I rode there on 25mm Continental GP4000. I’d suggest looking at 28mm – GP5000 or Schwalbe Durano, Panaracer Gravelking (not the SK version).

Like most have said, different tyres and something to allow you to change hand position. Possibly even the bizarre barends inside of brakes setup. I find a lot of the aero issues on an MTB is wide bars turning your arms and torso into a parachute. Narrow that up and things improve, though obviously you’re never going to achieve anything Graeme Obree-esque.

For tyres I disagree with 28mm. On most MTB rims that’s going to give a bit of an odd profile. I can highly recommend Vitoria Voyager Hypers in 38mm. They roll amazingly quickly, are bombproof and very comfy. I’ve had them on my MTB and ‘Gravel’ bike in various sizes and swear by them

LOL forget the CX… it’s history 🙂

I don’t do anything differently inside than outside on it, bike is in exactly the same position. Promise.

https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=223150

I’ve just done this Zwift TT on the Parkwood, 20 mins power at 252w, which i’m fairly happy with, no discomfort etc. Bit tiring though.

I’m feeling a bit better about it all now thank all. I’ll go relax and die for an hour.

71.5 degree head angle on a medium frame is never going to feel “fast”. Weight is a thing, and nicer wheels would certainly help. Nicer tyres will transform the bike.

As would a decent fitting. Where are you?

Newbury

Aero effects are by far the biggest thing that makes for speed. So anything that makes you more aero will have the most effect. tyres etc make a differnce but its a ttiny compared with aero

Can you put narrow flatt bars on the bike you want to ride? Learn to tuck a bit? Tri bars can be put on mtb bars and that alone was worth two gears for the same effort on one of my bastardised commutters

I say this quite a lot, and I accept that it may be wrong but it worked for me. I also think you know it already:

I reckon your problem is that you have a cross bike that fits you somewhere near correctly
… but you’re not a road/cross bike rider

Yet !
get/borrow a 45 degree stem (I think I might have one, depending on your bar diameter) / chock up the front wheel when you’re on the turbo / maybe drop the saddle a bit ’til you start to be comfy on it and then change gradually. Keep your current stem in the garage; I bet it’s about right

Stretch for a few minutes after a ride

Oh, and shave your legs, obvz 🙂

Position / geometry / gearing / weight / tyres

It’ll be shit on a mtb. Do it on a road bike or go and find a cross / mtb event to do.

It’ll be shit on a mtb

Maybe in your world, in mine it will be a weekend away drinking Belgian beer and eating loads

With some biking too

Maybe in your world, in mine it will be a weekend away drinking Belgian beer and eating loads

With some biking too

Perhaps, but more likely you’ll just be he one slowing down the pace of your mates who bought more appropriate bikes for the job…

I think you’ve already taken against curly barred bikes and made up your mind though haven’t you, so it’s probably better to just encourage you to pick some decent slick tyres and make, invest in a bit of padded Lycra make the other adjustments to your MTBs setup and crack on.

You’ll have a grand time and that’s the main thing.

Perhaps, but more likely you’ll just be he one slowing down the pace of your mates who bought more appropriate bikes for the job…

I don’t believe that will be the case no. I’m not trying to sound cocky or up myself here but I’ve done many many thousands of miles with my mate and know our strengths and weaknesses well as riders.

As for having made up my mind, kinda yes but it’s not sold yet, I’m tempted to use again tomorrow, it only takes 5 mins to swap the cassette. But I’m very much teetering on the edge, if it sells I won’t be upset. I felt a lot happier this afternoon on the Parkwood

I’m gonna second the “if it’s fine outside, ride it outside and forget about the turbo trainer” comment.

But also caution that going fast with aero does assume you have fast rolling tyres – you could be wasting at least 20W and maybe considerably more at modest road speeds if you’re running something draggy. Light probably equals fast rolling but not necessarily. I’m sure in a bunch you’d be more than capable of going >20mph, provided you’re not too hindered by your tires. Then within limits aero doesn’t matter

I was going to mention last week it seems odd someone who hates road bikes to be considering road rides. If you want to be happy doing these long road rides you need to do some long road rides.

Well come on over and we can fix this fit issue. And you can try some decent tyres 😉
Seriously the TiRed Stem collection just keeps growing… PM me – I’m pretty local and very cheap (aka free).

Work on your bike position, core strength and get the miles in on your CX bike – riding cobbles at speed means rolling a big gear and driving from your quads / core. MTB tyres and suspension forks is adding weight and absorbing energy. Flat bars for 6 hours plus is going to get uncomfortable, upright position and wide bars aren’t going to be good for drafting in a bunch. Double wrapped or gel bar tape plus decent gel gloves will help too – no amount of MTB riding will get you used to the high-speed vibrations from riding pave which absolutely hammers your hands and wrists

Well come on over and we can fix this fit issue. And you can try some decent tyres 😉

Thanks mate. Tyres at this stage of the discussion are so far down the list in terms of importance.

I was going to mention last week it seems odd someone who hates road bikes to be considering road rides. If you want to be happy doing these long road rides you need to do some long road rides

Whilst I’m not a fan of road bikes, I like epic trips and this trip really does tick them boxes. I was hoping I’d ride it and be fine. Whilst the speed was great, comfort was great, the after affects I’m less convinced by. These may not be impossible to resolve of course.

Ok, I’ve canned the auction and will give the thing some more time. See if it’s something to get used to and adjust both it and myself to.

Tired, I’d still be interested in you having a look at position though please. If it’s something glaringly obvious that would be very useful

Even if they don’t allow Tri bars for the event, I highly recommend them for steady state turbo work. It somehow makes keeping a (relatively) good position much easier indoors and gives you loads of extra positions to counteract the lack of bike movement.

Before I had a road bike, I had a second set of wheels to commute on my Inbred 26er. These had City Jet 1.5s on and were much faster than commuting with knobblies.
They were also quieter and felt better on the road.

Body position was a real killer as well in terms of drag, but I wasn’t gonna fiddle about with that, as it was my MTB used for commuting, not the other way round.

A few years ago I did a couple of road sportives for charity on my 26″ MTB, 75 miles one year, then the 100 mile option the next. Had slicks the first year, and semi-slicks the 2nd. I think I probably slightly regretted not putting the slicks back on for the 100 miles. Around that time I was also running gearing orientated for speed on the roads for commuting purposes – a Deore triple 48-36-26 x 11-28. There was some suffering of course, but mostly enjoyed the 100 miles!

A quick look on CRC I’d go for something cheap like Schwalbe Hurricane Performance Tyre if doing something similar again. If you’re limited to 1x then have a look on ali-express for a cheap 38t narrow-wide 1x chainring.

Good luck!

Have a look at the specialized roubaix pro in 33mm they are really quick wide enough for your mtb rims and tubless , ive put them on a cx bike to use on the road but like you cant get on with the position the toe overlap frightens me and those silly narrow bars are just so unstable …… but the thing flies along but only 1 maybe 2mph faster than the mtb with the same tires on

I find a lot of the aero issues on an MTB is wide bars turning your arms and torso into a parachute.

Back in the day when me and my riding mates hit a long road stretch we would drop down to rest our hands on the top of the fork legs to get an aero tuck. Just hope you don’t have to brake suddenly. Did anyone else do this?

Back in the day when me and my riding mates hit a long road stretch we would drop down to rest our hands on the top of the fork legs to get an aero tuck. Just hope you don’t have to brake suddenly

I still do this, BITD I topped 51mph down Ditchling Beacon on a London to Brighton BHF charity ride on my rigid MTB, fitted with 25mm slicks. I had flipped and slammed the stem for -10degrees to get lower and more aero. , but was still massively un-aero compared to the roadies.

Maybe I’ll just chip in here, my wife has the same bike, and she didn’t find it comfy until she had replaced the layback post with an inline one.
Anything that’s vaguely road bike ish will piss all over an mtb, if the budget is similar.
Body position mostly, then aero, then weight.
Imho.

Im talking in a road context there ^^^ obviously if you’re heading to BPW it would be different.

Lol I’m not even convinced with gravel paths, bpw is not an option for this bike

Back in the day when me and my riding mates hit a long road stretch we would drop down to rest our hands on the top of the fork legs to get an aero tuck. Just hope you don’t have to brake suddenly. Did anyone else do this?

Yup. These days I rest my elbows on the handlebars