Cycling and other sports

SPOC

I am really into my cycling lately, but I am also a very keen runner as well as playing football as well.

At the moment, I really enjoy the cycling the most, but was wondering how others get on with not just having cycling as their main sport to compete in. Does it damage how good you can get as a cyclist? Is it best to just stay on the bike?

I am by no means ever going to be Bradley Wiggins, but as with any hobby I take on I aspire to be as good as I can be.

I'm happy to give up football to be honest, I actually hardly enjoy it anymore, but anyway, just curious really as to what other sports people cross train with and how it affects them.

Camus

I think different sports can be complimentary/of benefit but in different ways.

I play tennis and squash a lot, they are my main sports I guess, and I use cycling as a form of cardio training for them. It's also nice to be outside and getting fresh air, especially on the good winter days.

The downside of this is the effect cycling has on my legs, if I play a racquet sport the day after a long ride I find I'm somewhat sluggish on court. On the other hand cycling burns calories, keeps me lean, improves cardio conditioning and aerobic/anaerobic performance. Comes down to scheduling I suppose.

The tennis/squash require lots of concentration so are good practice for focusing the mind when cycling.

I also run and train in the gym; gym work is good for everything and can be varied depending on what I need. I've found that running fitness and cycling fitness are very different, even though they are quite similar pursuits, doing more of one of them to compensate for not so much of the other isn't effective, if I've not cycled for a couple of weeks but have been running, it's still as difficult starting cycling again, as if I hadn't been doing anything!

I think if you want to get to as high a level as possible you're better off concentrating on that sport alone, that's what the pros do after all.

danowat

SPOC wrote:

but as with any hobby I take on I aspire to be as good as I can be.

If you want to focus on cycling, focus on cycling.