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Maintaining fitness and skills when trails are too wet to ride
What a pain in the backside this wet weather is! With the Mont in less than three weeks, just when I should be getting out and hitting up places like Manly Dam or Ourimbah to up the intensity, refresh the skills and get the brain in the groove, the trails are so sopping wet that rding off-road is impossible without taking weekends away like we did to Queanbeyan last weekend.
I'm planning on hitting up back-to-back intervals spin classes at the gym tomorrow morning, but this doesn't do a lot for bike handling skills - trying to bunny-hop or rail a berm is going to look kinda funny 
What are you guys doing to keep the bike handling skills up and the brain and eyes sharp?
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Basically, did 2 sessions on the MTB back to back at Wingello, so I am all good from a technical point of view.
Just doing Road K's with the rain, do interval sessions, hill repeats etc, I know it doesnt help from a technical point of view, but after a few laps around the Mont course you will be good to go. Personally I dont believe in losing your technical ability, in my experience it takes me 5k's to get back used to being on a MTB and then I feel quite at home.
I was doing 70min laps down at Wingello last week, which was as quick as my Laps last year in the race and I wasnt pushing to hard, so yeah.
I found figure 8's build your balance and cornering skills. 2 markers about 2 metres apart and you just ride figure 8's for 15 minutes twice per week.
Its not so much technical skills as balance, but it does seem to help. In 15 minutes you end up doing more corners then a few months of riding.
skiddies and cutties on the fire rd or even tar.... Steve Jones Fundamentals stylie
http://youtu.be/RGjrdG0FYws
I'm just about to go out for 3hrs on the Cyclocross bike!
Couch time. Yesterday was prime. Surfing from the Gold Coast on Fuel TV, then Manly v Warriors, then the cricket. 13 hours of sport. Who needs riding?
I agree with Logan, just try to get out and ride a bike anywhere and everywhere you can. I went to Wingello a few weeks ago after not being on the mtb for about a month and felt like a gumby for the first few kms after which it just started to feel "right" again and then I enjoyed the rest of the ride. I think I'd need months off the trails before the technical skills didn't come back pretty quickly. Hopefully there will be time and the weather to fit in one or two laps of the Mont course on the Friday afternoon which I reckon will get the head switched on!
3 months off from start of October to mid-January from a broken collarbone will do it to you. And then Manly Dam being mostly shut or wet at the times I felt up to tackling it since has delayed things.
I didn't feel fully in control of my placement of the bike on the trail weekend before last at Kowen, especially on those downhill berms, although the washout when I was ahead of the.flying.al was mostly due to not seeing the trail properly with the Ayups only on the bars.
Fitness is starting to come back... managed to make it through the 2 consecutive intervals spin classes on Sunday without running out of gas, and the lower back felt pretty good too.
Did the figure-8 thing in a local cul-de-sac afterwards with the roadie hoops on... I think the posse of longboarders who waited (mostly) patiently for 10 minutes at the top of the street for me to go thought I was slightly loopy (sorry about the pun
)
I hadnt ridden the MTB since October either, so 4 months without a ride on it.....
Besides being able to keep up with the bunch and do stupidly large distances, and maybe saving wear and tear on your mtb, what specifically is the advantage of riding a road bike for training vs riding your mtb on roads for training?
I'd have thought you'd get better training pushing a 11 or 12kg bike around than some lighter-than-air carbon roadie?
And you'd get the chance to duck off onto a dry bit of dirt if you see it
"I'd have thought you'd get better training pushing a 11 or 12kg bike around than some lighter-than-air carbon roadie? "
Its a common miss conception that all training should be high intensity. The majority should actually be lower intensity base building. basically training your muscles to move properly and efficiently rather than high intensity muscle building.
The with the light weight roadie you are able to control your heart rate zones a bit better and build and maintain that base with long low intensity ride.
That said ride what you've got
it's the way I ride most of the time.
I don't necessarily need a road bike to do long, low intensity rides. But if I had a road bike, the same intensity would get me a higher speed and greater distance travelled. Is there any data that says that higher speed / greater distance for the same effort is better for mtb training?
Go up a reasonably steep hill and you'll soon realise that you've ran out of gears and there's no granny to spin you to the top.
The only way up is brute force.
Repeat for six months then jump back on your mtb with the same mates you normaly go riding off road with.
Bet you a case of beer that you leave them for dead.
I'm not really into the science of it all. I just look at the end results. If you look at 99% of all A and B grade mtb club members, They'll almost definately train on the road at some point?
I don't do science, however just look at my results from last year, I went from a 6h30m Highland Fling to a 4h45mins Capital Punishment and am aiming for quicker this year as well.
Road biking makes you stronger, the stronger you are, the longer you can hold a bigger gear or a higher average speed, it also means the higher your FTP, that means you dont have to burn as many matches or go into the red zone as often, you only have so many matches to burn, once you have burnt them, thats it, you blow up.
I suspect we're mixing a few factors here. Training on the road compared to the track definitely lets you control your zones better and gives more opportunity for long constant exertion but they will apply regardless of whether you do that on a roadie or a real bike. To the question as to whether fast and long is better for you you'd have to say no. It will make no difference whether you're pushing against wind resistance at speed on a roadie or against tyre friction on a mtb, as long as you're pushing as hard for as long.
Gazza is spot on with the gearing difference making you stronger. I picked up a $50 Malvern Star 6 speed roadie on ebay (a bargain actually, it's worth more like $150) which has higher gearing than most roadies and the first few rides it nearly killed me but now I can nail hills that used to destroy me. It's like a single speed, you've got nowhere to hide so you just have to muscle up and do it. I now understand why roadies are always out of the saddle.
I'm ashamed to say I haven't ridden the MTB once this year so the proof of roadie vs MTB training will come next week at Capital Punishment. All will be revealed
The figure-8 drill thing is showing early promise... normally I feel a bit uncordinated with the foot weight placement versus the bars when having to make off-camber tight right turns, suddenly. Seemed to feel more dialled-in this morning without having to plan 50m ahead.
After such a crappy year with all this rain constantly washing out the trails and destroying my already delicate fitness, clearly demonstrated in the recent HMBA XC Round 2 race in which I only managed a disappointing 28th in Men’s C Grade whilst fighting off what felt like a heart attack, I've finally switched my MTB tyres for some semi-slicks so that I can ride my MTB on the roads in an attempt to get at least some form of fitness.
I've been planning to do this for about 2 months as the rain and general life has resulted in me only riding my bike a dismal 4 times this year! All I need to do now is actually ride after work then I'll be super fit, well kinda
The truth will be at round 3 of the HMBA XC race series on March 25th. Fingers crossed I actually get out on the bike and that 2 weeks is enough time to get a base level of fitness!