Can road riding cause a loss of mtb fitness?

[Ryan]

Probably  a dumb assumption...A couple months back I changed my mid week mtb training rides (on the road) to road bike training rides. The mileage and climbing are virtually the same but I seem to have gotten slower on the mountain bike.  Anyone had a similar experience or am I missing something?  Basically my weekend mtb rides are tougher over same route..

[HdB]

If your weekend MTB rides are pretty technical, then perhaps; not really that road riding is making you slow, just missing the specificity. If your MTB rides are not technical, and it it just the legs doing the talking, then it shouldn't be making you slower if you are riding at the same effort level.

[Ryan]

Thank you... I should have been more specific...its the hills where I am losing ground mostly 

[Bike Dewing]

6 minutes ago, Ryan said:

Thank you... I should have been more specific...its the hills where I am losing ground mostly 

You’re on a mountain bike.. tyres are larger and more traction so you’ll always be doing more work to keep up with someone on a road bike with skinny slick tires🤷🏼‍♂️.. more aerodynamic riding position on a road bike.. there’s probably other factors but yeah this doesn’t surprise me..

 

road bikes probably lighter as well.👍🏻

Edited September 15 by Bike Dewing

[Newbie321]

Just up the intensity on the road bike, IE go faster. 

[DJR]

5 minutes ago, Newbie321 said:

Just up the intensity on the road bike, IE go faster. 

That there is the issue methinks.

Do some short very high intensity hill repeats / intervals on the road bike and it will make you FASTER up the hill on the MTB. It is just too easy to sit on the road bike and roll along and then feel good about the time and the miles you covered. It is also much easier to do those short sharp painful intervals correctly on the roadbike. 

[ChrisF]

26 minutes ago, Ryan said:

Thank you... I should have been more specific...its the hills where I am losing ground mostly 

 

What is your road rides like, hill wise ?

 

 

When I spend too much time on the trainer and road rides It takes 1 or 2 rides to get the "flow" back for MTB.

 

 

Our roads have enough hills, so no issue with this.

 

 

But yes, 20km MTB trails takes more out of you than 20km road.  Anything from the increased tyre drag, to constantly slowing down and accelerating again on technical terrain .....

 

Identify your weaknesses .... and you can target it and improve on either road or MTB

[Ryan]

4 minutes ago, ChrisF said:

 

What is your road rides like, hill wise ?

 

 

When I spend too much time on the trainer and road rides It takes 1 or 2 rides to get the "flow" back for MTB.

 

 

Our roads have enough hills, so no issue with this.

 

 

But yes, 20km MTB trails takes more out of you than 20km road.  Anything from the increased tyre drag, to constantly slowing down and accelerating again on technical terrain .....

 

Identify your weaknesses .... and you can target it and improve on either road or MTB

Thanks Chris

 

[Bike Dewing]

There’s a good reason the mountain bike 947 is 50km 🤷🏼‍♂️.. you’re basically discovering it. You’ll find your vibe, don’t worry..

[Titleist]

If you do road right then it will make you a better mountain biker. The secret is to never stop peddling. Don’t sit at the back smelling the roses.

[Pandatron]

3 hours ago, Ryan said:

Probably  a dumb assumption...A couple months back I changed my mid week mtb training rides (on the road) to road bike training rides. The mileage and climbing are virtually the same but I seem to have gotten slower on the mountain bike.  Anyone had a similar experience or am I missing something?  Basically my weekend mtb rides are tougher over same route..

Need to up your intensity factor on the road bike to match your training ride or double your road training distance roughly in my humble opinion

[daveno7]

as some one who does  both types of riding...I find in my experience that getting on the road bike makes you stronger on a bike after a block of mtb..

create blocks for your riding maybe...2 x days road ...a days break and then return to mtb..

use the road bike for endurance rides...monitor how you feel..

and don't move tire yourself...

Edited September 15 by daveno7

[MORNE]

Yep, i find groady fun rides like around-the-pots or karoo-to-coasts take a bit more doing than the CTCT as an example(for me). Also, when you can haul a 16kg enduro bike around 30km and 1000m of climbing every weekend….rolling road hills are a joke lol.

[SSCC]

14 hours ago, Ryan said:

Probably  a dumb assumption...A couple months back I changed my mid week mtb training rides (on the road) to road bike training rides. The mileage and climbing are virtually the same but I seem to have gotten slower on the mountain bike.  Anyone had a similar experience or am I missing something?  Basically my weekend mtb rides are tougher over same route..

You’re doing the same mid week rides on the same routes (road) just switching from MTB to road bike?

If that’s the case then the answer is no. 

If you were switching mid week actual MTB rides for road rides then the answer is perhaps, maybe. 

[Mook]

8 hours ago, daveno7 said:

as some one who does  both types of riding...I find in my experience that getting on the road bike makes you stronger on a bike after a block of mtb..

create blocks for your riding maybe...2 x days road ...a days break and then return to mtb..

use the road bike for endurance rides...monitor how you feel..

and don't move tire yourself...

Me thinks the difference in cadence is what gets to you. On the MTB you should typically be doing a higher cadence than on the roadbike. On the roadbike most riders tend to push bigger gears, hence you gain muscle strength as @daveno7 says - BUT you lose "steam" in terms of cardio. 

Try to increase your cadence intentionally when on the road bike. Try to mimic your MTB cadence, while working in some high intensity, low cadence, intervals in between.

I've had this very same experience when switching between MTB and road bikes.

Edited September 16 by Mook

[DJR]

Yup - for the cadence thing as Mook said above