Real talk, Herd: when it comes to cycling, I’m a roadie through and through. Give me tarmac, a tail wind and the promise of a mid-ride café stop and I’m happier than a goat up to mischief.

But more and more often recently, I’ve been finding myself tempted by the off-road life. Maybe it’s the awesome Stolen Goat MTB kit… maybe it’s some sort of secret subliminal messaging from the resident MTB riders here at SG HQ. Or maybe I’ve just bounced off a few too many potholes recently. Either way, the lure of heading off road is certainly catching my eye. I’m definitely not going to be ditching my road bike any time soon, or switching triathlons for cyclocross (mainly because I wouldn’t last 20 secs, brutal). But I do have a sneaking suspicion that, whenever my next “N+1” incident happens, it might involve something with chunkier tyres…

FIVE REASONS TO GIVE OFF-ROAD A GO

Find your Freedom

Heading off-road gives you the chance to get out into nature: just you, your bike and the route less ridden. It’s a great way to escape busy roads, busy days and a busy mind to just switch off from the world for an hour or so. Focusing on the trails, enjoying the wildlife and taking a moment to really Find your Freedom.

Explore new places

Of course, there’s plenty of spectacular scenery (and very excellent coffee stops) you can get to by road. But having the option to grab your mountain bike opens up even more places to go and explore. Whether it’s traversing the wilds of Scotland, taking in the sweeping views across the Lake District. Or just discovering a new trail round the corner that you didn’t know was there. Heading off-road gives you a fresh perspective, a fresh bucket list of places to see and all sorts of new adventures to daydream about.

Improve your bike handling skills

When you ride off-road, you’ll be faced with far more unpredictable terrain. Slippery and uneven surfaces, tree roots, steep inclines and sharp corners. Switching some of your road rides for mountain biking will really help you to work on your bike handling skills. So when you head back out on to the road, you’ll feel stronger and far more confident with things like cornering or descending.

Build your strength

Alongside improving your bike handling skills, off-road riding is also great for building up your strength. Unexpected twists and turns, alongside unsteady terrain will seriously challenge your core stability: key for keeping you strong and injury-free across all kinds of sports and activities. Plus, powering up steep climbs and negotiating tough muddy trails is going to give your legs some serious fire power back out on the road. So you’ll never lose a “last one to the top buys the coffees” battle again.

It’s fun!

For us roadies, it can be easy to get hung up on how far or how fast we’re riding. If you’ve found yourself getting a bit too focused on the numbers, or struggling to find your motivation – heading off-road can be a great way to reset and remember the joy of riding. When you’re negotiating tree roots, rogue squirrels and technical trails, there’s not much head space left to worry about much else. Plus, there’s just something about going off on a long explore and getting mucky with your Herd that brings back that nostalgic childhood feeling of riding purely for the joy of it. Let’s go play bikes!

Thinking about giving some off-road riding a go? We’ve got kit for that! Our recently launched MTB22 Collection gives you everything you need to explore the routes less ridden. From lightweight, breathable jerseys, to casual MTB shorts and our MTB-specific socks and gloves. Check out our top off-road essentials below, or ride this way to shop the collection >>

 

OFF ROAD ESSENTIALS