I don’t ride my Motobecane 700HT MTB very often (9 times this year) and I notice a big difference between riding my MTB and my road bike. The first thing is the big weight difference. My legs get a workout getting up to speed and staying there. Sometimes I wonder if MTB miles ought to count twice my road bike miles because the MTB weighs about 2 times as much (MTB 32 pounds, Stradalli 18 pounds). Next is the gearing. Pedaling at 100 RPM on the MTB in the largest gear I can turn puts me at 15 mph versus the road bike’s 20+ mph. Today I was spinning like crazy and not going very fast in the lower gears. The Kingwood Trails are mostly flat but there are inclines and pedaling up them I bog down quickly. But the view is different and the ride does not take as much time as a road trip. Today’s bike ride was 15.55 miles long, riding time 1:24:54.

Another difference is my aversion to mud. A MTB seeks mud and I avoid it whenever possible. So far I kept the mud at bay but there are times when it wins. I don’t like to clean a mud covered bike.

Weather conditions warmed up from yesterday. The weather conditions at the end of the ride.

As you can see the forecast for the next 10 days is very consistent; clear and in the mid 80’s. I plan on taking advantage of the weather.

With today’s ride October mileage increased to 638 and YTD I am at 6,570 miles. Riding 4 days this week I managed 125 miles.

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