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So you only ride a road bike to make you fitter on the mtb?
is there any other reason?
Don't be so sensitive 'spoon.
Other than the peaked helmet thing which make's a lot of sense.
For the first time (ever), I'm using a road bike for a 1 x 2hr ride per week over the winter as part of my MTB training. I'm not investing ££ in more shoes, pedals, helmets etc unless I find out thats its the "thing" for me when I can make use of my current kit.
I'm an MTB'r at heart.
If/when I do take to road biking, I'll invest in the proper kit, just like I do for my MTB'ing.
Other than that I don't give a monkey's for either road or mtb about the unwritten rules. Like every one, I'll work out what works and was doesnt taking sensible advice on the way.
An essential skill must be the ability to eject snot while riding and preferably without covering glove, shoulder or riding buddy with said snot.
This'll contravene plenty of the rules, perhaps even cause some offence in polite society. Drawn from experiences, for me they'd appear to be:
#1. It's good practice to properly mix up road and MTB groupsets (34-50 compact front, and 11-32 on the back is fine on a road-bike).
#2. At least [i]try[/i] to remember to plat your beard on some road-rides.
#3. Ride on 28's, and bunny-hop over pot-holes / raised drains.
#4. Steel is real.
#5. Mix your wardrobe. Road shorts / tights / knee-warmers are great - "any fool can be uncomfortable", but to ensure adequate cargo space for apples / cameras / raw-fruit bars etc - wear them under baggy shorts. Road jerseys of long defunct pro-teams are also to be encouraged, along with a peaked helmet (worn with a cycling cap, [i]or[/i] a bandana). Bonus points if the peak is from a different helmet and just taped on.
OCB for club chairman!
Dust caps?
Slam that stem then make sure you've got dust caps?
Excellent!!!!!
An essential skill must be the ability to eject snot while riding and preferably without covering glove, shoulder or riding buddy with said snot.
I'll admit to being terrible at this. Always, always ends up on my leg. I need coaching I think.
Bonus points if the peak is from a different helmet and just taped on.
Love this.
jameso, you seem a bit weird to me (no offence - maybe just different is a better way of putting it), but well done on the weight loss, and if you enjoy it, great. Guess it's no different from using a winter bike for training and your good bike for racing. I would never willingly carry unnecessary weight though 😀
You should defo try shaving your legs though, you might just love it...
Are there as many as 5?
Ha, thanks for the endorsements.
I might add my wisdom to the '5 MTB skillz' thread too (tho' some of it will be the same as here, the rest will involve drop-bars and rigid 29er's).
😀
This thread is brilliant, Its like we all love cycling but the love hate between MTB and roadie is like city & utd fans - love of the sport but hate of eachother in a friendly batterfull way mostly.
I ride Road and Mtb - i wear lycra on road and baggies off, black socks all the time and never shave - even my face - lol
i ride road and enjoy it as much as off road - people seem to be more friendly off road but mostly as its like and interval set off road so there are times when u pass people and stop for a chat - on road we gunning it so usually we not avoiding saying hi, we just cant speak for fear of falling off due to lack of oxygen. lol
its hard not to race everywhere on the road bike as they force you on some how. but every now and then on longer 50+ mile rides i back off and just enjoy and its a good experience. saying that i thrash it off road to the best of my abilities. maybe im just a racer at heart - lol
my rules are
* left glove sweat
* right glove snot
* pump up tyres before every ride
* carry tube and lever and a pump take cant get over 40#psi when i want 100psi
* have a pee before you leave the house - bloody hard in lycra bibs
1. Two-piece leotard
2. Curly wurly bars
3. Hairless lady legs
4. Perverse love of tarmac
5. Never smile
This thread is brilliant, Its like we all love cycling but the love hate between MTB and roadie is like city & utd fans - love of the sport but hate of eachother in a friendly batterfull way mostly.
I too love both road and mtb and I think this thread contains a bit of self mockery and a bit of humour, it does in my case, and is therefore is nothing like football. City think they can come along with an open cheque book and basically destroy the game, f***ing shite chancers. Never gonna win anything with that attitude. Down in a ball of flames and good riddance to the shite. 👿
ha ha - nice one Don - fully agree although im a chelsea supporter so we wont go there. i was just meaning rival supporters in general really.
I agree though that you have to take it with a pinch of salt when in lycra you do get abuse. i just carry on regardless. baggies at 20MPH aint a good thing and i soon learnt the the lyrca keeps things nicely in order 😀
riding solo on a road bike and club riding are two different skill levels IMO.
On your own you can kind of do what you like
Riding in a group you need a lot more awareness and ability to
control yr bike, cos if you get it wrong you'll make yourself extremely unpopular. for me the 5 skills are:
1. Observation - for hazards + your clubmates
2. Ability to give out hand signals whilst still keeping control of the bike
3. maintaining a steady pace which may be dictated by the group
4. Judging distance away from the bike ahead and not half-wheeling, riding too close or dropping back
5. Handling skills on fast downhills - much faster than an MTB