I prefer road riding to mountain biking

There. I’ve said it.

Perhaps this is a bit of a self-indulgent troll, but the fab weather this week has really hit home what is so great about road riding and it’s the convenience. Tonight I finally get to squeeze a daylight bike ride in; there are no kid’s going to swimming, no meetings, no work getting in the way (touch wood), no wife at the gym. Just me rushing to finish work and get on the bike.

I LOVE mountain biking. I really do. I’d love to be up on the moors tonight on my bouncy bike whilst the sun goes down, but to do so involves either a ride with a lot of road work to get somewhere good or it involves getting in the car, both of which are huge compromises to a great ride.

My road bike will get me on the moors in a matter of minutes on terrain that’s a joy to ride a road bike on rather than a means to get to the good stuff. I’m lucky. My local lanes are quiet. I can “get away from it all” easily even if I stay on the roads.

So today I am torn. I want to ride my mountain bike. I like riding my mountain bike. The thought of tearing up the dry trails whilst the sun goes down puts a huge smile on my face.I’ll be gutted if I miss the opportunity of taking in the Sun and dust on my MTB. It’s just that I know that whilst I’m slogging along the road on my draggy full susser, bound for the good stuff, I may well be wishing I was seeing a lot more, a lot quicker, on my road bike.

#FirstWorldProblem

Don’t declare it for all the world yet mate!

Personally, my affinity for road riding ebbs and flows.

get a cross gravel bike.

[runs for exit]

I know what you’re saying but the good bits on a mountain bike are so much better than the good bits on a road bike that there’s no way in hell I would ever say road biking is better.

Who cares ride bikes and enjoy it

This week I have ridden a road bike, a cross bike a SS and now off out on the FS Not sure what I will ride at the weekend.

+1 to what junkyard says. Riding any bike is better than being part of a traffic jam.

Yeah, as long as you’re out there spinning those pedals and loving it, you are doing a great thing! 😉

Nothing to see here people. Move along.

+1 for most of the OP and the reasons. MTB is all about quality not quantity for us now, I’d rather ride my road bike than drive 30 mins to ride the Chilterns (heresy for my riding mates, I know), so it’s either road or “worthwhile” trips to FoD, Wales (usually for long weekends), the Downs etc. Usually have a big MTB holiday every year (Morocco, Turkey, India etc) so it’s still our “first love” but the combination of convenience and genuine enjoyment swings the majority of our riding onto the road.

I’ve got a 3-day weekend coming up with the missus (very rare, she had to take leave to make it work) and it’s CX race saturday, 80 mile road ride sunday, and possibly MTB monday IF it stays dry.

I don’t.

+1 for Junkyard

They’re all good,just get out & enjoy the cycling!

get out *points to the door* you’re not welcome here, leave your baggies & peaked helmet at the door. 😉

It’s all good. I’m slightly addicted to doing the sort of distances on a road bike that just aren’t possible on a mountain bike. I’ve hardly ridden off-road in about eight years: aside from liking the road, MTBing is much, much harder to fit in around kids.

I do kind of miss traffic-free riding, though (even though most of my road riding is at about 6am when there’s not too much traffic about). A cross/gravel/whatever bike is a wonderful n+1 to have 🙂

They are both ace!

Had a lovely ride on local roads yesterday. Off to Penmachno for some off road fun today.

If I absolutely had to give one up though, it’d be mtb. Mostly because we have loads of great local roads but uninspiring trails.

Who cares ride bikes and enjoy it

This week I have ridden a road bike, a cross bike a SS and now off out on the FS Not sure what I will ride at the weekend.

I care because I simply don’t have the opportunities to ride as much as you have this week, so I put a lot more pressure on myself to make those rare rides count.

MTBing is much, much harder to fit in around kids.

This. If I lived on Whistler Mountain I’m quite sure I’d be mountain biking as much if not more than road riding, but location and circumstance mean road riding gets the nod most of the time.

get out *points to the door* you’re not welcome here, leave your baggies & peaked helmet at the door.

*ahem* says the man who prompted this thought process in my head by giving me a choice tonight 😉 😆

Both good for different reasons and I get training benefits from each discipline which help with the other.

If I do one more than the other for whatever reason, when I go back to the other discipline I remember how good it is. We’ve managed quite a nice balance this year which has been great.

Get a fast hardtail (xc 29er), best of both worlds, with some fast rolling tyres they’re pretty good on road, I set off at 5.30pm Wednesday night, did 20 miles finishing in the dark, mixed back lanes & bridleways/cheeky woods ride, was ideal, and never felt the bike was the limiting factor on the road sections.

Get a fast hardtail (xc 29er)

Funnily enough this has crossed my mind. A few years back I had a light, rigid, geared MTB alongside a road bike and a full susser. I always said to myself that if I could only keep one bike, that would have been it. I took it everywhere and it was fun everywhere. Granted I was very much a wheels on the ground rider then 😉

Or a CX bike?

Or a CX bike?

Probably a good choice for “one bike to rule them all”. The fact is my mountain biking and road riding has diverged more and more, with my mountain biking in the last year or so more focused on the more technical end of the spectrum than “old skool” XC; “one bike” isn’t as practical an option as it once was.

calling Binners to the forum!!…bring yer Bombers with you!!

To really enjoy mountain biking, you have to be skilled/brave/fast; funnily enough, most mountain bike riders aren’t. Hence, pootling along at a “fast” 16mph average on a road bike will make much more sense to them.

Don’t get an CX bike they really don’t cut it for proper offroad. However a decent hardtail 29er will cope with pretty much everything offroad, while being acceptable to ride onroad to the trail.

I think an XC race hardtail would be the bike to rule them all. And with a dropper post you could ride 99% of what you do on the full sus (just a bit slower).

I’ve riden velodrome, road and MTB so far this week. Away visiting the parents and may not manage a ride this weekend, going to try and sneak the kiddie trailer in the boot and see what I can do with minimal traffic.

To really enjoy mountain biking, you have to be skilled/brave/fast; funnily enough, most mountain bike riders aren’t. Hence, pootling along at a “fast” 16mph average on a road bike will make much more sense to them.

unsure if blatant troll or twit 🙂

Don’t get me wrong, this is not me falling out of love with mountain biking. This is me choosing to spend my rare 2 hours of riding opportunity by riding 2 hours on my road bike instead of 1 hour off-road on my mountain bike and 1 hour getting to and from the good stuff. Anyway, it’s all been said before blah blah blah 😆

it’s the convenience

Ready meals of biking. I’m out. 😀

unsure if blatant troll or twit

😀 It’s a summary of my cycling “career”

Bez – Member

unsure if blatant troll or twit

that’s David doing his finest work of late.

and, as ever, it relies on a grain of truth.

I wouldn’t ride if it involved having to put bike in car and drive somewhere so I just use the best bike for the surroundings I live in.

This means a bit of road and a lot of off road. I have at times strayed to only road but quickly got bored.

Depends where you live.

I’m right next to Ashton Court & Leigh Woods in Bristol. They’re lower ranking trail centres, but that’s all that I need at the moment! I can be out and back in around an hour; perfect for work-from-home days or evening rides.

If it weren’t for their proximity, I’d “mountain bike” only a handful of times per year over the last few years – but thankfully it’s much more often.

It sounds like you prefer convenient/accessible riding, not road riding per se.

Depends where you live.

Indeed. When I lived in Manchester, a quick two hour blast was only possible on the road. Now I’m in the hills, it’s just as easy to jump on the MTB. Excluding commuting I probably split the time 50/50 and whether I do one or the other depends on what I can be bothered with, weather etc at the time. If it’s sunny/dry then the MTB wins, if raining then usually the road bike.

It sounds like you prefer convenient/accessible riding, not road riding per se.

semantics 🙂

I prefer road riding because it is more convenient/accessible. I like driving up and down the country if there’s good riding at the end of the journey, if only I had the opportunity to do it more often. If I had no other responsibilities I’d be boring all of you on here about my latest weekend away mountain biking up and down this beautiful land.

Conversely I’ve rarely driven anywhere to road ride. The road riding on my doorstep is so good.

Not sure what I will ride at the weekend.

I do….fnar fnar….

I think you tend to get more cross over from MTB to Road, rather than Road to MTB.

I know a few Road Only cyclist at work…..They’re missing out on soooo much.

Most of my riding is on my cross….but I do get a little tingle and quite a bit or urge when I’m getting the full bouncer out….

It isn’t semantics though, is it? Where I live I’m off the tarmac within two minutes and on proper singletrack in less than ten. Conversely the roads around here are pretty busy so I don’t think I could really enjoy road riding here. Move me to somewhere without local trails and with quieter roads and things would be very different.

There’s some lovely roads pretty much from my doorstep. Bugger all by way of trails really without a 30 minute drive.

I think I still prefer mountain biking but increasingly road riding is my default option due to time constraints.

It’s come to my attention recently that I prefer sitting on my arse to either road or mountain biking.
I wish it were not true but it’s kind of getting that way!

De gustibus non disputandum est.