It’s inevitable – in time many road riders find the pursuit of pavement pounding on narrow tyres a little… plain. The enlightened cyclist chooses to ride both on road and off, and if you’ve seen the way and want to expand into the world of dirt, we’re here to help. Mountain biking has a slightly […]
How to train for a marathon mountain bike race
Responding to popular demand, we’re publishing a new series on how to train, prepare, and race your first marathon. Not your first marathon? Read on anyway and pick up some tips we’ve put together from years of experience. First up, here’s our best advice on how to prepare for your first marathon MTB race, including […]
Power analysis from Trans Schwarzwald MTB stage race
Related Event: Trans Schwarzwald
In between my XCO racing for this year, I decided to give stage racing another go after my first attempt in 2012. Back then, I did the Trans Germany MTB stage race and failed miserably, grovelling through the majority of stages and vowing to never return unless I was fully prepared. It really was […]
Upskilling – skills courses for mountain biking
Apart from a few tears of joy, mountain bike racing only made me cry once this year. After our Australian XCM National Champs in Tasmania in April. I’d worked incredibly hard on my fitness for Nationals and thought the course, with a very long climb to be covered twice, would suit me perfectly. On race […]
Power analysis in marathon racing
For this past weekend, I decided to book in a double header with an XCO race on Saturday and the Saarschleifen Half Marathon on Sunday. The XCO was my main focus but with the Vaude Trans Schwarzwald stage race fast approaching, I wanted to see how my body would react to hard racing days back […]
DIY Indoor Training
You know what’s involved, sweating, swearing, a swirling stomach tempting to eject breakfast with each passing second. The indoor trainer is a choice for some but a necessity for others at times when the outside can be even more hostile! So it’s raining outside, you only have time for an hour ride before you need […]
Training in Winter: Bikes or skis?
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 […]