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Can you train on a mtn bike?
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With a couple near misses of my own, and the seemingly constant forum postings on run-ins with cars and the drivers in them, I have thought more about self preservation, and doing all my outdoor training on a mtn bike. We have a great canal system here in phx with miles of trails whose only occupants are other cyclists and runners. Only about 25% are paved now, thus the mtn bike. My mtn bike has the same seat angle as my road bike (73.5), and it seems the only difference (obviously) is the bars/angles. As a newbie to the sport (1 yr), I am only doing sprints and oly's at this point, so assume that I can stay in my aero bars for those durations. I guess I should also state that in my last race, I was 11 out of 45 in my AG, so no hope to podium, but I would still like to improve. What am I missing?
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Re: Can you train on a mtn bike? [dm in phx] [ In reply to ]
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I do tons of training on my mountain bike. The great thing about doing that is I don't have to plan or be careful where I ride.

We have a lot of unpaved roads here in West Texas where I can ride for hours without seeing a car or truck. I worried about losing speed on my time trial bike by doing this but that hasn't been the case.

I have a pair of Profile jammer bars (without pads) on my mountian bike that I use and it's not unlike my t.t. position really.
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Re: Can you train on a mtn bike? [paul patterson] [ In reply to ]
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I think it depends entirely on what your goals are. I've done a handful of olympic distance races on my mountain bike and have another race next weekend. I love this sport and hope to buy a road bike some day. As long as your enjoying your training and racing, train on whatever you've got. I was talking to a guy who placed in the top thirty at Lake Placid and he says he does more than half his training on his mountain bike.
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Re: Can you train on a mtn bike? [paul patterson] [ In reply to ]
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I thought I would give you guys the other side of the problem: I am deliberately avoiding riding my mountain bike until after my coming A race, by fear of getting injured. The fact is that I have sustained more serious injuries on my mountain bike than on my road bike. Obviously, I have been lucky enough to avoid any car collision on my road bike. I am not the most skilled mountain biker either but it seems like as soon as I get on my mountain bike I want to try new stunts, and well, more than often, I end up damaging my fragile body! That being said, if you are talking about riding relatively flat fire roads or not too challenging trials then, sure, riding mountain bike to stay off the road seems like a great way to go.
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Re: Can you train on a mtn bike? [dm in phx] [ In reply to ]
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dm,

Please don't let a few near misses and a bunch of talk send you to the dirt or worse yet, inside, when it's beautiful outside. Your proposed course of action might be safer, but if you give in to the bad drivers in your area, then they have won. One less cyclist off the road for them to have to worry about.

You may not have the personality to fight this, but that's OK, join a local or regional bicycle advocacy group in your area. There's power in numbers. United We Stand, Divided We Fall.


Sean
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Re: Can you train on a mtn bike? [dm in phx] [ In reply to ]
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I think that "work is work":, so if you're doing the same cadence at the same load it does not matter mtn bike vs road bike.

I would hesitate to ride on the canals in Phx- too many walkers, roller bladers, runners etc for me to feel safe, but maybe it would be easier in the early am. They are also way too flat for me to ever feel like they provide a good workout.

Maybe if you do some canal rides as sustained effort (ME) and try to find some hills or another alternative as a strength builder? (papago park?)

OR throw the bike in the car, get out of the more urban areas and ride onve a week up in carefree, north scottsdale - there's even a mtn bike guy who comes along on the bicycle ranch rides on sat am, he keeps up on the uphills, just runs out of gears going back down at the end.


don't just do something..... sit there
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Re: Can you train on a mtn bike? [dm in phx] [ In reply to ]
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Today's San Diego Union Tribune has a short story on Paula Newby-Fraser's training that includes MTB rides:

http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/20030829-9999_mz1s29fitfnt.html

Scroll down to the bottom of the page to find it.

She partially attributes the move to MTB to the dangerous roads around here:

"Like so many endurance athletes who have watched San Diego County's roads turn dangerous for cyclists because of crowding, Newby-Fraser prefers mountain biking for safety reasons.

"'I'm not a great mountain biker,' she said. 'But it's so much less stressful because you're off the roads.'"



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