Tag Archives: XC Mountain Biking

Epic MTB ride

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Today was my first ride back on the MTB in five weeks, due to mechanical problems and going on holidays. With all my long road rides, I feel that I have increased endurance although with decreased power. I was hoping to be able to keep up with my MTB buddies with all the training although it didn’t happen as usual, and it was mostly all on the short climbs where I lacked the power. Having said this, I got three PB’s from historical data, going up Pioneer Women’s Trail from Waterfall Gully Rd, down Blue Gums in Eagle Park, and also the Pioneer Women’s Track downhill! So, a mix of uphill and downhill improvement, despite not having touched my MTB for five weeks. I did disappoint myself by chickening out of a drop-off on the black diamond entrance into Eagle Park, although I was quite on edge to begin with, not being used to the feel of the MTB any more. I had a car park ride on Nick’s new 29er carbon hard tail, and on Tim’s 26 duallie. Both were incredibly nice, and I’m thinking of upgrading the MTB steed sooner rather than later, to the 29er carbon hard tail. Approx. $600 cheaper than a rear suspension equivalent, lighter, possibly more efficient, and not subject to the usual hard tail back aches from 26 inch wheels and alloy frames. Also easier to clean and maintain than a duallie. A tough call!

Dean came uncomfortably close to this brown snake. He stopped and then noticed it right next to him.

Brown snake in Eagle Park that came close to Dean

Brown snake in Eagle Park that came close to Dean

Dreaming about mountain biking

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I’ve dreamed a lot about mountain bikes lately. In my sleep and even during the day, how much I want to improve my performance, whether I can convince the other half that I can set up the roadie on the trainer in the lounge so I can train (safely) after work, visualising riding of sections of trail over and over, visualising commitment to obstacles I normally bail on (the drop-in going in to Eagle on the black diamond trail), and prioritising component and gear upgrades. I think running is now officially #2 sport (for the third time in my life), and now XC MTB’ing is #1 again (for the fourth time in my life).

Back into running

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Late last year I was really into the XC mountain biking, and starting to become mildly athletic and maybe even the most skillful I’ve ever been at it.  It was great fun, and I had a riding partner, Nick.  Nick started riding a few years ago, and his consistent, regular, hard riding, now also with some (or a lot of) road riding, has earned in some pole positions in the Mens Elite category with the Adelaide Mountain Bike Club.  It’s great to go riding with Nick because he makes me ride hard.  Then at the start of 2010, I entered the Tour Down Under Challenge ride with him, and did a 160km ride.  I don’t think I had ever ridden more than about 100km, so this was huge.  Either had Nick really either (maybe a bit more than 100km, but not much).  To make a long story short, Nick pulled me through almost the entire way – very grateful for his wind shielding! To make a long story short, I finished the ride, and I was now all round the fittest XC and road cyclist I’ve ever been.

After that ride, I felt like I’d done enough riding for a while, so I stopped.  I joined an online gaming clan, and started playing computer games.  Now six months later, I consider myself unfit.  Due to a combination of seeing myself unfit, and seeing a photo of myself after finishing a Melbourne Marathon a few years ago, I decided it’s time to get back into marathon running.  It won’t happen until well after the wedding, as I have a lot of work to do to get back into being fit, let alone running fit, or long distance running fit.  My plan is to just do regular short runs (no more than 6km on weekdays, and no more than 12km on weekends) before the wedding, and ensure that I maintain good stretching sessions between runs, including some abdominal muscle work.

This plan will help to keep me fit for the wedding day, and ensure that I set my body up to be able to handle a more gruelling training program where this time I won’t cause any injuries.  So I went for a 4km run today, and ouch my legs hurt!