Do you own a road bike and how many miles do you ride on it?
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The majority of riders on here seem to ride a bit of road in addition to mtb'ing. I too have a road bike. As soon as I got the road bike, I began to appreciate the mountain bike a whole lot more. I don't know any numbers, but I'd say the mtb saw at least four to five times as much use as the road bike in a two-month span last October-November.
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Riding on the road is a great training aid for MTB and an alternative for when the trails are in poor condition. Depending on how far your local trailhead is from your home, a road bike can make for great workouts when time is limited.
Many days I have 2 hrs, door to door, to ride and live 30 minutes from the good trails in the area.These days I'd rather get a full 2 hr road ride in versus sitting in the car for an hour.
The miserable weather this season (and proportionate time spent on the road) actually prompted me to purchase a road bike that is on par (qualitywise) with my MTB. I've been paying it off this winter and should be picking it up this week.
MrR
Many days I have 2 hrs, door to door, to ride and live 30 minutes from the good trails in the area.These days I'd rather get a full 2 hr road ride in versus sitting in the car for an hour.
The miserable weather this season (and proportionate time spent on the road) actually prompted me to purchase a road bike that is on par (qualitywise) with my MTB. I've been paying it off this winter and should be picking it up this week.
MrR
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120 Posts
Hey BW,bwheelin said:
I bought a fuji cross pro earlier this season and was impressed with the value and quality that Fuji offers so I decided to upgrade my road bike from a colnago masterlight (full record but dated) to a new Fuji SST full carbon frame with ultegra components. It is a standard SST frame but painted in the colors of the footon/servetto team which are metallic gold/black/white. I usually don't go for "team" anything but the paint on this thing is just incredible. The plan once I pay off my balance this week is to start saving for a set of reynolds strike wheels, rotorq crank and rings, along with some other carbon bits here and there (hbars, stem, pedals, etc).
There is a pic of one on google images that I'll try and post here.
mrr
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3,230 Posts
How many miles?...Depends.
All of last year I was working out of town with no place to MTB and had nothing but time to road ride so I was putting on 150-200 a week. Looks like I'm not going to have as much play time on my hands this year once the weather is more favorable to ride so I'll shoot for 100-150/wk. My "short" ride is 30 miles, if I have more time I'll do 40, 50 maybe 60. Once the singletrack dries, the road miles will go down and the dirt miles will go up:thumbsup: .
All of last year I was working out of town with no place to MTB and had nothing but time to road ride so I was putting on 150-200 a week. Looks like I'm not going to have as much play time on my hands this year once the weather is more favorable to ride so I'll shoot for 100-150/wk. My "short" ride is 30 miles, if I have more time I'll do 40, 50 maybe 60. Once the singletrack dries, the road miles will go down and the dirt miles will go up:thumbsup: .
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1,071 Posts
I bought a road bike this year for the same reasons MrRodgers did. We have trails that you can't ride when they are wet and sometimes I don't have the time to driver to/from a trail and I have a nice road bike trail right out my door.
FWIW - The road bike has been the reason my mountain biking has improved this year. It is fantastic cross training and could tell a noticible difference within two months. It's not as fun as mountain biking but few things are. However, once I got my fit exactly right, I really have enjoyed knocking out the miles. Road bikes have come a long way in the past 20 years are actually comfortable to ride. Tire technology has improved and Stan's has even creeped into the roadie world.
FWIW - The road bike has been the reason my mountain biking has improved this year. It is fantastic cross training and could tell a noticible difference within two months. It's not as fun as mountain biking but few things are. However, once I got my fit exactly right, I really have enjoyed knocking out the miles. Road bikes have come a long way in the past 20 years are actually comfortable to ride. Tire technology has improved and Stan's has even creeped into the roadie world.
I have had a road bike for many years. I bought the road bike to improve my endurance. I probably ride my road bike 3 times as much but my true love is mtn biking. Leaving from my door for 90 minutes on a road bike is a lot more efficient than driving to the trails. I probably put 1500 miles on it last year.
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I'd echo what others have said about road riding being a bit more boring than MTB, however, descending a monster hill on a road bike can get pretty wild (especially with the head/tailwinds being what they have this week in the NE). This weekend I was doing a local loop in NY that I haven't ridden in years and hit 51mph at the bottom (yes, im sure my comp is properly calibrated 
). Other than hitting the mid 50's a few years back in the mountains, I haven't gone nearly this fast on 2 wheels in years.
MrR
). Other than hitting the mid 50's a few years back in the mountains, I haven't gone nearly this fast on 2 wheels in years. MrR
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I sold my road bike last year. From April 2008 until April 2009 I had ridden it 7,200 miles, 70% of those miles were commute miles. I sold it since I found that I love mountain biking more than road biking.
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Man, you've got the disease bad! Careful, you might turn into a full-fledged roadie! I kid, I kid; but in all honestly, once you start dreaming of reynolds wheels and carbon fiber bits, its time to admit you're in it for more than the cross training!MrRogers1935 said:
I know it's happening to me...
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Haha, you clocked me gbug. I've also started signing up for some criteriums in the summer. As long as my legs have hair, I'll still consider myself a MTB'er that rides (and soon races) on the road.gbug said:Man, you've got the disease bad! Careful, you might turn into a full-fledged roadie! I kid, I kid; but in all honestly, once you start dreaming of reynolds wheels and carbon fiber bits, its time to admit you're in it for more than the cross training!
MrR
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One ride last year, maybe 40 miles. One ride the year before.
I have three FS MTBs, which seems to be the number you need for one to be operational at any given time.
I have three FS MTBs, which seems to be the number you need for one to be operational at any given time.
i'm going to agree with you. i don't have access to alot of trails close by so a road bike is alot more convenient with many more options for me. i like both and would mtn bike more but i just don't have that option where i live.spec4life said:
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