Living in Australia we are thankfully not constrained by the weather in winter. Extremely uncomfortable, maybe, but usually the worst is some driving rain or a freezing headwind. But for those living in less forgiving climates, wintertime can make riding outside near impossible. With heavy snow covering the ground, the only way to get some […]
Getting the most out of Indoor Cycle Training
Phil Welch is a well known masters athlete in Australia, with great results across events as far reaching as stage races in Poland, solo 24hr races, and the Crocodile Trophy. A recent broken wrist hasn’t really slowed him down – here’s Phil’s take on how to get the most out of training indoors, due to […]
How to coach yourself – Part 2
In the first part of this series I talked about using online training tools to coach yourself. This time I’m going to discuss training yourself from scratch. This year I’ve thrown myself in the deep end, but not without a lot of preparation. Here’s what I found most useful. Know the Basics Before you start […]
How to coach yourself
Interested in coaching yourself? Over two posts Imogen Smith takes you through your options In law they have a saying (sometimes attributed to Abraham Lincoln) that the attorney who represents himself in court has a fool for a client… So if you decide to write your own program for your next mountain bike marathon, how […]
JetBlack Whisperdrive ridden and rated
I’m lucky here in Australia to be able to ride outdoors year-round, but each summer I’m reminded that the main winter sport for my cousins from the Northern Hemisphere is not cyclocross or snow-shoeing, but the solitary abuse of the home trainer in their lonely basements, garages and – for those lucky enough to live […]
Core work for Mountain Biking
For a body designed to run around in an upright position chasing mountain lions, cycling is a pretty out there concept. Sitting hunched over, neck out and pedalling circles is far from natural. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, the body makes changes so that your cycling position becomes more sustainable. […]
Enduro Training for Marathon Racing
How often are you the rider in a group who claims that they would ride something gnarly “but not on this bike.” Is there a point where the distance based mountain bike racing that many of us love so much becomes a hinderance to the riding and racing we do – and we don’t end […]
Skills Coaching For Mountain Biking
Mountain bikers, or at least most male ones, are inveterate fettlers. Always tweaking a bit of bike set-up, getting excited about a new piece of kit, or boring everyone stupid about tyre or shock pressures. And even those that don’t do this probably spend considerable amounts of money on servicing for their bikes. And those […]
The best training and riding tunes
This is part three of three of a small series on music and riding. Parts one and two are here. I mentioned some favourite riding tunes in a diary update, so I thought it was about time to update that. Luckily we’re never forced to stick to just 10 tracks when riding. But with a nod to […]
Altitude training for marathon racing
I didn’t know it at the time, but I broke my hip on the final day of the 2013 Absa Cape Epic, one kilometre from the finish in Lourensford. Needless to say, that has resulted in my 2013 season being rather different than planned. Far from coming off the Epic to start a brilliant European season […]