A lot of small, local road races include a mountain bike category. This is nice because a lot of recreational riders do not own road bikes, but still want to be able to compete in their hometown race.

My mountain bike buddies and I did quite a few road races on our mountain bikes over the years, and I’d like to share some tips for anyone that plans to race their mountain bike on the road.

Mountain Biking on Pavement – General Theory

The main goal is to make your mountain bike as much like a road bike as possible. That means you want very little rolling resistance, lots of stiffness, and good aerodynamics.

But you have to do so without breaking the rules. Now, there are going to be very few rules on this. Generally the only requirement is that you run 1.5″ or wider tires.

But even if there are no specified rules, I like to keep things in the spirit of mountain biking. That means, you don’t need to run road wheels and 23mm Michelin Pro3Race tires on your 29″ mountain bike. That’s just lame. If you’re going to do something like that, enter the open category and compete against the road bikers.

So…

Mountain Biking on Pavement – The Tips

Here are five tips to make your mountain bike into a pavement machine.

1. Run Semi-slick Tires

If you’re an XC racer, you probably have a set of semi-slick tires that are under 2″ wide. Those will work, but if you’re willing to buy another set of tires (which can come in handy for any road riding, not just racing,) there is a decent selection of 1.5″ semi-slick tires that do a pretty good job on pavement.

What I would suggest is an ~1.75″ tire that has very little tread sticking up. In some cases, these tires have an “inverted” tread. (The Maxxis Hookworm is a good example of an inverted tread, but not really a good choice because they are super heavy.) Other times, the tire will feature many small, closely-spaced knobs, giving it a fairly smooth profile overall. This means a faster and smoother ride on pavement.

As a last resort, ask around – maybe a relative or neighbor has a hybrid with some smooth tires you can borrow for race day!

2. High Pressure

Another thing you want to do is run high pressure in your tires. Quite possibly the “max” pressure listed on the tire. You don’t need the tires to conform to rocks and roots on the course, so fill those tires up!

This will depend on the tire, but generally it could range from 40-85 psi. For any sort of riding/racing on pavement, I’d like at least 50-60 psi in my tires. Normal mountain biking pressures will feel squishy on solid pavement.

3. Go Rigid

You want your bike to be as stiff as possible. If you already ride a rigid bike (no suspension front or rear,) great. If you have a hardtail, hopefully you can lock out your fork.

If you don’t have a lockout feature on your fork, I feel your pain! My first real mountain bike with a suspension fork did not have a lockout, and I wasted a lot of energy with that thing bobbing up and down! My advice in this case is to stay seated as much as possible to keep your weight from compressing the fork.

4. Use Your Road Seat Height

Most mountain bikers don’t have their seat as high as a road racer would since you need a little extra maneuverability. But in a road race, you can set your seat height to the most efficient position.

Since you’re not dealing with obstacles, you can probably raise your seat 1/4″ or so. (Depending on race course terrain, my mountain bike seat height probably varies around 1″ up or down.)

If you’re not familiar with changing your position though, don’t do it. You might make it worse.

5. Know When to Draft

Racing tactics are important in any race, but even more so when your bike already puts you at a disadvantage.

Unless everyone else is significantly weaker than you, stay in the draft. There’s not much point in a solo attack on a mountain bike (unless you pull it off, in which case you really embarrassed the roadies!)

Anyway, the most important tactic will be knowing when to draft. For example, if you are in your big ring and the speed starts to pick up, that’s a good sign you need to get behind some people. Otherwise you simply won’t be able to propel yourself as fast as the road machines.

The downhills are another place to be careful. Whatever you do, don’t go first! Tuck in behind at least two other guys and stay in the draft as best you can. If you’re caught off the front, and the roadies start to pass you, you might not be able to catch onto their draft when they go by.

If you follow those tips every time you ride your mountain bike in a road race, you’ll stand a good chance of hanging with the road bikers and beating the other mountain bikers.

Today’s question is about when to come out of the saddle during a Time Trial (TT,) specifically what to do at the finish line…

I have a question about when it’s best to come out of the saddle in a TT. I certainly understand doing it at the start and possibly if cranking up an incline, but I often see riders doing it at the finish. I find that I prefer to just keep my head down and drive through the finish since it’s generally flat terrain conducive to a 30+ mph pace anyway. At that speed, it seems like getting out of the saddle makes you extremely non-aerodynamic. Am I wrong or is it just a preference thing for each cyclist?

Thanks,
Stan InTheSaddle

Hi Stan,

That’s an excellent question!

I think you’re on the right track. Staying in the saddle is almost always the best method, barring the start line and possibly on steep hills. And the better your TT equipment and position, the less you would want to break position. And if you have energy left over for a sprint finish that is somehow faster than your current aero position, you didn’t do a good job pacing yourself for the time trial!

One rule of thumb is, at 23mph or above, stay in your aero position. 20-23mph is kind of a gray area, but really, staying seated is still probably better.

You didn’t say anything about the riders you see standing at the finish line, but unless they are top pros or you know they are highly skilled, I wouldn’t worry about what they’re doing.

If they are just average local racers, they may be misguided, thinking every race has a sprint finish. Mass start races have sprint finishes because the sprinters try to rest as much as possible during the race to save energy for a sprint finish. That’s not how you ride a TT!

Also, if they’re riding on a regular road bike with no aero equipment, maybe it is just a tad faster to sprint. By getting out of the saddle, they’re losing less of an aero advantage than they would if they were going 30+ mph on a dedicated TT machine.

I’m a big fan of testing different methods, so you could test what is faster for you, but in this case, I think you’re spot on already. If you have a real TT bike, stay in your TT position through the flat finishes.

Today’s question is about a new rider taking on some challenging bike tours this summer…

To Coach Levi:

Found your site here the other day and been reading it since then. I am a 44 years old man living in Norway 183 high and 85 kg, think I am in a pretty good shape. Have a “huge” problem here. I have been biking real hard since April 2010. So I am not a real biker with a lot of years in the saddle.

Now I have done some really stupid and need some advice so I can survive here. I will start in two tour races this summer, one is one day from Bergen to Voss. That one i think i will manage. If I just use good time and hold my pulse down. The other one is trickier – www.vikingtour.org – 7 Days 953 km 15.800 m climbing – Fjords, Waterfalls, Mountains, Glaziers.

So then my question is. If I survive the day, how do I recover as good as possible for the next day. My biggest problem is to get enough calories in when I’m out biking, but here I need all I can get. Will it be vice of me to go for a little hike before I go to bed, just to move my muscles in another way? I am in the world league when it comes to sleeping, but is just sleep a good way to recover for me, I need a lot of food/calories to. So have you any advice to a not skilled biker who try to kill him selves in the great nature at the west coast of Norway.

Biking Bjørn

Hi Bjørn,

It sounds like you have quite the adventure ahead of you! I think it’s good to challenge yourself like this, though – otherwise you don’t realize what you are capable of.

The biggest problem I see with newer riders is that they set themselves up to not be able to recover. What I mean is, for one reason or another, they push themselves too hard, too early in the race or tour. This leads to cramping, muscle soreness, low energy, bonking, etc. It’s hard enough to recover from a week of long rides, let alone when you go harder than you are capable of!

Sometimes you see the pros make mistakes and have bad days in the grand tours. But they are so well conditioned, and they have such a helpful support crew, that they can be back on form the next day. Unfortunately, in your first couple years of riding, you don’t have that luxury, so you have to be extra careful.

Here are my tips:

1. Ride within your limits.

So my #1 tip is to ride within your limits. Don’t push too hard on the climbs and don’t ride with too fast of a group. Take it slow, especially on the first few days. Remember – you have to pace yourself for the day, but also for the week. (Easier said than done!)

2. Evening recovery.

For recovery in the evenings, you could try some walking/hiking or some self-massage techniques to keep your blood flowing. I recommend you do something, but what you choose is more of a personal decision. Me personally, I like wearing compression socks and rolling my legs with something like The Stick or Muscle Trac.

3. Proper nutrition.

You already know you need to keep eating and drinking. So eat anything that doesn’t upset your stomach. And start eating as soon as you start riding each day. Again, food choice is a personal decision, so try to figure out what your favorite riding foods are while you’re doing training rides.

4. Sleep.

Sleep is great, and it’s good to be skilled at sleeping! Some people will have trouble sleeping in different locations along the tour, but if you can sleep soundly each night, that’s a big help! A good night’s sleep each night could be your best recovery between stages!

5. Follow through.

I think you have a good idea of what to do, you just have to make sure you do it!

Sometimes it helps me to actually write down all the details of what I should be doing each day. Just little reminders to eat this, drink that, keep pulse under ___, go to sleep at ___ and wake up at ___, etc. It might sound unnecessary, but it’s surprisingly easy to get distracted out there.

6. Have fun.

Make sure you have fun out there! You’re not in school or at work, you’re out riding!

Lastly, enjoy the scenery! I checked out the tour’s website and it looks like something I’d like to do someday!

Today’s question is about the disadvantage you have using restricted gears in junior age group racing…

Hi Levi I am 15 yr old male and recently rode 100km race in restricted junior age-group gears (rollout 6.610). I raced at an average of 90RPM and my time for 100km was 2hours 41. The winning time by cyclists on open was 2:23. I am trying to work out how I measure up in real terms. So can you tell me what sort of disadvantage to my time would the restricted gears have made? I am basing my training remained on restrited gears even in the off-season and trying to increase cadence rather than focus on large km training and power output.

Thanks,
Restricted Ricky

Hi Ricky,

First, let me applaud you for taking such an interest in the specifics of your training and racing! It really shows your dedication.

Now, as to doing the calculations and getting worthwhile comparisons, that’s no easy feat. It might not be worth the time and effort, but that’s up to you.

I can’t tell you not to attempt it, because when I was a junior mountain biker, every race I’d compare my lap times to the pros and try to factor in all the variables to see how our times would compare over the same distance!

So…

You could start out using a gearing calculator and get some numbers. As a rough estimate, 90rpm in your biggest gear might yield a speed of 23mph (37 kph,) compared to more like 33mph (53 kph) in a bigger gear like a 53×11.

But, where do you go from there? There are just so many variables. Terrain, elevation, racing tactics, etc.

Based on your finishing time, it looks like you did average around 37kph. The overall winner averaged about 43kph – faster than you in absolute sense, but he didn’t max out his gearing. And you can’t really assume that you could ride a 53×11 at 90rpm if you were allowed. All I can safely say is your time on open gears would have been between 2:41 and 2:23.

Sure, it’s fun to run the numbers, but it’s extremely difficult to get worthwhile data. I think you have a good idea focusing on cadence during training, and you should keep focused on training to maximize your performance with the equipment you have. Don’t sweat the small stuff.

Good luck and have fun with your racing!

Do you know how much a safety pin weighs? I think about 0.1 grams. Now multiply that by four. That’s almost half a gram added to your weight, just from pinning your number plate onto your jersey!

And unless you choose to use 8-10 safety pins to hold it down, that number plate might catch some wind, flap around, and subsequently take a fraction of a second off your time!

Kidding aside, safety pins aren’t the only way to attach your number plate to your jersey.

You can also use tape or glue to stick your race number to your jersey. This could save weight and help the number sit closer to your jersey for better aerodynamics. It also avoids the potentially painful prick of a safety pin into your skin!

So, if you want to try something new, your options include:

Race Number Tape

First up, there is actually specialty tape made just for this purpose! I have heard of two brands, but I don’t know much about either one. The small amount I’ve read about them online shows mixed feelings. And at roughly $17 per roll, I don’t think it’s worth trying.

Links: www.RacerTape.com and www.GrizzyGrip.com

Fabric Tape

There is a product called “Instant Bond Double-Sided Fabric Tape” that is just $3 per roll at Walgreen’s. It is made for sticking two pieces of fabric together.

It might work with a number, or it might not. Or maybe it will come loose when it gets sweaty. I wouldn’t risk it.

Shipping Label Envelopes

You’ve probably seen these on boxes shipped UPS or FedEx. They are little plastic bags with adhesive on one side – you put a shipping label/invoice inside, then stick it to the box.

You could try to re-purpose these by putting your race number inside it, then sticking it to your jersey. However, I’m not sure how well it would stick to a jersey, and it probably isn’t any lighter than using safety pins.

Link: www.ULine.com

3M Super 77 Spray Adhesive

Last but not least, we’ll look at spray adhesive. Your two main options are 3M Super 77 Spray Adhesive or 3M Repositionable 75 Spray Adhesive.

To use it, you spray it on the back of your number. Let it dry to a slightly tacky finish, then position the number on your jersey and press down firmly. If you did it right, your number will be a big sticker that will lay flat on the jersey, so it won’t flap in the wind.

However, there are some complications. First, you need to get the amount of adhesive just right. Too little, the number may start to peel off during the race. Too much, you’ll probably be left with a sticky residue on your jersey. Second, if you don’t remove the number immediately post-race, the adhesive could set and really leave your number stuck on there.

Link: www.3m.com

My final verdict is…

While getting your number plate to lie perfectly flat is a noble cause, these tapes and adhesives seem like more trouble than they are worth. I don’t think it’s worth the effort, except maybe for an important time trial when you are completely decked out in aero gear.

If you try any of the above options, I recommend the 3M spray adhesive.

In the end, safety pins are super cheap and reliable in all conditions. And if you use proper “flat pinning” technique, the number should lie flat.