[Closed] Is mountain biking good cross-training for road biking?

Depends. Take it easy on the MTB rather than super hard stuff and it'll be fine.

I'd say a 3-5 ride should definitely help with training for big road rides.

I'm both road and mtb and find that mtbing adds an element to my road riding that pure roadies don't always have....

Mountian biking is generally more effort over the same length time - and certainly the same sort of distance. The big thing is that MTBing demands more "brain" work and upper body movement. You have to concentrate more and long rides off road should make longer road rides feel a lot more relaxed.

MTBing also uses more explosive energy and I find it helps a lot for successive short steep climbs on roads that many of my roady mates don't like.... I find my legs recover quicker after short steep climbs if I've been doing plenty of off road stuff.

Work the other way round so why on earth not?
Hill climbs on mtb are great training for road even if just on psychological level.

body position is very differnt so i figure that it will help with aerobic capacity.

Also mtb riding will contribute to upper body fitness, not sure that as a roadie that is needed?

If you're potential pro then I'd imagine that mountain biking would actually be detrimental to your road biking as would probably give you upper body muscle mass that is just extra mass to move if you're a roadie. If you're just a keen roadie rather than taking part in this year's TdF then I'd say any time on any bike is making you fitter

If you are doing sportive type events then I'd say all riding is good, if you are racing, I reckon mountain biking won't really help that much because it tends to contribute to strength rather than speed; you end up being able to ride further, but will get left behind when the speed goes up.

IMO, road riding, in fact all competitive cyclosport requires specificity when you think about training; ctross training can help stave off boredom, but if you want to be good at one thing, you have to train for that one thing.

Some nonsense posted bar crikey,

road riding will get you fitter. As cross training, mtb will be ok, but if you are serious about your events you should be doing specific training with that amount of time on the bike. If you just want to be fit enough to enjoy them then just keep having fun!

Best season I had on the road was when I was doing a lot of singlespeed work off road,it set me up to do the Dave Lloyd. I found that if I only had an hour then the ss gave me a better workout than either geared MTB or road.

I've never reckoned so (but then I'm new to the whole Sportive type of thing).

Road biking definitely improves overall fitness, so climbing and distance work on the MTB improves. However, it doesn't seem to work they other way round. The only way I can describe is that the "anerobic" MTB muscles just get in the way when spinning on the road bike.

I have done the f.w the last 7 years, i would only mtb 1 day a week at most if you want to do well, 6hrs on a road bike is different to 6hr mtb.
Depends what time you are after. As long as you can sprint honister youre ok.

I find road helps MTB fitness more and not the other way around.
Take an average off road ride of 3.5 hours, that in the Chilterns would give me about 35 miles of pure hilly off road.
On road that would easily cover a 100k. And the 100K plus would be far more tiring.
Then take races of say an hour, in order of effort;
1 hour Crit
1 Hour Cyclo-cross
1 hour XC
IME&O

Course it helps, it's all pedalling!
My riding is almost all done on the MTB but I race on the road and track. I should be a 1st cat by the end of the year so the MTBing can't be that detrimental...

I would say it contributes but (and this completely depends on teh trails you're riding and how you're riding them) probably less effective esp for cardio than a similar time road riding.

However, your title was crosstraining and this is where I think MTBing can provide you something. I ride road and MTB, geared and Singlespeed, rigid and HT. I'm not a racer but I notice that especially singlespeeding provides weight training to my legs that road riding doesn't. Kind of like sprint training would if I was arsed enough to something as sick as sprint training. ofc singlespeeding isn't everyone's cup of tea, but maybe worth a try, it's certainly added a string to my bow and changed the way I ride a geared MTB

Surely a 3-5 hour mtb ride should be equivalent to a 5 hr road bike, especially if you take into account all the ups and downs and short sharp steep climbs as well as longer climbs that take more energy, also as mountain bikes are more heavy and the rolling resistants greater, Its a good mix IMO. I know if I do 65k on the road and then 65k off road I am a lot more knackered after doing that distance on a mtb.

It doesn't seem to be hampering Peter Sagan's road performance. 2 wins from 5 in Paris-Nice

I know that since I started riding on the road my MTB ground covering has improved massively, especially the climbing side of things.

My impression is also that road riding helps MTBing more than the other way round. But ultimately you're still out riding which has got to be doing something for you.

FH the point is you are working out your pedalling muscles more effectively on the road.

I read somewhere that there was a study between MTBer's and roadies and the MTBer's have a better natural cadance due to riding offroad