Let's offroad / mountain bike / mtb / ride dirt

Will get my measuring stick out tomorrow and see what's cracking. Thanks - appreciate it!

Yeah I'm one of those people on here that isn't in London

out of interest anyone else here out Shropshire way? I moved here for the off road this time last year and it’s great.

Will be offering guided riding and renting out the ground floor of my house for folks when the sun comes out :)

Did a 40k loop in Surrey today. It was a bit muddy in places but not boggy. It was fine.

And stunning views! (after it being super foggy on the drive over).

Managed to squeeze an hour in this morning, stupidly thinking that as it hasn't rained for a few days, it'd be mostly dry in my local forest.

Wrong. I'd forgotten how much water clay soil holds, even moreso when someone's been taking their horse for a walk and churned up everything. It resembled the Somme in places, almost unrideable.

The good news is the council has finally chopped back some of the dead trees and it's opened up some small windy trails that had been long lost to overgrowth. Lots of fun exploring them, felt like a new place.

19km of Surrey hills today, fun.

55km , Sw19 to Headley and back on the cx bikes, lovely day, trails a bit muddy but not horrendous, tea and lemon drizzle cake on Headley common.

Yeah did my usual Bromley bridleway loop yesterday, riding #sfab really is quite a desperate pastime isn't it.

Although quite fun when it's a certain depth/consistency and you're slowly spinning through it, rather than riding over it, like an old timey paddle steamer.

What would be some useful training goals from a fitness perspective for tackling Southern Enduro races? I assume working on the following would be good: decent FTP, decent sprint (not sure what the numbers for that would be), strength work and technique.

Just had a call from Cotic to say that my bike is ready for collection. Going to drop down there on Friday to pick it up. Exciting times.

This chap has some good videos and appears to work with a few pros

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCm4DUAs5Woj9c8LBzJVwWuw

I'd have thought for anyone vaguely fit, suspension tuning skills would be the best place to develop.

The logic might be that FTP etc helps because you're not gassed when you get to the top and drop in, therefore make less mistakes on the way down?

You can't throw fitness at a skill problem.

I like to throw excuses at skill problems

The fastest guys I ride with are less fit, and fatter than me. There must be a correlation there.

Gravity doesn't acknowledge FTP?

This in bundles. Despite being a large lump I can get up hills faster than quite a few of the people I ride with. However their skills more than compensate on descents. They can pump to get free energy when pedalling isn’t possible, better cornering skills mean they slow down later, enter with greater speed and can pump out of the exit. Etc etc etc. @dammit I imagine your cardio is quite good so skills and dynamic explosive strength might be areas to aim for.

This old video shows fitness helps for that reason but mainly how fit and skillful Nino is but i still reckon for amateurs skills are the most important then explosive power, strength and conditioning then high ftp last. Neil Donoghue did and ftp test on GMBN before a return to racing and it was less than mine but i wouldn't probably kill myself in a Enduro race because i can't ride downhill at all with poor skills and even less confidence after a few horror crashes all downhill. You can probably improve skills quicker as loads of guys say how a skills weekend transformed their riding where as it could take 4-8 weeks of focused training to add 10 watts on your ftp. Significant s&c will take 8 weeks+ but you can boost your sprint power in 2 weeks if you don't mind a bit of vomit and pain but the biggest bang for your buck will be specifically training your biggest weakness. For me that would be skills and upper body conditioning. I actually found focusing purely on bike power on the watt bike without simultaneously honing my handling skills in the woods was a recipe for disaster.
https://youtu.be/4M6qq5jxJ6E

You can throw skills at a fitness problem

I'd be doing some circuits in the gym, to replicate the demands of rough downhills. Do them for the length of the downhill sections. Inc. kettlebell swings, burpees etc. But this still misses the cognitive requirement of line choice. I wonder if you can find a way to include this, the best would be riding trails every day but you can't do that. The alternative would be getting bang for buck fitness sessions at home, and then when you got mountain biking using an uplift to maximize downhill time + cash at skills coaching.

The thing that struck me when I started riding enduro trails was that my heartrate would not drop below 130bpm, I don't think increasing FTP will benefit this, but increasing relevant fitness (gym circuits) would help. However, it's still about being able to think under this cardiovascular strain that's important

Maximise downhill time when riding
Gym circuits that replicate enduro riding
Skills coaching
Bike fitness sessions.

They can pump to get free energy

Pumping is definitely not free. Try back to back laps on a pump track and see how you feel. It's hard work.

I know it’s not really free, but it’s energy you could not get through pedalling, and once you have the technique and timing it becomes more efficient and the muscles will develop so it’ll also have fitness benefits.

A proper money gun solution, buy an ebike to save on time waiting for uplift to make sessioning time more productive.

Do you think there would be a benefit in maybe some sessions where you gas yourself through a circuit and then do cognitive stuff straight after like catching tennis balls while standing on a wobble board or something ... Neuroplasticity I think they call that sorta stuff?

Personally no, as its not the same. And probebrly just get inured. I would do something at the same time to actually make it relevant. Like those walls with buttons that you have to jump at hit. But again, this is all secondary to doing the actual thing, riding downhill!