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There's a lot of road bike related threads at the moment, is it due to the TDF or the lovely hot summer we're having.
What's your reason?
Mines to get fitter and get some big miles in.
Because I've just done the col de Joux Plane.... Nice and hot and sunny here today. 😉
I think terrorists must have put large quantities of oestrogen into the water system..
Cause there's a Brit with a yellow jersey on? I am an ex-Roadie but I have yet to be completely expired of roadie ways - so whilst I may ride the muddy trails I do follow the yellow, green, white and polka dot avidly. Damn - it's hard to give up and, let's face it, a bike is a bike.....
... but once the tour is over - let's get back to MTB stuff. Either that or show me some pictures of a roadie on a road bike doing singletrack downhills.......!!!!
If you want to get fit get a fatbike.
Either that or show me some pictures of a roadie on a road bike doing singletrack downhills.......!!!!
here's the motorbike equivalent:
The weather mainly, though there does seem to be TDF and Olympic fever out there at the moment which is quite fun to behold. Loads and loads of people on usually virtually deserted roads etc.
that motorbike vid is wonderful
Yep go back just a few years ago on here and you would get called all kinds of things and get a ban for even mentioning road bikes...
Nobody ever mentions 4X but that's quite close to mtb-ing, does anybody here do it?
It's because 'ex mountain bikers' have a distinct advantage on a road bike the minute the road points downhill, due to their bike handling skills.
That's what ITV4 keeps telling me anyway.
.
Either that or show me some pictures of a roadie on a road bike doing singletrack downhills.....
It's because 'ex mountain bikers' have a distinct advantage on a road bike the minute the road points downhill, due to their bike handling skills.That's what ITV4 keeps telling me anyway.
Why do they keep saying that? I've been a mountain biker for years and I can assure everyone that my bike handling skills on trail or tarmac are frankly pitiful.
It's because 'ex mountain bikers' have a distinct advantage on a road bike the minute the road points downhill, due to their bike handling skills.That's what ITV4 keeps telling me anyway.
Why do they keep saying that? I've been a mountain biker for years and I can assure everyone that my bike handling skills on trail or tarmac are frankly pitiful.
Ex world champ mountain bikers tend to be rather good bike handlers... you can fill this bit in about yourself and how much/little you actually ride and what that says about how good a bike handler you are really... not in your head but really 🙄 
Because being a roadieist is ace.
Ride everything
Riding in the mud is considered fun for a couple of months of the year. Doing it all year round is tedious .
I live in Tamworth where there are no mountains. A two hour mountain bike ride is a trip to the Chase in the car and turns into four hours out of the house. A two hour ride on the road bike is two hours out of the house.
It's all cycling though whatever shape of frame I have my leg slung over still makes me smile like a ten year old.
Just ignore the tedious roadie threads.....oh blast!
What's your reason?
my road bike works.
i can't be bothered changing my gear cables/outers after every ride, so i've basically stopped riding my mountain bike...
Yep go back just a few years ago on here and you would get called all kinds of things and get a ban for even mentioning road bikes...
How long exactly? Not in the 6+ years I've been using STW! 🙂
Road bikes make you fitter.
Mountain Road BMX they are all bikes and fun in a different way. Bikes are great.
Because this forum is full of fannies who don't like to get wet/dirty 😉
Biking generally is enjoying a huge surge in interest, Cav as World Champion, medals on the track and road and a Brit in yellow on the TdF. Who cannot fail to be inspired.
So come on then was everyone so wrong on this forum back then or now?
Hypercritical bunch of nancy road biking gayists 🙄
Riding in the mud is considered fun for a couple of months of the year. Doing it all year round is tedious .
You hit the nail on the head there sputnik.
here's the motorbike equivalent
Anyone else watch that thinking of a Rob Warner course preview ride? 😀
[i]Who cannot fail to be inspired.[/i]
Me. Road bikes = dull. Road riding = boring. Roadies = tedious.
dezb has it!
just come back from a weeks downhilling in morzine got an a gravity enduro coming up in a couple of weeks
loads of people out for the mega at the moment
Roads dry out quicker than our mud soaked, waterlogged trails...
What's your reason?
Because I like riding bikes
Road bikes make you fitter.
Having just bought a road bike I still don't think this is the case.
Road riding is good for the relentless nature of it.
But you can mtb like this round XC routes, you just need a higher level of fitness in the first place to be able to put in that relentless effort whilst pushing through the extra rolling resistance, the mud, and the bumps.
Plus by default there is a bigger interval aspect to the mtb, which is better for cardio.
Plus by default there is a bigger interval aspect to the mtb, which is better for cardio.
Not strictly correct..
A good base is vital to fitness. The best & easiest way to obtain is by miles on the road..
It doesnt have to be dull, just find a decent route.
well ive gone backwards... havent been on the roadie bike for about 3 months (oh)...must get back on it oh dear... 😥
Being an ex semi pro roadie it's hard not to get the thing from between my legs.
I'd say I do about 70/30 roadie to mtb these days, last year it was the otherway around..year before that it was 90/10 and the year before that it was probably 50/50..
No real problem chatting about roadies, certainly if you ride your mtb too..
Certainly all the fat old boys in lycra suddenly appear around 4-5pm. I never realised just how many people ride for Sky. My preferred comment is "...it's like we're in the tour de france, isn't it!!..." though all I seem to get back is a twisted, grimacing face. Just one more week then I can get back to a less visually unappealing commute.
here's the motorbike equivalentAnyone else watch that thinking of a Rob Warner course preview ride?
Yeah and maybe him off Peep Show.
Funny that.
The best & easiest way to obtain is by miles on the road..
not sure just racking up road miles is the best way to get fitness, surely better to interval some hills and get the heart and lungs working - rather than just sucking up fumes on some boring road?
not sure just racking up road miles is the best way to get fitness, surely better to interval some hills and get the heart and lungs working - rather than just sucking up fumes on some boring road?
I didnt say it was the best way, I said it was important that you dont ignore the stamina (i.e. base aspect) of your fitness training. Base is just as important as harder efforts..
Road doesnt have to be boring either, what makes road boring is the road that you chose to ride on. Chose an interesting route..
sucking up fumes
I suppose it depends which roads you are riding on.
I have noticed lots of people on bikes recently. Probably definitely a TdF spin off but in my book, the more people on bikes = better.
A bike is a bike, road, CX or MTB they are all fun and have their own attractions.
I felt bad because I've not ridden my mtb since feb as i hurt my shoulder and riding mtb still aggrevates it. Having just splashed nearly £2k on a new road bike, I took meehaja jr out in his wee ride on saturday for the nottinghamshire bikeride on the P7. Still hurts my shoulder, but rather than feeling like I should be shredding the gnar to the power of rad, I can pootle along having fun, and hopefully building a love of bikes into my son!
TurnerGuy - Membernot sure just racking up road miles is the best way to get fitness, surely better to interval some hills and get the heart and lungs working - rather than just sucking up fumes on some boring road?
I can assure you that most of the roads around here have plenty of hills (and very few fumes). Downhills aren't particularly boring at 50mph either 🙂
rd bikes are only boring if your shit slow and a bit on the porky side...
...troll by the way 😉
Love both but - @sputnik +2 mud / all year round / tedious
Road and mountain are fun if you have good places to ride.
More than a little fed up with all the mud and with stuff breaking all the time.
Not sure about the relative fitness merits. They seem surprisingly different. Weight bearing / impact characteristics of mountain biking is meant to be better for your bones.
Yes TDF but also training for the Wild Wales Challenge, I am also mtbing so loving both aspects of riding.
I come to STW and all I see is ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD ROAD
Simple for me.. every time i go out on the MTb i need to buy another component from CRC/Merlin etc. It seems just relentless time and expense at the moment. That and coming home covered in crap, having to wash myself with the hose before then leaving my 5-10's for 4 days to try and dry out enough to ride again, having to hoover everywhere from the downstairs up to the shower...
Roads will dry in 2-3 hours enough so i get nothing but a minor splattering of water at worst... ride, put away... ride again...
Probably the weather, and as someone said riding in mud is fine for some of the year but not for all of it. I always seem to damage mtb stuff or develop a new click/creak each time I go out on it as well. Never get that on my road bike or bmx.
Doubt it has much to do with the tour, I don't even know what the yellow jersey means and I doubt many of my non-cyclist mates know either.
I rather like the look of tanned clean shaven legs and figure hugging lycra and sportwool.
You mtbers just look so bad dressed up as overage teenage mutant ninja turtles.
I find riding a Peregrine most places all-but completely removes any distinction 'twixt the two. Tho' I've always ridden my 'mtb' on country lanes getting to/between green-lanes, as much as I've ridden my road-bike on green-lanes between the country lanes ...
gb1m - Member
here's the motorbike equivalent:
My old GS1000 was awful off road, stupidly, freakishly too long, too low and absurdly heavy - I never ever tried to keep it upright once it started to slip, I was in too much of a hurry to avoid getting trapped underneath it (and possibly being downed in the process). Hmm, although I used to roll my XR500 outfitted with a Fantic trials sidecar almost all the time too, thinking back). Great to see there are still people doing the same thing.
😉
Bought a road bike 2 months ago , lost nearly a stone with no diet change. Take saturday for instance up at 7 am grab odds and sods bike out of garage away at 7-30 , home for 1 ,oil chain put bike away, 70+ miles taking in Hardknott and Wrynose brew in Coniston.
Typical previous Saturday up at 7 ,load up car get gear out for 8 , drive 45 mins off load all gear put bike shoes on coat etc , its now 9 am, ride 2.5 hours load up bike get changed set off get home £20 diesel used ,off load kit nearly 1 oclock and stood facing an hour clean down, which i will do tomorrow! So with no extra time i have doubled my pedalling time and when it comes to the big hills on the road full on effort can get me over everything, come to mtb and a steep technical climb might beat me technically rather than lung busting so end up pushing not for fitness reasons.Have mtb for 8+ years twice a week with weight staying pretty constant,now I may add one or two evening hour blasts in on the road bike that I would not do on the mtb due to the ease of road. Went out mtb last week felt alot fitter. So only in my opinion a road bike does improve fitness, and the mrs can`t get enough of me in the bib shorts with my kite sticking out, Not!!!!
I rather like the look of tanned clean shaven legs
Each to their own and all that, but shaved legs aren't going to be so clever when you head out into the nettle-infested woods again, are they now?
Don't forget to pack some dock leaves.
Fully signed up member to the shaven roady club now.
I was a 3 a week MTB rider. Had our first child so time became more precious.
Cost of fuel and components started to put me off as well as the dirtyness and midge bites.
I lost 4.5 stone in a year with no real huge diet changes.
I now race road and mix that up with social rides. I have a c456 in the shed used mainly for rides with my daughter on her weeride.
Fancy shaving my legs but can I really ad to more pi$$ taking from riding buddies road and mtb, also associate shaven legs to being a wannabee and wearing replica team kit! 😕
I'd look ridiculous with shaved legs... it's not going to happen.
If streamlining is that important for me i'll wear some lycra bottoms.
You feel weird at first for about a week then after that when your racing and riding in a group of a decent level its totally normal.
I draw the line at that fancy oil they all use from Rapha and fake tan though.
lol so if i shave my legs i got from 40 and fat to a decent level instantly ?
no but you will feel you have 🙂
If streamlining is that important for me i'll wear some lycra bottoms.
It's more to do with gravel rash and massage than aero efficiency.
I also heard shaven legs is good for cooling and sweat wicks away more quickly. Has anny one turned tranny after shaving their legs 😆
Question? do you shave to just above the hem of your shorts or do you include everything below the navel?
I have no intention of shaving as I've got a fair bit of hair on my arm/shoulders/chest/face. Just take a look at my profile pic and it's far off that. My hair seems to be undertaking and epic migration south from what was the luscious plains that made up my cranium to the serengeti that is my back and arse.
It's only a bike ride ffs.
Leave the tights and shaved legs to women please.
Leave the tights and shaved legs to women please.
^ shakes head at more stw ignorance
You can do a gradual blend if you fancy eyerideit
Quite a few [b]BMX[/b] threads lately 😀
Which sisters jeans?
yodagoat - Member
If you want to get fit get a fatbike.
........Really!!?? 🙄