road vs mountain
I love road riding. I love my road bike.
However I can't handle big groups. 2-3 is really fun, after that I just don't know. My comfort in the draft seems to have gotten worse the more I've worked on my visual skills for mountain biking.I've become so dependent on the ability to look far down the trail (road) that when vision is obscured in a draft my comfort level plummets. I'm trying to 'look through' the rider but it doesn't help much.
The main thing is just exposure to group riding. I hardly have any. Time is so limited and matching schedules is even harder. My emphasis is mountain biking so the priority on getting into road groups is low and the fact that I'm uncomfortable makes it even lower.
Yet road riding works you a different way than mountain biking and that's really important. It definitely highlights my weaknesses. So that right there should motivate me to get into it more.
The other ironic thing with road vs mountain is things like the Tour De France.
We love the tour. It is the sole reason that we get cable for one month out of the year. We schedule all activities/vacations around it.
The tour provides so much motivation and inspiration in a way that mountain bike racing/racers haven't been able to emulate. There is so much history and so many stories in the Tour. Vino, Lemond, Horner, Tyler, Lance, Voeckler, Rassmussen, Jan, Pantani, Valverde and so on. Something about their stories, determiniation, passion, struggle, heart just goes so much deeper than what I can get from pro mountain bike racers. The main thing is just the media exposure. The closest thing in mountain biking has been Off Road to Athens.
Yet I have NO desire to road race and all the passion is for mountain bike racing. For the time being XC mountain bike racing is the medium of choice for my personal struggle, heart, determiniation, passion...
Besides there is no singletrack in road racing.
posted by Ashwin Amanna @ 12:30 PM
4 comments
4 Comments:
I agree. I love road riding, and probably do 90% of my riding on the road, but have NO desire to road race or do big groups. If I lived somewhere with access to fire/service roads I do all mountain and avoid the angry motorists all together.
Good luck.
jm
I disagree. I was a dirty mountain biker once too, but I saw the light. You'll figure it out eventually.
I ride the road only to train, but I don't really have the patience for it. I enjoy the speed, but I miss the drop offs and the rocky climbs that a decent road ride cannot provide. Jason is right about the angry motorists - I guess if I was paying nearly $4.00 a gallon and was getting passed by some guy on two wheels that just powers up with tacos I'd be pissed too!
I can't get over the excitement of the mountain - who cares about the publicity, just so long as there are enough folk to maintain the local trail, and to keep the races going, I will not complain. I'll not give up my road bike either - ever try to get around with some 1.9's in the mud?
Live to ride, ride to live.
Awesome picture of Tinker. I think that picture was taken in "The Drop" when they held some of the NORBA's in Minnesota about 10 years ago
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