No, because it's frickin' obvious. We all talk about gear here because we're gearheads, not because we don't understand that rider strength trumps everything else. There's nothing old-fashioned here. Riders back to the very beginning of bicycling and bicycle racing have been searching for equipment to give them an edge. The idea that you can buy speed is not new.

Riding that MTB, by the way, has not made you stronger than you would have become riding a road bike. It has only made you slower. This is something that more people should understand: inferior equipment (due to weight, design, rider position, whatever) does not confer an advantage in building fitness, which is dependent entirely upon your training schedule. It just makes you slower than a lighter, more aero, more efficient, etc. design. Maybe not enough to matter in your rides (I've come within a hairsbreadth of winning races on some seriously outmoded technology), but that's the inescapable truth. If Lance Armstrong had ridden the Tour on a MTB, he would still have been incredibly strong. But he would have lost. Badly. Tech matters.

Couple of other possibilities:

You could be sufficiently self-assured that you don't care about other's opinions and you're happy with the bike you have.

You might also just be too cheap to buy a road bike.

My 17 pound cross race bike is A LOT faster than my 25 pound commuter/fun cross bike around a cross course. Weight, gearing, frame geometry, and wheels/tires will have a huge impact on how a bikes rides... especially off-road.

Aren't we all always thinking about our next upgrade?

You know what else makes you strong?


Riding fast. On a nice bike.

ha i agree with mr appleby!

i have a decent engine and i have a r3-sl, and the two go quite well together! get off the beater and splash out, you`ll love it - even if you do feel guilty for a bit...

Duh ... that and a cheeseburger

Call me wasteful, call me radical, I ride a road bike on the road and a mountain bike on the trail. I firmly believe riding a bike has improved my ability to ride a bike.

"I have happily ridden a mountain bike for the entirety of my road cycling life until recently and excuse my hubris but it's made me a damn strong rider."

You wuss, you're using multiple gears to gain an advantage. I just rode the Hotter-n-Hell Hundred on a single-speed cruiser.