Mountain Biking is Great for the Road Racer
Has your training program ever called for what some coaches call muscle tension intervals or others might call a force workout? Whatever you want to call it, the workout involves pedaling uphill at a slow steady cadence. On most mountain bike rides this type of riding is required by the terrain. What about hill sprints or jumps? Has your training plan ever called for these? Sprinting out of corners on a nice piece of single track or up over a small hills forces you into doing this kind of workout without even thinking about it. That doesnt even address the fact that the handling skills that mountain biking gives are invaluable as a road racer. I have noticed that good singletrack riders often excel in technical criterium races. That is because they have excellent handling skills, and are very good at accelerating out of those corners again and again. So next time you head out to the garage to grab a bike, give that mountain bike a second thought. Itll be good for ya.