Road Cycling - First 20 mile ride tonight...

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Think about spending $30 and getting some smaller slick tires. You'll enjoy road riding a lot more and it will help your speed. As for hanging with an 18mph average speed, you'll probably struggle to stay near that. Part of the problem is that mountain bikes are just not aero enough. In Florida you're going to have to deal with winds most likely so one direction of your route is going to work against you. If there is a more socially paced road ride you might like it better. Also, invest it a cheap cyclocomputer so you "know" what speed you can average. It is no fun to go on a ride and end up off the back with everyone waiting for you at every stop. You'll feel pressured and they'll feel frustrated if they have to wait too long. I've been on that ride. Luckily, I knew the area very well so I told them not to wait for me at all. I ended up having a nice ride by myself but they appreciated the fact that I didn't expect them to change their normal ride for me. It is different if the ride is advertised as a "beginners" or everyone welcome kind of thing. If that's the case then by all means try it.

great job,

again my advice is some slicks and some clipless pedals and you will be suprised how fast you can go, I would say 18mph is achievable with no problems. I would guess your biggest limitation would be gearing. You will be set for the hills but at 25 mph you will probably run out of gears.

BTW there was a MTB rider on a solid B pace ride back in Virginia that I could not keep up with on my road bike. You will be suprised.

20 Miles is great. Got back on a huffy MTB 2 months ago. Did 24 miles last Saturday avg. 12 miles an hour. Currently have 26x1.95 nobbies getting 26x1.5 slicks(in the mail). Planning on getting up to 32 miles. (4 mile cycle track, Residential area round a golf course not to much wind) Then working on speed. 36 year old 235 lbs.

With clipless pedals, won't you hurt the utility of the bike for riding trails? I don't know. I am in a similar situation as you -- riding my knobby-tired mountain bike ~100 road miles a week. I think a road bike is in order, but can't decide between used, new and cheap, or new and great, and in the meantime I'm biking along. Since I am biking for fun and for exercise to push myself, not racing anyone, I don't care too much if new hardware makes it easier/faster.

With clipless pedals, won't you hurt the utility of the bike for riding trails? I would never ride my MTB without clipless. I ride cross country - not downhill.

I would recommend putting slicks on. I did that and gained about 2MPH avg. I agree that you should save up for the bike you really want rather than getting something else right now.

You can also looking into getting a second set of wheels with the slicks and a rear cassette on it. then you can switch out from MTB to Road in a few seconds.

Most MTB'rs ride with clipless, (I just put some on my MTB) Just be sure when you buy shoes you get some of the stiffer ones. They will be better if you decide to use the MTB shoes on your Road bike if you get one. I know a lot of people use MTB shoes on road bikes cause they like the ability to walk around. Unlike road shoes which are hard to walk on.

BeeTL - I've got a '98 Raleigh M45, and I did the same thing a couple weeks ago - spent $30 on some slicks and started hitting the roads around my home. I still do plenty of time on the gravel / dirt trails around here as well, and the new tires work fine as long as it's dry. If the grade gets too steep, I do have to be a little more careful about keeping my momentum up and grinding a higher gear to avoid spinouts, but generally I'm very pleased. And they do make it much, much smoother on the pavement.

If you start getting roadie envy, just keep your mind on how pushing that lumber wagon up the hills and/or around the flats will help you fly that much faster when you finally get a real road bike under your butt! It works for me, even though I still spend a couple hours per week in various LBS' drooling over those sexy little speed machines.

If you need additional motivation, try logging your miles into www.bikejournal.com regularly and see how fast you can raise your ranking. Being in FL, you're at an advantage with year-round riding (hurricane season excluded).

As for me, I think the computer is a great idea for my next cheap upgrade.

Good luck.

I've done the TBN Lake Simcoe ride = 119km on my fully outfitted MTB (40lbs). 26x1.95 tires. I could keep up with a medium tempo roadie crew, but it was hard steady effort to keep up.

Couldn't really spend the $80 to get new tires, but I fixed up my cheapo road bike so no need ;)

BeeTL, keep riding your MTB and once you switch to a roadie, you will absolutely FLY. (I've put about 1600km on it so far).

BeeTL, keep riding your MTB and once you switch to a roadie, you will absolutely FLY. (I've put about 1600km on it so far).

I couldn't agree more, I've been riding an MTB for the past two years, and taken many longer rides this summer. I switched to a road bike this week and I'm flying now. I think it was because, in large part, I pushed myself so hard on the MTB, which turned out to be great training.

BeeTL, my only advice is to find out how much you can inflate your tires to, and inflate to the max allowed. Squishy tires account for a lot of resistance, making it harder to sustain faster speeds.

I rode my 1993 or 94 M50 for years before finally upgrading last year. I commuted, went off-road, and did regular 30-mile trail/road rides. It was (is) a good solid bike. I can't complain, especially considering I did a poor job of maintenance.

I'm really glad I read this thread. I do all my cycling, commuting and fitness cycling, on a MTB and was starting to feel inadequate as my average speed seemed pathetic to me (around 12mph). But obviously (and I suppose I knew this subconsciously) it has something to do with the bike as well as my generally weak legs!

I'm going to keep plugging away on the MTB until I can afford (and justify) buying a road bike - I suspect this will be a few years down the road though!

I'm going to get road pedals and shoes because that is where I'll be riding 98% of the time.

Mtn bike cleated pedals and shoes are just fine for riding a road or mtn bike, and generally a heck of a lot cheaper.

I have never used a pair of "road shoes" and my cleated Shimano pedals cost $55.00.

However, I now use Shimano riding sandals (they have cleats) and would really recommend them. They are wonderful. Mine cost $78.00.

Also, you can walk around in mtn bike shoes and the sandals with no problem, while road bike shoes are generally hard to walk in.

And, I have never used cleats with my mtn bike. I use toe clips instead. For me, it is important to have a bike I can just jump on when I want without having to take the time to change shoes. I go to the store or get a haircut or whatever, and just jump on the old Mtn Bike with some shorts on and go, no mess, no fuss, no bother.

I'm really glad I read this thread. I do all my cycling, commuting and fitness cycling, on a MTB and was starting to feel inadequate as my average speed seemed pathetic to me (around 12mph). But obviously (and I suppose I knew this subconsciously) it has something to do with the bike as well as my generally weak legs!

I'm going to keep plugging away on the MTB until I can afford (and justify) buying a road bike - I suspect this will be a few years down the road though!

I took my old MTB out for a spin today. As I said above, the bike served me well for years. The MTB was a lot more work than my one-year-old Cross Check, but the 1.5 tires took the potholes like no road bike could. If the "roads" you ride on are pot-hole-infested urban streets, a MTB may be the best choice.

Whats your average speed now.

I am still cycling at the 12.1 average though have my Saturday ride up to 28 miles.

I got y'all beat...this past spring I did a century (full 100 miles, NOT a wimpy metric century....lol) on my Gary Fisher Tassajara MTB. It was stock except for flak jacket slicks, bar ends, clipless pedals, and a cyclocomputer. I highly recommend bar ends if you are going to be doing serious mileage on the mtb...lots more hand positions = less hand pain. It was a pretty good ride, actually. I had a much easier time than my S.O. who was on true road bike.

Oh yea, I'm 6'3 290#

Just recently bought a Specialized Roubaix road bike and I love it, but I'm dying to get back on my mtb again too (haven't moved the mtb to my new house yet).

I took my old MTB out for a spin today. As I said above, the bike served me well for years. The MTB was a lot more work than my one-year-old Cross Check, but the 1.5 tires took the potholes like no road bike could. If the "roads" you ride on are pot-hole-infested urban streets, a MTB may be the best choice.

Yep, the reason I ended up buying a MTB was because some of the riding where I live is tracks, trails and untarmaced roads, and it gave me the option of more routes. I was initially thinking of getting a road bike, but when I thought about it the MTB made more sense!

[QUOTE=TxH]I got y'all beat...this past spring I did a century (full 100 miles, NOT a wimpy metric century....lol) on my Gary Fisher Tassajara MTB. It was stock except for flak jacket slicks, bar ends, clipless pedals, and a cyclocomputer. I highly recommend bar ends if you are going to be doing serious mileage on the mtb...lots more hand positions = less hand pain. QUOTE]

I definitely agree with you about the bar ends, I had worked up to doing 30 mile rides without them and was finding it pretty uncomfortable! However, I had some fitted and it has made a major difference to my longer rides.

I got y'all beat...this past spring I did a century (full 100 miles, NOT a wimpy metric century....lol) on my Gary Fisher Tassajara MTB. It was stock except for flak jacket slicks, bar ends, clipless pedals, and a cyclocomputer.

Just recently bought a Specialized Roubaix road bike and I love it, but I'm dying to get back on my mtb again too (haven't moved the mtb to my new house yet).

Okay, if we are bragging here :D - I did the Ride the Rockies in 1998 at age 58 on a mtn bike - 350 miles of Colorado passes. That was my first year of riding. I started training in April, did the ride in June. Toe clips and bar ends and mtn bike shoes.

The next year I got smart and bought a road bike! :)

You really need both.

i use them both, depending on where I am going.