First time MTB, hard work!

markhewitt1978

I'm a roadie. All the gear carbon bike with Ultegra do long rides every weekend.

But this week I'm on holiday in the North York Moors and hired a MTB for the day. It was a Diamondback Outlook. To my untrained eye it looked basic.

Overall I found it very hard work indeed. Mostly riding on forestry commission roads so not technical but a world away from tarmac. Hills were especially an issue!

I did a 19 mile loop and at the end felt about as tired as I would if I had done a metric century on the road!

But how does it really compare? MTB is never going to be road speeds but I'm wondering if it's an unfair comparison between an ultegra level road bike and entry level mountain bike?

Chunkers1980

What's ultegra?

stubs

Its very hard to equate road miles to offroad miles partly because 10 miles of Forestry commision gravel fire road can be equivalent to 2 miles of slogging uphill on a muddy sheeptrack. Theres also the fact that on a MTB you use a lot more muscle groups, on a road bike its just legs and glutes. On a MTB you need very strong core muscles, upper body muscles and even strong neck muscles. Also MTBiking uses a lot more fast twitch muscles something never needed on the road apart from sprints.

The Diamondback is basic but for fire roads its not going to be much slower than a bike worth 10 times. Your just not used to it thats all.

kajjal

The difference is surprising coming from road bikes to MTB's even for more expensive MTB's. My XC MTB is a race spec bike but it is still much harder work off road than on my road bike on the road. Really enjoy both.

Unlike roads the trails are very uneven with varying grip, you have to control the bike round rapid successions of changing trails and steep hills just kill you off as you try to maintain grip while putting the power down.

If you look around sone trail centres hire out more expensive MTB's which would give you a better comparison.

markhewitt1978

Have to say despite it being hard work I did enjoy myself! I'm not rushing out to buy a mountain bike any time soon but I might try hiring one again! Was fun being able to fly over gravel like it wasn't there!

abarth_1200

I wouldn't have said it has anything to do with bike spec, only way to compare something like that is the same route, once round on your road bike (would love to see that) and again with the mountain bike.

But yeah I did 29 miles in my mountain bike, through forest, over rivers, up hillsides. Compared to my mate who does road riding every day his legs were fine but he had all sorts of aches and pains from the muscles that don't get used peddling on the road. I was knackered mind but all over the same level of aches and pains, not just neck shoulders forearms etc

HITR14

Has anyone done it the other way round and found it to be easier or harder going from mainly MTB to road?

johnmcl7

HITR14 wrote:

Has anyone done it the other way round and found it to be easier or harder going from mainly MTB to road?

I started off with mountain biking and decided to have a go at road biking as well, I'm not very good at sustained higher cadence cycling as I find it tires me out quicker but hill climbs seem ridiculously easy which leads to the odd situation that I look forward to hill climbs to recover when cycling in a group.

John

Long_Time_Lurker

HITR14 wrote:

Has anyone done it the other way round and found it to be easier or harder going from mainly MTB to road?

I only own MTBs (and before that BMXs).
Last month I went to visit my mate and borrowed his Masi cyclocross bike.
Took me 20 minutes to get used to the drop handlebars, the brakes and the handling (especially lack of grip over manhole covers).

However once that was done, I was flying. Over the same distance it is certainly faster/easier.
BUT... my mates didn't consider that they had been on a proper ride unless they had been out for 4 hours and covered over 75 miles.
As someone pointed out to me - I'm not built for long-runs. Mountainbikers are broader than roadies - power over finesse - short blasts over long-haul.
It was said tongue-in-cheek, but there is some truth in it. I was moaning and limping exactly the same as I would be after a ride on my mountainbike, just that the aches and pains were in different parts of my body.

Oh! and I didn't feel as safe. I'm happier throwing myself down steep tracks and over rocks, than dealing with traffic. At least when you crash it is your own fault!

JMcP92

HITR14 wrote:

Has anyone done it the other way round and found it to be easier or harder going from mainly MTB to road?

I'm a regular MTB-er and decided to get a roadie for the pure sake of exercise and getting from A-B, don't want to ride a few grand of MTB around town.
I found it weird at first, super skinny tyres, low position, I've a ruined back (cracked spine) so the low positioning took some getting used to, but beyond that it was fine, just took a little time to get confident on how it'll corner, and the grip in the rain, which is more than I expected it to be.

Other than that, all seemed fine, getting used to V-brakes took a little time as they're not quite the same as quad-piston hydraulics, but once you get the feel for them it is alright.
Last thing I had to learn was proper sprinting on a roadie, you pick up speed damn fast and roll real easily, but still, roadies for me are a matter of exercise, can't say I find it all that much fun