I have been sticking to the Training for the New Alpinism philosophy on and off now since May of last year, and I would like to thank you for the great resource. I have been doing mountain stuff for over 20 years, and this is the most complete expression of training I have ever seen.
On this topic of cycling, of course I was disheartened to see your views on cycling (in addition to the “take the seat off” idea in the book.) I completely understand and agree with what you are saying, but for me mountain biking is not only a source of great pleasure and convenient but also is much softer on my knees. Last season, while I made some big gains in overall fitness especially on approaches (and I was still mountain biking for a lot of Zone 1 still but adding in a lot more hill climbing and leg strength), I felt all of the box steps and focus on mountain hike specific work more in my knees on the descents to the point of it negating the speed gains ascending (and hurting a lot!). I have since switched to using 2 trekking poles and have been doing more AT and climbing gym stuff for the past few months as we are buried in snow, but spring is coming and the avalanche danger is cooling off and I plan to be climbing hills again. So my question is: given the limitations of cycling to direct transfer to sport specific training, is there a way to maximize the use of it for (1) minimal knee impact and (2) just plain fun?
Thanks again for the great work! Jack
