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

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If you really want to suck all the fun out of it

quantify 'fun'?

Heart rate divided by power?

Fun for me in mountain biking is using the terrain to make speed, which takes technique and strength. I think watts (as thought of in conventional cycling) isn't really that applicable, but you certainly do need to be fit or you simply run out of control.

But that's obviously a very specific type of mountain biking - in XC it'd be totally different.

No, power is useless on mtb, PE is the best metric along with HR.

Neil, just try not to hit the trees on the way back down and you'll be fine

Neil, just try not to hit the trees on the way back down and you'll be fine

Yep, this. ^

I always aim for last place so that anything better feels like a victory.

Shirley do a season without training, and then train for 2023 to see if you can improve

I always aim for last place so that anything better feels like a victory.

My goal for this season is to be the person on the most expensive bike, closest to the back of the field.

haha #rep

Sounds like we should start a race team...

That’s interesting. There must be an element of heat rate lag too ie it’s drifting up slowly on the start of the downhill as a result of the effort on the previous uphill? Presumably adrenaline would also push HR up a bit?

Is there an element of needing to train high cadence for downhill work? I know the bmx team used to work on super high cadence including bikes with no chain, rollers and watt bikes on low resistance, aiming to be able to instantly switch on the power they had as soon as there was a spot to get in a pedal. That’s definitely something you can train away from trails.

I’ve just watched a few fit4racing videos over lunch and one word of caution is the stuff in the video is aimed at experienced racers with a bank of endurance, skills, racing etc so maybe slightly less power focus for novice riders, and more power endurance focus at the start?

Ie you’re training more like a pursuiter or TP rider at first, and becoming more like a kilo rider as you become competent?

Final point. It also might be worth thinking about how much flat, uphill or pedalling is typically in a downhill stage of a uk enduro. I’m not sure but I’d guess some courses will have more than others so training focus would change a bit?

Yes, that's true. The answer is I don't know, the blurb says around 1km in length and 100m drop, so ~10% average gradient - which of course doesn't mean that there is no flat or uphill if there are also very steep sections.

One thing that was interesting from my holiday in Morgins was that there was a very significant HR lag - I'd hit my highest BPM on the fire road cruising to the cafe after finishing the downhill run.

In the section I posted above I'd been climbing, then turned immediately into the trail, rather than jumped off a ski-lift, so HR was already high.

2-4 minute stages with not much pedalling.

5 sec full gas acceleration, then focus on staying calm and and smooth through the technical stuff with your heart rate in the red.

Track racing seems to be very good for the fitness aspect and the stages aren't super gnar so it is about linking sections. One silly mistake will kill your speed. Use your arms to generate and maintain speed where you can't pedal.

Cross-post from AQA:

Mobile pressure washers for post-ride washdown... Kaercher or Aqua2go/Mobi whatever model vs Worx Hydroshot? What's the forum consensus?

Probably the answer is get a roof rack, so the crud doesn't get in back of the the car and then clean at home at my leisure. But this will also help with my garage being miles from a tap (car is right next to it though, so I can run a 12V connection to the thing).

My mates got the Mobi and he's pretty chuffed with it, can do a full bike very easily. Two if you're quick.

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I had a Mobi and now have a Hydroshot. The Mobi was okay but the water pressure is really low and it can struggle with removing thick mud.

The Hydroshot is superb, will remove even the thickest mud and is much quicker in cleaning a bike. I’d definitely go for it ahead of the Mobi if I had to choose again.

I have a Hydroshot and never bother getting my (much more expensive) Muc Off pressure washer out.

my (much more expensive) Muc Off pressure washer

Sorry, not good enough for golf club

Ta VM for advice all. Will look into the Hydroshot.

There's definitely an EE Wings power meter.

Sorry, not good enough for golf club

I've got one of these.
Not sure I'd trust it not to fuck my bearings though.