Originally Posted by
carlosflanders
I did a bunch of MTBing last year on a rigid SS.
In MTBing you can buy speed, it's worse then Fatty Masters and TTing. The cost of equipment is enormous and it breaks a lot. The amount some of my acquaintances spend is more than any roadie I know. This puts me off.
Exactly. It seemed like a decently competitive bike for even the sport-level guys was in the $2500 range. Even some of the other guys on fully rigid bikes have very spendy carbon forks.
Most MTBers regard anything other than singletrack as sacrilege. I don't get this. Fitness isn't tested enough.
I found it a bit amusing that there were signs posted notifying us of upcoming "passing zones" when it opened into double track. This course had an extremely high percentage of singletrack compared to the other WORS races I've been to (watched a couple races at nine mile about a decade ago).
MTB racing is lonely.
My first reflection on the race as I was dragging my bike back to the car was that Mt. Biking seems to be the exact opposite of road: The every-day riding and training on the trails would be an absolute blast, with the racing being a way to justify having all of that "fun". By contrast, training for road is a long and solitary affair that you slog though in order for the excitement of a race.
MTBers are very suspicious of anyone who rides road, and are just as closed-minded as any other group.
This is the part that was a bit surprising. I suppose this is why cross has taken off... it's a giant mix of mt bikers, roadies, and even the silly triathletes?