Road or Mountain... Which are you?

Road or Mountain... Which are you?

Poll: Road or Mountain... Which are you?

Total Members Polled: 148

100% Roadie: 27%
75% Roadie: 12%
I like both equally: 19%
75% MTB: 11%
100% MTB: 29%
I like going round and round in circles: 0%
I'm a weirdo.. Cyclocross first and foremost!: 2%
Author
Discussion

scubadude

2,618 posts

196 months

Tuesday 26th May 2015
quotequote all
Is the poll what you like (50:50 for me) or what your do (90:10 in favour of road for me)?

Kermit power

Original Poster:

28,634 posts

212 months

Tuesday 26th May 2015
quotequote all
ukbabz said:
I'd say about 90% roadie but have a lot more fun on my MTB. The road bike is a lot easier in terms of going out for a ride as I just put on clothes and start at home. However I take road cycling as a fitness / distance challenge, whereas the MTB is for getting muddy / having fun (or going XC between a few pubs ;-) )
That was how I used to think until I got the Ordnance Survey maps out. smile

My normal Friday evening MTB rides involve putting the bike in the car and heading down to the Surrey Hills, but as I didn't have anyone to ride with this last Friday, I rode a 27 mile XC loop from home instead. The first mile was on tarmac, as was about mile 9. Other than that, it's amazing just how much off road stuff you can link together with a bit of attention to a decent map. Some places, it's a narrow corridor between built up areas, and others, it's so big that you can't believe you're still barely 20 miles from the heart of London.

As an example, my ride on Friday went through Headley Heath below (with thanks to the complete stranger whose Flickr image I've borrowed). The whole time I was there, I saw no more than a couple of dog walkers. That's barely a mile or so outside the M25, yet as soon as you get more than a hundred yards away from the nearest car park, you might as well be in deepest rural Scotland for all the people you see!

Headley Heath by Andrew-M-Whitman, on Flickr

I'll still keep the road bikes for commuting, as I can't do that fast enough on a mountain bike, and there's not exactly a great deal of bridleway between here and Waterloo, but other than that, my Friday adventure was enough to show me that I can keep chasing my stress-reduction mantra (a good day is a day when I get muddier than the kids!) from my own front door in Zone 6 without having to start it out in the car! smile

Kermit power

Original Poster:

28,634 posts

212 months

Tuesday 26th May 2015
quotequote all
scubadude said:
Is the poll what you like (50:50 for me) or what your do (90:10 in favour of road for me)?
I had in mind what you'd choose to do if you could do either. I'm 90% road in practice, but 100% MTB in inclination.

TwistingMyMelon

6,385 posts

204 months

Tuesday 26th May 2015
quotequote all
I use to MTB loads, now I would say I am road, but with kids I only get to commute and one ride at the weekend. If I had more time I would resurrect my decent MTB, but I don't at the mo.

I commute on a old rigid MTB, with slick ish tyres and road lycra, this means I get ignored by everyone!! When I see MTBers out, they ignore me when I say hi and roadies put their nose up when I wave! Guess people are just miserable round my way, to me a bike is a bike!


Roger Irrelevant

2,898 posts

112 months

Tuesday 26th May 2015
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99% road for me. I really like MTBing, and live in a great area for it, but fellrunning's my main thing so I've never been too bothered about buying a bike for an activity that would be a sideline of a sideline. I'm sure I will if a good deal crops up at a time when I've got cash burning a hole in my pocket, though.

Craikeybaby

10,369 posts

224 months

Wednesday 27th May 2015
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100% MTB here, although I also ride the odd section on road to link up trails locally.

Gren

1,947 posts

251 months

Wednesday 27th May 2015
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100% MTB here although if I had more time (about 8 hours a week in the saddle already) or could commute I'd do both.


Fetchez la vache

5,568 posts

213 months

Wednesday 27th May 2015
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I'll have to put 100% MTB as they're the only bikes I have.

The fact I'm currently looking to dip my toe in the roadie water with a Planet-X is by the by until I get one, with next years CarTen 100 in mind. I can't see me wearing Lycra mind smile

daddy cool

3,996 posts

228 months

Wednesday 27th May 2015
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Fetchez la vache said:
I can't see me wearing Lycra mind smile
Yeah...We all said that.

m444ttb

3,160 posts

228 months

Wednesday 27th May 2015
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'100% road', although 20% of my commuting mileage is off-tarmac. I've seen people talk about road riding beign for fitness and MTB for fun but for me road riding it both. Perhaps that's some weird perversion born out of enjoying running too.

DMN

2,983 posts

138 months

Wednesday 27th May 2015
quotequote all
Mountain Biking for me.

Better scenery, no smog. I even did the Isle of Wight Round the Island on my MTB.

Kermit power

Original Poster:

28,634 posts

212 months

Wednesday 27th May 2015
quotequote all
m444ttb said:
'100% road', although 20% of my commuting mileage is off-tarmac. I've seen people talk about road riding beign for fitness and MTB for fun but for me road riding it both. Perhaps that's some weird perversion born out of enjoying running too.
In terms of a "fun" comparison, I would see it something like this....

MTB ----------> All those fun things you did on your stag do which stayed on your stag do.

Road ---------> But it turns out the "lady" providing the fun has a little more substance than expected between the legs...

Running -----> ...and is backing you into a corner with a power drill adapted to take a rather large dildo!

Kell

1,708 posts

207 months

Wednesday 27th May 2015
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I consider myself to be a Mountain Biker.

I've competed (in Amateur races) for MTB, but have only recently bought a road bike.

The reality is, however, that most of my cycling these days is done on the commute. and when I do get time at the weekends to go out, having a road bike means I can go out and do that easily.

So over the last 16 years, the furthest off-road I've been is with my daughter through gentle forest trails. While I've probably done 20,000+ miles on the road.

I still consider myself an MTB'er though as it's what I did when I started buying my own bikes almost 30 years ago.

Kermit power

Original Poster:

28,634 posts

212 months

Wednesday 27th May 2015
quotequote all
Kell said:
So over the last 16 years, the furthest off-road I've been is with my daughter through gentle forest trails.
How old is your daughter? I'm just wondering how long my window of cycling nirvana is with my kids! hehe

When they were very, very little, I couldn't ride my bike slowly enough to stay at their pace...

Then we had a few years of those gentle trails...

On the early May BH, I took the two eldest (girl 12, boy 9) round the (very easy) red route at Bedgebury, and am now looking at taking them to Bike Park Wales for a long weekend and it's all wonderfully good fun! biggrin

I suspect that within 2-3 years, I won't be able to keep up with them, and won't have the nerve to try half the trails they will! frown

JEA1K

2,485 posts

222 months

Wednesday 27th May 2015
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Mountain biked for 20-odd years .... decided I want to do more challenging riding which was further away and spent too much time driving so decided to start road biking. Loved it so spent more time on the road bike and gave up on MTB'ing to be more effective with my time. Now I spend more time on the road bike than I did MTB'ing/traveling! clap

torres del paine

1,588 posts

220 months

Wednesday 27th May 2015
quotequote all
Mountain biker through and through on and off for the last 25 years.

Mountain biking is like a different discipline to me; it can take you off the beaten track amidst stunning scenery where the terrain is varied and challenging requiring a lot more skill. The bikes and technology are also far more interesting to me.


MC Bodge

21,551 posts

174 months

Wednesday 27th May 2015
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I used to mountain bike a lot. Weekends and mid-week night rides, with summer trips abroad.

As it is for others, family commitments now mean few opportunities for it.

It makes more time sense to nip out on the road or cyclocross bike (or run) from the house than to drive for at least half an hour each way to the nearest good venue(I live in a flat area with tracks/trails that don't justify riding a mountain bike).

Most of my riding is actually now road commuting. My fitness is better than it has been in years, though.



anonymous-user

53 months

Wednesday 27th May 2015
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No box to vote for riding down the shops/town in normal clothes & no funny shoes?

Kermit power

Original Poster:

28,634 posts

212 months

Thursday 28th May 2015
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Jimboka said:
No box to vote for riding down the shops/town in normal clothes & no funny shoes?
No.

AC43

11,433 posts

207 months

Thursday 28th May 2015
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Jimboka said:
No box to vote for riding down the shops/town in normal clothes & no funny shoes?
Oh well that rules out the seven bikes in our household - 5 x MTB's and 2 x hybrids. Plus enough bits for another rigid.

For commutes, pubs, canals, shops, footie and (if I ever get my finger out) trails just outside London.