General Discussion Triathlon Talk » Mtn Biking vs Road biking in Phoenix, Rss Feed  
Moderators: k9car363, alicefoeller Reply
2012-02-27 6:02 PM

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Phoenix, AZ
Subject: Mtn Biking vs Road biking in Phoenix,
Hi guys and gals!

To Date, I've only been riding on the road with an old school road bike. I figured that this would be probably the best training, as I will be riding on the road for triathlons. Ex Apples to Apples.

If it's acceptable I'd like to diversify where and how I ride. I'm curious if Riding a mountain bike off road on the numerous trails in the phoenix area would be a suitable alternative to road biking. Not all of my rides would be off road, but maybe half? I figured that since alot of you guys live in or around Phoenix, you might be knowledgable about some of the trails and the benefit (or lack of benefit) of riding them vs staying only on the road.

Is there some sort of wierd calcualtion out there that says 20 miles on the road is equal to "X" miles on a trail, etc? Or is it just a straight time on the bike thing?

Right now I am just a terribly new cyclist. My goal for this year is to be able to finish the Half Ironman in October. So I guess my basic question is this... Would Mountain biking throw me off on my training, or is it an acceptable substitute to road cycling?

Thank you all so very much.

Aaron


2012-02-27 10:17 PM
in reply to: #4069474

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Chandler, AZ
Subject: RE: Mtn Biking vs Road biking in Phoenix,

I don't know the answer to this, but Phoenix does have some great mountain biking...I haven't taken my mountain bike out once since I started doing triathlons. Not because I didn't want to take away from my training, but I guess I just want to become as familiar as possible with my tri bike. I've actually been thinking about doing a ride soon just for fun.

 

I think you'd be better off asking this in triathlon talk if you haven't already. Much bigger audience over there and you're sure to get a bunch of opinions...Good luck, man.



Edited by JasenGuy 2012-02-27 10:18 PM
2012-02-28 6:32 AM
in reply to: #4069474

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Goodyear, AZ
Subject: RE: Mtn Biking vs Road biking in Phoenix,
I think that it could really benefit you to do both, plus it makes it more interesting. I have several friends who race both Xterra and road triathlons very successfully and train for both simultaneously. I don't know if there is an equation to figure out but I'd guess that you could just use the ride time as a guide. A hard 2 hour Mtn Bike ride with some steep climbs is a great workout! Just make sure you put in enough time on your tri bike to feel comfortable for the race distance. 
2012-03-05 12:45 AM
in reply to: #4069474

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Tucson, AZ
Subject: RE: Mtn Biking vs Road biking in Phoenix,
Mountain biking is great just remember to do some race specific stuff as well.  I find that mountain biking is usually more sporadic in terms of efforts, where road bike is more solid-state.
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General Discussion Triathlon Talk » Mtn Biking vs Road biking in Phoenix, Rss Feed