Does riding a 36er make you soft?

I ride my 36er primarily for fun, but also to augment my daily, much
more strenuous MUni rides. Most of my 36er riding is done on the beach
bike path, and rides vary between 10-20 miles, with longer rides now &
then.

I do like to use 114mm cranks and maintain a consitent 12-14 mph
average, so I know after a solid hour or two of non-stop spinning, I've
had a decent workout. I also modify my 36er to "MUni mode" for
occasional trail and trIal riding. There's nothing quite like bombing
down the singletrack on a bigwheel!

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I only ride my 36er now and find it to be a decent workout for the
amount of effort i put into it (which is little to none...it just gets
boring riding by myself). I go about 24 miles once a week, but I
mostly ride because of school (senior projects should be banned) and I
really do not find time or patience to practice on anything else. I am
considering getting a muni, though. Maybe that will regain my
interest.

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tayler m
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phlegm said:

I wish I could figure out how to really train on the 36er, but it seems
to lend itself to spinning fast a lot more than grinding up big climbs.

It takes discipline to push your self to regularly ride up long steep
grades. Then when you get in good shape you have to stick with it.
Stop for more than 7 or 8 days and you will start to loose what you
have gained.

I have two or three sets of long steep hills that I regularly ride.
Try making one or two days a week "double up day", doing every hill
twice every where you go. Some recommend waiting 48 hours between
doing climbing repeat days. The weeks following completing the STP
when I trained for the Ride 542 - Mt. Baker Hill climb. I would ride
the climb once a week and had two other climbing repeat days. I cut
over 45 minutes off my time.

If you want to get good at spinning fast and true, get a set of rollers
and practice on them. Find a place to put them where you can hang
onto something for forward/backward balance. The rollers will really
teach you to be smooth. Try riding one footed on a 36 on rollers.
Makes a good work out during winter months.

JM

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I typically do climb a lot on my rides and fairly regularly. I guess
the problem is that, for example, the workout I get from an hour of
29er climbing feels much more well rounded than an hour of 36er
climbing. It seems that, aside from high rpm short crank spinning
technique, the skill set required to ride my 36er is a smaller subset
of the skill set of my 29er rides. Maybe the problem is that there
aren't enough long mid-grade roads right around my house suited for
36er rides.

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phlegm
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Hell no, if anything it gives a sudden rush of adrenaline which is how i
got my 44.8km/h speed on my 40" coker.

Now people like Madison (Ducttape) and my little cousin want to top
that speed and i can't wait till that day. 😄

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I'M 1 WEIRD AND UNUSUAL GREEK
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IS DESTINED TO BE DIFFERENT AND I WON'T STOP TILL I AM.

ivan said:

Its a wild ride, grabs me by the shoe-lace, and doesn't let go till I do
a face-plant.

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Mixing it up is the way to go for training. Cyclists do intervals
mixing sprints and recovery. They'll have some training days where
they focus on pushing a big gear while on other days they'll work on
spinning.

Mixing in 29er or muni along with Coker riding is a good way to get the
variety and different training objectives. Mixing up the Coker riding
as much as the local terrain and trails allow is also good. Do hills
if you have them, do some XC Coker muni, ride dirt roads and dirt road
climbs. Mix it up.

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phlegm said:

Does riding a 36er make you soft?

I find the opposite.

--
spyder

UniTyler said:

That made no sense at all. NOT WELCOME? Why? Sarcasm? My adolescent
mind no comprehend. 😕

Klaas Bil said:

You have an adolescent mind? Where did you get that? Aren't you like 12
or so? :-)

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I love to climb steeps on my 36er. I have also developed a lot of
transfer skills in muni riding from Cokering. I can climb off road so
much better from practicing riding steep on short cranks after dark of
when trails are snowy. I also find that longer cranks help me to cruise
steeps as fast as many bikes.(up only:mad🙂 I like ride Lookout
Mountain to Buffalo Bills Grave (2800 ft) near my house in Golden when
its crowded with bikes. I find my urge to pass as many bikes as
possible on the way up ensures that I get an awesome workout. When i
ride alone I don't push myself as much but it is still a beautiful ride
and a great workout. Without significant hills to climb I wouldn't be
as psyched about Cokering for fitness.
[image: http:///Users/osmun5/Pictures/iPhoto
Library/Originals/2007/Roll 89/DSC_0399.JPG]

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osmundo
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Hazmat said:

on my 40" coker.

I'm still waiting on pictures of that.

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Brian O.

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BungeeJoe - you mention rollers as a training tool. Do you have a
preference on type or brand of rollers?

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john_childs said:

Mixing it up is the way to go for training.

I agree, but what I'm finding is that my ideal 29er/36er mix of
training seems to be around 95%/5%. That's not much of a mix. It's
more like an occasional ride on the 36er to work on spinning.

osmundo said:

I love to climb steeps on my 36er.

I don't like riding my 36er on roads so steep that they require long
cranks. It just doesn't make sense to me. I'd much rather reduce the
wheel size than increase the crank size.

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