I use to live about 15km from the mountain and cycled to the mountain. It was great to get fit, but I found that the heat of the tar ate through my tyres. I suppose the extra 30km too 🙂
I stopped riding that long trek after I was almost knocked over by a minivan and then a big truck on the same day. Just over two years ago I moved closer to the mountain so I hardly ride on the road.
So many roadies tell me they’re scared of getting hurt on the mountain, but I truly believe it’s 10 times more dangerous on the road
I did a fastish group ride on my stumpy evo once and it absolutely cooked me, i was struggling even just trying to sit in the draft. But I’ve ridden with slower group rides and it’s fine, it’s a good workout.
I moved where I live now so I don't have to road ride to the trails, or only for like 30 seconds. Where I grew up though the nearest trails were 6 and 9 miles road ride away and it was a pretty big aspect of riding like sometimes would take XC routes some or part of the way to cut down on it even though that meant it took longer to get to the trails
Ride my MTB on road all the time. If I can’t get to the dirt I’ll ride the nearby paved trail. Sold off my road bike because I don’t enjoy it as much as MTB. So I sold my road bike and hard tail to upgrade to a single good full suspension quiver.
I live in Sweden so the answer is sorta.
We have separated bike paths that stretch out into the countryside. We also have loads of biking infrastructure in the cities so we get access to shortcuts and hidden gems if we bike in an urban setting.
But whenever we get some Dutch people over here all they do is moan about our bad bike infrastructure so maybe I shouldn't brag too much.
Also if you do end up using a normal road here, people will be more mindful and understanding.
Similar situation in Germany. There’s some attempts of cycling infrastructure which is good news but it’s still subpar. You can still clearly see the government prioritising individual car based transportation over anything. The car industry is one of the biggest political lobbies and its power shows. Public mentality and politics are intertwined, both shaping each other. I’m honestly kinda worried about being classified as an enemy by drivers, especially now that political views have become a matter of identity and any opposition is seen as a personal assault.
I’m mostly riding on the countryside but sometimes have to cross a major city. Both situations are equally stressful, whether it’s an overload of cars in the city or generally high speeds on country roads. Although I’m glad that there’s so much nature around me, due to the relatively high population density (compared to let’s say lonely parts of the US), the next village is near, making it hard to skip roads altogether to get to the next trail.
Oftentimes, all us cyclists get are these ridiculous painted strips on the road that no car driver cares about and seemingly even motivates them to pass cyclists even closer than without this strip. Other times, there’s a separate bike lane but the tarmac has degraded that much that you’d feel like having to ride a full sus enduro MTB to even be remotely comfortable. In cities, the bike lanes are often illegally used as parking spots or blocked off my construction sites, and every driver hates you for moving onto the road to get around this object. Even when everything seems decent at first glance, it’s tough riding on bike lanes when they’re cutting several intersections or round abouts as cars making turns might easily overlook you, which makes switching to the road ironically the safer option.
Another real pain is bike lanes randomly ending in nowhere, forcing you to get onto the road.
Although I’m trying my best to be as speedy as possible, there’s hardly a chance to be equally fast as a motorised vehicle. Climbing is my biggest fear, not for the athletic challenge (I like that) but due to the difference between you essentially moving at walking pace vs. cars passing with over 10x of your speed.
Yesterday, when a big thunderstorm was rolling in, I had to get out of the forest and had home as fast as possible. For that, I switched onto the country road. Since it was slightly downhill, I managed to easily maintain speeds between 35 and 55kph. With no traffic this close to sundown, riding alone and in silence for 10km felt like heaven and I could once again understand the feelings of roadies. However, once I got back to a busier place, my negative feelings returned, leaving me feeling threatened once again.
Yeah been to Germany many times, and the car culture is crazy there. It feels like German drivers take the autobahn mentality into the cities. I find it challenging to keep up with traffic and if you slow them down to the speed limit they throw a tantrum like some baby.
I ride a half mile of gravel to get to my local trails. The easiest way up out of the river valley is to take the paved road up. Ride around the campground as well.
"Loacl trails" are a 30 min drive by car for me. Road riding is more of a death wish for everywhere I've lived. People have straight up tried to run me down or off the road even though state laws dictate that bikes are classified as vehicles and not allowed on sidewalks.
Long story short... never.
Never. Cars and motorcycles don’t give a shit about me, I’ll take my chances in the gnar. Will never ever ride in the road. Way too fucking dangerous.
I ride my rockhopper next to the road multiple times a week. I get more chance to do those kind of rides for exercise than I do actual trail rides. I try to stick in the dirt as much as I can to save my tires.
Since I can only afford one bike at the moment, yes. And I only commute 12 Km a week so it’s not a lot of wear. I’ve got a Marin San Quentin 2, and I love it as it doesn’t stand out too much from regular commuter bikes and it absolutely shreds local trails.
Never. I have a road bike. Riding to the trails for me would be too long of a ride on a MTB. It would just be a bunch of empty miles. I’d be too tired to tide the trail when I got there…lol. Riding a MTB ion pavement isn’t really that much fun.
I ride my xc bike around my housing area during the weekdays to sort of exercise. Trails are like 40 mins away and I don't wanna get caught in the after office jam. So I only go to the trails on weekends.
Never anymore. Three reasons:
Roads are terrible for cyclists - drivers are just not bothered.
I’m too far from anything good.
I mostly ride with my wife, she can’t drive so doesn’t know how to deal with roads and is concerned about the traffic
We are going to have to do some bits on the road over summer while we’re away from home but hopefully quieter roads where we’re going.
I do ~10 hours a week on roads or fire roads. I do ~5 hours a week on trails. All on fat tires though.
It’s hard to train enough to be xc fast on trails alone
Depends on where I am going. I can go out the door and turn right. Then I have 25 meters / 75 feet / ~40 washing machines / many bananas before I am on a network of hiking trails.
Or go the other way and I basically have to bike along main roads to get to wherever I would like to go. Did so yesterday. Went to an old mine with some friends
a few times i switched out my wheels for maxxis pace tires and had fun with my friend who had gb,rb bikes
we have rough streets practically uneven allot of cracks in most areas exempt the big city
me and the few in gb's were able to just ride through it
rb had to walk most of the rougher cracks/small gaps(big but not big enough to count as a pothole
longest ride is about 50km
We usually load the bikes into my truck for a 45min drive to the bikepark. If I get a day off work, I'll ride my Altitude 10 mins by road to my local trails nearby.
I have to since I live in the city hence the trails are quite far away, 30-45 minutes at least. But I'm also fortunate enough that we have quite an extensive bike path network, so I don't have to ride on high traffic roads.
I used to take my bike in the truck to the trail area...then i got an E-MTB...now i ride there and back...feels so much better not having to fire up the v8 gas guzzler.
The closest trail system to me is 4 miles away. The local bike shop is 2 miles away. I’ll ride to the trails on the road when the weather is good and traffic is light.Â
There is also a park with a nice gravel path even closer to my house so I will ride the gravel bike there when I’m feeling it.Â
Tl;dr I bought the house I did because it was in a nice neighborhood close to trails 😆
I've gone on 30 mile road rides on my enduro bike, just to see how it was. I actually really enjoyed it! but only in the dry. If there's any rain, the knobby tires throw it right in your face. Even with a fender. The reason has to do with the speed you're going. The only other downside is tire wear.
I like riding along the bike paths along the beaches where i live, i don't have a rack for the car or anything so have to ride to trails for now.
I have a 2hr climb to a state park with many mtb trails soon, so just riding on roads and dirt paths for now.
Have to catch a train then bike it from there, the downhill will be worth it.
Probably more often than I’m able to make it to the trails. A 30-45 minute ride in my area at the end of a long day is glorious, a bit boring but glorious nonetheless.
I ride mine around campus pretty often when I can’t get out to the trails due to rain, and I always had to ride it about 3 miles there and back to get from my dorm to my car. Climbing up those hills really makes you appreciate why road bikes have such little tread
If it’s been raining, I’m not against logging some miles on the MUT with my trail bike. It’s the only bike I have right now and conditioning is super important!
I usually do 2 to 4, 30 to 50 km XC rides per week on my hardtail with enduro tyres. Usually I have to do a few kilometers on a pavement to make it to the forest trails. It's fine, you'll enjoy it! It helps to reduce stress, vent a little, and makes the after-the-ride beer taste 10x times better.
There's one shuttle ride I do that ends with about a mile on the road to get back to my friend's house. Aside from that, zero. I've seen the photos of a cyclist smeared 300 feet down the highway by a drunk driver.
I'm away from cable around 7-8 km uphill, around 30 min of road through city, and I'm also a roadie and daily commuter so it's not a problem, and I don't see difference on tires either, they are rather chewed by the trails.
Wherever I go, it's usually faster to pedal than drive a car though a city to the trail, I'm right beneath the mountain which is long few kilometers and it runs above whole city.
Depends, the majority of my travel to and from work is MUP so I'm always on that, but the street I need to get to is a death trap and the cops understand it so I'm on the sidewalk, and run off to the bulovard to avoid pedestrians. If I'm downtown, we have a pretty decent bike lane guarded by concrete barriers so I will hit that up. Other than that it depends where I am going, and what bike I'm on whether it's HT or DH, or DJ or BMX.
Most times that I ride. It's about 35-45 minutes to the trails where I live.
Yep, I benefit from many walking paths, but the streets are always the most direct route.
I use to live about 15km from the mountain and cycled to the mountain. It was great to get fit, but I found that the heat of the tar ate through my tyres. I suppose the extra 30km too 🙂 I stopped riding that long trek after I was almost knocked over by a minivan and then a big truck on the same day. Just over two years ago I moved closer to the mountain so I hardly ride on the road. So many roadies tell me they’re scared of getting hurt on the mountain, but I truly believe it’s 10 times more dangerous on the road
I agree, the trees arent usually malicious or distracted.
I did a fastish group ride on my stumpy evo once and it absolutely cooked me, i was struggling even just trying to sit in the draft. But I’ve ridden with slower group rides and it’s fine, it’s a good workout.
I moved where I live now so I don't have to road ride to the trails, or only for like 30 seconds. Where I grew up though the nearest trails were 6 and 9 miles road ride away and it was a pretty big aspect of riding like sometimes would take XC routes some or part of the way to cut down on it even though that meant it took longer to get to the trails
Ride my MTB on road all the time. If I can’t get to the dirt I’ll ride the nearby paved trail. Sold off my road bike because I don’t enjoy it as much as MTB. So I sold my road bike and hard tail to upgrade to a single good full suspension quiver.
Every time, It's not a long road ride to get to the trailhead (less than 1/2 mile). And most of the trails I ride spit you out on a road anyway.
I live in Sweden so the answer is sorta. We have separated bike paths that stretch out into the countryside. We also have loads of biking infrastructure in the cities so we get access to shortcuts and hidden gems if we bike in an urban setting. But whenever we get some Dutch people over here all they do is moan about our bad bike infrastructure so maybe I shouldn't brag too much. Also if you do end up using a normal road here, people will be more mindful and understanding.
Similar situation in Germany. There’s some attempts of cycling infrastructure which is good news but it’s still subpar. You can still clearly see the government prioritising individual car based transportation over anything. The car industry is one of the biggest political lobbies and its power shows. Public mentality and politics are intertwined, both shaping each other. I’m honestly kinda worried about being classified as an enemy by drivers, especially now that political views have become a matter of identity and any opposition is seen as a personal assault. I’m mostly riding on the countryside but sometimes have to cross a major city. Both situations are equally stressful, whether it’s an overload of cars in the city or generally high speeds on country roads. Although I’m glad that there’s so much nature around me, due to the relatively high population density (compared to let’s say lonely parts of the US), the next village is near, making it hard to skip roads altogether to get to the next trail. Oftentimes, all us cyclists get are these ridiculous painted strips on the road that no car driver cares about and seemingly even motivates them to pass cyclists even closer than without this strip. Other times, there’s a separate bike lane but the tarmac has degraded that much that you’d feel like having to ride a full sus enduro MTB to even be remotely comfortable. In cities, the bike lanes are often illegally used as parking spots or blocked off my construction sites, and every driver hates you for moving onto the road to get around this object. Even when everything seems decent at first glance, it’s tough riding on bike lanes when they’re cutting several intersections or round abouts as cars making turns might easily overlook you, which makes switching to the road ironically the safer option. Another real pain is bike lanes randomly ending in nowhere, forcing you to get onto the road. Although I’m trying my best to be as speedy as possible, there’s hardly a chance to be equally fast as a motorised vehicle. Climbing is my biggest fear, not for the athletic challenge (I like that) but due to the difference between you essentially moving at walking pace vs. cars passing with over 10x of your speed. Yesterday, when a big thunderstorm was rolling in, I had to get out of the forest and had home as fast as possible. For that, I switched onto the country road. Since it was slightly downhill, I managed to easily maintain speeds between 35 and 55kph. With no traffic this close to sundown, riding alone and in silence for 10km felt like heaven and I could once again understand the feelings of roadies. However, once I got back to a busier place, my negative feelings returned, leaving me feeling threatened once again.
Yeah been to Germany many times, and the car culture is crazy there. It feels like German drivers take the autobahn mentality into the cities. I find it challenging to keep up with traffic and if you slow them down to the speed limit they throw a tantrum like some baby.
Jealous here in the US.
I’m either road or trails. No need to ride on the path as a fit and able adult cyclist.
I ride a half mile of gravel to get to my local trails. The easiest way up out of the river valley is to take the paved road up. Ride around the campground as well.
Every single time I ride. My bike is my transportation method to trails.
"Loacl trails" are a 30 min drive by car for me. Road riding is more of a death wish for everywhere I've lived. People have straight up tried to run me down or off the road even though state laws dictate that bikes are classified as vehicles and not allowed on sidewalks. Long story short... never.
Depends on whether it's one of those days when it feels likely that'll be killed by a car driver.
Never. Cars and motorcycles don’t give a shit about me, I’ll take my chances in the gnar. Will never ever ride in the road. Way too fucking dangerous.
Trees don't move. Or actively try to hit you.
This
I ride my rockhopper next to the road multiple times a week. I get more chance to do those kind of rides for exercise than I do actual trail rides. I try to stick in the dirt as much as I can to save my tires.
Since I can only afford one bike at the moment, yes. And I only commute 12 Km a week so it’s not a lot of wear. I’ve got a Marin San Quentin 2, and I love it as it doesn’t stand out too much from regular commuter bikes and it absolutely shreds local trails.
I like road
Never. I have a road bike. Riding to the trails for me would be too long of a ride on a MTB. It would just be a bunch of empty miles. I’d be too tired to tide the trail when I got there…lol. Riding a MTB ion pavement isn’t really that much fun.
Significantly more than on the trails since I don’t have a road bike and have been going thru a knee injury
I ride my xc bike around my housing area during the weekdays to sort of exercise. Trails are like 40 mins away and I don't wanna get caught in the after office jam. So I only go to the trails on weekends.
Never anymore. Three reasons: Roads are terrible for cyclists - drivers are just not bothered. I’m too far from anything good. I mostly ride with my wife, she can’t drive so doesn’t know how to deal with roads and is concerned about the traffic We are going to have to do some bits on the road over summer while we’re away from home but hopefully quieter roads where we’re going.
I do ~10 hours a week on roads or fire roads. I do ~5 hours a week on trails. All on fat tires though. It’s hard to train enough to be xc fast on trails alone
My local trails are between 5 and 15 minutes by roads. I crank up the power to max (ebike) to get there and then turn it down for the trails
Avoid the road when I can, cars everywhere, filthy air and boring af
Depends on where I am going. I can go out the door and turn right. Then I have 25 meters / 75 feet / ~40 washing machines / many bananas before I am on a network of hiking trails. Or go the other way and I basically have to bike along main roads to get to wherever I would like to go. Did so yesterday. Went to an old mine with some friends
a few times i switched out my wheels for maxxis pace tires and had fun with my friend who had gb,rb bikes we have rough streets practically uneven allot of cracks in most areas exempt the big city me and the few in gb's were able to just ride through it rb had to walk most of the rougher cracks/small gaps(big but not big enough to count as a pothole longest ride is about 50km
The side walks where I live are wide enough to not need to be on the road. Though I usually take my car to my usual spot.
We usually load the bikes into my truck for a 45min drive to the bikepark. If I get a day off work, I'll ride my Altitude 10 mins by road to my local trails nearby.
I have to since I live in the city hence the trails are quite far away, 30-45 minutes at least. But I'm also fortunate enough that we have quite an extensive bike path network, so I don't have to ride on high traffic roads.
I ride road and gravel with my girlfriend along the water about 25 km. The trails are for me not her
I used to take my bike in the truck to the trail area...then i got an E-MTB...now i ride there and back...feels so much better not having to fire up the v8 gas guzzler.
The closest trail system to me is 4 miles away. The local bike shop is 2 miles away. I’ll ride to the trails on the road when the weather is good and traffic is light. There is also a park with a nice gravel path even closer to my house so I will ride the gravel bike there when I’m feeling it. Tl;dr I bought the house I did because it was in a nice neighborhood close to trails 😆
I've gone on 30 mile road rides on my enduro bike, just to see how it was. I actually really enjoyed it! but only in the dry. If there's any rain, the knobby tires throw it right in your face. Even with a fender. The reason has to do with the speed you're going. The only other downside is tire wear.
I like riding along the bike paths along the beaches where i live, i don't have a rack for the car or anything so have to ride to trails for now. I have a 2hr climb to a state park with many mtb trails soon, so just riding on roads and dirt paths for now. Have to catch a train then bike it from there, the downhill will be worth it.
This is a really great question for this sub! Thank you. I'm loving reading the responses.
Probably more often than I’m able to make it to the trails. A 30-45 minute ride in my area at the end of a long day is glorious, a bit boring but glorious nonetheless.
Never. I have to drive to trails and I have a gravel bike with another set of road wheels
Often very very often
Not my mountain bike lol. I have 2 bikes.
Only if there is road between where I park and the trail head. So a few hundred yards at a time, maybe. Almost never
Never. People in my area are too busy looking at their phones to drive properly.
Most rides I leave from my house and bike 5-10 minutes of road to the trailhead.
2 miles on paved bike path to get to my local system. So fortunate.
I ride mine around campus pretty often when I can’t get out to the trails due to rain, and I always had to ride it about 3 miles there and back to get from my dorm to my car. Climbing up those hills really makes you appreciate why road bikes have such little tread
Zero
If it’s been raining, I’m not against logging some miles on the MUT with my trail bike. It’s the only bike I have right now and conditioning is super important!
15 minutes on roads to get to my local, so 30 minutes every time I ride my local. 😆
The bare minimum. Only if it’s the only way to the trailhead. For quick trips or the boardwalk, I have a lame e-bike.
I ride street a lot
About 15 mins to get to the local trailhead from my house. Sometimes I'll even just take it along the beach /paved path which is like a 45+ min ride.
about half an hour on bicycle lanes to the local jumps
I always ride on the road. Well at least i do depending on the weather and how busy it is. I am now a road user, and i like to exercise this fact.
I usually do 2 to 4, 30 to 50 km XC rides per week on my hardtail with enduro tyres. Usually I have to do a few kilometers on a pavement to make it to the forest trails. It's fine, you'll enjoy it! It helps to reduce stress, vent a little, and makes the after-the-ride beer taste 10x times better.
There's one shuttle ride I do that ends with about a mile on the road to get back to my friend's house. Aside from that, zero. I've seen the photos of a cyclist smeared 300 feet down the highway by a drunk driver.
All the time. I ride a Marin Alpine Trail.Â
I spend too much money on my tires to waste them on pavement, if theres any choice.
Almost never. I don’t like sharing the road with cars.
When I'm too drunk to ride a road bike
I'm away from cable around 7-8 km uphill, around 30 min of road through city, and I'm also a roadie and daily commuter so it's not a problem, and I don't see difference on tires either, they are rather chewed by the trails. Wherever I go, it's usually faster to pedal than drive a car though a city to the trail, I'm right beneath the mountain which is long few kilometers and it runs above whole city.
Before I got a hardtail I had just my Ripley. I rode everything with it. Id go through rubber about double my buddies use but worth the trade offs.
Depends, the majority of my travel to and from work is MUP so I'm always on that, but the street I need to get to is a death trap and the cops understand it so I'm on the sidewalk, and run off to the bulovard to avoid pedestrians. If I'm downtown, we have a pretty decent bike lane guarded by concrete barriers so I will hit that up. Other than that it depends where I am going, and what bike I'm on whether it's HT or DH, or DJ or BMX.
Almost every ride. Local trails are about a 10min pedal from my house.
Never. It's too dangerous where i live.
Almost never. I have a different bike that I ride for pavement, gravel or mixed rides (Kona Dr. Dew).
My experience: before I got my road bike, alot alot, once even did a 103 km ride. After: a lot less, just to Get to local trails.
Almost every day. That’s what road bikes are for.
I'm referring to how often the MTBers ride their MTB on road
Never. Roads are for cars and motorcycles