How to get to the front on your Thursday rides in 3 easy steps…

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This is part of a series of articles related to fitness and exercise written for us specifically.

This first one should help with the New year resolutions….

 

  1. Ride on another day!

By riding a second day your body can actually start to adjust to the idea of exercising regularly and you really will reap the benefits. The second ride a couple of days later not only keeps your legs fresh by getting them moving it also starts to build a bit of fitness by continuing the progress made on your Thursday ride. The saying goes “if you don’t use it, you lose it”- 2 days after your Thursday ride you start losing any benefits you may have gained from it so by doing the second ride a few days later you build on the benefits which will inevitably make you just that little bit faster getting you to the front first!

  1. Eat less fatty and sugary foods

It’s the fatty sugary foods that always “taste so good” that are slowing you down. Its been said for years, everyone knows it, but how many people actually do it?! Its simple start small cut out your daily chocolate bar or crisps, or your 3 cans of coke you just have to have to get through the day. You don’t need it, I promise and it will make you slower not only from the extra pounds to carry round the trail but the sugar rush high too. That high means you must have a low…if that happens during your Thursday ride you’ll never get to the front so best to avoid it happening all together – just in case!

  1. Do a body weight circuit – even just once a week for 20 mins

20 minutes – Surely that not going to even do anything is it?! One simple 20 minute circuit is an ideal way to get a bit of muscle strength conditioning in perfect for powering up those hills getting you ahead of the pack. For mountain biking you don’t need to be in the gym for an hour every day to get better, you need to be light but strong. This is exactly what a circuit gives you without the hassle of gyms, memberships and hours wasted when you would much rather be playing on the bike with the other little boys; but nearer the front…

 

20 seconds on 20 seconds off repeat the 10 exercises twice if you can…three times if you dare!

Squats

Press ups

Sit ups with a twist

Step ups

Tricep dips

Star Jumps

Sit ups

Burpees

Sit up and reach up

Calf raises

 

Chinese 29er review- Carbonal Gaea 29er

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Ronnie had recommended I try a light weight carbon hard tail as a winter race/training bike as my steel 29er is too heavy with gears. As much as I’d love a Scott Scale or a Santa Cruz Highball the high frame costs are out of my reach. I’d seen a forum thread on MTBR which featured Chinese carbon 29er frames, it was almost 100 pages long and mainly positive views. Continue reading →

mini maintenance

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ExtrIMG_3670a hands make light work and all that so a couple of sections re-routed and some of the motorway width trails narrowed back down to their original size. Laurie brought this clever garden tool that made light work of scraping mud, levelling lumps and raking level but the spikes sticking out his back pack were absolutely lethal. Helen, never been on a ride, but came to help brought a folding garden bag that allowed us to move big volumes quickly and easily and will go on my Christmas list.

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So we scraped away lots of mud, repaired lots of holes and put in a mini berm to keep you on track when hurtling through the trees and over the logs in the still of the night. It should make  some of the worst bits a little drier and faster and rideable for another wet period. Obviously there are lots of trails that need work so off we went to ride some more, remove fallen branches and note the worst bits for another day. Wrangler has a short bypass to help wear in one section but I hope most of the changes are invisible.

Some trails can be ridden in both directions and this makes some obstacles almost impossible going uphill for most of us. Some riders do not seem to have this difficulty as Laurie demonstrated riding up the “podium”. New fencing makes “Ill”  longer but the stepdowns are considerable at the end obstacles. We did not ride Ill2 but Ill3 was clear to ride and the obstacles fine.

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On the list for the next time is all the holes. If you have a little time to fill a hole in any trail, just one even, that would help keep the trails running a little better.

Night riding

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People say it’s one thing to nail a 12 ft gap jump, carve a wallride and get weightless down a drop so big you get a sense of what Felix Baumgartner went through but it’s quite another thing to do the same in the pitch dark with only a couple of battery powered lamps strapped to your helmet and handlebars to light your way.

To be fair I wouldn’t have a clue about gap jumps, wall rides or drop offs of more than a foot high but since riding with Brighton mtb I’ve taken to riding at night like a fish to mud, at least in enthusiasm rather than competence. Continue reading →