Comparable times from MTB to road bike
shaunharris
Posts: 55
in General Chat
Hi guys,
I'm pleased to say that after a year of training on my MTB I've finally managed to get my first road bike through the Cyclescheme at work - a Scott Speedster S40. I collected it yesterday and took it for a ride and it felt good and surprisingly comfortable, but I'm only going to get chance for a couple more rides before the Newbiggin Bay Sprint Tri on Sunday (my second sprint tri, did my first in June on the MTB).
I was wondering if any of you know of a website or a formula that'll help me roughly convert my MTB speeds into road bike speeds? Trying to work out what to aim for without blowing up before the 5k at the end.
Cheers,
Shaun
I'm pleased to say that after a year of training on my MTB I've finally managed to get my first road bike through the Cyclescheme at work - a Scott Speedster S40. I collected it yesterday and took it for a ride and it felt good and surprisingly comfortable, but I'm only going to get chance for a couple more rides before the Newbiggin Bay Sprint Tri on Sunday (my second sprint tri, did my first in June on the MTB).
I was wondering if any of you know of a website or a formula that'll help me roughly convert my MTB speeds into road bike speeds? Trying to work out what to aim for without blowing up before the 5k at the end.
Cheers,
Shaun
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Comments
Both over a 20 mile cycle
MTB average speed - 12-14mph
Road average speed - 20 - 22mph
2006 MTB 1:04
2007 road bike 54
Calculator here:
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/gears/
Click on Gain Ratios and select say kph @ 80rpm
Enter the number of teeth on the big chainring, think yours is 50
Cassette, unlikely to have exact ratios there but all you need is to know how many teeth on the smallest cog on the rea cassette which I believe is 11
Click calculate and voila at 80 rpm with the big chainring and smallest cassette max theoretical speed 47kph, at 60 rpm 35kph
Now I say theoretical as it doesn't take into account tyres, weight, wind etc
There's a big long relatively flat stretch of road not too far from home so I'm going to do a few trips up and down that tonight to what feels sustainable of 23k with a good 5k run afterwards.
I bought a MTB recently and on a flat but uneven canal towpath I've been doing 50k, not flat out but comfortably hard, and have been averaging only 24/25kph. In fact on the flat I struggle to even get up to 32kph for even a minute. Totally different animals in my limited experience.
Got a new road bike in nov last year and started training. First few times out speed seemed easy as bike was lighter and smmother rolling, then as got used to it more it all felt more natural. If you read all the blurb and forums, getting upto 18mph average is "easy" then thats the speed you start figting more against wind resistance aswell as rolling resistance etc
After 8 months of "serious" ish training i've got my average up to 20mph for a 40k ride
Sorry long winded I know
In my limited opinion/experience I would say getting upto 18mph should be relatively easy then gains over and above that take time and hard work
Ian
Swim went well even though the water off the northumberland coast is a bit nippy this time of year.
According to my bike comp I averaged 19.6mph for the 23k course so well pleased with that considering it was only my third time out on third road bike!
I managed the 5.4k run at a decent pace for me as well and finished in 1:23:27 overall. A PB to try and beat next year - time to start hammering the bike miles!