There’s a lot of argument all over internet message forums and facebook pages about whether or not you need to train on a road bike (or at least ride your mountain bike on the road) in order to get faster. I think that the answer is very regional, but, physiologically speaking, there’s no argument that you need to incorporate sustained, high-intensity efforts into your routine in order to be able to sustain high intensity efforts during racing. If you live in an area where your terrain and trails don’t lend themselves to that, then the answer is “road,” because no amount of “going hard” on a trail where you have to coast and negotiate your way through turns and trees (thus, interjecting “rest” into your hard efforts) will equal the effects of hard, steady road pedaling.

Of course, the argument against riding on the road is that it doesn’t improve your skill. Yes, you’re right. It doesn’t. I wasn’t trying to imply that the only sort of training a mountain biker should do is on the road, I’m just saying that if you want to be fast, you have to do steady, interval-type training. The most commonly referenced argument against this is what Gerry Pflug has to say about his training “program.” After you read that, I want you to realize that A)Gerry Pflug has an insane number of miles in his legs, and he’s likely a bit of a genetic monster to start, and B) If you look at those “2 hour rides” he talks about, I’m willing to bet that they include some sustained efforts that highly resemble steady road interval training. Of course, there are also people who live in areas where there are many options for long, sustained climbs and singletrack. Those are the people who post their gorgeous mountain overlook photos all over Facebook and Twitter (I’m looking at you, Sonya Looney). Their intervals happen while climbing 1000ft up a mountain forest road surrounded by aspen trees and brown bears (Ahem… Karen Jarchow).

Memphis isn’t one of those areas. I’m not complaining, I’m just saying that, if you want to be fast, and you live somewhere that’s this urban and sub-tropical, you’re going to have to find your pain cave… or, as I like to call it, my office:

That’s a farm road that’s only about a 15 minute ride from my house. It’s perfectly flat, and is the site of some of the best wind fights you can possibly get into (it also parallels a nice trail system that can be a good spot to warm up before exiting to the road). As part of the Agricenter, there’s some occasional tractor and pickup truck traffic (and some angry commuters in the morning), but it’s generally a place where I can go and bury myself in a sea of lactic acid without any interruptions. It’s my interval training happy place- where I go when I want to get faster.

Want to get interactive? If you’re social media-ing, tweet a photo of your office/pain cave back to @BrickhouseMTB, or tag @Brickhouseracing on Instagram. No pretty mountains allowed.