I could have ridden my mountain bike over the last few days. especially since the skies have remained resolutely clear and blue. An effect of the good weather has been to tempt my wife and I into the garden instead. We have some hard landscaping to do in the form of installing around 50 pavingContinue reading “How much action do I need?”
A very encouraging ride.
Today I decided to do a trail ride with no particular targets. In order to ensure that the ride had good training value I intended to ride it in a “fartlek” style, where I would ride continuously but increase my effort on some sections of the ride. The hope is that by not stopping toContinue reading “A very encouraging ride.”
Should I rise to a challenge?
A few years ago I discovered, through the app. Strava, a local mountain bike circuit. Only 3 riders have ever attempted it but joyfully, on my first serious attempt, I captured the King of the Mountains title for the fastest lap so far. I exchanged the title with “The Otter”, who reduced the time eventuallyContinue reading “Should I rise to a challenge?”
Trail riding with plenty of climbing.
Climbing is an excellent way to build fitness for mountain biking. Today I decided to ride to the hills around Rivington to get some ascent done. It’s a 4 mile road ride first, leading to a continuous 750 feet climb to Rivington Pike. The gradient varies and in places needed my lowest gear ratio andContinue reading “Trail riding with plenty of climbing.”
Time to train.
I noticed on the app. Strava that I’d only ridden my mountain bike 4 times so far in January so yesterday, the 24th, I knew it was time to train. I like to maintain my fitness year round but this winter has brought us some snow and ice which has impacted on my riding. TheContinue reading “Time to train.”
Nicely icy!
Today’s mountain bike ride was never going to be a big training ride, I just needed to get out after 6 days without riding. We’ve had another cold, frosty period but the smattering of snow has disappeared. The road outside our house never gets salted and was so treacherous that I turned onto the mainContinue reading “Nicely icy!”
Riding in wet weather.
We’ve had an awful lot of rain in the 6 days since my last ride. The local trails would be very wet so not only was this unlikely to provide the usual level of entertainment but could also damage the trail. I wanted some exercise but don’t enjoy riding on the road on a mountainContinue reading “Riding in wet weather.”
When it’s too wet to ride but you ride anyway.
I planned a trail ride but as soon as I left the house it started to rain. It was fairly light rain and continued throughout the ride but once I was out I wasn’t going to turn back. I wanted the ride to be oriented towards stamina so would ride at a steady pace, gettingContinue reading “When it’s too wet to ride but you ride anyway.”
Training for recovery.
I need to train for recovery this year. I don’t mean recovery after a ride but rather after a big effort, such as a hill climb, during a mountain bike ride. It will be a big help as I negotiate my planned ride with 6 ascents totalling around 4,500 feet. I wanted a ride todayContinue reading “Training for recovery.”
Targets for 2023.
I feel that it’s important for me to set some targets for my mountain biking each year. I may well add further targets later in the year but you may be wondering what happened to the targets I set for 2022. At the start of the year I only set 2 targets. One was toContinue reading “Targets for 2023.”
Mountainbiker 