Road Cycling - Mountain biking with ROad biking?

Just out of curisity, but is mountain biking in any way helpful for your road biking besides beuilding up stamina and for training purposes? Just curious, i may plan on starting
Thanks

well it does give you some change in the same old routine, but I also think it helps in certain areas, such as balance and climbing, it's different but I think it helps in the long run.

another option is cyclocross, it is different than mtn biking, but again it gives you a change of pace than just riding road day in and out in your training program... (or recreational riding)

The little mt biking I do (maybe 2-3 times a month), seems to me more demanding than my usual road routine. There's a high level of concentration required in negotiating narrow obstructed trails. You can't zone out like you can on a road bike. Mountain biking has far more of those fear/adrenaline spurts---my HR stays higher in relation to physical output.

There is alot of debate on that. Euros will tell you to stay off the mountain bike if you want to do well on the road. Others say mountain bike is good in the off season but it depends on you and how your body and mind respond to the change of pace.

If you like to mix it up, mountian biking might help you mentally. It takes longer to recover from a mountian bike ride so if you have a road-based program than I would say mountian bike no more than 2x a week. That's just my 2 cents.

On the off season, maybe you want to ignore the road bike and just blast the trails or whatever. Or, you may have a different focus than peaking for road racing or whatever in which case the mountian bike might help you.

It does help your power, balance and basic skills plus it's a lot of fun.

When I returned to riding in late Spring this year it was on the MTB. After several trips to the dirt some buddies convinced me to try the road route. I gotta say I love the pleasures of the pavement, the solitude of riding alone on a realtively smooth surface, and being able to fly down hills without watching for trees, roots, rocks, etc.

That being said, the main reason I went to the road was to get more distance and stamina for the dirt. It has worked wonders. I realize this is the exact opposite of your situtation, but combining the two styles of riding has made cycling in general much more fun and a real part of my life.

Bottom line, try it, you'll like it, and you'll still ride the road as well.
Going both ways, so to speak, only adds to the enjoyment of the sport...
:beer:

I realize this is the exact opposite of your situtation, but combining the two styles of riding has made cycling in general much more fun and a real part of my life.

yeah, that's what almost all the MTB pros are doing -- doing the majority of their training on the road with some trail and technical work.

my recreational riding is about 80% MTB, 20% road. not really b/c one is better training, but i just enjoy off-road a little more -- of course, i still like road riding a lot too!

as for MTB helping on the road... i would think for short-burst power/spint it might help and for some handling and versatility... of course, almost any riding is good training, but i think all things considered if you compare doing x hours on the road vs. x hours on the MTB, the road will bring more benefits to your road riding... so i guess i agree with what Maelstrom said.

Bike Handling Skills and Balance is what Mtb biking will give you for the Road. I did a local road ride every week this summer and I noticed that some of the Bike Handling Skills for the average road rider was not up to par, Usually the leaders of the group would try to make sure that the less experienced riders stayed toward the back for safety reasons.
The interesting thing was the couple of MTB friends that I had join us, not one was asked to stay back and they all did fine in the Paceline.

try it , if you enjoy it ,do it. if you dont enjoy it it wont be of much benifit to you ,cycling realy comes down to enjoyment & personel satisfaction, give it a go!:thumbup:

If you have good MTB in your local go for it! I had to move where there isn't any and miss it dearly. Next move has to have it or I'm not moving there!