Time In The Saddle - MTB Blog
Time In The Saddle
Mountain bike racing is about the challenge. A race against the clock. A rivalry between friends. The mixture of physical and emotional joy ending with exhaustion. All this happens during one event, all while chasing that sense of accomplishment.
In the lead up to the Australian Adventure Festival in October we will be offering up some tips to help you prepare for both the 100km and 50km Mountain Biking events. You can expect insights on preparation, training, equipment, plus motivation tips and ideas on bike and race-day setup.
Today I ask: how often do you go out for a ride that lasts four, five, or six plus hours in the saddle? Once a week? Once a month? Semi-regularly? Training tip number one is to make time each week/fortnight to spend a solid three-four hours on track. The speed and time doesn’t matter. Your body needs to become familiar with peddling for multiple hours, whilst riding mountain bike trails.
Unless you have a cycling coach, the best training you can do is to spend time riding your bike. The beauty of a race structure being set by distance, 50km and 100km, rather than time, 12 hours, is that every rider gets to race their bike for 50km and 100km of sweet trails with hundreds of fellow enthusiasts.
Training tip number two gives consideration to the dark side of mountain biking. With winter comes the darkness. If you work during daylight hours, riding time during the week often occurs when the sun has gone down. A good set of lights for night riding will encourage after work rides and commutes.
Next time the focus will be on riding MTB and the beauty of single track, the value of tubeless tyres and deciphering the gamut of accessory choices available at your local bike shop.