Curious about opinions on if a XC mountain bike racer needs a road bike to train on the roads for endurance & intervals.
Thoughts?
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Do you need a road bike? No.
But if you want to train outdoors, it is an easier to do some intervals on the road.
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Don’t XC racers pretty much all train on the road with road bikes?
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No not needed. As mentioned an MTB will happily (obviously) go on the road, just not as far for the same effort.
When doing intervals don’t forgot to do some on a rough surface, doing Vo2max while trying to ride over rough stuff is harder than on smooth tarmac.
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It is true, I reckon a road bike on the road is more fun than a mountain bike on the road. Although for endurance rides I like to take out my hardtail and ride on roads and bike paths. I won’t be tempted as much to compete for speed.
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You can do road intervals on your mountain bike but I find it much more challenging because of the mountain bike gearing. I’m running Shimano 1x12 with a 32 tooth chain ring. Trying to maintain sweet spot power levels I’m bouncing between the hardest 2 gears and there’s a big step between the two.
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Nino seems to do his intervals on his MTB.
Think it’s more the DH riders that go on endurance rides on road bikes, dragging a DH (or even an enduro) bike around roads is not much fun. But on a XC bike, you could easily do the endurance rides too. You could even put a set of slick tyres on for more speed.
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100% no.
I train 100% on my hardtail . You go slower on the road (slightly 3-4kmh) and have more gears so it’s easier to keep within your power targets, this is especially evident on climbs.
Also you can then cycle to a trail, do your intervals (TR), then trail ride, then cycle back z2. This is a great and fun way of building volume, get fitter and improve MTB skills.
Also, if you’re like me and don’t enjoy too much much riding with slower riders as it would just mean riding z1 all day - riding an mtb in a road ride will allow you to ride closer to your z2 for example which is a win win. This also applies to me as I ride with my girlfriend and her father sometimes - Way more enjoyable with my mtb 
Added bonus - dropping roadies on an MTB and them asking you if you’re on an e-bike!
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True but you could go a 34 or 36. On a road bike training outdoors I found I was going too fast trying to maintain power which also was dangerous and difficult - especially when you are cross-eyed.
Absolutely not needed unless you want one and can afford it, n+1 and all that 
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^This is hilarious. I’m sure i’ve heard someone mutter loudly to his mates “Bloody e-bikes” as i went past them the other day. I wanted to shout back: “no, a TrainerRoad user!”
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Very true! TR makes you way more fast than any upgrade you can make! I had the same yesterday someone called my bike a tractor and told my girlfriend to get me a proper bike (in a complimentary way).
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XC racer and I’ve trained on gravel roads for the past 4 years on my MTB. I’ve just recently bought a gravel bike so I can join group rides and gravel races. I’ve never felt like I’ve missed out on training on my MTB, but it is nice to have the proper tool for the job. Definitely not necessary to have a road bike, but now that I have one it’s nice to have.
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Unless you’re looking for an excuse to get a road bike, no. If you don’t have plans to ride road in non-training situations, there’s no need, and some would argue there’s a detriment in that your training position on a road bike and racing position on the XC bike are different enough to cause power loss on the XC bike.
It might be worth getting a cheap set of wheels on which you can leave a set of more road friendly tires, and a smaller range cassette. You’re unlikely to need many of the taller gears, and a closer gear spacing will let you work on cadence as well.
-Tim
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dubious.
Mountain bike will typically have a 32t front chainring. I think the issue may be not having enough gears versus having too many
I have personally ridden a mountain bike on the road and it’s not enjoyable for me. It’s loud and feels slow and difficult to ride with a group, which can perhaps be less safe. Also probably would wear your tires knobs a bit prematurely. I also think getting all your volume on a XC trail is a challenge. It beats you up a bit, it’s more intense so time on bike is typically less. There is a fair amount more maintenance required on a mountain bike. Doing it on gravel roads may mitigate some of this, but if you like riding in groups, I’d recommend a road/gravel road bike.
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Just buy a bigger chain ring and a wheelset that you put some road slicks on
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Yes you do….IF you ever want to do a block of volume and grow your engine.
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I would say no. Might be helpful to just take your mtb on a gravel route. A gravel route I often do has a mtb trail off it. So sometimes I just do a loop on the gravel route with my mtb and then come pack and hit the trails. Best of both worlds
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No sure why this is unqiue to a road cycle. You can do a block of volume on an MTB and grow your engine. (admittidly you wont travel as far for every ride, but the effort / time can be the same)
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In my experience my MTB gearing (30T x 11:42 ) was fine for Z2 rides on the road, in fact I wonder how awful endurance rides must have been on standard gearing (53:39 11:25). MTB gearing was hopeless for doing intervals on anything that wasn’t uphill the gearing was just too low I was spinning out before hitting Z4.
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