Stating the obvious

jeannot18

Being going MTBing for a few months and left the road bike unused for a while (since July 10 to be exact). This morning got the old roadie out for a little 20 miles loop, and I was surprised by the level of my fitness. The route has a few hills and I was climbing them with no too much effort compared to before. So yes MTBing gets you fit even if you don't do long distances like on a roadie.

JC

1mancity2

Very true, I did around 8miles yesterday all small loops sessioning jumps and sections, sprinting etc

My thighs are aching like mad.

masonmarxx

so are roadies really that much easier to ride than MTB's on road?

it sounds quite stupid now i've said it :oops:

jeannot18

masonmarxx wrote:

so are roadies really that much easier to ride than MTB's on road?

it sounds quite stupid now i've said it :oops:

I won't say that, depends how much you push yourself really. You can spin easily and do some miles. I used to go out for 40 to 60km rides twice a week. I don't know if I could do 60km on the MTB if it involved a lot of hills.
JC

masonmarxx

thanks for that! my parents have an old roadie in their garage doing nothing. i thought about maybe repairing it a bit and seeing how it rides but i think it's quite heavy? it's an old Trek that my uncle used to have, and he's hugely overweight so cant think when he last used it!

Red.Devil.Ghost

Granted, I have never used a road bike. The idea of such thin wheels scare me, especially in the rain! But I have used a mountain bike on the road plenty of times. I prefer it as it makes you work harder to get decent speeds up.

paulbox

TneBiker wrote:

Granted, I have never used a road bike. The idea of such thin wheels scare me, especially in the rain! But I have used a mountain bike on the road plenty of times. I prefer it as it makes you work harder to get decent speeds up.

:?
Do you use a fully rigid mountain bike offroad to get a better workout too?

bails87

Having ridden a proper road bike ('ve now got a carbon roadie and a CX :oops: ) I hate riding my MTB on the road. It's slow and heavy and rubbish. Great fun off road, mind, but yes, road bikes are faster and more fun on the road than MTBs are on the road.

'Proper' MTBing is still more fun than anything on a road bike though.

masonmarxx

maybe its worth fixing up this roadie then to see how it goes?

gilesjuk

bails87 wrote:

Having ridden a proper road bike ('ve now got a carbon roadie and a CX :oops: ) I hate riding my MTB on the road. It's slow and heavy and rubbish.

Depends on the tyres and if you have suspension on it. A fully rigid MTB with slicks isn't that slow.

ddraver

bails87 wrote:

Having ridden a proper road bike ('ve now got a carbon roadie and a CX :oops: ) I hate riding my MTB on the road. It's slow and heavy and rubbish. Great fun off road, mind, but yes, road bikes are faster and more fun on the road than MTBs are on the road.

'Proper' MTBing is still more fun than anything on a road bike though.

Fully Agree (except I ve not got a CX bike, use the MTB for that)

styxd

The route has a few hills and I was climbing them with no too much effort compared to before.

It doesnt sound like you were doing it properly. Hills should never be easy!

MountainMonster

styxd wrote:

The route has a few hills and I was climbing them with no too much effort compared to before.

It doesnt sound like you were doing it properly. Hills should never be easy!

Very true, hills don't get easier, you just get faster!

Markmjh

Now when i had my road bike i could fly round the long loops and get a lot of miles under my tyres. But it really did depend on the route!!!
Some of the really steep hilly routes we did around Pendel in lancashire were easier on my mtb with slicks on then my racer! Mainly due to the fact i was on a double chainset on the racer and had more options for spinning long climbs on the mtb.