Road vs Offroad

[ThePainInSpain]

I seem to remember reading on here a few weeks back that riding distance on am MTB off road was the equivalent to 1.5 that of riding a road biike on the road. i.e. 20km on Road bike on road = 30kms on MTB off road.

Would this be a fair assumption.

If so I'm doing better than I thought.........

 

[GrumpyGregry]

I judge it by duration rather than mileage. One hour on the mtb off road is broadly equivalent in to one hour on the road bike, though the mtb tends to give focus more of on upper body engagement than the road bike does.

 

[marzjennings]

It's almost impossible to compare because everything depends on the trail conditions, how technical your trails are and the type of mountain bike you ride. If you're riding a 29er rigid MTB on open fire roads, you shouldn't be much slower than a road bike on the road. But if you're riding a 34lb full sus AM MTB on twisty rooty single track ( like I do) you may only travel half as fast and hence half as far.

For my average 2 hour rides I manage about 38 miles on the road bike and 20 miles on the mtb. Though that 20 miles drops quickly on wet and muddy days to the point where sometimes I'm just happy to get 14 miles done in 2 hours.

 

[ColinJ]

It obviously depends on what type of road versus what type of offroad. If you are talking about serious offroad such as the Mary Towneley Loop, I'd say you were talking about 3:1 or more, and that's compared to hilly Pennine roads.

A few years back I did the Rossendale Mountain Bike Challenge (RMBC) which was 40+ miles of severe Pennine bridleways and it almost killed me.

I did 140 road miles in a day with panniers on my bike over some major climbs such as Holme Moss and Snake Pass, then right down through the Peak District to Coventry. That was definitely easier than the RMBC.

 

[darkstar]

The road bike eats up the miles, in comparison to a MtB in my opinion. A century is something else when it's offroad.

 

[phil120867]

I average about 20mph over a 2 hour road ride and about 10mph on an MTB over the same duration with roughly the same average Heart Rate.

 

[Bodhbh]

Last year, I switched from doing a 20miles road loop after work, to a 20mile off-road one. Neither was much different in elevation, but I noticed my appetite go through the roof after the swap, obviously burning more off lot more calories. I didn't time myself particularly on either, so can't say about the speed.