I suspect most pro MTBers who ride road bikes for fitness will want to avoid spannering themselves on road descents…
It's not about what they want, it's about what I want.
I quite enjoy overtaking cars and motor bikes descending Alpe d'Huez on a road bike, you can brake much later so catch pretty much everything on each corner...
Random aside, we went on a week long cycling holiday there hiring a chalet in Alpe d'Huez itself (big mistake, every day finished riding up the bloody thing). Anyway, first day one of the group, who was quite a big lad, wasn't a very confident descender so dragged his rim brakes pretty much the whole way down. When he finally arrived at the bottom his tyres were a bit odd, they then promptly delaminated! He'd heated the rims up so much the glue failed and the beads came off the tyre walls! That was the end of his riding that day, off to find a bike shop for new tyres and new tubes.
Any excuse to post this;
Yes, the average MTBer is a better descender than the average roadie. They have better technique, more confidence and are more relaxed.
Perhaps, but a 'proper' roadie (lets say one who has a BC licence and enters races) is not I think going to be sufficiently lacking in technical skill to lose anything to an MTBer on a tarmac descent - they'd crash out of every crit they ride if that was the case.
Did Red Bull Road Rage not settle this debate? 🤔😆
I think it depends on the local terrain.
I live in East Anglia and I can think of a few roadies who have/had CAT1 & 2 licenses & don't deal well with big/steep downhills.
There just aren't any big hills within a day's ride and roadies don't seem so into driving 2.5hrs to find a hill.
Perhaps, but a ‘proper’ roadie (lets say one who has a BC licence and enters races) is not I think going to be sufficiently lacking in technical skill to lose anything to an MTBer on a tarmac descent – they’d crash out of every crit they ride if that was the case
Certainly the case for 2nd cat and above, but definitely not the case for 3/4th cat. Decent MTBer will run rings around most of a 3/4 crit race on a twisty circuit.
Really Jamz? I’m guessing you race, but the twisty circuits are a mixture of bike handling, fitness and knowing where to be in the pack. There’s no real descents in a crit. I’ve raced road and mountain bikes for years. Most of the guys In the teams I’ve been in are pretty much all cyclists. Not mountain bikers or roadies, but they take part in all levels of racing in all forms.
Training for road racing from an early age is all about bike handling, my daughter is a very good “roadie”, her first 8 years were road in the summer leading to a Crit series and CX training in the winter.
The vast majority of road racers are experienced cyclists who can descend. My winter training was spent in Snowdonia, you learn very quickly how to descend twisty descents in all weather. More so than you do riding trail centres.
Seriously in the competitive road racing scheme, there is such a large proportion of the guys who race all formats.
I consider myself a roadie, but most weekends I’m in the woods on my mountain bike. I dabble doing some CX races in October and November, then do a training block ready for spring series crit races. I’m not unique, I’m just a standard roadie who loves all forms of racing and riding…..lots like me pin a number on our backs and we can go fast downhill.
Any excuse to post this
What I am I looking at?
Decent MTBer will run rings around most of a 3/4 crit race on a twisty circuit.
A good XC racer might hang in there, but group riding skills and massive accelerations out of every single corner would see most riders blowing up quickly
Decent MTBer will run rings around most of a 3/4 crit race on a twisty circuit.
I'd sooner put a fiver on them causing a crash than a fiver on them finishing top 10 : )
What I am I looking at?
Well it should be seven minutes of Fabian Cancellara skimming rock faces and cars in the TdF, but who knows whether the link is showing for everyone? (it is for me)
What I am I looking at?
tdf yellow jersey holder riding a professionally maintained bike down a newly surfaced road that is closed to traffic and has lead out car/motorbikes that will clear any idiots, wildlife etc out of his path, in perfect weather conditions.
This may have been before the era where they analysed the descents and urban corners in VR the night before the race to shave seconds off their times.
Impressive, but probably not analogous to the average amateur multi discipline rider
Interesting thread. A lot of fit roadies these days spend a lot of time on a smart trainer. This gets them very fit but does nothing for bike handling skills. So it stands to reason that mountain bikers have to learn bike handling skills quickly while a lot of roadies (not all) take a long time to gain those skills.
Most pro/very experienced roadies & mountain bikers have tremendous bike handling skills. I think it’s mainly the new inexperienced roadies who are crap at descending.
Cancellara is taking a good racing line, but don't we all do that? The main difference is when he nearly hits that cliff and doesn't think 'oh ****' and back off. But then he's a pro and that's his job.
Did Red Bull Road Rage not settle this debate?
Pretty sure MBUK did several in depth pieces on the subject, nice to see most of the same lazy generalisations still getting trotted out today! 😂
This thread is ace. Can I just say 'I am awesome too' and leave it at that?
Ha, wasn't meant to be a willy waving thread 😉 was just interested on people's thoughts and opinions.
I'm generally fast downhill, whether off or on-road - but that's fast for a normal rider (whatever that is) not winning races fast.
Having chatted yesterday to my neighbour, who is a pretty fast road rider (top 20 time on the Dartmoor Classic 100 miler) he agrees that most of his clubmates are all about the uphills and overall time, so will rest and hold back a bit in the downhill sections.
On the few rides I've been with him, he'll pull me along on the flat, drop me on the ups, and I'll overtake him in the downs, but he thinks I'm a reckless fool anyway!
I'm faster, relatively speaking on the MTB than I am on the road. Because MTBing fast downhill is a technical challenge, whereas road descending doesn't become a technical challenge until the speeds are waaay over the serious injury/death threshold.
