Wondering if its worth the investment for aerobic training & winter riding tbh?
If I buy one, will I use it?
Bike Forum
Is road biking REALLY a performance advantage for MTB...?
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Posted 11 months ago #
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I reckon I have a better aerobic work out on my rd bike
Posted 11 months ago # -
Yes.
Posted 11 months ago # -
Well chances are that with a road bike you will do more riding, so yes, but if you were doing 10 hours a week on a mountain bike, or mixed road and mountain bike it would be the same IMO.
Posted 11 months ago # -
Aye
Thats why the pro's spend about 80% of their training on the Road.
Posted 11 months ago # -
MartinGT - Member
Aye
Thats why the pro's spend about 80% of their training on the Road.
Do they? links please.
Posted 11 months ago # -
Yes, started road riding last August and went out on the mountain bike for the first time in a while on a 21 mile local loop I used to ride weekly.
No proper stats to back it up but a definite improvement in time and effort.
Posted 11 months ago # -
My fitness is far higher from commuting. I use a CX with road(ish) tyres, road on the way to work and off-road on the way home
Posted 11 months ago # -
I find I can only do "so much" mountain biking before I start getting a bit bored - all the prep, mucky gear, washing bikes etc starts to get on my nerves.
I can finish work at 5, nip out for a 1 or 2 hour ride and I don't have to worry about all the filthy stuff.
So having a road bike means I get more miles in. Granted, there's a bit of psychology that won't apply for everyone, but it certainly works for me.
And yes, for sustained, high intensity cardio training, nothing beats a road bike.
Posted 11 months ago # -
Unquestionably yes. Back in the beginning the likes of Gould and Baker cam from huge road training backgrounds, (and won just about everything in the UK), and nothing much has changed. There was even a video of the Atherton's riding road bikes for training.
The simple answer is that you pedal more on road, stop less, (once out of the city/town), and generally work at a more consistent and higher heart rate
Posted 11 months ago # -
To add a bit more perspective; My time is limited by work/family etc so I can only get 3-4 rides in per week, a typical week being 3 rides. I do 4-5 events per year.
So swapping 2 rides per week out of a total of 3 - still enough to justify a road bike?
Posted 11 months ago # -
If you don't find the road bike fun then you may as well be spending more time on the mountain bike.. but if you do like it then it is worth it. Personally I ride my road bike in the week and then mountain bike at the weekends, as I don't live near any good trails and don't always have time in the week to get anywhere.
I found it has improved my fitness a lot which means mtb is a bit easier now.
Posted 11 months ago # -
Do you want to improve your performance at MTB races or justify buying a road bike?
Posted 11 months ago # -
Yes
Unless you have a big off road commute that you can hammer every day.
Miles give ya smiles
Posted 11 months ago # -
For a fat/big lad like me getting my ribble winter trainer meant that once the trails started drying out in rossendale after winter (sic) it was an easy transition back to the off road stuff.
Posted 11 months ago # -
Not really. Road biking allows you to do certain things better, like steady pace and targetted intervals. However there's nothing magically better or harder about it. Some people seem to be more focused on road rides though and doss about on MTBs, which could have something to do with it mind
Also, most people have roads nearby, which means you can always get out and ride for 4 hours from your house, without having to faff about and drive somewhere if you don't have local trails.
Personally I don't get my heart rate anything like as high on the road as I do on MTB. There aren't many 1:3 technical climbs on the roads where you have to put in full power just to stay on the bike. However I can't MTB at a steady pace for hours on end.
Posted 11 months ago # -
It will undoubtedly improve your performance on Internet mountain bike forums.
You can talk about chammy cream and lycra until your heart is content.
Posted 11 months ago # -
molgrips try living in rossendale, hills a plenty to get the old jam tart going !!
Posted 11 months ago # -
Yawn. Trying to justify any kind of cycling is missing the point. There is no justification for road biking other than you want to do it. You have some free will, use it.
Posted 11 months ago # -
"There is no justification for road biking"
^^^ What he said.
Posted 11 months ago # -
GG did a roadie overtake you on a GNAR descent once taking a chip off your shoulder as they flew past?
Posted 11 months ago # -
"GG did a roadie overtake you on a GNAR descent once taking a chip off your shoulder as they flew past?"
EarnestTrackWorld strikes again!
I love you guys.
Posted 11 months ago # -
molgrips try living in rossendale, hills a plenty to get the old jam tart going !!
I live in South Wales, we're not short of steep roads but the trails are much steeper still and tend to be covered in loose rocks
Posted 11 months ago # -
Is road biking REALLY a performance advantage for MTB...?
If you prefer non-technical MTBing then yes, it is.However turning the pedals and breathing is only a small part of technical MTBing - perception, anticipation, reaction, co-ordination and panic supression are essential requirements and the only way you'll get better is to do more MTBing.
Posted 11 months ago # -
Its not.exactly training as such for me, more an efficient way.of commuting to work 2-3 times a week. but overall I reckon my fitness benefits, which of course benefits me on the MTB. so yeah all cycling is good for your fitness.
Posted 11 months ago # -
@ rocketman: technical ability without fitness still makes for a useless MTBer in any discipline. the oposite of your point is equally true.
Road riding can form part of a "balanced diet" of cycling....
Posted 11 months ago # -
@ Swedishchef - I want to gain fitness, primarily for MTB, but I like "riding" generally and am also wondering if a roadie is a route to sustaining more riding in the winter also (ie a realistic alternative to crap trails).
Posted 11 months ago # -
running would help more with fitness and about as much fun as a road bike.
Posted 11 months ago # -
running would help more with fitness and about as much fun as a road bike.
No it wouldn't, at least not for riding fitness. You can also train harder on the bike with less risk of injury.
@molgrips - you need to try harder if you're not redlining your HR.
Posted 11 months ago # -
Interesting this, I have been doing lots more commuting on road/canal on a cx bike and when I went mountain biking on the weekend I expected to be flying but evidently the road biking works different muscles
You are fairly static on a road bike so my leg strength/lung power were fine but my upper body etc had a bit of shock and awe.
As a positive it did fully remind me why I used to get up at silly oclock every Saturday to make sure I got a mtb ride in.
Going to make sure I get back into that habit!!
Posted 11 months ago # -
Molgrips:
Personally I don't get my heart rate anything like as high on the road as I do on MTB. There aren't many 1:3 technical climbs on the roads where you have to put in full power just to stay on the bike. However I can't MTB at a steady pace for hours on end.
...spot on, exactly right.
They are different things entirely and will get you fit in different ways. MTBing (more) will also most likely improve your skilz (more), maybe. If that's what you want to do..
I did all my training on the road for an off-road team 24hr once-upon-a-time and found that, although my legs, heart and lungs were good, my upper body and arm strength just wasn't up to the off road pummelling.
As another poster said also, you have free will, use it. Question why you want to get out on the bike after all, rather than feeling compelled to ride on the road, just cos 'its what all the pros do'..
Posted 11 months ago # -
A change from riding trails to roads helps keep to mind and mojo fresh, especially if you ride the same trails/roads all the time. However you can just pump up the tyres, or better yet get a set of new wheels with slicks on for the MTB.
If you're serious about racing/training then road riding is an option worth looking into, although more for longer marathon races than standard XC IMO/IME.
Running is good for running, cycling is good for cycling. Both work the heart and lungs but use different muscles. Mo Farah doesnt cycle a lot, Wiggins doesn't run a lot, go figure
Posted 11 months ago # -
What Rocketman said.
Training (and increase in fitness, adaptation blah, blah) is specific.
Both road cycling and mountain biking is cycling. Turning pedals with your legs so in that respect, turning pedals with your legs will become easier, in theory as your further and continous adaptation takes place.
However, spinning a steady cadence of 90rpm in a steady gear isn't going to be that much help when it comes to transfering that adaptation to getting up a very technical and steep climb off road. You've adapted to riding steady and long, not short aerobic bursts of absolute power.
Use your road bike riding for aerobic adaptation in the main with some sprint intervals to assist toward your mountain bike technical climbing (and the like) to make riding all day easier but to get better at the aspects of each type of cycling, you need to be specific in your training.
It's all well and good to say the professional mountain bike riders ride 80% on road but then how many times on this and other cycling forums are people mocking the lack of technical aspect in elite race courses? That's not to say the elite can't ride very technical trails but when they do train off road, they're not doing The Hope Figure of 8 route. More like one or two hours at most going up and down technical sections on very compact routes. They're not racing the length of the Pennine Bridleway so why should they train to race it? Specificicity* you see.* I'm not even sure that I haven't just made that word up
Posted 11 months ago # -
From a pure fitness perspective, riding a lot more road over the past 10 months has made a huge difference to riding MTB for me.
I used to 'just' ride DH, so anything over an hour on an XC jaunt at a decent pace would have me blowing out of my ar*e.
I decided as winter came to break out the turbo, and the road bike, and spent the winter training, and as soon as the weather broke & clocks changed, commuting to work (18 miles each way 3 or 4 days a week).
The difference it has made to my ability to ride XC is amazing. I haven't stopped riding DH or the weekend MTB blasts, so haven't lost the ability to do any short powerful bursts, nor do I have any issues with riding anything technical, although i'm not sure how riding road for general fitness as a suppliment to MTB would affect you ability to ride over rocks & roots?
Posted 11 months ago # -
@molgrips - you need to try harder if you're not redlining your HR.
Steep hills make it easier. There tend to be more of them off road ime hence making higher heart rates more common for me off-road. That's all I'm saying.
As above, style of biking is quite different too. Good roadie technique is spinning away consistently and not moving around too much. MTBing requires a lot more pedal mashing and a lot more standing up and moving around. I definitely don't do enough MTBing at the moment and am a bit worried I'll be useless when I get back to it!
Posted 11 months ago #
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