Top 6 Reasons Road Cyclists Should Ride A Mountain Bike
It’s long been known that us road cyclists may not have the greatest abilities on the bike, and those of us that do may have learnt it off the tarmac. The most likely is from riding off-road. So, with the support of a Lapierre ambassador, Grant ‘Chopper’ Fielder showed me what I should be doing off road and how it can benefit my road riding. Maybe a mountain bike should be the next bike that we all buy as it clearly has a lot of benefits to our road cycling.
Transcript
00:00Are you missing out on a whole other world of cycling? It's long been known that leaving
00:09the road bike in the shed and taking out a mountain bike does have quite a few benefits
00:13to us roadies, but what are they and how can your road riding benefit from mountain biking?
00:19Well, I've been joined out on the trail by Chop, who, if you don't know, is a Lapierre
00:23ambassador and has been at the forefront of the UK free riding scene for nearly two decades.
00:29That's not too bad. So, with the help of Lapierre, Chop is going to give me all of his tips and
00:34tricks, he's going to teach me about mountain biking and I'm going to see how that can help
00:38my road riding and hopefully I'll be able to answer the question, should a mountain
00:42bike be the next bike I buy?
00:45So Chop, what's your first tip?
00:47I would go with technique. So, for example, the road is always consistent, it's super
00:52flat, but with mountain biking you do need a lot of techniques. The terrain is forever
00:58changing, there's a lot of loose surfaces, so learning how to brake and understand your
01:01grip, you can take these techniques to the road, which is going to make your road riding
01:06a lot easier. So, for example, it's also last minute decisions as well, so there could be
01:10a pothole there, there could be a vehicle, or there could be a curb where you need to
01:14jump up. And with mountain biking you will learn all of these different techniques to
01:18be able to overcome all those problems.
01:20So I guess one of the key things you're going to be able to do when you're out here on the
01:22trails is actually learn the limits of the grip and what the tyres are capable of, right?
01:27So with my mountain bike, compared to a road bike, the pressure is more than half less,
01:33so there's going to be a lot more softer grip, so you can go into these corners a lot harder
01:38and you can really put your trust into the tyres, and this is where it's going to benefit
01:43your road biking.
01:44So I guess another really important thing is braking as well, because that is, again,
01:48it's very different to how you brake on the road than as you do out here, right? So how
01:53does that differ, and how can we learn from mountain biking into the road world?
01:57So with road, you have a lot of time to decide when to brake, you know, there's lots of things
02:01coming up and there's cars going past you, not coming towards you. With mountain biking,
02:05you've got a tree right there, you've got endless amounts of corners, so it's non-stop
02:09split-second decisions, and you need to brake a lot. But the more you learn about braking,
02:15the better your riding becomes.
02:16Yeah, because I guess what it's going to allow you to do is make sure that you're not going
02:20to lock up, you're going to be making sure that you're coming to a controlled stop, and
02:23basically that's what you want, because that's going to keep you safe.
02:26Exactly, so like, if you are out on the trails, the last thing you want to do is go too heavy
02:30with your front brake, because there's loose ground, and the main thing that we do need
02:34to know is that we've got good tyre pressure, and we're relying on how our bike is set up
02:38in order to brake better as well, if that makes sense.
02:42Absolutely.
02:44I think one of the key differences that I've noticed straight away though, actually, being
02:47a roadie, is this is a lot quieter than the roads.
02:50Oh, it's amazing.
02:52It is pretty good. So, again, tell me about that, because actually, this is quite nice, isn't it?
02:57It is really nice. The whole reason why I love mountain biking is because you're in the woods.
03:03It's dead quiet. The only thing that you've got to contend with is maybe a dog walker.
03:08Exactly, so yeah, I mean, this is nice and chill. I mean, it's what, eight o'clock at the moment?
03:11The roads are packed, and here, absolutely dead, we've got the place to ourselves. So, I mean,
03:16I think, really-
03:17The dream.
03:18Exactly. If you want to avoid the roads, come here. I guess, actually, in a bike park like
03:23this, you're not just stuck to one route, are you? You've got so many different ways
03:27you can ride this place, right?
03:28Oh, absolutely. That's what I love about it. Like, if you're bored of one line, you've
03:32only got to aim that way, and you're on a total different line, and you're out in the
03:35woods, you've got to worry about absolutely nothing apart from your bike handling skills.
03:40Absolutely, and I guess that's, I mean, it's always going to be good for the mind after
03:43a long, hard day at work, or even before work.
03:46Oh, absolutely. Yeah, like, the whole reason why I come out, and why I'm into mountain
03:49biking in general is because no matter if I've had a good day or a bad day, if I go
03:52out on my bike, I'm going to have fun, and I'm going to clear my mind.
03:57What's better than that? Now, there was one thing, as we were coming out here, there were
04:00some pretty steep ramps that we had to ride up, or I had to ride up, to get out here.
04:05I imagine, and I really hope, I must have seen some power benefits there, right?
04:10Absolutely. So, with mountain bike parks, they always tend to be on the side of a hill,
04:15so you let gravity take you, but most of the starts are at the top, so you have to
04:19look for a lot of different ways up there, and that's also very fun in itself, but the
04:23main thing I like about mountain biking is flow, and there's lots of trails where you
04:27will need to go uphill every now and again, and you'll need to go up there pretty quick,
04:31and you're going to have to get these beefs up as well, and the benefits from this is
04:35explosive power, which you can then replicate on the road, so say, for example, you're at
04:40the traffic lights, and you want to get up to speed as quick as possible, you can use
04:44that technique.
04:45Absolutely, and I guess on the flip side though, having a good high-end power is going to help
04:49me in the sprints, attacking on climbs, there's basically no end of benefits to just having
04:55a high-end power.
04:56So, Chop, what's your next tip?
05:01I would say anticipation. There is so much going on in a mountain bike trail that you
05:07can take to the road, so when you're riding on a road bike, you can be a bit complacent,
05:12and you just take it for granted, and you just find yourself just being a robot.
05:16Yes, you're right.
05:17But with mountain biking, you can't, so whatever's in your vision, your peripheral vision, you've
05:21constantly got things constantly going, so you need to take in every small detail. So
05:26I'm talking about the weather, I'm talking about the ground, I'm talking about the trees,
05:29your bike setup, what line did I choose before, is that still going to be available because
05:34it could have been blown out from the previous rider, so it's forever changing.
05:37And I guess there's one other thing, which is actually gearing as well, because that's
05:42one thing that I've been able to learn from today, is actually just being able to prepare
05:46myself with my gears, and actually that's directly applicable to the road, isn't it?
05:50Yes, exactly that. So with biking in general, you always need to look forward, so whatever's
05:54coming up, there could be a hill, so you need to start thinking about syncing your gears
05:58for that section. With mountain biking, you're off-road, so there's going to be a lot of
06:02bouncy terrain as well, so that's when you need to start thinking about having your chain
06:05nice and tight to avoid any slap and things like that. So there's lots to take in with
06:10gears.
06:12So, Chop, what's the next tip?
06:15The next tip would be, give something else a try. There's so much variety with mountain
06:19biking, you know, you've got dirt jumps, slopestyle, freeride, enduro, e-biking, gravel, that's
06:26listing only a few things to do, and that's all off-road, so there's lots of things that
06:31you can try, there's bike parks all around the world, and especially in the UK, there's
06:35loads, so within a couple of hours of a journey, go with your mates, enjoy yourself, and push
06:40yourself, because if you don't push yourself, you don't learn those extra, I almost crashed
06:45skills, and that's what I thrive off, living on the edge.
06:49If you just look at what we've got in the UK, there is quite a good variety of different
06:53types of riding at all these different bike parks, which we can learn a lot from. I think
06:57it'd be very easy for us roadies to ride the same routes over and over again, and actually
07:03just fall into a bit of a lull of just doing the same thing constantly, whereas here, you're
07:07really pushing yourself, and actually, you're taking yourself out of your comfort zone,
07:10aren't you, and that forces you to learn those valuable new skills.
07:13Exactly, so you've got places like Swinley, for example, where you can do a nice, gentle
07:17loop, and then push the edge a little bit, go out of bounds there, but then you can go
07:22to the complete opposite, and you can go up to Wales, where it's full of sharp, big rocks
07:26everywhere, so test yourself.
07:28Absolutely. All right then, Chop, any more tips?
07:32When I look at a road rider, they're shaped like a Dorito, so huge legs, small torso.
07:39However, with mountain biking, it's the opposite way, so bigger shoulders and a more stronger
07:43core, and the reason why mountain bikers have a stronger core is because the amount of pulling
07:48and pushing and manhandling the bike, these skills you can use on the road, so going back
07:53to what I was saying earlier, having to hop up a curb in a split second-
07:57It's much easier to do when you can actually move the bike around, yeah.
08:00That's great.
08:03Well, absolutely, and are there any position benefits or power benefits? What about that?
08:08Because having a strong core is pretty key, isn't it?
08:09Yeah, absolutely. With road, you're going to be over the front of the bike, and you
08:12need to hold that position to be in those aero positions, and whilst your legs are acting
08:18as the motor, so being in that position is very key for road as well.
08:22I guess, actually, I know from experience that having a strong core actually really
08:25helps with climbing as well, because it means you can keep your upper body fairly relaxed,
08:30and again, just let the legs do their thing, be the motor of the bike.
08:33Yeah, let the body do the work, and let your core just be the structure.
08:35Yeah, exactly. Exactly that.
08:37So there we have it. I hope you found loads of those tips really useful. I know that I
08:41did, and if you've got any tips or tricks that you found in mountain biking that have
08:46benefited your road riding, then do drop them down in the comments. I want to say a big
08:50thanks to you, Chop. Thank you very much for all your knowledge. Big thanks to Lapierre
08:53as well for supporting this one, and if you enjoyed the video, drop a like, subscribe
08:57to the channel for more content, and we will see you again very soon.
09:00Bye.