Dont know why but i find it much more enjoyable to ride with somone why i am off road. On the road i preffer to ride alone and really enjoy that (nice time to think).

I tend to loose a bit of motvation on the MTB when one my own, also tend to be aware that if i fall off and break something then having a partner could make all the difference.

MTB is much more stop start so it lends itself to socialising. It is nice to have someone to scrape you off the ground
Road is about rhythm and cadence and you dont stop.
I do them same MTB for social [ though I do still ride alone]and all my road rides these days are solo.

I don’t know aobut the comparison between road and off road but I also tend to suffer from cba syndrome when I got out on the mtb on my own. If I’m going to the DH track, when I’m on my own I tend to just take the shortest, fastest rotue instead of the slightly longer but more fun one. I can never be bothered to push myself either, I just troundle along, unless it’s a downhill section of course…

A couple of tales..

A year or so back, a roadie friend of mine was visiting Edinburgh and we headed down to Glentress with his seldom-used MTB. I thought we’d try the Blue route first, so set him off in front of me. Well, that was it. He was off up the hill like a shot and I didn’t see him until we were on the last section of the Blue descent. We had a coffee and decided to do the Red. Once again, he left me trailing uphill and it was on the section after Spooky Woods that I caught him up. The thing was, he’d never even considered stopping at any point, the way that most MTBers do.

Second… I was doing the Isle of Man End2End last week and was trying to chat to my fellow riders as we rode/walked/struggled along together. Barely a word from any of them. I’m more used to Sportives where chatting as riding along is normal, so I found this a bit strange.

Summary – It all depends. Roadies probably have more of a chance to chat as they ride. Mountain bikers are more often in single file, so any chat comes before/after each section of the ride. Personally, I enjoy them both in company and alone at various times. Some folk do seem to struggle with the concept of doing multi-day rides solo though….

FFS! they just don’t like you 😛

Yep with you there fella

I don’t mind riding either mtb or road alone, sometimes even prefer it but it depends what and where you’re riding. For DH I usually like to ride alone as I just like the free choice of riding whatever trails I want to. Most people I’ve ridden with recently want to do a different trail each run down which is fine but I prefer to keep going over the same trails til I’ve learnt the best lines and got the whole lot dialled. I don’t really have much of a problem pushing myself to ride new things either.

xc is better with others, I find I get slow and lazy if I’m doing climbs by myself.

Steve me e periences are very similar although I choose to ride the road alone. I find other roadies don’t talk to you and barely day hello until I do my best DomJolly impression. Done a couple of sportives though and I have spoken to a fair few people on route but a sportive is mainly quite chilled with the exception of a few people who take it seriously and don’t talk. This may be because I have an ancient road bike and keep up with them on their their expensive machine or maybe they Prefer being alone. Don’t see them talking to each other much either. On the MTB it has always been social for me waiting for the slowest person, taking photos of someone crashing, just having a laugh. Thats what got me not mtbing in the first place and why after 1.5yrs of no riding buddies I seem to spend more time on the road. Having said that I enjoy riding with my brother in law once in a blue moon but he’s a MTB racer and doesn’t believe in stopping much

When I’m on my mtb on my own I vey rarely stop. When I’m out with my mates the same route can sometimes take an hour longer due to us putting the world to rights.

i do most of my riding with the same group of blokes.
be it a mtb ride, a audax or ctc ride or a weeks touring.
it is always very sociable, and as we get older i reckon that is the reason we ride together.
to be sociable, with good natured banter and to make memories.

to make memories.

That Tony, is bang on 😉

I just find it funny that i can go out for 3 hours on the road and pe happy as a pig in mud on my own but after 30mins on the mtb in a forest im struggling.

Not to say i dont like the mtb but i just have to have some company to get the full experience.

stevewhyte – Member
I just find it funny that i can go out for 3 hours on the road and pe happy as a pig in mud on my own but after 30mins on the mtb in a forest im struggling.

Answered your own question there???

On the other hand, MTB clubs / volunteer groups etc. are very thin on the ground though. There are loads of road bike & running clubs where I live, but MTB clubs? Nothing formal, more loose arrangements between groups of people.

Nationally? There’s a few I’m aware of but based on the ‘club’ scene I’d say that MTB is incredibly unsociable.

MTB is much more stop start so it lends itself to socialising. It is nice to have someone to scrape you off the ground

MTB stop-start? Did 4.5 hours today, we stopped twice – and the second time was because one of us punctured.

Personally I reckon road is more social – you spend a lot more time in a group chatting, it’s not like you need to be constantly looking out for rocks, ruts, whatever…

it’s not like you need to be constantly looking out for rocks, ruts, whatever…

The state of the roads in Surrey I’m constantly looking at the road to avoid a puncture, damaged wheel etc.

MTB is incredibly unsociable.

Spend at least a day on an uplift or chairlift assisted ride and you’ll see how wrong that is 🙂 I seem to have a decent conversation with a different group of people I’ve never met before each time I go up the mountain! There aren’t many clubs about though I suppose but that doesn’t make the sport unsociable.

Quite ironic that you’ve either deliberately quoted me out of context or not read my post properly 😀

Sorry must’ve had a bit of a brain fart earlier. I still don’t think a lack of clubs makes it unsociable though, to me it just means people can’t be arsed with setting up or joining clubs 😆