Getting back in the saddle – mountain bike training programme

Since I’ve decided to race in a few legs of the Scottish Cross Country Series this year I suppose I should think about some sort of mountain bike training….

Of course, rather than getting out and doing some exercise I thought it would be far more productive to spend a good couple of hours sitting on my ass researching bike training programmes – far more useful doncha think? Well, the guys over at Bike Radar have put up some good tips which I thought I’d post here as they cover not only the practicalities of training – what, when and how long on the mountain bike – but also an interesting article on how to get motivated to actually go through with it, something which I stuggle with more than the training itself.

Check out the motivation article here: http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/fitness/article/training-get-fit-for-mountain-biking-part-1-25335

To be fair, many of the tips from the mountain biking pros are pretty common sense, but it’s always good to be reminded, and just reading it gave me a bit of a motivation boost so it’s worth a look.

So, once you’ve got your motivation – what to do with it? The second part of the Bike Radar article details some handy tips and a few little games that you can play with your mates when out on the bike just to get you working. The programme they’ve listed at the end looks pretty decent too so I’m gonna have a go at it over the next month in preparation for the Contin leg of the Scottish Cross Country Series on the 25th of April. Have a look here for the programme itself: http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/fitness/article/training-get-fit-for-mountain-biking-part-2-25374

I’d love to hear of any other training programmes that people have found useful for their mountain bike fitness. I tend to get bored pretty easily so I’ll no doubt be tired of the Bike Radar one within a fortnight!

[tags] mountain, bike, biking, training, programme[/tags]