Becoming a better cyclist from erging/rowing?

[Cant Climb]

For amateur athletes like most of us, I am a strong advocate for using both sports to improve both sports.

This is where i agree 100%. I'm competitive on the mountain bike. My target efforts are 3 minute to 25 minutes.
I've been rowing for 15 years and mountain biking seriously for 25 years.

Rowing definitely helps me (anecdotal). There are other benefit besides CV and Power. Rowing makes more of your body optimal when under duress during max efforts. Even the top cycling coaches in the world have trouble quantifying the exact benefits of "core strength". But i never liked that phrase "Core Strength" is more "Core Power Endurance" - endurance throughout your entire body. I've also heard some of the coaches comment that they feel that the "Core Fitness" shows itself the most when you are just digging deep during efforts. I know rowing helps my cycling because i've been doing both for so long.

Just want to add when i row, i constantly try to vary damper settings and rate. I like to be fit for the entire spectrum. Also i SKiErg that also helps a great deal i believe (anecdotally)....

[Gammmmo]

I knew that erging and rowing usually makes you an okay cyclist but I thought maybe my fitness would be very similar. I raced triathlon for 10 years and had my best 20 minute power test at 312 watts @ 70kg. In the spring I started riding after a few months off and ended up riding 304 watts for 20 minutes after a month of training. I rode up until June and then rarely rode in the summer and picked up erging in August. I have been erging consistently since then around 100km a week. Started riding last week again and based off of my workouts I could see myself holding 340 watts for 20 minutes at 71kg. Crazy to think that erging has increased my power on the bike.

Long term ex racing cyclist here and I had not too dissimilar numbers but at more like 65kg. All I can say is I'm pleased you've hit upon something that works for you (100K/week is superb) but to eschew cycling and get that sort of jump in CP20 when you are already by the sound it are very "well trained" suggests there was something seriously lacking with your on-the-bike training. Do you not follow the TrainingPeaks model like most people? (I'm not suggesting that is the be-all-end-all of training because it isn't but it will get you very close to your potential with the time you have available to train if you are mindful of training composition that works for you within that model.)

Two other thoughts spring to mind - 1) do you see alot of variation in power numbers i.e. does your fitness ebb and flow? Mine, once well trained, stayed very much the same (I got a small bump maybe 5W at FTP by switching to almost exlusively doing 6-8hrs/week of tempo which is TrainingPeaks z3 training) and 2) power meter callibration?

[Sb13ky]

I have had some injuries here and there that have caused issues with power output. They still bother me a bit but less which may seem to help. The other thing I found when racing triathlon was that I am a very quad dominant person and my quads would get very tight and I wouldn’t use other muscles as effectively. I feel like erging has shifted that and I just feel stronger through my legs overall. I am really engaging the hamstrings. I trained effectively. Early 20's my 20' was around 295. Got up to closer to 310-315 range when I was training for 70.3's. To note though, I got back up to 304 after a month of training so I find I can get to 300 very easily, I just hit a plateau and did not see the improvement from there. While erging, I seemed to break through that plateau. Riding around 210 watts pretty steady, not 250 feels very similar. I will take it.


EDIT: My training was usually 3 harder workouts of various efforts in the winter, spring/summer miles I was still getting intensity but putting in more easy miles as well. Closer to 9-10 hours a week. Power stayed the same. I would seem to get fit pretty fast at the beginning of the season and then plateau on those numbers. PM is calibrated normally.