Madshus skier Lars Berger (NOR) is not only a World Champion biathlete and cross-country skier. He is also among the fastest cyclists around. On Saturday, he was the fastest male in the Birkebeiner mountain bike race, outside the elite class.
The swift skier polished off the 92-kilometer course in 2 hours, 49 minutes and 31 seconds, beating all of his biathlon team members by almost 10 minutes. Berger was satisfied with his effort in the Birkebeiner this weekend.
And Berger warmly recommends cycling as a part of dryland training. “I use cycling regularly as a part of my dryland training. Typically I will do 3 to 4 hours of biking per week in the summer” says Berger, who puts in roughly 20 hours of training per week in the dryland season.
“I like biking, and I feel like it’s a good training method for building leg strength, so I would definitely recommend biking to skiers in general,” says Berger, who is currently a part of Thomas Alsgaard’s Team LeasePlanGO.
The mountain bike race was also part of a challenge, and for the rest of the Norwegian national biathlon team, the race was the end of a weeklong training camp at Sjusjoen. Fellow Madshus racer Emil Hegle Svendsen clocked in at 2:58:42.