Mountain Bikers Who Ride Road Bikes

Chain gangs from the Liverpool 100 used to do the same route as a warm up ride starting from Liverpool at speeds nearing 30 without a coffee stop.

Rubbish.
Most road races don't get near 30mph average. The final stage of the Tour of Britain just under 60 miles on a closed road circuit and that was run at an average of just under 30mph. The fastest crit I've ever done was one with Bradley Wiggins in it and that was one hour at an average of 29.6mph, there were people being shelled out right from the gun.

To go from a 25mph average (usual TdF pace by the way…) to 30mph takes a HUGE amount of extra energy.

I got my Road bike through C2W a couple of years ago now, £500 basic jobbie don’t think it’s worth spunking much more on it myself, I’m definitely an MTB rider who owns a road bike, I use it solely for commuting (40mile round trip, 2-3 times a week, work schedule and weather allowing), while I don’t really like riding on the roads much I find the fitness and petrol saving benefits make it worthwhile. I do have a respect for “Proper” road riders; it is in no way a safe sport and given the shitty state of the roads on my commute, no more comfortable than MTBing.

With regards to the sociability of roadies, I think it’s about the same as with MTB riders, some are cocks others are quite friendly, I’ve been variously smiled and tutted at, I’m very obviously a MTB rider on a road bike, and I know I lack the fitness and technique of a proper seasoned roadie, I wear the lycra as it does make a noticeable difference but I’m not shaving my legs for anyone, and I’m generally wearing XC full finger gloves rather than mitts, and use MTB spd shoes and pedals, all of which coupled with a cheap bike probably marks me out…
I wouldn’t join a club, I don’t take it seriously, honestly I can only see serious road cycling as a sport for self loathers or the ultra-over-competitive, just like jogging or triathlon….

ourmaninthenorth – Member

Regulary do a ride from Ainsdale near Southport to Glasson Dock near Lancaster with my mate George. Stop off for ice cream and coffee and home again via the chippy near my house. Round trip of 80 miles. I am not fast.

Nope, you're quick if you can do that lot in four hours or less. Respect.

Why thank you kind sir reward yourself with a pint on me just tell the barman to put it on my tab

Seriously I am not quick I have ridden with blokes who ripped me a new one on that ride and they are all older than me

Seriously I am not quick

Why are you putting yourself down. You're doing a two up 80 mile ride at close to tdf race pace and you say you're not quick. I really wish I was as 'not quick' as you.

I don't know why the British Cycling Talent Team spotters bother going out and about to events, they could just keep half an eye on this forum and sign people up for the UCI Road World Championships direct from here…

😉

Gary_m – fairly sure you've commented on times in some thread or other on here – maybe TZF's one about doing a sportive solo? Anyway, I'd got the impression from something you said that you did them at similar speeds to me (5.5 to 6 hours would be about what I'd expect when fittish), and I can normally easily average 20mph for a decent length ride – can even just about scrape that now over a couple of hours if I pick my route carefully, bearing in mind I suspect I'd struggle to break 6 hours for a normal sportive right now.

Still think 20mph sitting up on a bike with risers is highly suspect for somebody who's not extremely fit (as in capable of winning lower cat road races). 22mph is a bit more plausible for a roadbike, but still extremely fast for 80 miles (I only managed to average 23mph for a 100 mile time trial with a pretty good aero position when I was going well, and got a top 10 with that). Either the measurements are dodgy, or maybe he's sitting on George's wheel the whole way (George being the British 65+ champion).

Either you clearly are quick POF or you're talking an awful lot of crap.

Considering you're suggestion that a local chain gang are quicker than a world class road race I fear it's the latter!

There is always the possibility that his username should be taken literally.

Maybe there's some confusion between the speeds people sit on on the flat bits and average speed over the whole route.

You know how this happens? Mountain Bikers often average less than 5 miles per hour over a day, but like to think they're going fast, so they call it 15 mph.

Then they go out on the road, and it's waaaaay fast. So it must be at least 25 mph. Even with a tea stop. 🙂

Getting shelled out from the gun, Hmmm getting used to that in weekly Crits. Zero to mental ain't for me, and that's with the LVRC. When I was going off the back I looked at the speeds, bearing in mind our local is a perfect oval on a hillside. On the straight 26MPH, climb 24MPH decent 35MPH miss a shift on the climb and your out.
What's the pace like in the newer version of what would have been 3/V races? I much prefer a race that winds up, preferably on grotty roads.

What's the pace like in the newer version of what would have been 3/V races?

3/4 races are notoriously jumpy. Sit at 22 then someone goes for it, speed will hit 27 for a couple of mins then back down then someone else tries a break etc etc. Vets are normally a lot better, they have the experience to sit at a steady pace and not go off half cocked every few mins. E/1/2 races aren't *that* much quicker, they're just a lot more steady. At 24-25mph…

and I can normally easily average 20mph for a decent length ride

Well I can't. My sportive times for this year were 5.30 something for the cairngorm classic and the radar ride in 6:38 (slower than I hoped as I was riding with a slow pal for the first 60 miles.), I was 24th fastest up the climb to the finish though.

I still can't get anywhere near 20mph on a solo ride of a decent length and it's unlikely I ever will.

Just shows how out of touch I am, I didn't know there were still Vets races, I thought Vets were automatically a 4th cat. I'll be fifty for the coming season so if that's the case I might ditch my LVRC licence for BCF one. I need that 40 minutes you mention, which means hanging on and avoiding the spills before moving through. As a lot of my regions races are Crits I don't fare to well. Got me thinking now.

I still can't get anywhere near 20mph on a solo ride of a decent length

You need to live near Southport (flatter than Belgium), eat ice cream and cakes and ride with POF. He'll show you how.

😉

Out of interest how much riding do you do?

Cycle to work every day and try and get 3 rides in a week.

And my statement wasn't directed specifically at you Gary, but I get the impression that you take these things personally, so apologies if you feel I've singled you out.

I'm not taking it personally but I can't be doing with folk who say 'just ride your bike man'. Each to their own and all that.

I struggle to top 18mph on a long solo road ride (100 miles+) and most people think I'm fairly quick.

Well you're not ransos, you're bloody slow just like me 😉

I can only assume you simply don't have flat enough roads Gary – or maybe you just never do rides on them. Certainly should be a possibility if you can average over 18mph on the hilly route of a sportive. I suppose it also depends what you think of as a decent length – for me nowadays an hour would count (longest I've ridden this year is 3 hours!)

Have to admit I mostly now do far more hilly rides with averages down around the 18mph mark, but there are still the flattish roads if I want an average speed ego boost.

I live in ayrshire aracer so flat routes aren't really an option, and I enjoy climbing so tend to opt for hilly routes anyway. A decent length of ride for me would be around the 50 mile mark, I'm doing an hour+ on the bike twice a day on my commute so don't really think of an hour as a decent length.

This morning tailwind gave me 'an average speed ego boost' 😉

So how much faster is a road bike than a MTB with slicks on a long ride….10%? 20%?

18.63%

That's a lot, I've always felt it to be closer to 13.7565%

I've an old steel Cougar that I commute on. Part of my commute is towing the kids trailer. Its only a 7 mile round trip but I made the fatal mistake of lashing the trailer up to my Enduro one day…must have been 40% more effort.
Flat road I can sit at just over 20mph, but I'm not that fit. I do tend to work a lot harder on the road bike.
I'd not be without a road bike of some sorts now, sometimes I just want to go out & ride a bike, & I love the road bike for its simplicity.
Oh, & components last for bloody ages on them. Heaven knows how old the old ones were but I've just stuck two new Conti Gatorskins on it, thats just £40 & a few sprays of lube in 18 months.

I am a MTBer with a road bike I only really commute on the road bike and occasionally go for a little bit of an evening ride.

As regards to ooOOoo's question when I commuted my 16 miles (each way) on a HT with semi slicks (that really needed a good service) it took me around 1.3-1.5 hours now I have my road bike I normally arrive in just under an hour.

Yes I am slow averaging only 16mph but I'm faster going along and up than I used to be and I do think that is down to commuting. Really couldn't be bothered with being a roadie with a MTB as its just not as enjoyable.

Hmmm double post strange.

Really couldn't be bothered with being a roadie with a MTB

Do you need to be pigeon holed?

I am a MTBer with a road bike

Really couldn't be bothered with being a roadie with a MTB

What the hell's the difference?

How are people working out their average speeds? are you just believing your computers? are they holding the clock for stoppages? surely total journey time/distance is the most "honest way"…

I'll own up now to having a spreadsheet with the precise route distance and time taken (rounded to about 30secs), I let Excel tell me how slow I am (15.63MPH Avg from june up to now)I' sure it's excessivly geeky but I like to keep a record and look for improvement… There has been none… 😥

cookeaa I do the same thing. I track my distance, time and average speed on a month by month basis and a ytd total.

Average is average of time moving. Assuming that you're not doing anything silly (eg riding flat out for an hour then stopping for 12 hours then doing another hour and taking the average of both as an average for a two hour ride) then that's perfectly logical and perfectly honest too. Stopping (well, starting again) most likely drops your average, not improves it compared to riding without stops since having to get back up to speed creates more fatigue than stopping for a short period will ever get you back.

All this fascinating discussion of average speeds. Makes me realise why I'm not a roadie. ¦-O

Yes me too, I'm yet to be convinced by road bikes. I commute on my HT with slicks, and while I could be a little faster on a road bike, I'd have to be compromised by not jumping kerbs, worse brakes, less steering control and no sus for smoothing out our sh!t roads. Plus I find roads are full of too many cars, they're too wide so you really notice how slow you are travelling and you never feel you can easily stop at your leisure. An efficient way of getting from A to B, but just not that enjoyable IMHo.

I'm with you on that clubber. I base my average speed from that on my computer. On my commute for instance I don't gain anything by stopping at traffic lights so why include that time.

Generally on road rides I don't stop anyway so my 'real' avearge and actual are the same.

On the mtb I don't really care what my average is.

I'm yet to be convinced by road bikes

What are you hoping to be convinced of?

Where can I buy one these cycle computers which give you a TDF standard average speed of 25+mph. I want one! Mine seems to have a ceiling of 20mph no matter how fast I pedal.

…I'd have to be compromised by not jumping kerbs, worse brakes, less steering control and no sus for smoothing out our sh!t roads…

You wouldn't be "jumping kerbs": you'd be on the road.
Worse brakes? Road bike brakes are bloody powerful. Enough to take you by suprise…
Less steering control? A road bike can handle, certainly better than an MTB.
No suspension? Not an issue: the roads aren't THAT bad.

Watch footage of Cancellara's descent on stage 7 of this years TdF to see quite how 'badly' a road bike handles under the right rider. You'd be first down on the tarmac after trying to corner that fast without a clue what'd happened!

Watch footage of Cancellara's descent on stage 7 of this years TdF to see quite how 'badly' a road bike handles under the right rider

If only the roads round here were like that. But they're not. In so many ways.

All this fascinating discussion of average speeds. Makes me realise why I'm not a roadie. ¦-O

Shall we talk about how much our trail bikes weigh then?
I don't believe most of what's posted in those threads either 😉