While this is obvious and has been proven again and again here and other places, I got a front row seat at something impressive this weekend.
Background: The guy in this story has been a local pro mountain biker for years. Raced everything in the book over the past 15 years. Never done any running. In 2012 he basically retired from racing (which doesn't mean anything more than he stopped competing as he has a full time job etc). He still rides once or twice a week. A few weeks ago he decided to start running. He goes out and does a handful of runs here and there. After a month of runs, he decides he wants to try his first running race.
This weekend was a 25k trail race called Bunker Hill put on by the Baltimore Road Runners Club. Strava puts the numbers at 15.5 miles, 2,100 ft of climbing. Mostly single track with a few technical rocky/rooty sections. So this guy goes out, after a month of running (and 15 years of riding) and throws down a 1:52 and destroys the field.
7:13's for 15 miles is no hero pace. But in single track, with that kind of climbing and no running pedigree, I was just laughing to myself.
My ultimate takeaway was thinking about all of the type A's on here, like myself, who look for the perfect balance of bike vs run time. What this showed me (in a very imperfect and unscientific way) was that each sport has much to offer the other by way of fitness.
If you want to be a fast runner, biking can definitely help!
Background: The guy in this story has been a local pro mountain biker for years. Raced everything in the book over the past 15 years. Never done any running. In 2012 he basically retired from racing (which doesn't mean anything more than he stopped competing as he has a full time job etc). He still rides once or twice a week. A few weeks ago he decided to start running. He goes out and does a handful of runs here and there. After a month of runs, he decides he wants to try his first running race.
This weekend was a 25k trail race called Bunker Hill put on by the Baltimore Road Runners Club. Strava puts the numbers at 15.5 miles, 2,100 ft of climbing. Mostly single track with a few technical rocky/rooty sections. So this guy goes out, after a month of running (and 15 years of riding) and throws down a 1:52 and destroys the field.
7:13's for 15 miles is no hero pace. But in single track, with that kind of climbing and no running pedigree, I was just laughing to myself.
My ultimate takeaway was thinking about all of the type A's on here, like myself, who look for the perfect balance of bike vs run time. What this showed me (in a very imperfect and unscientific way) was that each sport has much to offer the other by way of fitness.
If you want to be a fast runner, biking can definitely help!