- Yes, we are triathletes,
and yes, we are on mountain bikes.
But why?
Well actually there's a lot that can be gained
by going out of our comfort zone,
onto mountain bikes, and getting a bit dirty.
- Well it can be a little bit daunting
to leave that smooth asphalt,
and your finely tuned triathlon bike.
But it's something that a lot of athletes
do every year when they compete in XTERRA,
and cross-triathlons, but aside from those races
there's still so much you can gain
from riding a mountain bike.
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- To start with if you live in a country
that has harsh winters, unlike this place right now.
Then mountain biking can be a great way
of mixing your training up.
And preventing you from spending every
ride indoors on the turbo trainer.
And something feels a little bit better
about getting a mountain bike dirty,
and muddy compared to your road bike.
Perhaps it's just because we're
a little less precious about our mountain bikes.
And they are designed for that after all.
And by venturing out onto the trails
you're also honing your bike skills
ready for when the weather improves,
and you can head out on your road bike.
- Whilst road cycling and mountain biking
may seem like very different sports
there's actually a lot of similar skills
that transfer from one to the other.
In fact, mountain biking is a great way
to practise your all round skills
without the fear of falling off on the road.
And you don't have to worry about traffic.
- Another really beneficial aspect of mountain biking
is the training effect, due to the terrain,
and the effort required to get over, or around obstacles.
It sort of creates it's own natural fartlek.
Even just a short ride can be quite punchy,
and have a huge training benefit.
Which can be really useful if you are lacking motivation
to do a session on the bike, indoors, or out on the road.
- In a similar way the terrain, obstacles,
and various surfaces will cause you
to constantly change your cadence
when you're out on a mountain bike ride.
But if you're a road cyclist you might have
got into a bit of a rut of sticking
within a small cadence range.
And that makes it really difficult
to change when you need to.
With mountain biking it does go
from one extreme to the other.
So, for example, if you're stuck into a habit
of an over-gearer this will really help you
solve that problem.
- The need to move your body weight around
in the saddle, and on the bike is actually far
more important than many of us realise,
particularly when we're descending, or cornering.
But again, we can be quite lazy
with this when we're solely riding on the road.
We plant ourselves in the saddle, and we stay put.
But in mountain biking you have to,
if you want to stay rubber side down.
It helps to build your confidence with shifting
your body weight around throughout the whole bike.
And in some cases, you'll even have
to shift your whole body weight back off the saddle.
- If you have more confidence in your braking ability
then you can dramatically become a better cyclist.
And what better way to do that than mountain biking.
Unlike with road cycling, you're gonna be
constantly using your brakes,
or lightly feathering them when you're riding off-road.
And being able to control that braking power
will help massively with your descents,
and cornering, and it might even your improve your speed.
- With all this comes increased confidence,
and handling for cornering.
Now whilst the surface and tyres may be different,
it still allows you to find the limits of cornering,
how much grip you have, and even
how much you can bank the bike over.
And again, mountain biking offers
plenty of opportunities to practise this,
along with shifting your body weight around to help this.
- With more mountain biking experience
you'll soon learn that you need to look ahead
of where you're going, and look for the exit of the corners.
It is tempting to look at the obstacles
just in front of you,
but you'll soon learn not to do that.
And this skill actually transfers really nicely
across to the road as well,
especially if you're riding in groups.
And you're looking ahead for corners.
- There really are loads of cross-overs,
and skills that mountain biking can add to our road riding.
Personally, I just like the change,
and variety from the norm.
- Well you might be worried about the risk involved
with mountain biking, but you don't have
to tear it down all the trails,
you can just stay within your comfort zone.
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there's a video on that just here.
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