In place of some riding this season I’ll be skate skiing. Does anyone have a rough conversion that they use (one hour of skate skiing equals how many hours of riding). I’m assuming a decent competency in skate skiing technique and similar terrain.
It depends how hard you ski vs how hard you ride. You could just use HR as a reasonable proxy. If your HR time in the various zones is similar then it would be a one to one correspondence.
generally >
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Typically skate skiing is harder (you perfrom greater amOunt of work and use more muscle groups) Your PRE will feel off at first when skiing, you will think you are in a lower hr zone than you truly are. I never were a HR monitor when I bike and did the same when I was skiing. It was an eye opener how hard I was really pushing while skiing when I finally wore one.
I’ve been XC skiing (skate & classic) and doing tris for 25 year each. I consider my skating and cycling to be equally proficient. When racing a 3 hour ski race (~50km) or a 3 hour bike race (non-drafting, ~100km) my average heart rate will be 12 to 15 bpm higher skiing than biking. When I’ve been LT tested for cycling and skiing and my LT heart rates reflect a similar difference.
Four hour xc is like a six hour ride
But one hour xc and one hour ride at ftp are identical.
In general though the longer the xc the more it diverges from biking due to the non weight bearing natureof bike
Edit: I hate autocorrect on my tablet…should just turn it off!
Thanks all!
I’ll add some more comparison data point… A 50K XC ski race feels (intensity wise) like an Olympic tri. Generally for me the XC ski race is around 20-30 min longer depending on course. I’ve also done a few 100K XC ski races that felt harder than half Ironmans, but not as hard as an Ironman (race time 6-6:30 range). Recovery from XC ski races. I find in training after a 2 hour XC ski, I feel like I did around 3 hours of riding (I’d imagine that if I could measure kilojoules they would be similar).
All of this is skate skiing. I don’t really do enough classic to provide a good comparison.
Thanks Dev, it’ll just be skate skiing. Can’t stomach the trainer for more than a couple of times per week so I’m hoping this will help supplement that. Now I just need to find a place in Milwaukee to bust out my nordic skates.
Thanks Dev, it’ll just be skate skiing. Can’t stomach the trainer for more than a couple of times per week so I’m hoping this will help supplement that. Now I just need to find a place in Milwaukee to bust out my nordic skates.
Here is some info for you…after a winter of XC skiing (long story, but I did not have enough control in my ankle to bike due to an accident last year but could XC when locked into a boot), I got on the bike and after 1 week of getting coordinated on the trainer (before that I was doing some easy spins on my spin bike in sandals cause that’s all I could wear without losing control over my foot) I did a CT course at a moderately hard pace and did 230W for 40 min. After 6 months of riding and tri training, rode the same course today and averaged 240W at similar perceived exertion…barely gained 5% of fitness in an entire summer of cycling.
Every year, my best races are in St. Croix, Wildflower or Galveston off a winter of mainly XC skiing and some tri maintenance mode. You can’t beat the aerobic load that XC skiing allows you to do many times per week.
Thanks for the info Dev!
1xc = 2.8 bike
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Cycling for me is about 1/2 the workout of skate skiing. It is hard to ski at a zone 1 or zone 2 pace, skiing is very technique sensitive so going slow can be challenging. It is a great workout for winter. Pray for snow!
Get lots of good lessons if you are a newbie, I see so many bike people turned nordic skiers who really have no idea what they are doing. I take lessons and I have been skiing for 20 years.
for me personally, it is about 1:1, especially when you don’t use poles. If your technique is decent(mine needs work each year) and you are waxed appropriately, it is not that hard to ski at an easy, unless you are letting others dictate your session.
2.5 hours on trail does not feel any more difficult that 2.5 hours on the road, just colder if you stop 
I believe Lapham Peak State Park actually makes snow for the short lighted loop they have. 1k loop?? and if there is not much snow this year again, I’d expect it to be crowded there.
! I imagine if I were better and did it more it might be > or even >= but I have not experienced a harder 3 hours ever on the bike compared to the typical trip to the hills for skating. I don’t know why I even bother with a full day rental because I’m 110% cooked after half a day every time.
Thanks, we’ve got our eye on that place for sure.
I would say that the benefit from skate skiing is not completely translatable to riding. I raced for the nordic race team at our University last year and rode sparingly. When I got back on my bike it took me a solid month to regain my old bike fitness. If I had focused on working more on the trainer throughout the winter my 40km split would have been 58ish instead of 60 isn
Thanks, not wholly replacing riding with skiing (I’ll ride the trainer 2-3 per week if there is too much snow) but skate skiing is a lot of fun, especially compared to the trainer, and I’m an MOPer just out to have a bit of fun.
This all depends on if it snows this winter, of course.
/Only had a couple decent days here last winter 
//Got to know my indoor trainer too well