How do road and mountain bike skills compare?
April 15th, 2005 by Mike
Q. Do any skills transfer from the road to the mountain bike?
A. Most of it is fitness. On the road, you can do more training and recover from it quicker, and you won’t get beat up by rough terrain. For example, a 5-10 minute technical off-road climb will probably put you at max effort. The up and down of mountain bike terrain dictates your effort, and that’s not best for your training.
Road riding teaches you how to ride with a group and puts a magnifying glass on drafting and aerodynamics. You can also learn the limits of traction. It’s pretty amazing how hard you can corner on a road bike, and you can take that feel to the trail, too.
On the flip side, the best mountain biking skill that transfers to the road: controlled slides. On the road, people panic on slides. In dirt, you’re relaxed–when you slide, you can balance and keep your bike upright.
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was riding with a road group, ( im new to road riding) and i did a bunny hop to miss a pot hole, did i get some strange looks. saved my wheels
karl
It’s good to mix it up. Some folks I see who only ride on the road just kind of panic and freak out when they have a momentary lapse in attention and find themselves off the shoulder of the road and in the gravel or soft stuff. I stead of freaking out and crashing, this is where some off-road skills can come in handy. Just ride it out. For laying down that aerobic base, nothing beats the road bike.
I have yet to go on a real road ride on a real road bike. Those crazy drivers freak me out. Jack from my LBS keeps teling me he’s gonna get me on one soon. We’ll see.