Top 6 Reasons Road Cyclists Should Ride A Mountain Bike

Cycling Weekly

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 the

00:09road bike in the shed and taking out a mountain bike does have quite a few benefits to us roadies,

00:14but what are they and how can your road riding benefit from mountain biking? Well, I've been

00:19joined out on the trail by Chop, who, if you don't know, is a Lapierre ambassador and has

00:24been at the forefront of the UK free riding scene for nearly two decades. A long time.

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 bike be the next

00:43bike I buy? So Chop, what's your first tip? I would go with technique. So for example,

00:50the road is always consistent. It's super flat, but with mountain biking, you do need a lot of

00:56techniques. The terrain is forever changing. There's a lot of loose surfaces. So learning

01:00how to brake and understand your grip, you can take these techniques to the road, which is going

01:05to make your road riding a lot easier. So for example, it's also last minute decisions as well.

01:10So there could be a pothole there, there could be a vehicle, or there could be a curb where you need

01:14to jump up. And with mountain biking, you will learn all of these different techniques to be able

01:18to overcome all those problems. So I guess one of the key things you're going to be able to do when

01:22you're out here on the trails is actually learn the limits of the grip and what the tires are capable

01:25of, right? Exactly that. So with my mountain bike compared to a road bike, the pressure is more than

01:31half less. Yeah. So there's going to be a lot more softer grip. So you can go into these corners a lot

01:37harder and you can really put your trust into the tires. And this is where it's going to benefit your

01:43road biking. So I guess another really important thing is braking as well, because that is, again,

01:47it's very different to how you brake on the road than as you do out here, right? So how does that differ

01:54and how could we learn from mountain biking into the road world? So with road, you have a lot of time

01:59to decide when to brake. You know, there's lots of things coming out and there's cars going past you,

02:02not coming towards you. With mountain biking, you've got a tree right there. You've got endless

02:08amounts of corners. So it's nonstop split second decisions and you need to brake a lot. But the more you

02:14learn about braking, the better your riding becomes. Yeah, because I guess what it's going

02:18to allow you to do is make sure that you're not going to lock up. You're going to be making sure

02:21that you're coming to a controlled stop. And basically, that's what you want because that's

02:25going to keep you safe. Exactly. So like if you are out on the trails, the last thing you want to do

02:29is go too heavy with 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 in order to

02:39brake better as well, if that makes sense. Absolutely. I think one of the key differences

02:45that I've noticed straight away though, actually being a roadie, is this is a lot, this is a lot

02:49quieter than the roads. Oh, it's amazing. It is pretty good. So again, tell me about that because

02:55actually, this is quite nice, isn't it? It is really nice. Like that's the whole reason why I love

03:00mountain biking is because you're in the woods. It's dead quiet. The only thing that you've got to

03:05contend with is maybe a dog walker. Exactly. So yeah, I mean, this is nice and chill. I mean,

03:10it's what eight o'clock at the moment, the roads are packed and here absolutely dead. We've got the

03:14place to ourselves. So, I mean, I think really the dream exactly. If you want to avoid the roads,

03:21come here. I guess actually in a bike park like this, you're not just stuck to one route, are you?

03:26You've got so many different ways you can ride this place, right? Oh, absolutely. That's what I love

03:29about it. Like if you're bored of one line, you've only got to aim that way and you're on a total

03:34different line and you're out in the woods, you've got to worry about absolutely nothing apart from

03:38your bike handling skills. Absolutely. And I guess that's, I mean, it's always going to be good for

03:42the mind after a long, hard day at work or even before work. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Like the whole

03:47reason why I come out and why I'm into mountain biking in general is because no matter if I've had

03:51a good day or a bad day, if I go out on my bike, I'm going to have fun and I'm going to clear my mind.

03:56What's better than that? Now, there was one thing as we were coming out here, there were some pretty

04:01steep ramps that we had to ride up or I had to ride up to get out here. I imagine and I really hope

04:07I must have seen some power benefits there, right? Absolutely. So with mountain bike parks,

04:12they always tend to be on the side of a hill. So you let gravity take you, but most of the starts

04:17are at the top. So you have to look for a lot of different ways up there. And that's also

04:21very fun in itself. But the main thing I like about mountain biking is flow. And there's lots of trails

04:26where you will 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 beefed up as well. And the benefits from this is explosive

04:35power, which you can then replicate on the road. So say, for example, you're at the traffic lights

04:40and you want to get up to speed as quick as possible. You can use that technique.

04:45Absolutely. And I guess on the flip side though, having a good high-end power is going to help me

04:50in the sprints, attacking on climbs. There's basically no end of benefits to just having a high-end power.

04:56So Chop, what's your next tip? I would say anticipation. There is so much going on in

05:05the mountain bike trail that you can take to the road. So when you're riding on a road bike,

05:11you can be a bit complacent and you just take it for granted and you just find yourself just being a

05:15robot. Yeah, do right. But with mountain biking, you can't. So whatever's in your vision,

05:19your peripheral vision, you've constantly got things

05:21constantly going. So you need to take in every small detail. So I'm talking about the weather.

05:27I'm talking about the ground. I'm talking about the trees, your bike set up. What line did I

05:31choose before? Is that still going to be available? Because it could have been blown out from the

05:35previous rider. So it's forever changing. And I guess there's one other thing, which is actually

05:40gearing as well, because that's one thing that I've been able to learn from today is actually just

05:45being able to prepare myself with my gears. And actually that's directly applicable to the road, isn't it?

05:50Yeah, 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 sinking your gears

05:58for that section. With mountain biking, you're off road. So there's going to be a lot of bouncy

06:02terrain as well. So that's when you need to start thinking about having your chain nice and tight to

06:06avoid any slap and things like that. So there's lots to take in with gears.

06:13So Chop, what's the next tip? The next tip would be give something else a try. There's so much variety

06:18with mountain biking, you know, you've got dirt jumps, slopestyle, freeride, enduro, e-biking, gravel,

06:26that's listing only a few things to do. And that's all off road. So there's lots of things that you

06:31can try. There's bike parks all around the world. And especially in the UK, there's loads. So within

06:35a couple of hours of a journey, go with your mates, enjoy yourself and push yourself. Because if you don't

06:41push yourself, you don't learn those extra I almost crashed skills. And that's what I thrive off,

06:48living on the edge.

06:48If you just look at what we've got in the UK, there is quite a good variety of different types

06:53of riding at all these different bike parks, which we can learn a lot from. I think it'd be very easy

06:58for us roadies to ride the same routes over and over again. And actually just fall into a bit of a lull

07:04of just doing the same thing constantly. Whereas here, you're really pushing yourself and actually,

07:09you're taking yourself out of your comfort zone, aren't you? And that forces you to learn those

07:12valuable new skills.

07:13Right, exactly. So you've got places like Swinley, for example, where you can do a nice

07:17gentle loop and then push the edge a little bit, you know, go out of bounds there. But then you

07:22could go to the complete opposite and you could 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?

07:31So more tips. When 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 core.

07:44And the reason why mountain bikers have a stronger core is because the amount of

07:47pulling and pushing and manhandling the bike, these skills you can use on the road.

07:52So going back to 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 a bike around.

07:59Yeah. And that, that is, that's, that's great.

08:03Well, absolutely. And are there any sort of kind of position benefits or power benefits?

08:07What, what about that? Because having a strong core is pretty key.

08:09Yeah, absolutely. So with road, you're going to be over the front of the bike and you need to

08:12hold that position to be in those aero positions. And whilst your legs are doing the motor.

08:18So being in that position is, is very key for road as well.

08:21And I guess actually, I know from experience that having a strong core actually really helps

08:25with climbing as well, because it means you can kind of keep your upper body kind of fairly relaxed.

08:30And again, just let the legs do their thing, be the motor of the bike.

08:32Yeah, 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 did.

08:42And if you've got any tips or tricks that you found in mountain biking that have benefited your road

08:47riding, then do drop them down in the comments. I want to say a big thanks to you Chop.

08:50Thank you very much for all your knowledge. Big thanks to Lapierre as well for supporting this one.

08:55And if you enjoyed the video, drop a like, subscribe to the channel for more content,

08:58and we will see you again very soon.

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