Have any good cyclist come from a running back ground

In general, maybe.

Every strong ex-runner turned cyclist I know is a beast on the bike.

depends

I started running back around the first of the year, and only got back into cycling around April/May of this year. This year's Ride of Silence in May was sort of my "gauge" to see if I had improved over the same ride last year. I was a little bit better, but not much. Though I'm still very slow running, also, and currently only run about 30 minutes continuous at a time (compared to 30-45 second intervals when I started).

Now a seasoned runner, maybe. But for me I don't think it really made much difference. However I'm still running and also cycling, and I think the two have been helping improve one another in terms of my lung capacity and so forth.

I know one runner (marathons), and while he is not the fastest, on a long distance he is just unkillable. He's really strong on the flats, but slow on the climbs. My guess is that he is used to run at a steady pace for hours, steady efforts, and that's just what he does on the bike, he doesn't give more effort on the climbs, just keeps is pace.

Offhand, I can't think of any pro cyclists who started as runners.

They're two very different disciplines, so being good at one does not necessarily contribute to being good at the other.

That said, if you are a runner and are getting into cycling, I wouldn't worry about it. Just ride & enjoy.

As I life long cyclist, I can assure you the opposite is not true.

It might not make you a good cyclist but it does give you an advantage over say, a meathead turned cyclist. Aside from the cardio requirements, running and cycling both demand heart and spirit to overcome continuous pain and long periods of misery. Being used to these as a runner mentally prepares you to be a cyclist too.

spent most of my life as a runner/soccer player, as I got older and bad knees gave way to back problems and a desk job and time availability gave way to overweight and out of shape I tried getting back to running, my body no longer agreed. as mentioned above about the marathoner, I am strong on the flats, can maintain a a solid pace what seems like forever, but in the hills I get murdered, even the mild hills of Northern IL and SE WI. LOL someday I'll get better at it. just keep spinning, just keep spinning.

+1

I couldn't agree with Jdon more!

I'm an avid cyclist who is a horrible runner...

I just absolutely hate running!

In my experience, some runners (including marathoners) turned cyclists I know are just average.

Good runners won't be bad cyclists. They might not become great cyclists - running doesn't give enough benefit at the faster speeds/higher levels (like Cat1/2 and above) but they won't be bad.

Any runner who's cranking out 5ks in 17minutes or under, or running marathons in 2:45, will blow away almost all recreational cyclists with a mere 1-2 months of training, if not right out of the get-go. Marathon runners are also particularly good with distance - the limiting factor for them is usually butt or back pain, not leg endurance on long rides.

However, it's been shown pretty decisively in triathlon that great runners do not automatically become great cyclists. There are plenty of very fast marathon runners (like 6minute miles for the marathon) who migrate to ironman and expect to dominate but find they're just MOP due to their inability to really crush the bike at a similar level.

You need a new saddle

What you are saying is that Paul Ryan could kick some serious butt on the Mount Vernon trail...oh, never mind

Mike Engleman was a marathoner before becoming one of the top domestic road racers around.

However...

There are three types of runners that cycle out there.

1. Strong runner that learns to adapt to group riding/racing tactics/ideas. The local strong team is CCNS, headed up by a guy Aidan that used to run 4:30 miles. He is an extremely strong racer but he's also really smart tactically. This makes him a very good racer. He's an ex-pro, current Cat 1, and totally rocks on the bike.

2. Strong runner that does not adapt to group riding/racing tactics/ideas. Locally there are some unnamed very strong riders, ex-runners, who simply cannot wrap their heads around race tactics. They can kill it when it's either a TT or a long climb, when tactics don't count for anything, but in a regular crit or otherwise non-selective course they are lost. They hammer at the front, trying to use their running tactics ("run really fast until no one is left") in a bike race.

One such rider is a friend. In her first crit my brother told her, somewhat facetiously, "go really hard until you drop everyone, lap the field, and then you don't have to sprint". She did just that - she pulled the field around until someone let her wheel go, she lapped the field solo, then she pulled the field around until half a lap to go. She readily admits she's not good with the tactics and group riding stuff.

3. Average runner. They get split up between the ones that understand group riding and those that don't. Either way they're just like the rest of us.

I have to say that I think that both is possible. I haven't been seeing myself as having any running capabilities at all but after doing some running workouts continuously for a couple of months I can say that you can get stunning results really fast if you are motivated and keep pushing yourself. The first weeks your legs feel so stiff but it gets better and once you are able to just focus on the running and not have any really pains while doing so you quickly feel how good your overall condition will help you run fast and maintain high speeds for quite a while.

It's very personal. I think I'm a better cyclist since I started running but my average speed is about the same . Still I feel and know my cardiovascular capacity is a lot better than it was and the bike ride are easier now.

The tactics are a big factor yes, that can make or break the transition to high level cycling.

However, even without the tactics, great runners, while they are instantly solid cyclists usually way faster than recreational or even Cat4 cyclists, have to work pretty hard in general to get to competitive fast levels on the bike enginewise. If strong runners were uniformly only limited by tactics, pure runners would be winning or contending for top spots in the local TT bikes races, but these are invariably won by people who train heavily on the bike.

There are a few runner->cyclist standouts that seems to jump effortlessly to top level cycling, but I wager that these folks would have made that jump pretty similarly without their running background - that easy transition for them to high level cycling was due to their cycling talent, and not their running ability.

However, in general, unless you're a competitive road cyclist who races (particularly at Cat3), expect to get your butt handed to you pretty regularly by fast amateur runners. Even a mediocre-fast runner who cranks out 5ks in 20 minutes will destroy most recreational riders at all except long distances with 4-6 weeks on the bike, purely on their VO2 and leg strength developed from running.

On an incidental note -

Stroller running with hill climbs actually translate surprisingly well to hill climbing on the bike, at least from my anecdotal xp.

Interesting chart from Andy Coggan on running economy. I don't know where it originated (could be bogus) but it shows that a runner doing 17min 5ks will typically have a VO2Max around 56 (just eyeballing) which is fairly average for cyclists.

A fast marathoner with mostly slow twitch muscle fibers could have a tough time winning any Cat 3 races regardless of how much they train.

I think running uphill translates pretty well to climbing on bikes. The local winner of our steep hiking trail (800m elevation in 1.8km), Sebastian Salas, also won the KOM jersey in the Tour of California.

I think you're giving Cat3 riders somewhat too much credit. I think a 17ish 5k is more competitive in the running world by a fair amount than the Cat3 cycling denomination, but that's just a guess based on my ability to hang with a good number of Cat3s and my completely inability to run at all at any distance with 17:xx 5k runners.

I also don't think you're correct about marathoners having a tough time winning Cat3 races. I think as a whole, you'd find more potential in that marathon trained group due to their experience with endurance sports and built up endurance compared to their nonmarathon peers. This whole 'slow twitch' thing limiting performance in cycling is way overhyped, as even in crits where you're doing repeated anaerobic sprints, your endurance is still by far the dominant factor. It's also definitely not true that marathon selects only people with slow-twitch fibers; for the amateurs, it's pretty much a mix of all of them, and test of current elite marathon runners show a real trend toward fast-twitch ratios, meaning they're speedy guys who can run long.

If you look at people's running race results from 5k - marathon, as long as they're trained for the marathon, their performance across race distances are remarkably consistent - it forms the basis for Daniels' VDOT tables and many other similar tables which have very good pedigrees. It's not like guys with fast twitch fibers don't have these Vdot tables apply to them.

Here's Daniels' VO2 (aka Vdot) tables:
https://www.moorestownxc.org/Training/JackDaniels.html

At a 17:03 5k, you're running a 2:43 marathon. That's faster than the top 0.1% of marathoners in the country, and still in the very top few percent at the qualifier Boston Marathon. I'm pretty sure that's much more competitive than a typical Cat3 performance.

depends. alot of runners would have trouble with the whole constantly changing intensity thing of racing. Thats the key difference between a ride and racers. If yo can jump from z4-z7 100000 times in an hour you can generally do pretty well in races. Also, fastest 5k back when i was a tri-geek ws like 18:20, and i was a piss poor cyclist for a long time. Take what you want from that.

im a horrible runner,but i do run in the winter to maintain my cardio