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2022 Mountain Biking

AmyPJ

Skiing the powder
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All this makes me glad I'm not competitive. It doesn't sound fun in any manner! Ride for fun, when you want.
I've been involved in competition for most of my life--on horses. Since I've had to get out of that, I still itch for something to compete in as it gives me additional motivation.

What I'm starting to figure out is that trying to increase endurance to the extent that I'd need to to be competitive in this sport at my age is incredibly difficult. The most competitive folks who are 50+ have been at this kind of stuff for decades. It's really not much different than the advantage I had over my competition in the equestrian world where I had been riding since I was 7 years old, and just had that extra bit of skill set to fall back on that those who started riding in adulthood didn't have. The biggest challenge in that field was that I was competing against folks with more money than they knew what to do with.

So, yeah, we'll see if my short-term amnesia kicks in again next year when these races come around again. I'd be better off volunteering for them, I think.

That being said, it's still fun heading out the gate!
El Doce 2 3.jpg
 

Tom K.

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So, yeah, we'll see if my short-term amnesia kicks in again next year when these races come around again. I'd be better off volunteering for them, I think.

THAT is hilarious. When I was doing 100s, I'd declare being done at the end of each year's race.....then in late fall I'd start planning for the next one. Short-term amnesia, indeed! But now I really am done, at 63, so without further ado, to any Ski Talkers mtb riders that may be interested, I present the short version of:

TOM K'S LAST RACE REPORT:

The Butte 50 in Butte MT. Toughest 50 course i've ever ridden. And most beautiful.

Start time with a few of the fast females from my new backyard:

Butte Start Tom.JPEG


Finish Line:

Butte Ross Finish.JPG


Stats (note level of salt encrustation):

Butte Garmin.JPG


It was tough, but mostly very enjoyable. A great way to go out at my favorite race, in Mrs. K's home town! :beercheer:
 

AmyPJ

Skiing the powder
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THAT is hilarious. When I was doing 100s, I'd declare being done at the end of each year's race.....then in late fall I'd start planning for the next one. Short-term amnesia, indeed! But now I really am done, at 63, so without further ado, to any Ski Talkers mtb riders that may be interested, I present the short version of:

TOM K'S LAST RACE REPORT:

The Butte 50 in Butte MT. Toughest 50 course i've ever ridden. And most beautiful.

Start time with a few of the fast females from my new backyard:

View attachment 174045

Finish Line:

View attachment 174046

Stats (note level of salt encrustation):

View attachment 174047

It was tough, but mostly very enjoyable. A great way to go out at my favorite race, in Mrs. K's home town! :beercheer:
Holy cow, you were moving! We want to get into Montana to ride more, but towing our trailer with diesel prices right now is holding us back. I'm so impressed!

Targhee has Pierre's Hole which has a 50k race that I have tossed around--but not on the Fuel EX. That being said, I don't do these races to be the fastest but more to prove to myself that I CAN do it. Tick tock on the Top Fuel...I think it will be a more suitable bike for me all around.
 

4ster

Just because you can doesn’t mean you should!
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Sierra & Wasatch
Stats (note level of salt encrustation):
That’s impressive at any age! :thumb:

My competitive MTB career was very short as I ended up in the hospital with a concussion, separated shoulder & a hamburger back. Too bad because I had already passed the heat ahead of mine on the climb & pretty sure I had a good lead on the rest of my group. The last thing I remember was a course worker warning me to take it easy on this DH section & me confidently nodding “yeah, I know”. :doh:
Although tempted a number of times I decided to never race again :huh:

A few random shots from recent rides…
B80AE87D-D27B-4BCF-A935-4A0DA456B1B0.jpeg


7BB39AB0-C75D-4D2D-8884-1F95FC7E0939.gif


Ax-man couldn’t make the ditch of doom
311D1459-67D5-4720-9168-94A00CC96B70.jpeg


NBD for the groms
893F2704-707F-411F-A150-A1FCC34C274A.jpeg


This morning on the slab
AE297E20-1E0F-4723-A438-6C5A1DE57C9B.jpeg
 

Primoz

Skiing the powder
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Slovenia, Europe
So, yeah, we'll see if my short-term amnesia kicks in again next year when these races come around again. I'd be better off volunteering for them, I think.
That being said, it's still fun heading out the gate!
i know it's hard, as you put bib on, it's race mode on, but try to realize you won't be World Champion and just go to race for yourself and race with you, not with people, who have 50 years of training behind them, and who probably spend even nowadays more time on bike in week, then you do in month or even year :) This way you can actually have normal race. And if racing is fun for you, why not do it, even if you are not winning it. Afterall, there's only one person winning race, so it's hard to say he or she is the only one out of few 1000 people who has fun.
I admit I'm just being smartass, as I know there's no way I would do this myself, but that's reason, why I didn't put bib on since I quit my pro career, and hopefully I will keep my promise to never race again in future too. I know that if I would go on race, I have absolutely no chance to win, and I have no wish to go through proper training, with every single training planned year in advance etc., but on the other side, if I would go to race, I would want to win, as that's reason to go to race anyway. So easiest solution is, to say that I did my share of racing, and now I go out on skis, running or on bike for fun. It doesn't mean I don't do intervals that make you puke on the end, but I do them, when I feel it's time for this sort of fun, not because today I have this on program and I have to do them regardless how I feel. For me it's nice, but then again, I had 20+ years of real racing and real training behind, so I somehow came to this, that I did everything possible to be World Champion and it just didn't work out, so I don't have need to prove anything to myself anymore, and that's actually quite a bit of difference compared to someone, who was not racing before. And I don't mean it bad way, so that someone won't misunderstand this.
 

JCF

Out on the slopes
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ME
Finally got out again. Too hot and busy.
LOVE this trail. Love this section. Pic doesn’t show how steep decent on the left (not so much compared to some of the other pics on this thread but plenty for me today) Especially that it ends at a hairpin over a rock wall to a steep uphill.
Whole trail has interesting bits without being too much.
It’s like one of those blue trails that are good for working on technique but only give back as much as much as you put in.
774E81EE-8EFE-44C1-A707-8AD277E22D45.jpeg
 
Thread Starter
TS
nay

nay

dirt heel pusher
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no kidding
Isn’t high altitude mountain biking riding along at 90% and then being able to consistently punch little techy stuff over and over?

There’s a Strava segment in the Steamboat enduro race I did two years ago way out in the Steamboat backcountry called “Will this climb ever end?” As one guy said to us, ”don’t ask questions you don’t want answers to”. You aren’t racing because it’s uphill, but it’s roots or rocks every 10 feet for like an hour straight (if you are fast right otherwise it’s 90 minutes) at just enough pitch that keeps in you what you feel as zone 4 (you are never just riding along for a minute).

Hundreds of little anaerobic punches, there is almost no way to ride that, we saw like one German dude do it with legs that are bigger than my waist. His Strava time was still over 40 minutes.

Which gets to something simple that almost none of us do - a heavy focus on strength training. My son rides a 40 lb brick of a Transition Patrol. You cannot believe how heavy that bike is. Well, you can if you have an e-bike.

He also does a ton of squats and related leg strength work. So when you see him ski or ride a bike, that shows up like crazy. We all just wonder why we are dying when we try to use our aerobic endurance system for work that by nature cannot rely just on that system alone.
 

AmyPJ

Skiing the powder
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Isn’t high altitude mountain biking riding along at 90% and then being able to consistently punch little techy stuff over and over?

He also does a ton of squats and related leg strength work. So when you see him ski or ride a bike, that shows up like crazy. We all just wonder why we are dying when we try to use our aerobic endurance system for work that by nature cannot rely just on that system alone.
Yes to both parts--I neglect strength training because it bores me to tears. And now I no longer have the basement "workout" area with some decent weights. I have been avoiding taking any classes at the gym because gyms are germ factories anyway, and with Covid still out there, I just can't bring myself to get in there and even take classes. So many excuses, with time being one of them (it's all tennis tennis tennis tennis and work work work work.) Biking is an escape for me.

And the riding at 90% and then having to punch over techy stuff--yes, I run out of gas on a lot of it. So yes, some heavy lifting would help. :rolleyes:
 
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Tony S

I have a confusion to make ...
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riding at 90% and then having to punch over techy stuff
I know something about this. I ride in a part of the country where until about five years ago a typical MTB trail consisted of little but "techy stuff," with occasional short respites. I'm no longer a regular racer, but I did learn along the way that 90% is too much. In my case I found that I had to dial it WAY back ahead of techy sections and level out the breathing, etc. Doing so allowed me to blow through with momentum and certainty, provided no over-confident roadies were actually sprawled in the wheelway. This bought me more in the end than pushing on the flats, because lots of people can ride easy stuff.

Another major enabler is knowing the techy sections better than your competitors do. It takes a huge amount of mental energy to guesstimate a line, and huge physical energy if you get it wrong. If you can go in on autopilot that's a major advantage.

Social rides don't prepare you for all this, especially if you are one of the stronger riders in your group. That's because you may go 110% on a difficult pitch, but then you stand around recovering while you wait for your buddies to clean up after their yard sales. Can't do that in a race.
 

Tom K.

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I love Moab-style riding, which often defines what I call low cadence, high torque climbing in tech -- think Deadman's in reverse. I find the biggest help in getting through this techy stuff when you're already nearly on the rivet is:

1. Squats -- and it doesn't take a lot of them.

2. One-legged pedaling drills.
 

AmyPJ

Skiing the powder
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I know something about this. I ride in a part of the country where until about five years ago a typical MTB trail consisted of little but "techy stuff," with occasional short respites. I'm no longer a regular racer, but I did learn along the way that 90% is too much. In my case I found that I had to dial it WAY back ahead of techy sections and level out the breathing, etc. Doing so allowed me to blow through with momentum and certainty, provided no over-confident roadies were actually sprawled in the wheelway. This bought me more in the end than pushing on the flats, because lots of people can ride easy stuff.

Another major enabler is knowing the techy sections better than your competitors do. It takes a huge amount of mental energy to guesstimate a line, and huge physical energy if you get it wrong. If you can go in on autopilot that's a major advantage.

Social rides don't prepare you for all this, especially if you are one of the stronger riders in your group. That's because you may go 110% on a difficult pitch, but then you stand around recovering while you wait for your buddies to clean up after their yard sales. Can't do that in a race.
Dude, yes! All of this. So, imagine that on a trail that isn't super techy but has a lot of climbing, some quite steep, and my HR is already at 90%. The two races I just did ran the same course. And the first 23 minutes were brutal for me in terms of climbing. I hit max HR a couple times on that first segment. Gassed me for the remainder of the 16 miles. 2 miles of max followed by 13.5 miles of up and down on lesser grades but grades nonetheless, with one 3 mileish section of gradual downhill. That course at 8500 feet was too much for this aging person.
I love Moab-style riding, which often defines what I call low cadence, high torque climbing in tech -- think Deadman's in reverse. I find the biggest help in getting through this techy stuff when you're already nearly on the rivet is:

1. Squats -- and it doesn't take a lot of them.

2. One-legged pedaling drills.
I need to work in at least 2 days of strength. Even if I hold my nose and go into the gym and hit the leg press. I was doing 1-legged drills on the stationary bike this spring. My left leg is weaker than my right for sure.
 

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