I suppose I should qualify my statement
more - I should have said that I think
that XC skiers benefit more from biking
where you are out of the saddle a lot
and using your arms and core muscles
lots, as opposed to rides where you stay
on the seat and do most of the work with
your legs. I think that most mtn bike
rides naturally are more 'whole-body'
rides, but that's not always the case.

Erik

----- Original Message -----
From: "Gene Goldenfeld"

To: "Multiple recipients of list
NORDIC-SKI"

Sent: Monday, August 18, 2003 9:14 PM
Subject: Running or Cycling


Why is mtn biking better? That's
pretty arbitrary, since mtn biking tends
to offer more of one kind of workout,
namely hard. Those are valuable and,
as Ken S. might attest, fill in well
when lots of hilly rollerskiing or
other extended hill work is not
accessible. I think it helps to
distinguish between specific training
and general conditioning. Road
biking allows a range of intensities,
and thus can serve as, say, an easy
1.5 hr prelude to a hard rollerski the
next day, a 2 hour recovery workout
the day after doing something hard,
or, with the right terrain, a long hard
or easy workout in itself. The 50K
club folks notwithstanding, more than
two hours on rollerskis is not easy
and for most people technique starts
breaking down by then, if not earlier.
Road biking offers one alternative
for endurance conditioning that can't
be gotten in other ways and, if
properly used, will over time make
rollerskiing and other workouts a lot
easier.

Gene

Erik Brooks wrote:

I'd agree with both Jeff and Matt on
this.

And, the running IS much more
specific
than cycling, especially if you run
up
hills with XC poles and try to
emulate
ski tech. If you will do more
cycling
because you don't like to run, then
I
think that mtn biking is much better
for
skiers than road biking, or at least
that climbing on the bike is better
than
the flats....

Erik Brooks, Seattle, who does a
some of
each, but mostly road biking just
because it's how I get to work, and
it's
easy to add on very pleasant extra
mileage along the way...