Is mountain biking good cross-training for road biking?
I would say the road biking influences mountain biking more than vice versa (which you’ve noticed with your fitness on long climbs). However, if mountain biking does affect your road cycling it would most likely affect your abilities to cross obstacles on the road, reaction times, and dealing comfort on fast downhills (since you’ve gotten used to dealing with rocks and roots on the mountain bike kicking up your downhill road speed will be no problem).
What kind of road training are you doing? For instance, the short, steep and intense climbs found in mountain biking can mimic sprints and intervals on the road, cardio-wise. So if you’re not doing these things, mountain biking would be a big help with fitness. I bet you’ve got this covered, tho. A few facts, along with experience, lead me to believe that cyclists can get a good workout faster on a mountain bike than on a road bike: mountain bikes are heavier, they travel on a rougher surface, and because of suspension, are less efficient. You know this, probably. I need to ride about 50 miles on the road to feel as tired as I do after riding 20 off road. So time might be an advantage. To piggyback on what caddis said, another advantage of variety is that it puts your body in different positions, which I’m sure it appreciates. Oh, and doing things like clearing logs and negotiating rocks employs way more of the upper body than road riding does, for what that’s worth.
I used to be a mountain biker, but switched completely to road when I discovered I was much better on the roads than off. If we’re talking pure fitness here, I don’t think you can get the same quality of workout on a mountain bike as you can on a road bike. So I wouldn’t trade the roads for the trails too often, but, on the other hand, it’s still a workout, and it won’t hurt your road riding. I agree with caddis that anything that helps you avoid boredome and burnout is a good thing. That’s probably the main benefit. on preview: I agree with ArcAm that mountain biking will work different muscle groups, etc., but the problem with that logic is, of course, if you’re training to race on the roads, these are muscles and positions that don’t need to be trained. Bottom line is, do it to cross train, but, if you want to race on the roads, focus your training there.
