Biking leads to muscle loss?

[He-man]

I have been adding biking into my fitness schedule and have enjoyed it. I am doing 15-20 mile rides with a lot of hills so it has been challenging.

I know there is some thought out there that too much cardio will waste muscle mass. I have been doing deadlifts and squats for some time so overall I feel like my legs are finally catching up with my upper body. My question is will all this biking (and i have been doing some grueling mountain hiking on off days also) decrease the strength of my legs.

I'm not too worried about it, just curious from a scientific standpoint. I think I am actually making my legs stronger because the harder i have to pedal up a hill should give me more speed in the weight room? Even if my numbers don't go up I feel like my legs will be overall stronger and more resistant to stress.

Any opinions? Can uphill biking improve your leg numbers in the gym?

Thanks

[ODB]

I have always found that hill repeats really beef up my legs. If you're doing a lot of "spinning" like on flat road you may find that your quads look more lean. I like a good mixture of both. The main objective for me is to kill the fat on my legs. You might post in the training forum for advise from one of the real experts in building muscle (not my specialty). Hope this helps though.