Getting fast on a mountain bike.
Ever since I saw one of the Pro riders, Bob McCarty, at Oleta a couple of years ago I have wanted to get fast, really fast. My experience back then was eye opening because as trail riders we believe that our speed for the most part is the fastest one can achieve. Even when you are putting an effort to be the fastest for 30 seconds, Pro riders are faster by a lot. So the question has been, how do i get as fast as a Pro without making it feel you're training like a pro rider.
The answer is not a simple one. It is a combination of two things, fitness and skills. Last week watching the XC World Cup at Nove Mesto I realized that there is people who are in really good shape that have no skills. This of course means these riders can go really fast but often they crash and have injuries. I know plenty of people like that. I believe if you go for fitness first it will take the fun out of mountain biking. It is simply hard to do what pro riders do without having the skills. For example, there's plenty of people that can't bunny hop, jump, or ride clean but can go very fast.
My approach to mountain biking was to get as good as I could by improving my skill set. I remember taking a bunch of classes with Bob and that definitely improved my skills. From there I think my whole approach changed and that had a lasting effect on the way I rode. I compare it to swimming. There's people that have been swimming for 5 years with the same wrong technique and never bother to correct it. Now after so many years they are set in their old ways. They don't want to change, they have fitness.
The other thing is that one thing is to be able to jump over a log, and another is to learn how to pre-jump a downhill but learning rythm and proper shifting takes presendence to all of that. Once you have learned all the skills you will still need to get more fitness. But i believe a person with the right set of skills can have a lot of fun. I'm not the fastest person out there but i can keep an average 12-13 mph pace in most parks. This is the result of knowing how to ride a bike well, not just fitness.
Getting a road bike: The DARK FORCE
I ended up moving to Myrtle Beach in 2011 and as a result of not having parks around I decided to get a road bike. Little did I know that would change my whole perspective about getting fast on a mountain bike. People who do road riding are very strong. How could there be such a difference between the two discipline. it is not like mountain biking is easy to do. i came to find out that when you do road You don't get a break except when you are in the draft but you will alway have to take a pull, meaning when you are in the front of the group it becomes a lot tougher. When you do the first you will get dropped. My experience on the road bike has been that after 7 months of riding at least a couple of times a week is increased performance.
The past month or two I have been doing a crit (you go around a mile track with other riders) and this has shown me that I am weaker compared to other riders. My heart rate for those races has been 170 to 175 overall for 45 minutes. A couple of times the max heart rate has gone to 190. I have seen an overall improvement in my fitness and I still weigh the same but I feel very different.
Riding a Road Bike = One FAST MOUNTAIN BIKER
After not riding my mountain bike for two weeks i went again to the trails. I had already been doing the crits for a long time. What i saw was just astonishing. I was able to keep the pace very high and recuperate every 60 seconds or less. This is probably the fastest I've been on a mountain bike. Now I am even looking forward to doing more intervals and crits. At first it was just a question of just getting a work out. Now i actually enjoy going fast on the road bike and i do because that makes me faster on the mountain bike and it's the perfect relationship.
The answer is not a simple one. It is a combination of two things, fitness and skills. Last week watching the XC World Cup at Nove Mesto I realized that there is people who are in really good shape that have no skills. This of course means these riders can go really fast but often they crash and have injuries. I know plenty of people like that. I believe if you go for fitness first it will take the fun out of mountain biking. It is simply hard to do what pro riders do without having the skills. For example, there's plenty of people that can't bunny hop, jump, or ride clean but can go very fast.
My approach to mountain biking was to get as good as I could by improving my skill set. I remember taking a bunch of classes with Bob and that definitely improved my skills. From there I think my whole approach changed and that had a lasting effect on the way I rode. I compare it to swimming. There's people that have been swimming for 5 years with the same wrong technique and never bother to correct it. Now after so many years they are set in their old ways. They don't want to change, they have fitness.
The other thing is that one thing is to be able to jump over a log, and another is to learn how to pre-jump a downhill but learning rythm and proper shifting takes presendence to all of that. Once you have learned all the skills you will still need to get more fitness. But i believe a person with the right set of skills can have a lot of fun. I'm not the fastest person out there but i can keep an average 12-13 mph pace in most parks. This is the result of knowing how to ride a bike well, not just fitness.
Getting a road bike: The DARK FORCE
I ended up moving to Myrtle Beach in 2011 and as a result of not having parks around I decided to get a road bike. Little did I know that would change my whole perspective about getting fast on a mountain bike. People who do road riding are very strong. How could there be such a difference between the two discipline. it is not like mountain biking is easy to do. i came to find out that when you do road You don't get a break except when you are in the draft but you will alway have to take a pull, meaning when you are in the front of the group it becomes a lot tougher. When you do the first you will get dropped. My experience on the road bike has been that after 7 months of riding at least a couple of times a week is increased performance.
The past month or two I have been doing a crit (you go around a mile track with other riders) and this has shown me that I am weaker compared to other riders. My heart rate for those races has been 170 to 175 overall for 45 minutes. A couple of times the max heart rate has gone to 190. I have seen an overall improvement in my fitness and I still weigh the same but I feel very different.
Riding a Road Bike = One FAST MOUNTAIN BIKER
After not riding my mountain bike for two weeks i went again to the trails. I had already been doing the crits for a long time. What i saw was just astonishing. I was able to keep the pace very high and recuperate every 60 seconds or less. This is probably the fastest I've been on a mountain bike. Now I am even looking forward to doing more intervals and crits. At first it was just a question of just getting a work out. Now i actually enjoy going fast on the road bike and i do because that makes me faster on the mountain bike and it's the perfect relationship.
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