patentcad

I cycled 108 miles on my road bike yesterday, that was about 7 hours, lots of climbing. Two weeks ago I did a 5 hour ride, an hour on the road to an MTB ride that was 18 miles of single track, 3 hours in the woods, then an hour road ride back home, 50 miles in total. Two observations:

• I can categorically say that the MTB ride beat the living crap out of me 3x more than the road bike. I crashed several times in the last hour in the woods. MTB on single track isn't about miles. It's about hours and how much pounding you endure.

• My hard tail is OK for 1-2 hours off road. By hour 3 I wanted a FS.

Fortunately my off road forays will not exceed 2 hours in the near future. For shorter off road rides, the hard tail is fine. If I raced MTBs I would think FS would give you a distinct advantage. I'm surprised that's not universally embraced by MTB racers.

In summation, single track MTB riding is the ultimate HTFU experience, and Road Nazis are Wussy.

ProFail

Thanks for admitting it.

It means a lot to us. As for FS v. HT, we have weight weenies too.

Cyclist30907654

I hope your new found revelations will be propagated in the road forum?

mx_599

i might get an ibis silk.

mx

Freaknhell

To me they seems like two different types of challenges, but I can't say I've pushed it as much as you, so I might be wrong. I do respect both types of riding equally though. After seeing Cancellara keel over at the end of stage 9 of the Tour de Suisse I would think that was a pretty demanding day of cycling.

rizz

It won't, because we know that the 120 year-old pcad probably broke his hip while swinging a leg over that filthy non-road bike and that resulted in his lengthy excuse about how it's harder than the One True Sport(tm) that is road bike racing. He just needs to harden up. The end.

scrublover

After many years of riding both, I still think they are way too hard to directly compare. Been on road rides that have kicked my ass, and been on dirt rides that have kicked my ass.

Depending on the terrain/mileage/bike you're on, the two can vary so much I feel it's sorta' worthless to try to compare them.

That said, I'd far rather have my ass kicking rides on dirt than pavement.

Patriot

LOL.

The roadies think yer a traitor.

I've been MTB'ing on and off for a good year now. I enjoy all kinds of riding. Pretty much anything with two wheels.

I can ride like a Bat outta Gehenna, but my steering/control technique leaves me lying on my butt on odd ocassion. My buddies I ride with are moto-cross nuts, and they can spank me big time on the tight trails. But, when the trail opens up, I can get the lead out and easily drop 'em like a bad habit. All my road endurance and sprinting skills come in handy.

Let's just say, my higher-end heart rate leaves them gasping everytime.

enjoi07

^^^ YEAAAHH BOOOY ..you just got called out in the road forums. A whole post was made about it! thats how i saw this!... whata buncha weirdo stalkers.

JoelS

And I'd like to sell my FS and get a HT. I prefer the ride of the HT after logging many hours on the FS.

But yeah. MTB is way more exhausting than Road.

patentcad

That's interesting. Can you tell me why you're considering going back to HT? I prefer the simplicity and light weight, and I do more miles on the road with my MTB than in the woods. But that's me. If I were a harder core MTB enthusiast I'd have a FS. Actually I might have both. Love the Fly Ti hard tail, that was the ticket for me. But man three hours of single track madness can beat the living crap out of you. They have SEVENTY MILES of single track over at those Stewart buffer lands just west of Stewart Airport (that's Stewart AFB too, Newburgh, NY). It's a State Park now.

cryptid01

With more seat time on the mtb you'll (hopefully) learn to ride more efficiently. That'll help.

Now then, what is this "road biking" you speak of?

JoelS

I don't like the loss of energy that gets sucked into the shock for the FS. When riding singletrack I tend to spend most of my time in technical areas and climbs out of the saddle. I find the rear shock to suck up some of the energy that I am putting in to pedaling.

dark13star

Remember when you said F*** upper body strength in a post about weight and weight lifting in the road forum? You may want to reconsider. I find that upper body strength is far more important in mountain biking, especially when you go over the bars.

Cheeto

riding trails beats you up more than roads.
I did a 16 mile ride today, it was a gravel walking path type thing, (I saw people riding road bikes on it it was so smooth) I im not sore or tired at all.
(although since my bike is in the boneyard right now, I was riding my uncles like 10+ year old huffy fullly rigid 7 speed thing.... GAH!

DirtPedalerB

hmmm I see the science behind this, but it seems I like the suspension bob... much easier on the legs.. I know when I lockout the rear on climbs it's much harder to pedal the same gear.. but I climb in the saddle mostly. I know i'm losing energy, but who cares I'm going for comfort.

Richard_Rides

I always lockout my rear shock on my FS, only use it on really choppy descents.

DirtPedalerB

That's supposed to be bad for your frame as it wasn't designed to be a hardtail.

patentcad

My understanding is that one major benefit of FS is the way it keeps your rear wheel in contact wih the ground when you're climbing.

patentcad

To really get better in the woods, I'd have to be on the trail 2-3x weekly. That won't happen. Part of the reason is that in season I seriously need to log 225-300 miles weekly to ride/race the way I want to, even to hang with the guys I'm trying to ride with (Cat 2/3/4 hard core roadies). If I get one day per week on the MTB, that's all I can spare. But I do enjoy it. I'll never race MTBs. I'd get killed.

Rutnick

dang daddy-o....the MTB crowd I hang with always says that 1 MTB mile is worth 3 road miles and since I routinely ride both and both hard...I also agree.

I did a metric on Saturday on the road. I felt great afterward. I decided to go out and hit a HARD MTB ride. I was totally wiped afterward.

BTW, a metric on a weekend ride on a road ride IS taking it easy for me.

patentcad

But it was more than that. The MTB ride just beat the crap out of me. I felt like I had just played rugby, not like I did a bike ride. And crashing is a rather routine occurrence in MTB riding, correct? The crashing added 100%+ to the fatigue factor. I was bruised, bleeding and generally beat up from going down hard a few times. I don't crash on the road.

I even feel more beat after I do those 1 hour in the woods, 45 mins. on the road forays to my local MTB stomping grounds. Single track riding is fun, but it's taxing.

carlfreddy

If MTB is so much better how come Steve "Old Ironsides" Tilford has stopped racing MTB and has picked up a skinny-tire'd bike?

I'm just sayin'...

DirtPedalerB

p cad on an average ride I wouldn't say crashing is normal. I crash once or twice a year. I guess it depends on the terrain.

patentcad

I don't crash in my local rides where I'm in the woods for an hour. I did crash 3-4x in the last hour on that three hour ride. I was pretty tired, and I was losing the plot.