All

Had the exact same experience two weeks ago. Fired up.

Imo it just takes a little bit for your body to learn how to control your heart rate on the climbs. Once you get that down, it gets way easier. I did an off road Moto event recently and I was 10x more sore from that than I ever am from Mtb.

I used to consider myself reasonably bike fit, but then I tried running and the first km killed me. It doesn't sound like you're unfit, so much as not conditioned to what human powered bikes require from your body. Being from moto I'm sure you already have an upper body advantage. Enjoy the journey!

IDK about their highest paid rider but you will see a ton of Specialized bikes in the pits at the moto races and also the Spez logo on several top moto guy's jerseys. When Gwin was at Intense I believe he helped get Intense bikes in at WPS (Western Powersports) which is a huge distributor of moto stuff. It put Intense e-bikes in a ton of powersports shops. I saw a lot of them at moto enduro races for course walks. Bike brands are definitely trying to expand their markets to moto folk

About a decade ago I read an article that Specialized's highest paid sponsored athlete was actually a moto guy who did his cardio training on a road bike, Specialized of course. Is anyone else aware of this, or is this just a hallucination on my part?

So true. 🤣

Welcome! If you’re like any of the other moto guys I’ve known over the years - once you acclimate you’ll by blowing my doors off. Give it a year and you’ll be ripping.

Welcome to the fold. I used to consider MTB just a cross training tool for my MX racing as well, but now it's another passion. You may feel the same before too long!

Long time mountain biker. Been riding enduro moto for about 7 years now. I was pretty MTB fit when I got my moto. Some of that transferred but a lot did not. They both are cardiovascular intense but require different strengths and different muscles. I was humbled on the moto for several years before I got into some shape. The techniques are vastly different too. Welcome to MTB, it is addicting like moto is and gives a nice change of pace. You will have an advantage coming to MTB. Though jumping a moto and MTB are WILDLY different. Jeremy Martin...