I just started doing something similar. Right now is the perfect time to do it of course.

In my mind it is a matter of staying fresh. If you are dreading heading out for one more long slog on the road bike then a mountain bike tour could be just the thing. I don't think you can substitute ALL of your rides that way especially close to race day, but you can do some of it or a chunk of it.

I live 400 yards form the trailhead, the truth is that it is easier and more fun for me to get in long mountain bike rides and therefore I will do more of them.

There's a great varity of rail-trail like and multi purpose trails I can ride to from home, (suburban Cleveland Ohio). I'm so paranoid about getting run over, I do most of my training on an old mountain bike, away from the cars. Got about 1400 miles on it this year, with maybe 200 of that on the road. Maybe 300 on my tri bike, which isn't a REAL tri bike, just a Giant tcr2 with areo bars, 200 on real single track with my newer MTB, and about 300 on my old road bike.

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"It doesn't get any easier, you just go faster"

I have been doing at least one 2.5-3 hour mnt bike ride for the past few weeks just to mix it up a bit in the semi-off season, it is a nice change.

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Yes. Count it as ass time. We do a Sunday group MTB ride in Rochester. Combination of lots of road hills and trails for about 3-4 hours. Great base work with lots of strength work. I usually do about 1 to 1.5 hours on the CT before.

Also check out Peter Reid's Kona Camp. http://www.peterreid.com/kona_kamp.htm If it's good enough for PR it's good enough for me. :-)

I have been doing similar training with the mtb. At the end of every summer, I ride my mtb from september to the new year's day ride(I live in socal). I do road and dirt rides on it with very "hard pack" type tire(maxxis hard-drives 1.8). This way, I can ride hard on the road to get to the trails. Also, my bike is a hardtail.



What has really helped me is to do a lot of roady rides where I am pedaling that thing for about 5-7 hours. Needless to say, the knobbies give me a hell of a lot of resistance, but the rewards are incredible. I can hang with the group until they hit about 28mph'ish then I simply run out of gearing and the mushroom-cloud hits my legs. But again, it has made me really tough dealing with that added resistance.

I race road and mtb only(with a lot of powerlifting), so don't know how this would help with triathletes? But when I get on my road bike or start training hard on my t/t bike, the rewards are definitely there for me.

As for alotting extra time in the saddle, I think that I am probably tricking my body.. thinking it has ridden more that ride. For instance, I rode alittle over 100 miles(road miles) on that thing, and I felt like I did a double century :P



Anyway, that's what I have been doing every year

i do. i think it's good 'cause it's a whole different animal - a lot more anaerobic time which pushes me in a different way. and it's still good old fashioned "ass time" as someone already mentioned.

I also took to the MTB after my last tri in October, and typically do 1.5 hours on the MTB one day/week instead of the same amount of time on the road bike that I'd do before. Definitely not getting in the distance, and the workout is different. Harder pushing going up the steeps, but then there's the recovery time going downhill, so it's more like doing interval work.

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I'll do the Trinity Trail when the weather gets crappy. Load up the Camelback, crank up the ipod and do an epic ride. I'll also stop at Starbucks at University Park for a triple espresso. Hooah!

I started riding the MTB too. I think it's a blast. A welcome change after the season.

The longest ride I've done is 2:45 for 17 miles though.

jaretj

Want a test of endurance? Try a 8 or 12 hour solo MTB race. Fun as hell, and a hell of a workout.

We just started doing that with my club. We alternate one sunday on road bikes and one sunday on mtb. Different style of training. Handling skills are improved (as well as number of crashes :-). Great fun!

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Seriously, one day I'd like to try that. Seems like an ultra on a bike.

jaretj

I think this is a good point and the best. If your workouts aren't fun in Nov/Dec/Jan. When you're just trying to get some good base milege in. It will be really hard to stay focused when the hard stuff starts for "A" races in June/July/August. Ride a MTB, get dirty and pretend you're a kid again. Leave the power meter at home. :-)