kansukee

So I'm riding yesterday with a small group, all road bikes. We're going at a good clip around 25-26 when this guy catches up and passes us riding what at first seemed to be a TT bike due to his position but the whole thing looked wrong somehow. We caught up quickly and went on to drop him once we upped the pace to over 29mph or so_ as soon as I went by him I realized that he was riding a mountain bike with slicks and what made his setup and position seem off to me was the fact that his hands were resting on the fork shoulders, facing each other.

It was the weirdest thing because if you were behind him you would have thought he was handicapped since you couldn't see his hands below the wrist and it was because of how he was holding the fork, you could only see them when you were right by him. Strange to says the least and also unsafe.

ksryder

Was he also vaping?

mstateglfr 

Cant say Ive ever seen anyone riding any style bike with their hands on the fork for steering. Impressive that he can sustain 25mph on a solo ride. Looks like we will all soon see this style of riding as that guy is destined to be a pro with the ability to hold that speed on his own.

subgrade

I have seen MTB pro's doing it (not in person though).

kansukee

Yep, that was it except his hands were pointing to each other.

trailangel

I think you mean KPH not MPH.......
You got dropped by a XC MTB........

subgrade

Strong XC riders will do 25-30 mph (40-50 kph) on smooth roads; probably not for very long, but their courses usually don't have long smooth sections anyway. See this video from a local amateur race (from 1:45 onwards) for example.

kansukee

lol no, it mph and this dude was pretty strong. He had been pacing us for 3-4 miles before he passed us and we upped the pace/dropped him.

Atlas Shrugged

Why the need to drop him?

kansukee

Why not? Someone upped the pace and there we went...

jamesdak 

At those speeds this must have happened during the Tour de France!

ksryder

? 29 mph isn't unfathomable.

kansukee

He didn't get to 29 but we dropped him at 27 so pretty close. I told someone in the office who also rides and he mentioned that he used to ride like that, back when he started riding mtb at a young age.

Reynolds 

A friend of mine used to ride like that, he said it was "more aero". And another one rode with his back nearly horizontal and his arms extended behind, pointing straight back...

2cam16

I've seen Kate Courtney and Langvad use that position in past XC races.

mstateglfr 

It isn't unfathomable, but it is quite fast for a sustained speed on a solo mtb ride. That's averaging probably 30 for a sustained period riding solo on a road bike, which is quite good.
Hitting 27 is different from sustained solo riding at 27.

Hence the references to the tour.

Spaghetti

interesting lol

WhyFi

caloso

Strong riders are strong.

PDKL45

Guys on XC mountain bikes ride like that all the time in Seoul, Korea. There's a huge network of paths here, and guys love to ride their high end hardtail MTBs as path bikes, so you see them grabbing the crown of their forks like that frequently.