Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 92 total)
  • How much easier is road riding than MTB?
  • stevied
    Free Member

    Have a mate who does a bit of road riding, about 100 (fairly flat) miles/week. I do about 25-30 on the Malvern Hills.
    He reckons he could easily do the same MTB ride as me, faster than me, because he rides 3 times the distance I do.
    He wants to have a bet (curry night out) that he’ll beat me on and off road using a Garmin/Strava to track the route. So, he’ll do a route on road that I can follow on the Garmin, then I’ll do one off road which he’ll follow. We’ll then compare times etc.

    So does 25-30 off road, hilly miles equate to 100 flat, road miles?

    Kryton57
    Full Member

    No, its very different. Road is very cardio based, if hes a strong rider he’ll drop you.

    MTB is technical, as long as you don’t pick an easy double track section to “race” on – send him down some lumpy singletrack – you’ll win.

    Its why a lot of us / the pros do both, Cardio fitness from the road technical skills from MTB

    njee20
    Free Member

    IMO he’s right.

    1km off road roughly equals 1 mile on road as a sensible conversion factor.

    Do it by time; 30 miles is c4 hours at a leisurely pace. 100 miles is 5 hours balls to the wall. He gets more time in the saddle than you.

    That said, if it’s a very technical circuit then he may lose bags of time there. But I suspect he’s fitter.

    57 seconds too slow.

    Nobeerinthefridge
    Free Member

    I’ll bet on you.

    Roadies in my old club were absolutely pumped after a lap of the black at Kirro, it’s totally different, short sharp efforts and upper body strength demands as well.

    wwpaddler
    Free Member

    I reckoned the 130km on road flattish Caledonian Etape was significantly easier than the 50km off road very hilly Selkirk MTB marathon.

    Rockplough
    Free Member

    Far too many variables (incline, surface, terrain, skill, fitness) to say. Sounds like a fun challenge though.

    MTB-Idle
    Free Member

    Do you need the Garmin to monitor/manage this?

    Can’t you just go out riding together, MTB one day, road the next?

    stevied
    Free Member

    Can’t you just go out riding together, MTB one day, road the next?

    Not really..If he’s faster on-road, he’ll lose me. Likewise, if I’m faster off-road I’ll lose him so we won’t know the route.

    cokie
    Full Member

    My 100 mile road ride with more elevation was far easier than the 100km offroad endurance race I did. That almost broke me- only time I’ve ever been emotional from riding 🙄

    Same fitness level, but offraod left me with cramps, burning shoulders, chest & arms.

    Nobeerinthefridge
    Free Member

    1km off road roughly equals 1 mile on road

    As said above, too many variables. 100km up the river ayr way and back earlier in the year was waaayyyy harder than the 100 mile ride to the sun at the weekend, despite RTTS being my first road ride of the year. Both had pretty much the same amount of climbing.

    chakaping
    Free Member

    Sounds fun.

    Stick plenty of hills in and you should be in with a good shout, if he’s only used to riding on the flat.

    Have you got a decent road bike that fits you?

    iainc
    Full Member

    100km up the river ayr way and back earlier in the year was waaayyyy harder than the 100 mile ride to the sun

    yeah, but were you not riding underwater for half of it ! (‘cos that’s what I heard….) 😆

    fasthaggis
    Full Member

    Just to turn it round a bit.My mate and I were training for a big multi day off road event,so we spent all our time riding as hard as we could on big off road days.We went out for a road run with the club on one of the weekends and got destroyed. So we switched our mileage to road training and did short techie off road stuff to keep our awezum skilz level up 😉 .When we next went out on a club run we stayed at the front no problem and none of them could catch us when they ventured off road.

    tlr
    Full Member

    Depends entirely on how hard either of you try whilst doing your weekly mileage.

    If he does it in a couple of long hard efforts, and you pootle about off road then he’ll probably win and vice versa. And as others have said, course technicality and profile will play a part. Also don’t underestimate how hard flat road miles can be – I ride a lot of hills, but find the constant effort of flat roads quite tiring after a while, and I can’t play the power to weight card!

    Too many variables and unknowns really, but if pushed I’d probably bet on him.

    Nobeerinthefridge
    Free Member

    yeah, but were you not riding underwater for half of it ! (‘cos that’s what I heard….)

    Na, that was a different day, Chris may have told you we did 100k, but it was actually about 40!

    Day we did RAW 100 was a lovely spring day, and trails were pretty dry.

    stevied
    Free Member

    His last few rides have been about 25 miles with 600ft elevation, mine have been 15 miles with 2000ft elevation..

    legend
    Free Member

    cokie – Member

    My 100 mile road ride with more elevation was far easier than the 100km offroad endurance race I did. That almost broke me- only time I’ve ever been emotional from riding

    Same fitness level, but offraod left me with cramps, burning shoulders, chest & arms.

    turn that road ‘ride’ into a 100 mile time-trial and you’d have a fairer comparison – and it would be **** horrid (but different from off road) and mentally a lot harder (i reckon) than the mtb race

    perchypanther
    Free Member

    100km up the river ayr

    Wasn’t that a Burt Reynolds film?

    Nobeerinthefridge
    Free Member

    600ft over 25 miles is a canal towpath.

    legend
    Free Member

    stevied – Member

    His last few rides have been about 25 miles with 600ft elevation, mine have been 15 miles with 2000ft elevation..

    Still doesn’t compare. His 25 could have been high intensity intervals whereas you could be bimbling about grinning on a fatbike

    Nobeerinthefridge
    Free Member

    Wasn’t that a Burt Reynolds film?

    No, that was Last tango in wishy.

    Nobeerinthefridge
    Free Member

    PP, you need to venture doon into the ‘shire for a spin, I want tosee if you’re as quick on the bike as you are on a keyboard! 😆

    kcal
    Full Member

    he might struggle to follow a quite technical route even just on Garmin / Strava – navigation – whilst I would have thought a road route is easier to follow. good challenge though, need to ensure you don’t both ramp up the challenge too much!

    stevied
    Free Member

    Still doesn’t compare. His 25 could have been high intensity intervals whereas you could be bimbling about grinning on a fatbike

    Ride time is approx the same..

    martinhutch
    Full Member

    His last few rides have been about 25 miles with 600ft elevation, mine have been 15 miles with 2000ft elevation..

    Make sure both the road and off-road sections are bumpy then.

    njee20
    Free Member

    As said above, too many variables

    hence I said ” a sensible conversion factor”. Of course it’s not de facto, that’s a given. It’s a reasonable approximation where comparisons are reasonable though IMO. Ie not comparing riding up the Fort Bill DH course versus a 12mph bimble in the fens, nor comparing the Marmotte with riding on a tow path!

    whitestone
    Free Member

    Hmm, did the Three Dales Challenge on Sunday – 64Km with 1400m of ascent took 4hrs12, on the roads round here that is about 2hr30.

    I’d go with the 1Km off-road is equivalent to 1 mile on road.

    perchypanther
    Free Member

    PP, you need to venture doon into the ‘shire for a spin, I want tosee if you’re as quick on the bike as you are on a keyboard!

    Unfortunately I was born with a terrible affliction where the blood supply in my body is totally biased towards my fingers and my mooth and bypasses my legs and lungs almost entirely.
    My abilities on a bike entirely reflect this, unfortunately 😳

    I did try and ride up a hill once. Didn’t like it. Not in any hurry to try it again any time soon.

    I suspect I’m not the only forumer with this affliction. 🙂

    xyeti
    Free Member

    As a comparison, MTB’er Through and Through, Same as most folk i MTB’ed regularly. Peaks / dales / Dalby / Glentress and most places in between. Averaged between 20 and 30 miles in the Peaks with all the usual hills and climbs like Hag Farm, Lockerbrook, Roman Road, Potato Alley. Regularly nipped off 50 – 100 miles a week.

    I was a few places behind Lite Lard on the descends and not too bad on the Climbs so i thought i’d go rack some road miles up…….. BIG Mistake, Stitch, short of breath, cramp, calfs locking up hands killing me and on and on. Averaging 16MPH for 18 miles and pretty pooped afterwards.

    As others have said it’s different, It’s riding a bike and all the other cliche’s but having ridden Road Only since before Xmas Just shy of 4K Miles i got on the MTB last Month and it destroyed me. Way more than the Road ride did, i very nearly Bonked. 37 Miles at a fairly decent off road pace. Fore arms and shoulders were fatigued legs were just dead. My mate put it down to me having an off day but i struggled to lump the bike around over some fairly technical terrain. Tyres were dragging, gearing was a comedy after building up cadence on the Road. the 30T front ring wiped me out.

    I think you will both struggle a bit, who ever admits it more is down to the both of you.

    I borked at Road Cycling for a good few years, What could possibly be hard about pushing hose pipes round a smooth tarmac surface.

    philjunior
    Free Member

    It totally depends, but I would guess 100 miles on road would be harder going fitness wise than 25-30 miles on the MTB. But as he’s splitting it into three rides it’s maybe not as much of a challenge but will still probably give him more fitness benefit.

    It depends how hilly the 25-30 miles are though – I can think of some rides of around 10 miles that take me 2-3 hrs on the mtb and some that take about one (with a reasonable amount of effort).

    Conversely if the 100 “flat” road miles aren’t really, it’ll take it further the other way.

    Edit: and if it’s exposed and windy on the road, you’ll be going backwards.

    njee20
    Free Member

    I can think of some rides of around 10 miles that take me 2-3 hrs on the mtb

    No MTB ride should average anything like 3mph. Hike-a-bike stuff maybe.

    philjunior
    Free Member

    I can think of some rides of around 10 miles that take me 2-3 hrs on the mtb
    No MTB ride should average anything like 3mph. Hike-a-bike stuff maybe.

    Well OK there would be some carrying up.

    deadkenny
    Free Member

    legend – Member
    Still doesn’t compare. His 25 could have been high intensity intervals whereas you could be bimbling about grinning on a fatbike

    Exactly. Some of our weekend warrior super socials are around 15 miles and 2000 to 3000ft… and can be anything up to 6 hours social faff and laughs 😀 (stop at a shop for cheese straw/cake/tea/etc included). It’s trail, stop, chat, trail, play on some jumps/drops, chat, photos, trail, etc.

    Evening group rides, 10 to 15 miles, barely couple hundred feet to 1000 max, and can be utterly shattering. Usually about 2hrs. I mix it up between two paces of ride, both 2hrs, one is an easy social but still needs some effort and not much faffing. The other is fast and barely if any stops, same terrain, but pushes me to the limit.

    I do all kinds though. On my own I’ll mile munch off road, doing 30 to 40 miles, on occasions more, with similar 3000ft-ish climbing, and not much faff and stopping. Though it’s more long climbs and fast singletrack and technical downs and I’m not too shattered. The evening group ride stuff I do is more into short sharp technical climbs repeated and that burns my legs.

    fifeandy
    Free Member

    The miles/km conversation works as a rough estimate, but theres too many variables to be accurate.

    Better to compare how many hours per week to get a clue about where relative fitness levels will be.

    jamesfts
    Free Member

    Hard to compare the two really, as people have said it’d down to a lot more than just miles covered and overall fitness.

    I share an office with roadie, seriously quick, usually in the top 3 at local TTs etc. If we go out on the road bikes he can drop me at will.

    Last year I talked him into the Torq 12hr endurance race at Gorrick. The course had little in the way of elevation (about 150m) but was mostly twisty single track with some short sharp section meaning plenty of gear changing and bursts of power. He really struggled with it, had consistently slower lap times and called it a day before the end of the race.

    I’d say you’d be quicker round the hills in this comparison if you plan the right route, lots of technical climbs and descents and avoid long drawn out slogs and consistent gradients.

    grannyjone
    Free Member

    It depends on the mountain bike route. I’d say most 30 mile mountain bike rides are far easier than most 100 mile road rides. Probably the terrain would have to be very severe for a 30 mile mountain bike ride to be harder than a flat 100 miles road ride.

    Mountain bike routes with more gradual ascents, gradual descents and an amount of flat sections, end up being the fastest.

    Steeper climbs, steeper descents (instead of gradual) and no flat sections, always leads to an (on average) slower ride and end up being harder per mile.

    Plus the technicality of the terrain as well, obviously. Especially if it causes a hike a bike.

    tom200
    Full Member

    Go out with him, you sit on his wheel on the road, he sits on your wheel on the mtb……that’s got to be fair right ❓

    deadkenny
    Free Member

    I know plenty of gradual ascent and descent MTB routes that are really quite tough going, because the surface is loose, rocks, roots, stones, bricks, rutted, etc. I’d fly up the same distance and gradient if it was tarmac.

    For 30 miles off road, there’s not much I know even in the supposed flat of the south east, that’s really that easy, except for tow paths (and even then you’re stopped every hundred metres by irate walkers, dogs or stuck behind joggers with their headphones on). Maybe SDW is a longish easy flat one round here, but I’ve never done it. Always sounds too boring 😉

    molgrips
    Free Member

    So many variables. If you want a road ride to be slightly easier, you can go slightly slower and nothing changes. On technical steep MTB you have to put a decent amount of effort in just to keep riding.

    What gets me on the road bike is the constant effort in the same position. Last summer I did 100 miles off-road in 15 hours. I was pretty knackered, but I’d not have been able to ride 15 hours on a road bike without some serious breaks.

    corroded
    Free Member

    Interesting challenge. I did the Bristol Bikefest 12hr with a mtb-only mate. I do (a lot) more road than mtb these days (it was my first mtb ride of the year). He did both the fastest and the slowest laps but I had the quicker average (by about 2min) because I could power up the climbs and along the flats. He knew the course like the back of his hand so he was undoubtedly faster on the twisty bits. I guess it comes down to handling and power vs endurance.

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