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Mountain bike skills on a road bike
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 2014-09-29 11:20 AM |
Member  1748     Exton, PA |  Subject: Mountain bike skills on a road bikeI know many people road bike(or tri) and do not mountain bike, but I wanted give a quick recap of parts of Saturdays ride where Mountain bike skills definitely came in handy. I did an organized ride on Saturday with some friends that went across New Jersey. The route crossed RR tracks about 6 times, with many people slowing down or flatting when hitting some of the nasty ones. My friends and I simply bunny hopped over and kept our speed up. This skill has saved me multiple times over the years, yet many road bikers don't bother to learn it. The biggest oh moment of the day was when the guy in front of me made a quick shift to the right which put me directly into a line of orange cones in the road at 24mph! hit the first one which somehow wrapped around the rear tire and shot off into the air. My friend pulled up next me and just commented that he had no idea how I stayed up hitting the cone like that. Again I contribute it to skills learned on the mountain bike. So if you don't MTB or think it won't help you, think again. Not to mention those time when its cold and you don't want to get on the road (or tri) bike mountain biking tends to be warmer because of the slower speeds and the covered areas(at least in the north east). |
| 2014-09-29 11:36 AM in reply to: mike761 |
Pro 15655 | Subject: RE: Mountain bike skills on a road bike MTB riding changed my kid's entire race in DL triathlon. The handling skills and confidence he gained in just one winter of MTB riding couldn't have been taught in years of road bike training. Nice post.....worth it's weight in gold for imporving cycling. |
| 2014-09-29 11:50 AM in reply to: mike761 |
| 754 | Subject: RE: Mountain bike skills on a road bike Bunny hopping and improved cornering are both useful on any bike. My descending skills greatly improved after I started mountain biking. You never do know when the skills will come in handy. One time I was riding behind a friend who crashed. I was able to get my front wheel around him and maintain control when my back wheel went over him (felt bad about that, but at least I didn't end up on the ground with him). Another time, a car deliberately ran me off the road. I was into the grass and back onto the pavement before I even realized what happened. It never hurts to have good bike handling skills. |
| 2014-09-29 12:04 PM in reply to: 0 |
| Master 10208 Northern IL | Subject: RE: Mountain bike skills on a road bike Similar experience here. Grew up more on a mountain bike, so lots of trail time. Doesn't have to be anything crazy hard either. Just really used to looking out for and handling around/over various bumps and obstacles. Bikes intended for the road do tend to handle differently, but the adjustment to them is way faster than having to learn this in the first place. ETA: In order to improve handling it tends to help finding more situations where you need to really maneuver the bike, and for that you'll find many more situations off-road than on. Even with the crappy roads around here, it's still not really close between them. Getting into actual single track will have so much more turning involved as well. Edited by brigby1 2014-09-29 12:13 PM |
| 2014-09-29 12:13 PM in reply to: 0 |
Member 140 Indian Hills, CO | Subject: RE: Mountain bike skills on a road bike I couldn't agree more! For me... Once on a screaming fast descent, while in a corner, I hit some gravel and started to slide. Because I was weighting the bike like I do mtn biking, I actually drifted out the other side and then my tires regained purchase. Once on RAGBRAI I was chatting with a guy (who had a few beers I'm guessing) and he turned to wave at some pretty ladies passing. As he did this, his front wheel hits my back wheel. I was able to stay upright while he kept leaning INTO me for what was probably 10 secs or so. After I pull away, he goes down immediately. My friend was amazed I didn't go down with him. Also reminds me of a time when I was mtn biking and came across a couple guys on road bikes riding the singletrack. They were NOT cyclocross bikes, but full on Italian road bikes. Obviously working on some skills. Ted P.S. Who can forget this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gr89ku-K2WU Edited by indianhillsted 2014-09-29 12:19 PM |
| 2014-09-29 12:23 PM in reply to: Left Brain |
| Master 10208 Northern IL | Subject: RE: Mountain bike skills on a road bike Originally posted by Left Brain MTB riding changed my kid's entire race in DL triathlon. The handling skills and confidence he gained in just one winter of MTB riding couldn't have been taught in years of road bike training. Nice post.....worth it's weight in gold for imporving cycling. Can help a lot in nondraft as well. Improved cornering can help more than some aero gear does (to give some perspective). The awareness part can be significant too. There are differences in reading lines on a trail vs reading a crowd of people, but it constantly works on the mental capacity. Thinking & processing observations all the time. Being very aware of what's going on around and coming up. |
| 2014-09-29 1:38 PM in reply to: Left Brain |
| Fort Walton Beach | Subject: RE: Mountain bike skills on a road bike I was down on my bars a couple of weeks ago and waved to someone riding the other way. I somehow managed to steer the bike right off the edge of the road. I kept pedaling, eased off my bars and rode right back up the shoulder and kept going. I was really hoping that no one saw me. Alas, my hubby had crested the small rise behind me and witnessed it. Crap. Anyhow, I was very pleasantly surprised that I didn't wreck and the spouse was equally pleased as it would have messed up our day(s). He was so relieved that he didn't tease me about it : ) |
| 2014-09-29 1:50 PM in reply to: mike761 |
Champion 19812 MA | Subject: RE: Mountain bike skills on a road bike Once I was riding downhill coming around a corner and minivan backed out of a driveway right in front of me, I braked fast and hard, road was narrow with one lane each direction, a car was coming towards me and on left side of the road was a large tree, my options where to go were severely limited. When braking my rear tire started to skid, but my CX skills helped me stay upright to narrowly miss the back of the minivan, go through middle of the road avoiding the on coming vehicle and not crash. It scared me but I was quite amazed I didn't crash or get hit by a car/minivan. Riding off road for sure helps riding on the road skills. |
| 2014-09-29 2:20 PM in reply to: indianhillsted |
| 754 | Subject: RE: Mountain bike skills on a road bike Originally posted by indianhillsted I couldn't agree more! For me... Once on a screaming fast descent, while in a corner, I hit some gravel and started to slide. Because I was weighting the bike like I do mtn biking, I actually drifted out the other side and then my tires regained purchase. Once on RAGBRAI I was chatting with a guy (who had a few beers I'm guessing) and he turned to wave at some pretty ladies passing. As he did this, his front wheel hits my back wheel. I was able to stay upright while he kept leaning INTO me for what was probably 10 secs or so. After I pull away, he goes down immediately. My friend was amazed I didn't go down with him. Also reminds me of a time when I was mtn biking and came across a couple guys on road bikes riding the singletrack. They were NOT cyclocross bikes, but full on Italian road bikes. Obviously working on some skills. Ted P.S. Who can forget this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gr89ku-K2WU Oh, that reminds me of the time when I was riding behind someone and a dog charged him from head on. He hit his brakes and I slammed into his back wheel but recovered. I have also hit a dog that charged my front wheel. Dangerous stuff out there. |
| 2014-09-29 2:55 PM in reply to: mike761 |
| Member 91 Baltimore, MD | Subject: RE: Mountain bike skills on a road bike The first time I tried bunny hopping my road bike, I broke a spoke on the rear wheel, so I now do it sparingly. I agree that there are much more bike handling skills to be learned on a MTB. I regularly lift the front wheel over bumps, or lift off the seat and make my arms "loose" when encountering bumps. |
| 2014-09-29 3:50 PM in reply to: schaumi |
Champion 19812 MA | Subject: RE: Mountain bike skills on a road bike Originally posted by schaumi lift off the seat and make my arms "loose" when encountering bumps. Doesn't everyone do that?
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| 2014-09-29 4:03 PM in reply to: mike761 |
| 467 , Wisconsin | Subject: RE: Mountain bike skills on a road bike 2nd place in the Tour De France this year went to a former World Champ in mountain biking. He switched to road bike very late in his career. His bike handling skills are amazing. Jean-Christophe Peraud. |
| 2014-09-29 5:32 PM in reply to: KathyG |
| Master 10208 Northern IL | Subject: RE: Mountain bike skills on a road bike Originally posted by KathyG Originally posted by schaumi lift off the seat and make my arms "loose" when encountering bumps. Doesn't everyone do that? Surprisingly, no. Loads of little things like that seem so instinctive to some, but are not to a number of newer riders and triathletes. I was quite a amazed when first getting into tri. |
| 2014-09-29 5:47 PM in reply to: MikeD1 |
| Subject: RE: Mountain bike skills on a road bike Originally posted by MikeD1 2nd place in the Tour De France this year went to a former World Champ in mountain biking. He switched to road bike very late in his career. His bike handling skills are amazing. Jean-Christophe Peraud. Off the top of my head, Cadel Evans, Ryder Hesjedal, and Peter Sagan were other World Championship caliber mountain bikers earlier in their careers. |
| 2014-09-29 5:52 PM in reply to: mike761 |
| 265 Denver, Colorado | Subject: RE: Mountain bike skills on a road bike I have no interest in mountain biking but I've been playing around off road on my single speed cross bike and I feel this will greatly improve my handling over the winter. I'm sure there are a great many skills to be learned and transferred to the road while on a cross or MTB. |
| 2014-09-30 8:40 AM in reply to: Brian W |
Master 8247 Eugene, Oregon Bronze member | Subject: RE: Mountain bike skills on a road bike I claim no amazing speed or skills on any kind of bike but....we have a unique kind of single-track riding here in Vietnam--narrow cement or sometimes dirt paths between fish ponds or rice paddies that are barely wide enough for one bike. At most, on the biggest paths, you can get two bikes (or a motorbike and a bike) past one another with millimeters to spare if you encounter opposing traffic (which is an even greater challenge than staying upright on the narrowest paths, since it's now you plus a moving target.) The penalty for failure is falling (attached to your bike if clipped in) into deep mud or muddy water. It takes very steady nerves, balance, total focus, and steady handling. When I first started riding with aerobars, I was really apprehensive about it, but our LBS owner, who's pretty much the closest thing to a bike coach I've ever had, pointed out that "If you can stay out of the paddies, you'll be fine on aerobars." He was right. |
| 2014-09-30 8:55 AM in reply to: Brian W |
| Master 10208 Northern IL | Subject: RE: Mountain bike skills on a road bike Originally posted by Brian W I have no interest in mountain biking but I've been playing around off road on my single speed cross bike and I feel this will greatly improve my handling over the winter. I'm sure there are a great many skills to be learned and transferred to the road while on a cross or MTB. That would work too. The basic idea is to put yourself into situations where you do more than just go pretty straight forward. It doesn't actually have to be off-roading at all, but in going off-road it's more likely that way more maneuvering will be involved. And getting more practice at that was the original point. |
| 2014-09-30 10:15 AM in reply to: 0 |
Member 1748 Exton, PA | Subject: RE: Mountain bike skills on a road bike Originally posted by brigby1 Originally posted by Brian W I have no interest in mountain biking but I've been playing around off road on my single speed cross bike and I feel this will greatly improve my handling over the winter. I'm sure there are a great many skills to be learned and transferred to the road while on a cross or MTB. That would work too. The basic idea is to put yourself into situations where you do more than just go pretty straight forward. It doesn't actually have to be off-roading at all, but in going off-road it's more likely that way more maneuvering will be involved. And getting more practice at that was the original point. Because I ride MTB(mostly in the winter) I don't consider myself a good bike handler. Some of the guys I ride with will do stuff that just looks crazy to me. When I was younger I would have tried some of it, but it just hurts more now. We do have a rule, all reflector stay on the bike unless you can knock them off on the trail. The seatpost reflector is the only one left on my bike  Edited by mike761 2014-09-30 10:17 AM |
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