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I am a pretty avid mountain biker and I want to take my fitness and skills to the next level with it. When I go on rides over 1.5 hours my legs feel pretty beat and start to cramp (in quads and calves).
What would be some good exercises to increase my strength and stamina and reduce the cramps? For the most part it feels like me quads are lacking the most in power and stamina.
+1 for squats. Lunges are another good biking power builder.
I tend to mix running stairs with squats to provide a little variation.
Riding on the road can help you build fitness too. Generally speaking, road riding is lower impact than mountain biking, which allows you to log some serious miles without the off-road pounding.
As far as training on the bike, hill intervals are the best way to strengthen your legs and build power. Find a hill that you can do in a decent gear (granny gear doesn't make you much stronger) and that can be made into a loop of some sort. Sprint up the hill, then ride the rest of the loop to cool down before sprinting the hill again. The ability to adjust the length of the loop gives you longer/shorter "rest" periods.
This should do the trick.
