Back in the day....

Here are some random old school photos of me in action when I was younger...

2005 Braidwood, NSW

1995 Australian BMX Titles Semi Final, #23

Duffy Pines, 1997

Lake Tuggernong, 1997

ACT BMX Titles, 1997

Southlake, NSW 1997

Yarralumla Woolshed, 1999

Training for Climbing

After racing now for just over 12 months, and with a little more knowledge about training, and the realisation of how little training I get to do. I think a re-evaluation of my goals is in order.

I'm going to change my focus from race performace to overall development as a rider. At least until such time that I'm comfortable with my base pace/fitness and then I can start fine tuning from there. Hopefully my performance will improve naturally as I work on furthering my development.

Break it...break..break it down

I reckon if I was assessed by a professional trainer the first thing they would say is that I'm a heavy weight but racing in the light weight class. Being 176cm and 85kg isn't too bad for your average BMX racer but for MTB racing, power to weight on climbs is everything. I know this from looking at and comparing my times on Strava. I'm solid on the downhills being consistantly in the top 2-5%, on the flats I'm ok but fall below the median, then on the climbs I'm way back in the bottom 25%. There's an imbalance in my rider profile and its really obvious. I credit my DH pace to plenty of experience in face planting and cart wheeling my bike down the track. It's not that I'm good at going fast, I'm just good at being fluid on the bike and getting out of trouble when close to the limit.

So a big part of my development has to be focussed on my climbing skills and fitness. But just as important I need to look at reducing my weight. I'm still carrying excess chubber blubber around my waist and its holding me back. I guess I'm coming to the realisation that I'm a massive emotional eater and it needs to stop, NOW.

For the rest, here goes some research hot off the press from the world wide web of internets.

Training for Climbing - Skills
- check seat height and seat position, knee should be almost but not quite straight when you put your heel on the pedal at its lowest point
- Select a low (but not too easy) gear and concentrate on a smooth pedal action thought to be most efficient is a “kick forward” and a “scrape back”
- spinners are winners
- I think I'm prone to burning my legs too early from standing on hills too much, so I'm going to try and save standing for really short pinches and the backside of a crest

Training for Climbing - Fitness (http://www.mtb-marathon.co.uk/training)

Long hill intervals - warm up for a good 10 mins. Find a long gradual hill that takes approximately 5 minutes to climb up. Ride the hill at a moderately hard pace (this should be an effort that you can maintain for the whole 5 mins). Concentrate on your smooth pedaling action and keep a high cadence. Ride back down the hill and rest at the bottom – this is your recovery period and should last 3 minutes in total. Repeat the hill effort and the recovery 3 times. Build up the number of repetitions each week 3, 4, then 5. Cool down for a good 10 mins. As you get fitter, you could try reducing your recovery time or ride for longer uphill.

Short hill intervals - warm up for a good 10 mins. Find a short steeper hill that takes approximately 30 seconds to climb up. Ride up the hill at a hard pace concentrating on smooth pedal action and high cadence. Ride back down the hill and rest at the bottom – this is your recovery period and should last 3 mins in total. Repeat the hill effort and recovery 5 times. Build up the number of repetitions each week 5, 6, 7, then 8. Cool down for a good 10 mins.

I'm going 2x10 gearing, stay tuned for my verdict

The 3 Ring Circus, Wingello State Forest, NSW (21-22 July)

I've heard a lot about this race and after racing the Highland Fling last year I wanted to get back in the area for another taste of native forest and beautiful fern gullies. Its called the 3 ring circus because the course layout loops back to staging twice and forms 3 laps. Basically there are a wide range of freaks that enter making the entire event a lot of fun.

I managed some preparation for this however didn't get on my bike in the two weeks preceding the race. I went on a family holiday in the tropics and had to bring myself to running to maintain the fitness. I don't mind running middle distances but it really doesn't compare to hitting up the trails on my bike. So with one short jog and 3x 10km runs under my belt I loaded up the car with my mate Pete Stott and headed to the Southern Highlands.

One of my runs - Palm Cove 4x hill effort

After spending some days in the tropics the weather that greeted us came as a shock. 8 degrees max, 30km/h southerly winds and drizzle with already wet ground. Brrrrrrr.

I lined up at the start about 8 rows back, with about 50 riders in front of me and about 400 behind. I had no idea what my legs were going to do, decided that the first 10km of wide open fire trail would probably be definitive as to how the rest of the race was going to go.

As expected my legs lacked that punchy feel they normally have when fresh, I held on to the bunch down the faster sections but it was difficult with constant rain and mud being splattered in my face from the bike in front. I guess you can either chose to wear glasses and see for the first 5mins but be blinded for the rest of the race. Or go without and cry tears of mud for the entire race (and a few hours after) but at least you get to see the track every now and then. I went with the latter.

The first 2 hours went ok, the energy gels were making me feel sick so I stuck to water and Endura mix. My drive train nearly gave up a couple of times but managed to self clean and came good again. But the final lap (18kms) was a massive struggle for me, my thighs felt close to cramping and I basically felt like I was going backwards. I held on and survived to finish the 52km course in 2hrs 44mins. 

The scenery was awesome as expected and riding over misty farm roads with rolling green pastures provided me with a fleeting happy place before turning the corner into a head wind of rain and mud. There didn't seem to be enough single track, but I will probably say that even if the course has 90% single track. I'll be back next year with more pedalling kilometres in the legs and hopefully a dry race.

My thoughts on using running as cross training for an MTB race:

Pros

- I had none of the usual niggles of pain in the knees, hips or lower back

- aerobic capacity was strong and I never ran out of breath

- a little weight loss has to be good for climbing

- no tight hamstrings, pre, during or after the race

Cons (maybe due to not riding rather then using running as training)

- leg strength suffered

- legs speed was lacking

- thighs felt like cramping for the first time ever

- zero strength in final 60mins

I'm going for a ride.

Chow for Now

Rubena Tyres 2012/13 XC Series - Round 2, Stromlo (15th of June)

Better late then never, hehe.

I missed the first round due to being crook with a chest infection, in thinking about it, the illness plus the threat of a wet race was too much for me to handle at the time.

But I managed to drag myself to round 2, considering the course is only 10min drive from my house it wouldn't be worth the flak from my riding mates for not turning up. But I was seriously keen to have a hit out after not competing for what seemed like a long time. After talking to a few of the guys we've decided to race Vets this year, seems like there is a little too much sand bagging (trophy hunting) in B grade so we've gone to Vets instead. Also with the riders being from the same age group it seems more reasonable considering we're not racing against kids in their gap year with tonnes of time to train.

The day was a fairly cool 15 degrees with a little drizzle but only enough rain to settle the dust. The course was set out on some of my favourite trails, and with names like Party Line, Willow Link, and Double Dissolution there's no wondering why they are so good. Especially Double Diss, which has had a tonne of work done lately and is super smooth with some new berms and jumps. It was a short course with each lap being completed in under 15mins and this suited me to the braking mark, I didn't have a great base fitness and could handle short pinchy climbs but would have been busted by anything long and steep.

I basically had a good race, the course was super rewarding and it was hard to conserve on the descents as there was just too much fun to be had. I managed to survive after the first lap fury and went on to over take a couple of riders on the last lap. Including my good friend Trent who I've never beaten before but it seemed like he was having a bad day on and off the track.

My best finish since moving up from C grade so hopefully I can continue with similar results in coming races.

Until next post

Ride on!!