Mountain Biking for Winter Training

depends on what are you talking mtb wise?   downhill course, cross?

i find mtb very different, and usually its more like doing intervals on my roadbike quick uphill quick downhill.  its not a 100% substitue but its a nice change of pace, but if you want to maintain/improve on the road bike you will still need to put some milage on the trainer.

As long as you don't putt around on it it's going to be a workout!

I ride my HT MTB to/from work once or twice a week year round.  Riding a 38 lb slug makes the 20lb TB feel effortless!

As long as you're working out there, heck yes.

On our local hammerfest AM ride last week, the 2nd fastest guy (in a field of highly competitive pure roadies) turned out to be a recent convert from mtn to road biking. He finished 25th/1500+ riders in the Leadville 100 (which Lance recently won), and was killing it out there (even amongst several Cat1 riders!) Mtn biking is totally legit for road biking, if you're working hard.

The real question is.. how is MTB a better option than road biking in the winter where you live, and how do I move there? 

(I'll be switching to mostly roads here pretty soon, specially with all this rain in the forecast. 

I am more comfortable on my mountain bike and since I dread using a trainer and have awesome lighting on my mountain bike, I can still train at night on the roads.

If the weather's decent, I put on the winter gear and take the MTB out for a spin vs. the trainer. Especially fun in the snow...

I ride & race cross in the fall. It is the exact opposite of time trialing like in any tri with varying efforts and not steady state work, so for me I find it refreshing, a bit dangerous and a blast. Racing feels like going a 5K on a bike. Is it good or not, I'm not sure but for my mind I need it and love it.

Many of my road racing friends ride MTB all winter as they are cold weather weenies and riding in the woods going slower is warmed than on the roads without leaves and lots of wind.

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I don't know why you don't ride your mtn bike year round.  Riding offroad will help break up the monotony of road riding.  I have offroad races in my schedule so I NEED to ride it year round.  It definitely won't hurt, but it is a different animal, and IMHO that is a benefit.  If you are just going to ride on the road though why would you not just take your road bike?  As KathyG said cyclocross is a blast to refresh the engine too.

are you guys talking MTB on the road?  or we talking off-road, because although its a nice alternative its not even close to be the same.  at least the MTB i ride.

i mean, when I road my road bike its usually a tempo pace, i set one for myself and just pedal and pedal and pedal.  mtb is much more of an interval feel, up a small hill, high rpm, then down a hill where you might not even pedal. 

mtb has made me a good road biker no doubt, its a great alternative but I really belive you will still need to put milage in the roadie saddle to improve.  that is at least my view point maybe someone can educate me....

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Edited by wgraves7582 2009-09-09 9:12 AM

I'm a little biased as I ride a mt bike year round and don't have a road/tt bike, even for the one tri I did in June.  But I say put on a decent pair of tires appropriate for wet conditions and get out there.  It's not the bike that determines your level of fitness, it's you.  Someone please tell me how putting in a 20 mile ride (or whatever) on your mt bike at a decent pace (say 18mph average) doesn't help improve your overall biking fitness?  Is it a TT bike averaging 24mph, no.  But is your heart rate elevated and leg muscles pounding for the hour - absolutely.

Of course, I'm talking riding on roads and bike trails, not single/double track.

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Of course you do, but this is the off-season we're talking about, not building for a race, that comes later.  It's all about T.I.T.S. no matter how you do it...1 hour on the MTB is 1 hour on the trainer is 1 hours on the spin bike.  It's what you do during that one hour that matters.  I can do a 2hr z2 ride on my MTB just like I can on my tri-bike.