Do any of you mtn bike much during the race season to mix it up a little? If so does it help you or hurt your bike times??
Yes. Just got an mtb this spring. It doesn’t hurt.
Where do you live?
My answer is Yes, and I should ride the MTB MORE.
Your pedaling efficiency and bike handling will increase: this is Good.
On your easy/active recovery days pick a route with very little
climbing and work on skills, spinning. More fun than doing that on
the road with stoplights every couple minutes.
Avoid burnout and do some of your intensity/hill intervals on the MTB.
Do long climbs on the MTB…no cars or stoplights.
Great for brick workouts because you are already on the trail…no need to drive
to the trails to run since you’re already there…
Good for the Soul.
I am in Spokane, WA
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Well, I compete in both road and off-road tris, so I split my time between both. I can say that road riding helps the mtn biking. The dedicated mtn bikers don’t have the same kind of engine as the road riders because mtn biking is so on and off and speed/power is usually constrained by the trail.
I can’t say that my time on the trails helps me be a better road rider vs. that same amount of time invested on the road. It sure is a lot of fun though and probably gets me riding more than I would otherwise in total. (case in point, I did a 50 miler on the road a few weeks back, then went over to the trails with my teammate and we road mtn bikes just for fun).