Road Work Pays Off in the Dirt

I flatted yesterday afternoon and while inspecting the tire prior to replacing the rear tube I noticed a small tear in the sidewall.  I did a more thorough pre-flight inspection than usual this morning and discovered the tube pushing through the torn sidewall.  Change of plan, I put the road bike back up and pulled down the mountain bike.  I ride the road bike much more than the MTB generally because it is a much better workout and have only ridden the MTB a few times each month since December.  Road bikes are geared much lower for flying over smooth pavement whereas mountain bikes are geared much higher in order to navigate over rocks, around obstacles and over mountains.  I never ride the MTB on pavement and obviously never take the road bike off-roading.  But today, shortly after hitting the trail, I noticed a big improvement in my strength.  I found myself flying much higher over a couple jumps on the trail without any extra pre-meditated effort.  Then further down the path I flew over a couple stretches of deep sand effortlessly (approximately 20 yards each).  The front treads were spraying sand up to my knees but I barely lost any momentum. [Note to those without clipless pedals: The foot becomes part of the pedal when clipped in and allows much more power transfer.  When the front tire encounters deep sand the bike has a tendency to become squirrely real quick.  Without being clipped in you loose torque and your feet may even slide off the pedals.]  I realized that the miles I've been putting on the road bike this year have increased my power significantly and must also assume that the obstacles encountered in the dirt also pay off with better stability on the road. Had a fun day in the dirt then went on-line and ordered a new Verdestein Fortezza SE tire for the road bike at performancebike.com.  The Fortezza is a great tire and with Performance Bike's great service I know it will arrive in two days.  Funny, I just replaced both tires on the road bike in December, must be due the big mileage in the saddle this year.  Gotta love getting your feet dirty during M310 training!!