[Closed] Why did you swap from off to on road?

I haven't.

But if I lived somewhere that didn't have good mtb riding from the door I probably would have.

To get to the other side?

edit- I just grab the bike and go anyway- t-shirt, jeans, trainers (no special shoes) and off I jolly well pop, thank you very much. It's riding a bike for fun FFS, why do people see the need to drive somewhere to do skids and wheelies?

For me it's the simplicity of grabbing the bike and going, minimal fuss, good work out and a feeling of achievement in miles ridden.

That's as good an excuse for buying a single-speed as ever I've heard 😉

I do a bit of road, but probably only 1 in 6/7 rides. If I'm time poor and want a work out I grab the SS and head for the hills.

For me it's the simplicity of grabbing the bike and going, minimal fuss, good work out and a feeling of achievement in miles ridden

It's a sign of living somewhere where the off-road is poor. 😉

I used to ride about 50/50 off and on, I rarely use my roadie now, unless the weather has been such that I really can't face the hassle of knee deep sheep poo...

Don't get me wrong, there's the things in road bikes that you can't get with MTB, the speed, the effortless climbing that is joyous, but for me the lure of the off road riding here is just hard to resist.

There has been no swap. Sometimes I fancy road. Sometimes I fancy mtb. Some times I fancy xc, dh or jumping on the mtb. I just do whatever type of riding, whenever the mood takes me. It's all just riding around in pointless circles on bikes. It doesn't need over thinking or labelling.

tiny humans came out of the wife, meaning rides had to be 2 hours door to door.

I'd like to do more offroad, but I grew up with road bikes and missed out on learning offroad skills while I was young and care free, so my offroad is very basic bridal paths and alike!

Last summer I visited Bassett Sports Centre to check out the bike runs created by a few on here, I went down them a few times, but the prospect of catching any air scared the bejesus out of me as a 43 year old after the rta I had on the road which meant spending Xmas 2013 in Southampton General.

I also noticed that in the other thread and thought that this really isn't a mountain bike site any more.
I ride my mountain bike for probably 95% of my rides, mainly because I find it a lot more fun than road riding and l can't really see a point at which this will change.
I am just about to go out for a road ride, but only because my mountain bike's rear shock is away for warranty work.

I've always put in a few miles commuting on a road bike, but in the last couple of years I've had problems with cartilage deterioration in one of my knees that means riding over rough surfaces & constantly twisting and turning makes it feel like it's full of broken glass - toyed with the idea of a lightweight full suss XC bike and easier trails to see if that helped, but ended up buying a pram instead 😆

I wonder what people want out of off-road though. Is it that there's not a patch of dirt anywhere for miles, or is it that you'll only ride gnarcore trails and they're miles away and thus a drive?

Myself off road is just anything not on a road. Tonnes of it from the doorstep for me in the form of tow paths, bridleways and *ahem* footpaths. It's not whipping down singletrack and jumps everywhere stuff. Though I've got common lands and woodlands close by and while no dedicated singletrack in some of them, I can still have fun or enjoy a nice ride away from traffic in nice scenery (and admitted I've got a pile of nice singletrack only half an hour away down the canal tow path, and better still stuff an hour away 😀 ).

Even if I have to drive though, 15 to 30 mins, couple of hours on trails, back home.

I've started riding road and turbo trainer over the last year or so, 50/50 road/mtb now, and only mtb at weekends during winter.
For me it was a variety of reasons....
Time, easier to ride from my doorstep and make best use of the time I have. Also less time cleaning the bike if riding road.

Miles/training, I can do more miles and possibly better value exercise on the road.

Something different, I like bikes, all kinds of bikes, road riding is still "new" to me and has reignited my interest in all things bike.

I'm still MTB crazy. I commute 6 miles in on my FS so I can get a off-road ride in on the way home. I do have a skinny tyred BMC single speed hybrid and I'll use that for 39ml round trips to visit mates on a Sunday, but really it's being out in the country I love.

Wife had various surgeries on her knee and can no longer ride off road as although pedalling is fine she can't really stand up on the pedals for more than a second or two.
She moved into road riding & I followed to support her. I actually quite enjoy it & now probably do 70% road, 30% off.

I would hope I would have the decency & state of mind still to put myself under a bus if I ever felt the urge to wear lycra & clog the roads up.

Oldtalent +1

Road riding round my way is basically a 50/50 death run of A and B roads. Road riding for me is an absolute necessity as I just can't avoid the 4 miles on road that I have to do on my commute (luckily the rest through the forest on my cx).

I absolutely cannot see the appeal of thrashing out endless miles of tarmac, lubricating your arse with grease and wearing awful lycra that makes most people other than sky team riders look like vacuum packed lambs liver.

I think I would take up tennis or golf if road riding was my only option.

In a word, faff, or lack thereof. Off road involves either loading up the car or 5 miles slog on the road then muddy kit at the end. Road bike is straight out of the door. In a way, it's the same reason that I now run a lot, even less faff than a road bike. Time is precious for me and I feel I get more bang for my buck from road work.

OK so perhaps I was a little negative...I will say though I do find myself riding much more cx or (hate the marketing guff) gravel / gnarmac / adventure etc

I think that's a really good compromise between the need to grab and go. You can stick to the road if you like (with extra comfort with minimal loss of speed).... If you see a path or want to explore a bit you can. It opens up loads of options for you.

Myself off road is just anything not on a road.

Same for me. I can ride off road and on road on the same ride and vary the ratio depending on what mood I am in. Currently riding more road, a few months back was mostly off road.
All on the same low maintenance bike.

I started road riding as the winter muddy slog of local off road rides became less and less appealing. Turns out I really enjoy road riding, and have carried on in the summer months. Still like mtb, I just avoid it if the conditions won't be enjoyable.

I ditched the MTB as I found that i wasn't brave enouh and didn't bounce well enough to keep up with younger mates on the rough stuff. I also found it a bit samey. Have always been a roadie since about 1978 so it was more a case of changing tha balence than starting something new. Gravel bashing had been an alternative to roads since then edn of last century and the MTb gave way to that.
The final straw was the devastation of the FoD by both the FC and all the bloody visitors. No pleasure being surrounded by a crowd of grumpy sods who have driven for miles, adding pollution to the world, only to want to change the thing they have come to see.

Like the OP a lot of it is convenience. I frequently work from home and find I can grab a we quick hour over lunch on he road bike. I'm about 20 mins cycle from the trails so they don't make as much sense. A lot of my riding has been like that. But I enjoy road cycling too. Started it a couple of years ago after cycling around France. Still enjoy the MTB but I ride road more at the moment. If I cycle with a buddy then I'm more likely to be MTB but if I'm alone I prefer road.

Sort of on topic. Just fitted some new wheels. Can't wait to try them.

[img] [/img]

Not yet but I frar its on the cards. I say fear as I hate traffic and love being in the "back country" away from civilisation. After my knee injury I was told to ride only on smooth surfaces (ignored that) and given how deterioration is going in the joint I suspect I don't have too many years of Alps / real mtb riding left. Been looking at an Escapade or maybe a Solaris as a stop gap but I can feel the switch is inevitable

I bought a road bike in February to ride when conditions weren't good for off road. I found that I really like it, more so than mountain biking so I do more of it probably an 80/20 split in favour of the road.

However I do really enjoy mountain biking - XC in particular.

Trouble is I've gone from N+1 to N+2 - XC hardtail and single speed disc brake single speed.

(Anyone want to buy a nice Orange Four? 🙂 )

I haven't (yet). I also do far more road miles due to commuting, but most of my leisure rides are MTB rides.

I like both and like having both bikes though. The speed of a decent road bike is pretty nice, especially when it's not been out for a while.

I'm lucky in that I have trails on my doorstep, and can do anything from a 1.5hr spin (or a half hour with my 5yo) to an all dayer on the MTB.

Both are fun though, and I can see that you save a little time on a road bike (only have to clean drivetrain really well, rather than forks and dropper posts you have to do on an MTB). I think if I couldn't ride from the door I'd do more road miles - I certainly did when I spent a bit of time in London.

When I started my attempt to get fit again through cycling back in January, I stayed very local to home around Bitterne and Harefield. It did its purpose, but I had to be constantly on the lookout for traffic, junctions, traffic lights etc.

These days, especially since getting the Cube Attain GTC Pro Disc a month ago, I do a lot more road rides heading north (as far as Hockley aquaduct), east as far as Shedfield and the area in-between them.

Once I leave the boundary of Townhill/ West End/ Hedge End, by and large it's absolute bliss on the roads (often via Allington Lane or Moorgen Road, which are surprisingly quiet), so little traffic and plenty of decent length roads without junctions and very few traffic lights. It's all about how fast I want to try and push myself, while trying to enjoy the rural scenery a little and leaving the urban traffic chaos behind.

I'm still MTB crazy. I commute 6 miles in on my FS so I can get a off-road ride in on the way home.

My behaviour is similar - I commute on either my full-sus or hardtail, just getting one or two two minute blasts down some downhill trails on the way in out of a total 45-60 minute round trip. Plus a few urban hucks on the way home. I hate being on the road, I'm constantly looking over my shoulder in case a gormless motorist inadventently drives through me...

I'm fortunate that for most rides I only have 350 yards of tarmac before I'm onto bridleway and the singletrack starts a mile later.

Lincolnshire

Roads round this way are in such bad repair I'd want to upgrade the mtb before quitting the slightly-too-groomed trails. I'm only half joking.

I'm kinda fortunate in that I'm right at the edge of town. I head out my house and turn left onto a relatively quiet road from Bearsden out towards Drymen with plenty of nice loop options. No fear of traffic lights and queueing traffic.

mattsccm - Member 
The final straw was the devastation of the FoD by both the FC and all the bloody visitors. No pleasure being surrounded by a crowd of grumpy sods who have driven for miles, adding pollution to the world, only to want to change the thing they have come to see.

I could say that about Swinley, but then I discovered there's tonnes of stuff elsewhere in the surrounding area, even just in Swinley when away from the sanitised motorway.

In my case plenty enough to avoid being samey. From what I understand of the wider FoD you've got loads to explore also.

Just realised this fits my attitude to bikes...

"Roads, where we're going we don't need roads." 😀

To those people who say they just enjoy road cycling more than MTB.

Huh? Wha...bu...why? Are you crazy? Just look at all the (hundreds) of threads about grumpy roadies not waving hello. Do you real want to end up a humourless mamil?
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

I'll add a 😉 here just in case people take the above comments too seriously.

I've done exactly this, even to the point I'm thinking of selling most of my mtbs off and keeping just one.

I like the road as I like the feeling of ruining myself on a big climb etc, wringing out every last bit of muscular and cardiovascular effort I can put in. The endorphins from it are amazing.

I know you can go hard on an MTB but for me a lot of mtb can be slower going and having to back off due to tech terrain. The ability to be pushing hard for 45 minutes at s time without ever stopping turning your legs doesn't happen as much for me on the mtb.

I also enjoy the lack of muddy kit and driving to somewhere an hour away before starting riding.

I also love the look on people's faces when they wave at me and I just blank them. Makes me smile inside.

So many factors for me. Cost, faff, time, baby, crash risks, boredom. I feel my cross bike is currently the best compromise for me right now.

The main reason is convenience. Living on the outskirts of London if I take the road bike I can be out the house and after a short warm up along busier roads I can be on reasonably quiet roads in about 10-15 minutes, can do a nice ride out somewhere and back without a minimum of fuss. If I want to ride the mountain bike anywhere vaguely interesting I've got a minimum 30-40 minute car journey to do first. I'd rather not drive in order to ride my bike.

Bought a road bike as I was training for MTB endurance events and doing most of it on the road on a hardtail.

Quite liked it, mates had road as well as MTB. Started doing more road as the trails around here are pretty poor when wet. Less faff in cleaning.

I never liked driving somewhere to ride, seemed to defeat the simplicity part.

Did LEJOG in 2010.

Went to the Pyrenees in 2011. Found I liked riding up big mountains on the road. Figured I'm an endorphin junkie, not an adrenaline junkie.

Since then every year has been a couple of big target road events in Europe.

Still, MTB ride tomorrow!

I'm fortunate in that I have good mountain biking trails from my door and great road riding routes. I probably ride 70:30 road to MTB. Factors are: I get a harder workout on the road, can go further, faster and tailor routes according to what I feel like. I hate having to clean my bike (or ride slowly) so I tend to go out on the road whenever it's wet and muddy, which is two-thirds of the year. So, I guess that makes me a fair-weather MTBer. On the flipside, I make the most of the summer with MTB racing, after-work rides and pub rides. Gravel bikes have been a great 'invention' - I now combine bridleways, lanes and roads on most of my rides and I own two MTBs, one gravel bike and one road bike. And a SS. It's all just riding around on bikes really.
Edit: if I had to drive to ride my MTBs I'd probably sell them to be honest.

Upto about six years ago I split my riding about 50/50 MTB/Road (along with a bit of BMX).

Then I had trouble with my suspension forks, and it was a particularly grim Winter. I moved into a spot where I only had space for one bike, which was the road bike. Soemwhere along the way, the MTB got put in a shed at an ex's house where it stayed until I decided to just sell it because I hadn't used it for so long.

I think if I could live within riding distance of Grizedale again, then I would definitely still have an MTB. TBH, I'd like to get back into it as road cycling has now turned into a bit of a MAMIL Stravaist ex-mtber scene. Not really for me, I like to stay ahead of the curve. Perhaps I'll get an ebike.

Grew up about 5 miles from the Surrey hills, went to uni 5 miles from the Dark peak.

Now live in Nottingham, road bike for communting, the play toy still has two wheels, but it's got an engine.

Just got spoiled by having doorstep riding, to the point where driving to exercise just feels totally wrong. I know there are local trails, but I just don't find them at all inspiring. Spoiled, I guess.

We get loads of riders in the shop that have never ridden off road or even sat on an mtb. They do tend to be the ones who come in with broken bikes from crashes. One does come to the conclusion that their handling skills could be improved with some mtbing.
But with most things mtb takes to much effort for todays rider, finding trails, cleaning bikes etc

I on the other hand could live without a road bike, much prefer the gnar-brid. But then i don't get the through and off, head down, staring at the arse in front mentality. I like to ride long distance but look at the scenary.
Road biking near me seems very fashionable and is more about a groupset arms race and being seen in the right kit than the actual riding

I've been drifting in the opposite direction, just so disillusioned with the standard of driving and attitude towards cyclists. Will probably end up just with two bikes, a Ht and then a gravel bike that allows me to stick to the quitest possible roads and the gravel tracks.

[IMG] [/IMG]
Saves a 90 minute round trip drive. Do love mtb though.

I simply don't ride on-road, I don't even like riding my MTB on the road for short starches, but local roads are lethal and there's so much great off-road there's not much to drag me to the dark side.

Some of my mates have made the leap though, there's a lot less off-road where they are and it's a bit of a mini road Mecca so I can see why. First did it because babies and if he's got a few hours it's better to be riding all of them rather than spending half of it driving to Afan and the other doesn't drive so has to rely on lifts to the trails etc.

I'm possibly moving to one of worse places on earth for mountain biking and has a decent road riding scene, I can see what's going to happen. I'm going to get a HT and ride alone ha ha

though I got back into cycling through Mountain biking, my father had been a keen road cyclist and I rode a road bike in my youth when MTB were starting to appear, and he had taken me to the kelloggs tour etc, so there was always a love of road cycling there.

In the ten year haze of drinking and partying, I kind of forgot about it.

I moved to stafford for my first job and thought it would be an idea to save money by buying a mtb to get to work and i could also ride over the chase.
Which i happily did, then the mtb fascination kicked in, met great friends, great rides, etc.

Fast forward a few years, and i was once again in the position of being handily placed to cycle commute to work, so i got a vintage, cheapish, steel bike and did that, that is the moment i realised what i had been missing.

I find it more convenient just to get on the bike and go ride on road, much less hassle, doesn't cost anything etc etc.

My mtb wheel has been in the shop almost 4 weeks, it is most likely done by now, but i'm in no rush because really my passion is now road cycling.

I've mountain biked once this year! 😕

but i'm doing an old Marin up for the missus which may kind of be rideable for me also so that may well reignite the off road in me.

I haven't quit MTBing, but like half the rest of you, available time, work/family commitments and location make road and CX/gravel riding the more obvious choice 80% of the time...

I ditched bouncy bikes as they just weren't getting the use, so I am back to a single HT which serves my current MTBing needs...

One thing I do perhaps wish is that #Enduro had taken off a couple of years earlier, I enjoyed DH but wasn't exactly awesome at it, Enduro seems like it would have suited me better, but I don't have the time, post kids, to commit to a season of racing now, maybe in a few years, when they're older I can have a crack at Vet's, hopefully all the road miles will help with fitness till then... 😉

Health reason for me, had two big operations on my spine when I was 19 & 23 disc's fused etc. very messy 🙁

Broke my ankle 10 years ago and the physio advised me to take up cycling, so I bought a Hard Rock and fell in love with it. Upgraded that to an Orange G3 then a Cotic Soul which I rode all over Peak, Lakes & Wales until in 2014 my back went pop again at Cannock.

Luckily they could cure it with an injection at the Claremont in Sheffield, where the boffin specialist advised me strongly of any rough and tumble on my bike. Sold the Soul and now I ride 50/50, I've got a Genesis Croix De Fer for (Sherwood Forest) fire roads and a Cannondale CAAD 10 for the road.

Miss my Soul evertime I fancy a spin 😕

Dipped a toe in to 'proper' roadying this year - entered the Fred Whitton on a whim so spent the Spring doing road rides. Enjoyed the change but not rushing to do it full time. Noticed the weather a lot - seemed to find bad weather on the road more mentally taxing than on the MTB for some reason. The FW event itself was a glorious day and felt like the first time this year I'd ridden in prolonged sunshine. Saying that, riding on the road in fine weather and beautiful scenery was pretty special, so maybe I'll make a fair-weather roadie.

Feels like road cycling is as hard as you want to make it, like you can bimble along in a way you can't so much off-road, there's like a higher base line of effort on the MTB. I had thought that famous road climbs like Holme moss or Snake pass would have you breathing out your aris, end of. Obv you will be if you're throwing a dig into them, but I was surprised how easy they are if you just want to pedal up them. Just a different rhythm - but saying that the standard of fitness on the road seems far higher than on the MTB.

I wanted it to say Cat2 and Vet on my racing licences.

I went the other way, after 20 years of racing on the road I realised I just didn't enjoy it as much anymore, so I borrowed an MTB at the end of last summer and can't get enough of it now.
I'm way behind the curve in terms of skills, but the challenge of picking these up is what will keep me interested on the mtb for years to come.

I also love the look on people's faces when they wave at me and I just blank them. Makes me smile inside.

... I see what you did, there. A meta-comment! Grumpy sod. 😉

Feels like road cycling is as hard as you want to make it, like you can bimble along in a way you can't so much off-road, there's like a higher base line of effort on the MTB.

That may well be true, but I find myself pushing myself hard on the road bike in a way that I never seem to do on a MTB. On the MTB, if a big effort is required to get up a difficult section then I will give it everything, but for 95% of climbs I tend to dawdle. Whereas on a road ride I seem to be able to grit my teeth and keep the hammer down.

As a result, if I want to go out and feel like I've done some proper exercise / effort, then it's road bike for me. So I definitely 'get' why some people love it. That said, if I'm riding for pleasure, 9 times out of 10 it's on a MTB trying to find stupid things to jump off / over - you can't do that on a road bike 🙂

Never ever saw myself becoming a roadie. Have very decent off-road and on-road rides right from the door, so it's not really about lack of choice. I just made a slow transition from riding mountain bikes, to riding mountain bikes a bit further, riding them on the road, putting slick tyres on, etc...

At first I loved the challenge: How far can I ride? How fast can I do it? What places can it take me? It satisfied a thirst, and it still does. I love the challenge of cycling and the adventure it brings. Riding round a trail centre is great fun but it doesn't tick the same boxes for me. And whilst I still love an epic MTB ride, the really epic ones are few and far between, and a mountain bike feels so inefficient for day to stuff. The road bike is my go to tool for adventure.

Off road riding is really poor where I am, there aren't any trails which aren't farm tracks, but I'd still rather do that than ride a road or gravel bike. Even while living on the coast I can go off-road and still be riding on concrete or tarmac. BUT I'm still discovering fun stuff to ride to potentially injure myself on right from on my doorstep (had a fractured wrist and broken tooth in the 3 years I've lived after moving from village to town) so MTB always! Fast rolling hard pack tyres, and triple up front, helps on the roads.

If I now lived where I grew up I'd probably mostly ride a CX bike, as there isn't much technical challenge in Northamptonshire but lots of bridleways, footpaths and quiet country roads. Fortunately the South Downs are a lot hillier and there's lot of quality unofficial singletrack and steeper jumpy stuff in the woods.

I still think of myself as a mountain biker, but since I started cycling to work I've gradually edged over to the dark side. As other people have said it's much easier to get a quick 50km in on the road bike and then get on with the rest of your day than it is round here on the mtb. Having my brother being into road cycling and living just down the road doesn't help either.

I still love riding the mtb, and have recently pulled my finger out and started going down to the Surrey Hills (from west London). Nothing gives me the same buzz as mountain biking, and I just figure that all these road miles are helping my mountain bike fitness.

When I move out of London, one of my pre-requisites is decent riding straight from the front door.

Hand injury meant no thumb use for a few moths, so a road bike with flight deck flappy paddles was sourced. Found I enjoy the simplicity of riding out the door and 3hrs later be home having done 40 odd miles.
The faff of having to put the mtb in the car to get anywhere reasonable is offputting.
Less maintenance , things dont wear out as fast or get broken on the RB.
Downside is the roads near my house are awful.
Had a fantastic week in the Pyrenees rin some classic TDF climbs Hautacam , Tormalet, Aspin etc and had a great Neilson trip to Greece and was surprised how good that was.

You definatly loose a skillset by not spending as much time on the mtb , but in fitness terms and for weight loss a road bike is excellant.

Started off serious riding on a road bike but mainly a lack of any real decent off road riding with out chucking the bike in the car. On the plus side miles of quiet country roads around me. Can easily do 50+ miles without hardly going on any major roads. Though last year I did trade my Supersix in for a Diverge so I could fit wider tyres in for a bit more comfort.

For me it went like this:

1. Quit my job and gave up company car.
2. Got given a commuter with 26" wheels, for the shop run.
3. Wanted something faster so sold the (free) commuter and bought a cheap road bike
4. Wanted something faster so upgraded the tyres & wheels on said road bike.
5. Wanted something faster so upgraded to a carbon road bike with new shiny bits on.
6. Wanted something faster so...... you get the idea.

I still ride MTB but the feeling of being able to hit 50mph with the wind slapping me in the face is just awesome, and i found out that i'm actually pretty good at it in the grand scheme of strava times. Now i'm into minor gains and aerodynamics and all that stuff, it's addictive. It's also about the convenience and simplicity of it compared to mountain biking - I can just throw on my bib shorts, pump up my tyres, fill my bottles, grab some gels and head into the hills for a few hours and when I get back there isn't half of Calderdale that needs cleaning off my bike.

And i think being a MTB'er makes me a better roadie, and vice-versa.

Most of my mileage is road commuting to work

I'm a pootler, not a racer. I don't mind going fast and putting in proper-effort-sections, but I just like riding

My off road riding is relatively poor, it's riding not on the road, not real off road, but it's fun. I do it on a single speed rigid bike to make it even more fun.

It's not that road riding is horrific, it's just than riding on non-road surfaces is more fun!

Guilty!

1) Practicality - much easier to fit a good road ride into the daily routine (the commute, lunchtime laps etc) than a good MTB ride.

2) Different highs - the appeal of thrills'n'spills adrenaline started to wear off but the endorphins and satisfaction of a decent road ride still does it for me

3) Different bikes - I like a bike which barely needs looked after or any expensive spares. Partly why I don't even want discs on my road bike.

4) Different perspective - I guess I just changed, even when I lived in North Vancouver and had a selection of amazing trails on my doorstep, I just ended up feeling like I was spending my time riding in a very small patch of forest on the side of a mountain. You see so much more on a long road ride. Same reason I'm going off Munro-bagging in favour of long distance backpacking.

5) Injuries etc. I can't be arsed with the sort of terrain I used to love i.e. tech, rocky, rooty, hard going, especially after a few different back problems leave me less inclined to wrench the bike about, and I never developed the necessary smoothness to ride tricky terrain smoothly.

Mountainbiking just seems too slow, too awkward and too much hassle these days! 8)