MTB seems so much harder than road riding

[Humpy]

I'm not here to make friends. I just wanted to clear up all the BS.

Well fuck. That cancels out my being here only to spread BS. :|

Anyway, you are all stupid wrong. BMX is harder and and way more rad than the road and mtn biking. Think about it. What kind of bikes do old lesbians ride? Road bikes. What kind of bikes do drug dealers and DUI'ers ride. Mountain bikes. What bikes do those in the prime of their lives ride? BMX.

 

[JulesMaximus]

why don't you guys just get a powermeter and show us how hard you are riding?

i'd probably agree that you perceive MTBing to be "harder" but at the end of the day watts are watts. i MTB'd for years and switched to road biking this past year, after learning how to properly spin it is much easier to ride longer, but I'm getting a better workout and climb much more than I ever did MTBing

Well, I still have my road bikes and I do ride one of them, just not very frequently. I've been doing the mtb thing pretty much exclusively.

Not giving up the road bikes anytime soon.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Well fuck. That cancels out my being here only to spread BS. :|

Anyway, you are all stupid wrong. BMX is harder and and way more rad than the road and mtn biking. Think about it. What kind of bikes do old lesbians ride? Road bikes. What kind of bikes do drug dealers and DUI'ers ride. Mountain bikes. What bikes do those in the prime of their lives ride? BMX.

Skateboarding is where it's at bro.

 

[sdifox]

The point I'm making is that either mtn or road can be made to be equally difficult. If you're not feeling enough leg burn then drop down a cog and pedal harder. Still not enough drop another cog. You will eventually get to the point where your legs can not pedal any faster or harder. Now tell me again why it matters if the bike is 15 or 30lbs or how much the wheels weigh?

because energy expenditure is involved. It's just that mountain biking expenditure pattern differs vastly from road race.

This is the most challenging mountain bike race in the world.

http://www.bike-transalp.de/index.php?id=2&L=1

 

[Bacstar]

When I used to ride regularly, mtn or road, I found both to be as hard as I wanted them to be. I road my mtn bike more because it was mainly a funner ride, and when I ate shit, it didn't hurt as much.

 

[_Rick_]

They are not directly comparable unless you are going downhill. 200 watts is 200 watts. If you're going DH on an mtb, I agree that the beating you take in your joints, upper body, and back does contribute to your fatigue.

Try to ride a steady 18 mph over a rutted road, and tell me you don't take a beating.
Some roots really killed me two weeks ago, on a ride south of Toulouse. And even though on an MTB you wouldn't even notice the irregularities very much, on a road bike these slight irregularities become a pace eating torture.
Those irregularities (and a vicious set of climbs from roughly the 60 mile mark) absolutely did it for me, and contributed to a lowly ~16.5 mph average over 70 miles.

Also, MTBs have these super tiny ratios. When I hit a 9% incline, my cardio and setup don't allow me to stomp up the hill at 90 rpm, and my legs (and torso/back) have to take the extra force required by the lower rpm and "round pedaling". And I refuse to mount a triple
On an MTB, there's always a smaller gear.

But I'm looking at MTBs, mostly as an off-season toy, when I don't want to get my road bike dirty.

 

[Capt Caveman]

This thread is awesome.

This. It's too funny. As someone who mtb xc raced for many years, one of the main reasons for training on the road is that it's safer without the beating than training with that same intensity on the trails.

 

[BikeJunkie]

Is this what you do in your spare time to try to feel better about yourself?

Compared to you I've barely said anything in this thread.

Compared to you, I'm not really the asshole I attacked what you said. You've attacked me personally and gotten comically out of shape about it. It's a forum man, get over it.

why don't you guys just get a powermeter and show us how hard you are riding?

Unfortunately a decent one is stupid expensive. I'd love one, or at least love to have one long enough to determine how accurately Strava estimates power output when it has your weight, bike's weight, and HRM input.

i'd probably agree that you perceive MTBing to be "harder" but at the end of the day watts are watts. i MTB'd for years and switched to road biking this past year, after learning how to properly spin it is much easier to ride longer, but I'm getting a better workout and climb much more than I ever did MTBing

Jackpot.

Next up: cyclocross!!!

 

[PricklyPete]

I am far from an exercise expert, but both can be equally taxing in their own way. For whatever reason, I have never latched on to road biking. Partly because I prefer to run for long, consistent workouts. If I am wanting to really enjoy my exercise, I will mountain bike (which I do a ton of). The trails around here are both very technical and very steep offering a lot of fun and a lot of exercise at the same time. One of my favorite rides nearby is 18 miles and 3100 vertical feet in climbing. That gives a great work out without killing you. If I just want exercise for exercise sake... I'll just log a ton of running miles (doing that now as the snow has started to accumulate).

 

[MiniDoom]

more torque and resistance on a mountain bike. Road can be just as hard though. My heart rate data is very similar during a crit and a cyclocross race. The peaks (zone 5) are opposite, cx peaks at the start, crits peak at the end.

 

[darkswordsman17]

I want to piss in the Cheerios of anyone that actually uses the acronym MTB for this.

 

[Drako]

I want to piss in the Cheerios of anyone that actually uses the acronym MTB for this.

Why? It is commonly used so piss away

 

[Phanuel]

http://www.mtbr.com/ :awe: