Leave the Skinny Tires to the Roadies! part 3
In this three part series I have been exploring if riding a road bike is a good idea for moutnain bike training. If you missed parts one and two you can find them here: Part 1 Part 2
Here is the conclusion to this series plus how it should impact you…
3) It takes skills that MTB riders are not great at –
Riding a road bike takes a different set of skills than mountain biking. We all have seen the stud roadie get on a technically challenging trail and crumble. We’ve also seen mountain bikers that can ride anything on the trail loose focus and control on their road bike and end up a bloody mess.
Being able to negotiate traffic, grates and other road obstacles requires a distinct awareness and skill. Being able to keep your head up while in the lower position a road bike puts you in is also a specific strength endurance possessed by true roadies. Dealing with the speed and handling characteristics of a road bike are skills that must be learned and honed just like the skills you practice on your mountain bike.
This basically puts you at a disadvantage that increases your chance of wrecking. Now, taken by itself this may not be enough of a reason to avoid the road bike. I’ve been known to do things on my mountain bike that “increase my chance of wrecking”.
But when you think about everything I have brought up in this series, it does call the inclusion of a road bike in a mountain biker’s training program into question. Just to recap, here are the 3 reasons to leave the skinny tires to the roadies:
1- May create a competing neural blueprint. The specific kinetic chain needed to pedal a mountain bike is different than the one needed to pedal a road bike. This means that any time spent on a road bike is not helping to ingrain your fitness onto the specific movement patterns needed for mountain biking.
2- May increase risk of overuse injuries. Even though riding a road bike isn’t an exact replica of mountain biking (which is why the nervous system does not benefit) it does cause the same muscular imbalances brought on by mountain biking. The position of having shortened hip flexors, pecs and deltoids with elongated upper back muscles is something that must be controlled and counteracted. The best way to build cardio while avoiding overuse injuries is with training rides on your mountain bike (with slicks on if you need to ride on the road) and with true cross training (basically any activity other than cycling).
3- It requires skills that mountain bikers don’t practice. As I already covered you put yourself into a different position on a different bike that requires different focus and skills. That’s a lot of different stuff to deal with. Perhaps you’d be better off just throwing slicks on your mountain bike if you need to hit the road. You help ingrain the patterns you need on your bike and you are in a more familiar, and safer, position.
So here’s the thing – I am not saying that you should never ride a road bike. If you enjoy doing it then fine, for the most part I would not discourage you from having fun. We train so that we can live life and ride on our terms and if that includes throwing your leg over a road bike then I can respect that.
However, the true definition of the word “training” centers on the acquisition of a skill. If you are a mountain biker who is looking to increase your on trail performance then using the road bike as part of your training program may not be a good idea on a few levels.
And this is where having training rides versus fun rides comes in. Every ride shouldn’t be a training ride but unless you are consciously working on acquiring a specific skill or fitness component needed on the trail then it isn’t a training ride. Learning the difference between the two is important in order to go beyond guessing about what to do and if it will work and knowing what to do and that it will work.
Long story short, if you have fun riding a road bike then go for it, just be aware that you need to keep the volume of miles in check and that you will need to address any imbalances the combination of mountain biking and road biking bring on. However, if you don’t like it then either don’t do it or, if you need to get out on the road, throw some slicks on your mountain bike.
I’d also like to say that I think that the more serious a racer you are the more you should avoid the road bike altogether. Racing is about honing your specific skills and fitness to the highest levels possible. Your bike is your weapon and having everything you do center on the specific skills and fitness needed to effectively wield it in battle should be the essence of your training program.
I do not know why but riding a road bike has just become an accepted, and almost expected, part of our sport. From my perspective I don’t think that the road bike offers anything to us that simply throwing some slicks on our mountain bike can not deliver and may on fact be counterproductive on some levels. Just some points to consider next time you are wondering whether to buy a new road bike or just buy some training slicks for your mountain bike and have some more money for upgrades.
-James Wilson-
Hi James; Interesting series of articles. I have two bikes, one FS and one HT with roughly the same geometry. I also have a second set of wheels with road tires mounted which I can swap out on either bike depending on where I’m going to ride. (road or trail) At one time, I kept a set of knobbies at the office and another set at home and used my bikes to commute. I could then ride after work from the office with a friend or head home and do the trails around my neighborhood on the weekends. Given my take on your articles, this was not a bad strategy to have adopted. There is a thousand foot elevation difference between the two locations, so I was often pretty worked by the time I got home, but the down hill ride could be rather exhilarating. (I’ve managed to hit over 50mph for parts of it, glad I have disc breaks!) Cheers Greg
[Reply]
bikejames Reply:
March 12th, 2009 at 10:14 am
Yeah, if you can just throwing slicks on your mountain bike is the way to go. The road bike isn’t needed to ride the road.
James
[Reply]
Hi, I am starting to see the use of intervals for XC racing but to train for a 100km event I am still chewing the slicks part over. That said I have seen one guy with narrow rims of unknow diameter so he could run 23c tyres for his road commute.
[Reply]
bikejames Reply:
March 14th, 2009 at 7:25 am
@ Darryl
Why would you want to run any bike or tire size than what you race with? Is it to make your ride easier (which a road bike does)? Is making the ride easier really a good training tactic?
I’m not saying either way, just pointing out some of the questions I ask myself when evaluating both sides of the arguement.
James
[Reply]
James,
interesting take. i don’t necessarily agree that road riding is easier. for my commute to work, the road bike is just plain faster, slicks, gearing, geometry, bike position…but to go faster u do go harder. mtb, is agreed, more intense, intervals. but overall, road biking is just a different avenue, like my trigeeks, they love mtb b/c it different than road riding. agree to disagree?
[Reply]
bikejames Reply:
March 16th, 2009 at 10:24 am
Hmmm…I can certainly agree to disagree but a lighter bike with better gearing and geometry will allow you to go faster with the same amount of effort which is why optimized position and weight are important.
Again, I am not saying to never ride your road bike, I am just pointing out that at it’s essence training is about ingraining the very specific types of fitness you need to dominate on the trail. Road bikes simply do not allow you to do that as effectively as a mountain bike with slicks can.
James
[Reply]
doing a century on a mtn. bike would be uncomfortable b/c of the more upright position (geometry) and gearing.
so if i’m correct, you are saying for say a 50mile mtb endurance race, i should train on my mtb for that same distance & riding my road bike would be detrimental or counter-productive?
[Reply]
bikejames Reply:
March 20th, 2009 at 7:52 am
Everything in training is based on the good-better-best scale. Riding a road bike to train for a mountain bike race might be good or even better, but it will never be best. I hate to use the terms “detrimental” or “counter productive” because people will take that as me saying you’ll get worse from training on a road bike, while what I am saying is that you won’t benefit as much as you would by training exclusively on a mountain bike.
James Wilson
[Reply]
Your position is interesting and I can agree with parts of it, overtraining being the most important point I’ll agree with.
When you are training on a mt. bike one should focus on that training, aerobic, strength, skills, sessioning something….
To augment that training, unless one lives in CA or other low rain area, one can certainly add road training (great aerobic-sprinting, strength-hills low cadence.
One has to think about that training so the brain associates one bike ride from another.
Plus, big plus, is one can jump on one’s road bike and “make hay” and get a killer training ride in in a short time, between bad & good weather.
Take that a step further one can & should ride some BMX which will round out skills and increase aerobic fitness for mt biking. We BMX once a week added to our xc training to prepare for the DH season. Some of the best BMX riders have been the top DH pros.
What about mx? Many of the top world champions and top ten world cup DH racers race mx in the off season or at least train on a mx bike. Sam Hill rides all summer and races.
I think that one can mix it up more than you think but you are right about that muscle memory. So one trains and thinks about one is doing at that time. Ride and think, what a theory (it is hard especially on a mt. bike, what with all the different challanges of that sport.
GET THIS BOOK ADD IT TO YOUR RESEARCH LIBRARY-BEST WEIGHT STRENGTH TRAINING BOOK I’VE EVER SEEN. THIS IS WEIGHT TRAINING SPECIFIC TO SPORTS.
“The New Power Program: Protocols for Maximum Strength” by Dr. Michael Colgan published by Apple Publishing. Mine’s 2001. Don’t know if it’s still available. I’d try Amazon.
His best strength training exercises for athletes are dead lifts, squats, high pulls, power cleans.
I saw your article in Decline about deads (hollywood blocks for weights, great look!) and that’s why I sniffed around your web site and arrived here.
Keep up the good work.
[Reply]
bikejames Reply:
April 24th, 2009 at 7:55 am
Thanks for the great feedback. Just for the record, I don’t think that you shouldn’t hit the road to train if you need to, only that you would probably be better off just throwing some slicks on your mountain bike. I don’t know why we think that you have to be on skinny tires to use the road as a training tool but that was really my main point. If you are going to “train” then train with the weapon you use in battle.
Thansk again, hope my articles in Decline gets more people like you poking around my blog.
James
[Reply]