Originally Posted by
Carbonfiberboy
I'm in the camp that running hurts cycling because it takes energy away from cycling. OTOH, I find that hiking in the mountains greatly helps my cycling because it's all zone 1, so it's recovery time, plus it helps with leg and core strength and flexibility. I hike with poles, so it's good for my upper body, too. But I wouldn't trail run if I were trying to get better at cycling. OTOH if I didn't have time to bike, I'd certainly run as an alternative, preferably trail run because I absolutely love it.
Except the taking energy away from cycling argument only applies to those elite athletes who already train on the bike 6 hours a day, where 6.1 would be too much. OTOH if you only have 6 hours per week you might have a point, with the caveat that doing nothing but cycling may help your on bike performance now, but will surely cause you problems down the road.