Roadie on them trails and stuff

[Ridgeway]

Haven't ridden an MTB in a long time and even when i did i only played around on a basic hardtail and mainly on tarmac. So wanting to extend my cycling season and not have to worry too much about the weather i hesitated between getting another CX bike or something a bit more bouncy So after quite some searching and pondering i've picked up a Santa Cruz Blur LT2, quite a few years old but overall in good basic order but does need a bit of TLC.

Some how i think i'll need to get used a slightly more bouncy ride vs a super rigid carbon road bike with 55mm aero wheels, that's going to take some getting used to. I am though very much looking forward to the explosive efforts needed in some of the local XC trails around here, most are accessible from my house. And also keen to take on some decent Alpine climbs off the tarmac without someone trying to kill me in a metal box

Now that golden question... baggies or lycra

 

[Deleted member 23692]

Baggies

(unless you are an XC racer)

 

[DRM]

That’s a quandary, in the UK/US it would be baggies, in Europe they seem to wear Lycra, but I’d say baggies, and treat yourself to a camelback as it’s better than spraying god knows what on your frame mounted bottles and getting a bad stomach, also mtb frames can be a bit tight for bottle mounts

 

[Zipp2001]

Being a diehard roadie of 40 years before taking up trail riding I stuck with what was comfortable for me (lycra). I know in some circles that might be a no no but it's what I've worn forever so I figured why change.

 

[fossyant]

Baggies unless doing XC races. Lycra underneath though.

 

[Pikey]

I just wear Lycra on my mtb. I don’t care too much what the in crowd might worry about, life’s too short (pun intended).
+1 on the camel bak tip above, I don’t fancy a heady cocktail of mud, cow pat and dog toffee splashed over my bottles

 

[Ridgeway]

That’s a quandary, in the UK/US it would be baggies, in Europe they seem to wear Lycra, but I’d say baggies, and treat yourself to a camelback as it’s better than spraying god knows what on your frame mounted bottles and getting a bad stomach, also mtb frames can be a bit tight for bottle mounts

Lycra does seem to be more popular here although i'm only basing that on the people i know and see around although to be fair it's rare I'm in the forest unless with the dog and probably there's many areas i don't visit where the MTBers frequent, them baggy boys

 

[Ridgeway]

Being a diehard roadie of 40 years before taking up trail riding I stuck with what was comfortable for me (lycra). I know in some circles that might be a no no but it's what I've worn forever so I figured why change.

So far i think that's what i will do and as winter is here (was 5º today) my warm road gear is any way a bit more industrial and less "skin suit" having said that it's forecasted 27º for next weekend

 

[Ridgeway]

I just wear Lycra on my mtb. I don’t care too much what the in crowd might worry about, life’s too short (pun intended).
+1 on the camel bak tip above, I don’t fancy a heady cocktail of mud, cow pat and dog toffee splashed over my bottles

So you've answered what would have been my next question: "where the f,,,, do you put a bidon on an MTB"

Do they do aero hydration packs ?

 

[Ridgeway]

First ride yesterday and found it hard to resist the urge to get out of the saddle on the climbs, as soon as you do of course you realise that your watts are being whisped away by the suspension (even if it's locked out) or the tyres which aren't at 120psi After a while it did seem more natural to just sit and spin and i realised that my saddle was a tad too low so i'm pretty sure on the next ride i'll be more efficient.

I used Wikiloc to find some local trails and did one that was 36km with 700m of climbing, 99% off road and only crossing an odd road to get to the next part of the forest. I did have a short downhill on the road and found the dropper post very useful for allowing me get into a great tuck position and become super aero although i suspect that's not what it's intended for

Vs my road experience what impressed me was the amount of cardio workout you get off road, my cadence was averagely much higher and i easily found myself well above threshold on many occasions and that was with climbs only up to 15%.

Have downloaded plenty of routes around 40-80km distance so will start with some of them and start getting used to the "sofa on wheels"

PS nobody mentioned MUD !

And the sofa (certainly not new by any means but more than enough for me)

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Go commando 😳

 

[Venod]

Lycra is comfortable and made for cycling, I wear it on the MTB, I have worn baggies but don't find them as comfortable.

 

[Grant Fondo]

I tried some baggies with inserts bit didn't get on with them, so lycra now.

 

[Zipp2001]

First ride yesterday and found it hard to resist the urge to get out of the saddle on the climbs, as soon as you do of course you realise that your watts are being whisped away by the suspension (even if it's locked out) or the tyres which aren't at 120psi After a while it did seem more natural to just sit and spin and i realised that my saddle was a tad too low so i'm pretty sure on the next ride i'll be more efficient.

I used Wikiloc to find some local trails and did one that was 36km with 700m of climbing, 99% off road and only crossing an odd road to get to the next part of the forest. I did have a short downhill on the road and found the dropper post very useful for allowing me get into a great tuck position and become super aero although i suspect that's not what it's intended for

Vs my road experience what impressed me was the amount of cardio workout you get off road, my cadence was averagely much higher and i easily found myself well above threshold on many occasions and that was with climbs only up to 15%.

Have downloaded plenty of routes around 40-80km distance so will start with some of them and start getting used to the "sofa on wheels"

PS nobody mentioned MUD !

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And the sofa (certainly not new by any means but more than enough for me)

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On the road I did a lot of my climbing out of the saddle and it's a different game in the woods. Have fun !

 

[DRM]

Best technique is to sit far back on the saddle and spin, but not in to low a gear as all you'll do is lose traction, it's hard work, but as you say totally different from the road bike