Originally Posted by
andrewclaus
As mentioned a couple of times above, comfortably riding a road bike takes technique and experience. Scan the road, identify obstacles, and if you can't avoid them you unweight and let your body flex rather than the bike. There's also a certain amount of HTFU.
A MTBer friend from out of town was visiting me and wanted to go for a short ride around my town. I loaned him a road bike. I was appalled at how much punishment he was taking. Every little bump was telegraphing up his spine and arms. I could see him wince. Less than ten miles into the ride he had enough neck and hand pain we aborted the rest of the ride and went home early. I realized too late he had no idea how to ride a road bike. And I know there are MTB techniques I've never mastered.
Maybe because I came up MTB 'ing in the early 1990s on ridgids and short -travel hardtails, that I've found the opposite to be true; I'm a lot more aggressive about getting off the saddle, and even getting the wheels off the ground, if needed, on my road bikes than many of the road - only folks I ride with.
In the long & low NORBA era of 140mm stems and 60mm-travel forks, "riding light" was how you got things done.
I've found that modern MTBs are so much more capable on the trail, with long -travel forks and the proliferation of effective full suspension, that takes a lot of the "work" out of riding off-road. MTB geometry also has diverged significantly from the 26" era, more upright and less forward bias than older designs.
Could be that your friend isn't used to
any bike without suspension, and add that to different kind of geometry, and the complication of drop bars (Contrary to BF lore, drops are not a natural transition if you're accustomed to riding straight bars) not surprising that he struggled on the borrowed roadie.