Does biking train one for hiking?

[yardsale]

Our customary summer physical activity is road riding, usually between 60 and 90 miles per week. My question was will this activity prepare us for the week long hiking vacation in Glacier we have scheduled for the second week in September. To investigate, we took a 6.5 mile hike to Old Speck on Saturday—6.5 miles with 2500 vert. This is a routine 3/4 day hike for us when we are hiking regularly. Results? Pat got a heel blister and I am still hobbling around 24 hours later with generalized muscle pain and soreness. On the hike down I developed anterior knee pain which, thankfully, subsided in 24 hours with anti inflammatory meds. and ice. My conclusion. Biking is likely better than inactivity but nothing prepares one for hiking except hiking. What do others think?

 

[Jay H]

As a serious cyclist and a hiker, I think cycling only helps to a certain point, the muscles are a bit different. I've noticed in some of the adventure races I've done or the bi-tri-athlons I've done, I could be tired from a long trail run and still be fairly fresh on the bike section. What cycling is good for, being a very good aerobic exercise, is good lung capacity and good stamina for hikes. Any aerobic exercise is going to be good for hiking, but not necessarily muscle memory or muscle training. A good set of lungs is generally great for any sport!

Being a bike commuter, I think it keeps my hiking shape more so than others, so even though I may hike or do whatever on the weekends and short hikes after work, the cycling to and from work does wonders for the body.

Jay

 

[carole]

My conclusion. Biking is likely better than inactivity but nothing prepares one for hiking except hiking. What do others think?

I came to the same conclusion many summers ago thinking I was in great shape for a traverse in the Squam Range because I had been biking regularly (and not hiking that Spring) and had to bail out way early from knee pain. Never again!

 

[DougPaul]

IMO, biking is a good aerobic workout that is some help for uphill hiking, particularly if you stand up on the pedals, but not of much help for the descent.

There are two kinds of muscle contrations: concentric (muscle shortening under tension) and eccentric (muscle lengthening under tension). Concentric contractions produce energy and are what get you up the hill; eccentric contractions absorb energy and allow you to control your descent. The internal mechanisms are different and need to be trained independently. A bike, due to the freewheel, can only train the concentric contraction (unless you have a fixed gear bike and no brakes...). Lack of eccentric strength can result in injuries.
http://muscle.ucsd.edu/musintro/contractions.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscle_contraction

This topic has been discussed before:
Roadbiking vs Running 4 Crosstraining http://www.vftt.org/forums/showthread.php?t=15845

Searching on the word "concentric" will also bring up a number of additional threads.

Doug

 

[Tom Rankin]

It's boring but IMHO a treadmill set to its maximum incline is a good training exercise. But as Doug says, it's hard to train for the downhills, and this is where the most injuries take place, my own included.

 

[Wanderer1]

I agree with what everyone else has said. Biking is good and much better than nothing but is no substitute for hiking. You use your muscles different and you can't duplicate the weight of a pack on your shoulders and hips or the stress's on your knees and ankles. I do a lot of both but I know from past experience that if I only do one and not the other for awhile that I can feel it the next day. And if I happen to go for a run, which I don't do often, I get sore in places I never get sore in either hiking or biking. So to me, each exercise is different. I think the best exercise for getting in hiking shape is hiking.

 

[Kevin Rooney]

In my experience hiking is a good preparation for biking but not the other way around.

I recently did RAGBRAI, a 475 mile ride across Iowa. I didn't have much time to get in road miles until late May (did about 750 miles in preparation) and was told it was saddle time that was most important. Having done the ride (what a hoot and will do it again in a heart beat) - my legs were fine, but my rump ... the last hour or two of most days was tough. While I didn't get in quite as much cycling time as I would have liked, I have been managing to get out hiking most every week for months/years, so my cardio and legs were in shape.

One final preparation for RAGBRAI - a week before I left, I did Whitney as a dayhike, using it for mental conditioning (I'd done it several times before so I knew what to expect). I figured that during RAGBRAI if it got tough I'd could draw upon the recent experience to push myself on. Fortunately, I didn't need it.

I have a friend who spends his summers cycling, and frequently does centuries on weekends. He always comments in the fall that it takes awhile to get his hiking legs back.

And ADK_DIB - if you're reading this, I and my friend are 60-somethings. We're a long way from hanging up the crampons and bicycle pumps. It ain't over till your heart says it's over.

 

[kaseri]

I cycle between 100-150 miles a week using a fixed gear (info on fixed gear bikes) bicycle. I have noticed that my knees no longer hurt after descending. I figure that cycling has strengthened those muscles. I'm a firm believer that cycling/running/squats or any other leg specific exercise will benefit your hiking.

 

[yardsale]

Doug, you are right, of course. I totally forgot about eccentric contractions in downhill hiking. There is another factor which makes downhill hiking a unique activity and that is the ballistic nature of the heel strike. Heel strike while hiking down hill transmits hundreds of bounds of force up into the leg which must be counteracted by very powerful and rapid activation of muscle fibers while the muscle itself is lengtheining. As Doug implies, ballistic, eccentric muscle contraction isn't remotely duplicated in any of the other sports mentioned. Perhaps Pylometrics where one jumps and lands on feet with knee flexing right after impact would do it but I can't stand indoor exercise.

 

[Jay H]

A bike, due to the freewheel, can only train the concentric contraction (unless you have a fixed gear bike and no brakes...).

You could replace your brakes with the old-style coaster brakes.... Of course, I also remember when I was young, I would always lock the rear wheels which is what coaster brakes are great for.

Jay

 

[MattC]

Thanks to Yard Sale for starting this thread and all of you for responding. Over the last year or so, I've been getting more into cycling and especially this spring and summer I've been on both the road and mountain bike a lot more. For the most part, I've still been getting in at least one hike per week. I really enjoy hiking one day and riding the other. However, just the last two weeks I didn't do any serious hiking at all, although I did some flat walking to break in a new pair of boots. And now I'm going out to Oregon to hike in less than 2 weeks. I was thinking maybe I should try to squeeze in one more good hike before then anyway, and this thread kind of reminded me about that. Maybe next Sunday a Burroughs Range traverse is in order...

Matt

 

[DougPaul]

Doug, you are right, of course. I totally forgot about eccentric contractions in downhill hiking. There is another factor which makes downhill hiking a unique activity and that is the ballistic nature of the heel strike. Heel strike while hiking down hill transmits hundreds of bounds of force up into the leg which must be counteracted by very powerful and rapid activation of muscle fibers while the muscle itself is lengtheining. As Doug implies, ballistic, eccentric muscle contraction isn't remotely duplicated in any of the other sports mentioned. Perhaps Pylometrics where one jumps and lands on feet with knee flexing right after impact would do it but I can't stand indoor exercise.

As I have said in other threads, walking up and down a nearby hill (2mi, 200 vert ft) with up to forty pounds on my back trains both concentric and eccentric contractions for me with minimal chance of injury. That plus some mileage on my road bike puts me in reasonable shape to go hiking.

FWIW, this has been part of my rehab that has enabled me to start hiking again following my leg injury.

Doug

 

[DougPaul]

You could replace your brakes with the old-style coaster brakes....

Unlikely to help to any meaningful degree. You absorb zero energy from operating the coaster brake. (You are pressing against a fixed object, so it is an isometric exercise. Unless you stand on your brake continuously or very frequently, you also wouldn't get much total exercise from it.)

Doug

 

[bikehikeskifish]

Hiking is not good for cycling, at least not racing. Running or hiking quickly diminishes your ability to climb. Refer to the thread Doug mentioned above, but suffice it to say that all cycling coaches say "swim, don't run" if you are away from your bike on vacation or a business trip.

By virtue of conditioning your heart and burning calories (losing weight), cycling is good for hiking. However, it does not training the descent portion (broken record here...) As mentioned before, and as posted elsewhere by me, I went from racing cyclist to hiker and MY KNEES WERE A MESS! See http://www.vftt.org/forums/showthread.php?t=18392 for long and gory details.


Tim

 

[mookie]

knees

No matter what i do my knees hurt. Years of skateboarding, snowboarding and biking take a toll (plus having my ACL + MCL surgery 2 1/2 years ago)
Recently switched to fixed gear cycling just to try and get into better cycling shape as i have been trying to commute to work 4 days per week (although it has been raining a bit much for my liking up here).
I guess i dont really notice a difference in hiking, although prior to our june presie traverse i did feel fine at the end. figure cycling cant hurt! as mentioned above, better than doing nothing.

 

[Seeker]

I wonder if mountain biking would be more prep for hiking that road cycling? I always feel like I get more of an anaerobic leg workout when mountain biking.

 

[Jay H]

Unlikely to help to any meaningful degree. You absorb zero energy from operating the coaster brake. (You are pressing against a fixed object, so it is an isometric exercise. Unless you stand on your brake continuously or very frequently, you also wouldn't get much total exercise from it.)

Doug

I guess you haven't seen me as a kid on my Schwinn Scrambler 36/36. I was on the coaster brakes doing wipeouts and slides probably more than actually going forward.

Jay

 

[DougPaul]

I wonder if mountain biking would be more prep for hiking that road cycling? I always feel like I get more of an anaerobic leg workout when mountain biking.

Maybe--you can work as hard as you choose on either (think of the gears as effort controls...). But it still won't help for eccentric contraction training.

Doug

 

[bikehikeskifish]

Pushing too big a gear on either bike can lead to knee problems too. It may not be the most efficient way either -- Lance Armstrong being a prime example -- he used to be a "grinder" or a "masher" (lower cadence, bigger gear), or "grimpeur," (in French) and after cancer he became a spinner (rolleur) and we all (most) know what happened next. For you Boston-ites, think about going west-bound on Route 2 over Belmont Hill in a 4-cylinder in 5th gear....

Tim

 

[DougPaul]

Pushing too big a gear on either bike can lead to knee problems too.

Agreed--higher cadence with smaller gears is much easier on the knees.

I get in my power work with my hillwalks with weight on my back. It also has the advantage of being a close match to hiking.

Doug