mtb and have been riding it pretty regularly with a friend of mine, we did 14 miles yesterday half on paved trails and half off road. It took about an hour and a half and it felt pretty good. It has taken me longer to get my cycling legs back than I anticipated but I'm feeling good on the climbs now.

Really enjoy riding off road actually. Kind of nice not sucking car exhaust and having a decent bike helps too. :biggrin:

It seems? It is harder.

 

[vi edit]

And in related news running on trails is harder than running on pavement.

 

[Meghan54]

Two completely different activities, even though both involve a bicycle.

Mtn. biking can be very anerobic exercise while road biking is much more an aerobic exercise. True, sprinting, climbing at full tilt will put you into anerobic territory, but just biking down the road....not so much.

Mtn. biking is all low speed grunting, working, damned hard, esp. if you're out of shape. You can hide being unfit on a road bike pretty well, hard to do on a mtn. bike unless you bike in your backyard or the parking lot.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Two completely different activities, even though both involve a bicycle.

Mtn. biking can be very anerobic exercise while road biking is much more an aerobic exercise. True, sprinting, climbing at full tilt will put you into anerobic territory, but just biking down the road....not so much.

Mtn. biking is all low speed grunting, working, damned hard, esp. if you're out of shape. You can hide being unfit on a road bike pretty well, hard to do on a mtn. bike unless you bike in your backyard or the parking lot.

Also, the technical skills required in Mtn. biking.

 

[Phanuel]

Road riding is definitely harder than mountain biking workout wise. Mountain bike racers do 80% of their training on a road bike and just ride the mountain bike for skills sharpening and for variety.

 

[Drako]

Well duh :|

 

[sdifox]

Road riding is definitely harder than mountain biking workout wise. Mountain bike racers do 80% of their training on a road bike and just ride the mountain bike for skills sharpening and for variety.

err, no. riding on a smooth surface is a hell lot easier than off-road. Plus mountain bikes are heavy compared to road bikes.

 

[Blackjack200]

This is a ridiculous conversation. Yes, riding 20-25 MPH on a flat road on a road bike is easy. Racing up the Alps and chasing the doped up peloton is not.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

Riding downhill is much easier

 

[sdifox]

This is a ridiculous conversation. Yes, riding 20-25 MPH on a flat road on a road bike is easy. Racing up the Alps and chasing the doped up peloton is not.

nor is bouncing off the dirt road going 35 degree up or down.

 

[JulesMaximus]

This is a ridiculous conversation.

No, it isn't.

Riding 20-25 MPH on a flat road on a road bike is easy.

Um, still no.

Racing up the Alps and chasing the doped up peloton is not easy.

Yes.

I've been a roadie for years but haven't been riding much the last few years so I've completely lost my cycling legs. Getting them back on the mtb has been tough but I'm finally feeling like I have my legs back. I think riding mtb will only improve my road riding abilities. Riding road does not improve your mtb abilities.

Also, I love the word technical... it is universally thrown around but how "technical" mountain biking is really is entirely dependent on where you ride.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Road riding is definitely harder than mountain biking workout wise. Mountain bike racers do 80% of their training on a road bike and just ride the mountain bike for skills sharpening and for variety.

No it isn't. I rode 14 miles on Saturday on my mtb and I felt good and tired after. I could ride 15-20 miles on my road bike at a much faster pace easily.

 

[Blackjack200]

Well that just proves it.

 

[thedarkwolf]

how about this. Both can be as easy or hard as you make them. Now everybody hold hands and sing.


BTW mtn biking is harder

 

[Eug]

You can hide being unfit on a road bike pretty well, hard to do on a mtn. bike unless you bike in your backyard or the parking lot.

Nah, I'd say in many cases it's just the opposite.

If you're a skilled mountain biker, you can save a lot of time in the technical parts of a rough MTB trail, and as soon as you hit the flats, your lack of fitness will become apparent.

I've never been someone to have great biking endurance, but it was best illustrated the time I entered a mountain bike race and turned out to be switching spots in the race with an ex-road biker.

On the rough difficult trails, I left him in the dust. By the time I exited the forest, I was way, way ahead of him and couldn't see him anywhere. Then we had this long stretch of flats and road and I saw a speck slowly gaining on me. By the time the we had finished that stretch, he was way ahead of me. And then when we got back onto the rough trails I caught and passed him again.

Yeah, I might have had a bit more strength than he did for cranking over the anaerobic parts, but the main reason is because he was more hesitant on the technical parts and thus a lot slower. Overall though I'd say he was in much better shape than me, but I was a better technical rider.

Unfortunately, now I'm just bad at both cuz I sit at a desk all day.

 

[BassBomb]

Jules, One summer I did a lot of riding on the road (still with my MTB) and it definitely helped me in my stamina and fitness department for when I hit the trails the same year a couple of months later. I would say trying out either opposing sport for awhile can help you in your normal one as well.

I feel like I have decent stamina on MTB, after 20-30 km still feel like I want to do more

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

You can pedal just as hard and just as intense on a road bike. In fact I'd say you could make a road ride harder than any mountain bike riding. With road training you could train at your maximum capacity and you don't have to stop and go as much or mess with technical stuff.

 

[SamQuint]

The tires make a huge difference. Lets say you are riding on a flat paved road. A MTB with big knobby tires will feel a whole lot harder to ride then a road bike with nice slick tires.

I put slicks on my mountain bike since I never was using it offroad and it was a hell of a lot easier to ride.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

If you're training at your maximum capacity it's the same whether you are on a mtn bike or a road bike. If you have slick tires it's not any easier you just go faster. I don't think you people understand training. On a road bike you can get in much more training without having to slow down to navigate a creek bed. A road bike allows you to go at your training pace without the distractions.

 

[Phanuel]

Let me clarify.

There are two difficulties involved with off road riding;
1) Fitness
2) Technical skills

Now, in a comparison of road vs mountain for point 1, road is far more difficult and will provide a far more substantial boost in overall fitness if you know how to train well. The ability to do repeatable interval training, consistent hill repeats, long stretches of road with no breaks, etc. It all adds up well in favor of a road bike and the ability to produce consistent measurable results.

In point 2, well, yeah, road will do absolutely nothing for your technical skills. So if we're comparing soley on point 2, mountain obviously is harder.

But if you've ever actually raced mountain bikes, the guys winning are spending the vast majority of their time on the road bike during the off season and then again during the season. There are some freaks who can do 100% mountain and compete, but if they put that kind of time into the road bike they'd be complete monsters.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

err, no. riding on a smooth surface is a hell lot easier than off-road. Plus mountain bikes are heavy compared to road bikes.

If it's easier on a smooth surface pedal harder pedal faster. Okay now you're pedaling like a maniac and you've reached your vo2 max. Does it matter if the bike is 30lbs or 15lbs, knobby or slick tires at this point? No.

 

[sdifox]

If it's easier on a smooth surface pedal harder pedal faster. Okay now you're pedaling like a maniac and you've reached your vo2 max. Does it matter if the bike is 30lbs or 15lbs, knobby or slick tires at this point? No.

It still makes a huge difference, otherwise you would not have carbon fiber rims/unibody. Rotational weight is nothing to laugh at.

 

[Phanuel]

That's for speed though, that does nothing to increase or decrease relative difficulty. A 100hp engine moving a 1 ton car vs a 2 ton car is still working just as hard regardless, the 1 ton will accelerate faster though.