Singlespeed Mountain Biking Base and Cross Training Value?

Michael:

Mountain biking in general and single speed even more so is a much higher intensity mode of training than I would recommend for aerobic base training. Biking in general is much more peripheral muscularly limiting than say, running. It involves a smaller muscle mass. I have worked with a mtn bike world champion in the cross country event and he only rode his mtn bike fore the high intensity training sessions. All his base work (85% of total volume) was done on a road bike.

I think you may end up in Death by Threshold situation if you do a lot of single speed training on hilly terrain.

Scott

Don’t use your FTP as a reference. Test for your actual AeT.

FTP is an anaerobic threshold, so if you have a big gap between AnT and AeT, your pacing on the bike could easily be too high.

I’ve also found heart rates on the bike to be quite tricky because cadence can vary so much. At a low cadence, the muscular load is higher, but the central load is lower. Your heart rate may drop, but the load on your legs may rise, which would be more of a muscular endurance workout. That’s not what you want right now if you’re trying to build a base.

I would test your AeT for both biking and weight-bearing activity. I wouldn’t be surprised if the heart rates are different. Then use the appropriate HR threshold per activity.

Scott, it can be seriously intense! as with any technical discipline, it takes a lot of practice to get to “unconscious competence” and the lower HR that comes with it. Just like when you first started climbing and 5.9 had the heart racing, but it eventually becomes recovery level as skills and efficiency improve. Had my almost pro road bike only friend(really strong, 100mi+ stage racer type) get into mountain biking 6mo ago, and up until recently his HR would be well above AnT for large percentages of our rides while I was keeping it comfortably below AeT. This is despite the fact that he is more aerobically fit that me, with consistent 25hr(!) weeks on the rd bike(compared to my more ME focused 16-18hr of alpine/mtb training). Over the past few weeks he’s noticed a shift to more z3/tempo and less that 10% above AnT as he’s gotten more skilled and efficient with techincal riding. Still way too high intenisty to me, but road racers are hard as nails…

On the flip side, I have been able to drop from a 50/50 split rd/mt to 75% MTB for my bike training hours, while still keeping it below AeT. Probably more z2 that ideal for my volume of training, but my goals in the mountains are all local and not super high commitment, so I gladly take the enjoyment of Mt biking day to day at the expense of slightly non-optimal training practices. Plus, the mental training side of techy riding is great for scary leading! I’ve got so much better at committing to crux sequences from the do or die nature of MTB descending

Hi there,

Bringing this topic up as I’m experiencing something different to what was described in the thread.

I started training on a singlespeed MTB recently without previous bike experience and it doesn’t seem to have an impact on my ability to stay in zone. I’ve been building my base for months prior to that and I’m used to train controlling my HR. I’m currently training for a 100km trail run (Eiger 101 mid July).

Some context: A bit more than a month ago, I sprained my ankle during a long run. My foot looked awful & massive but two days later I could walk almost normally and started doing basic rehab exercises. My physio said I could train on a bike, so I took my brother’s tiny multispeed MTB and started riding it on road to avoid bumps. As the ankle was getting better, I moved to trails and decided to buy my own singlespeed MTB.

My progression:
Before injury – Consistently running 12h/week
1st week after injury: 6h MTB on road
2nd week: 11h MTB (singlespeed)
3rd week: 9,5h MTB
4th week: 9,5h MTB + 3,5h running
5th week: 8h MTB + 5,5h trail running
6th week (starting today): 7h MTB + 7h trail running

Last 3 sessions as example:
MTB – 47km / 1000m D+ / 3h – Avg HR: 130bpm (lower end Z1) / Time in Z1: 2.8h, Z2: 10min
Trail running – 22.5km / 1050m D+ / 3h / Avg HR: 137bpm (mid Z1) / Time in Z1: 2.5h, Z2: 30min
MTB – 52Km / 1200m D+ / 3,5h – Avg HR: 137bpm (mid Z1) / Time in Z1: 2.5h, Z2: 1h, Z3: 1min

As mentioned, staying in zone doesn’t seem to be an issue.

Before I was running 6 days a week, now I’m planning to swap 1-2 running sessions for MTB sessions. The idea is that this would allow me to train more hours while giving a break to my ankle. Example of a a Late Base Period week, introducing high intensity, which will happen as soon as I feel my ankle fully ready to go again.

Tuesday – Trail running – Z1-Z3 interval training – 1-1.5h
Wednesday – Easy MTB – Stay as much as possible in Z1 or below – 2h
Thursday – Trail running – Hill sprints – 1h
Friday – Easy MTB – Stay as much as possible in Z1 or below – 2h
Saturday – Trail running – Z1 – 3.5h
Sunday – Trail running – Long run in Z1 – 5h

Thoughts? Can you see any red sign? Any feedback would be massively appreciated.

Cheers,
Fran

Yes you’re correct you don’t have a a singlespeed 🙂
Singlespeed is a single chainring on the front and a single sprocket on the rear. So only 1 gear.

A few things to consider:

Are you using your running HRs and zones ? Your biking HR zones will be different to your running HR zones. Typcially, HR zones are significantly lower when on a bike.

Average HR isn’t a great metric when biking unless you’re riding flat roads with no wind. Both wind resistance and even small hills will introduce significant variation in power output and HR.

Power is the best way to measure intensity when cycling.
If you are planning on using cycling in the long term them a power meter (single crank or pedal type) is probably the best investment you can make. You can use the power meter when cycling outside and also indoors (with a turbo or smart trainer and a training app like trainer road, zwift and so on).

– Garret