MTB miles vs. road miles - what's the ratio?

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Globalti

Legendary Member
We did a cracking 24 miler yesterday around Withins (of Bronte fame) and Boulsworth Hill near Burnley, my altimeter recorded around 3500 feet of ascent.

Anybody care to translate that to road miles on a flattish route?

My legs are telling me at least 50 miles today. I guess the easiest way is to take the average MTB speed of 6 mph vs. a reasonable road average of 15mph, which would give you 60 miles.
 
I was gonna say 2:1 - as you said, you did 24 MTB miles and your legs are telling you you did 50 road miles...
 

bonj2

Guest
road - I average 17/18mph flat(tish), but 15mph for a hilly road ride, and about 5 - 7mph for mtbing, but mtbing is by definition hilly, so (hilly) mtb : hilly road is about 2.3:1 - 3:1, hilly mtb to flat road is about 2.6:1 - 3.6:1.
did llandegla black run on sat which took about 2 hours bang on, 13 miles makes it 6.5mph. Would prob. even be slightly quicker on my own.
peak district with its many gates and more technicalness however is slower!
 

ColinJ

Puzzle game procrastinator!
It's really difficult to compare road cycling with MTB riding. I find the most tiring thing about MTB rides is the battering that my upper body gets. My back, arms, wrists and shoulders often give up on MTB rides before my legs.

I did the Rossendale Mountain Bike Challenge in 2003 - about 40 miles of fairly serious offroad local hills. I also rode to and from Rawtenstall on the road, an extra 28 miles and 2,000 ft of hills. Total time about 10 hours.

I was more exhausted by that than my 140 mile road ride from Hebden Bridge to Coventry over a lot of major hills (Holme Moss, Snake Pass etc.) which took me just over 12 hours.

I think very easy offroad (dirt-track cycleway or towpath) is roughly 50% harder than the same distance on a road bike on the road. Moderate roughstuff probably about 100% harder (i.e. double the difficulty). Gnarly offroad, maybe 200% harder (three times the difficulty).

I know the MTB ride you are talking about and I'd find that as hard as about 40 hilly road miles or 60+ flattish miles.
 
U

User482

Guest
I think it's a bit more than 2:1. I did 40 miles at Afan the other week and was absolutely shot afterwards - much more tired than after a century road ride.
 
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Globalti

Globalti

Legendary Member
The first time I rode the Mary Towneley Loop I was on my full rigid Kona Hei Hei, a Ti frame with steel Project 2 fork and reputedly very smooth riding. By the end (50 miles after missing the route a couple of times ) I felt like I'd done a round with Mike Tyson, absolutely ballbagged.

The next year I did it again on my Global Ti with a SID fork and felt very considerably fresher at the end.
 
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