Just thought I'd introduce myself in this area [img]smile.gif[/img]
I'm a 16 year old girl from New Zealand, and I've only been mountain biking for 3 months. Before that I rode and owned horses for 5 years, but a pretty major accident left me having to find a new hobby. Thankfully my gym trainer put the idea in my head to get a mountain bike, and that I did!
I'm probably going to compete in some cross country events this summer, and I'm looking forward to it- I love to have goals! How do you guys train for the events? I do 6 days at the gym, mostly resistance training, the cardio training comes from what I do on my bike afterwards.
Welcome Emz! Mountain biking is great fun (although the cuts, scrapes and bruises from my long weekend in West Virginia would testify otherwise ). For me though, riding is for fun and I don't race.
Some of the guys here race in adventure races and would be able to help you with training suggestions. Sarah (if she still checks in) is a young girl who has just taken up racing; hoppefully she'll respond as well.
Otherwise, the best advice is to ride, ride, and ride some more. Ride varied terrain, do interval training, hill work, and other stuff, as well as long rides on flat terrain to build a good base.
1. Lots of saddle time. It really doesn't matter if it's road or mountain bike just get out and pump the legs for a couple of hours at least twice a week.
2. Find somewhere with some technical trail that you can sharpen your skills on and do that about every other week.
3. HILLS, HILLS, AND MORE HILLS! Hill repeats at least once a week. Sarah and I have a hill that goes up from the river to one of the high points of town. We do it about 5 or 6 times in a row with little rest.
As Sarah would say..."the key is to be a mountain goat."
Have fun and let us know how it goes.
Joe
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Today's mighty oak was once just some nut who held his ground!
Guys, do you realize that we only have about 6 or 7 people at the most who post consitantly in this section, and two of them might be GIRLS now! This is nuts!
And to echo what they said - practise makes perfect! The more time you have in the saddle, the better your gonna get. And Hills are the king of getting better at anything that envolves endurance!
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This is your life, and it\'s ending one minute at a time.
Outdoor,
Do you do the hill from Murry Park up into the Heights? That sounds brutal. Do you know what the distance and elevation change is?
I've got 2.5 more weeks till my adventure sprint. And I am very NOT near where I need to be. Which is best:
-Bike and run a little every day
-Bike and run a little more every other day
-Bike and run a little more on alternating days
I'm not Joe, and we are highjacking the post, but for my adventure sprint, I ran it on nothing but adreniline. I didn't train much, and if its only around 20 km, and your athletic enough, don't worry too hard if you have a good enough upbringing in running
Also, make sure you win, I got a wicked cool shirt for mine! Everyone elses was red, my teams was camo colors, deffiantly worth the blisters!
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This is your life, and it\'s ending one minute at a time.
Originally posted by BeefKakBuk: Outdoor,
Do you do the hill from Murry Park up into the Heights? That sounds brutal. Do you know what the distance and elevation change is?
I've got 2.5 more weeks till my adventure sprint. And I am very NOT near where I need to be. Which is best:
-Bike and run a little every day
-Bike and run a little more every other day
-Bike and run a little more on alternating days
That's the one. It's called overlook and to tell you the truth I've never really measured it since it is part of a ride that I do starting down near Bikeseller.com. I also do River Mountain road a lot down by the I-430 bridge.
I would do a lot of running during the next week and a half and then taper off. Through a 15 - 20 mile road bike ride or 5 - 10 mile mountain bike ride twice during that time. The last week do a 3 mile run every other day and through in a nice easy ride during the taper.
I don't know your level of fitness but that is what I would do. What race are you doing?
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Today's mighty oak was once just some nut who held his ground!
Sorry about the hijack, it just seems to happen sometimes.
Frank(or Mark), I get so confused? I don't think we are planning on winning. As far as I can tell the prizes draw a more competitive crowd than camo shirts. We are running the Balance Bar Adventure Sprint in Richmond, Virginia, October 2/3. That is assuming that the course isn't under water from all these hurricanes. Richmond has a tendency to flood, and the course is on a island in the James river in downtown Richmond. Maybe it will become a kayack/swim race. Anyway, we are excited and it should be fun. Thinks for the input guys.
I am dying to get a road bike as well, to make the road riding that I do just a bit easier. It's a bit hard to live that down here, you're either a roadie or a mountain biker- the two don't mix So I've already got a bit of slack for it, I may just end up getting some slicks for my current bike.
I'll have to try and find some hills- live on the plains so it's a bit difficult I'm sure the roads are a bit more dulating in the country, only problem are the head winds
Anyway, I'll definitely keep you all posted, especially when it comes to my first race! [img]smile.gif[/img]
No problems about hijacking, I've been on some pretty crazy mountain biking boards where threads have changed topic about 10 times
). For me though, riding is for fun and I don't race.
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