Winter MTB Training Sessions

A few of the crew from My Mountain went along to the first MTB specific training session at The Spin Room last night to find that Sam had something quite different planned.  The group of us looking to gain some extra winter fitness went along expecting the same smash fest Sam is famous for, but this was to be different. I knew we were in trouble when he told everyone to come to a stop and get off the bikes...

As many of us know, core strength is something that is very helpful to cyclist, however very few actually do anything to train and condition this important aspect of cycling.  This was evident by the amount of us that couldn't stay in the position on the ground that Sam was in while he was talking "yelling" at everyone.  Our homework is to do this every morning before going to work.  2 minutes of core strength to start the day; just what the Dr ordered.  Once back on the bike, I thought we would be back to normal and I could relax, even if only a little.  But that wasn't to be as we then spent around 10 minutes riding with our hands off the bars, and at times holding weights out in front to further work our core muscles.  Not sure if that sounds easy, but you should try it; sitting in the normal riding position with your hands an inch off your bars.  You will be surprised.  It might be hard to get this right without Sarah standing beside you to correct you every time you start to cheat.  Eyes like a hawk!

Now around half way through the session it was time to do a quick threshold test to determine our threshold power that we will be attempting to increase over the next 8 weeks.  After the first session I'm looking forward to seeing what  improvements I can make in a 1 hours spin session per week.  My feeling is that the improvement will be impressive, but I'll keep you posted.


And if you want to join us in our mid-winter fight for fitness,  we are doing this every Thursday night at 7:30 in the North Fitzroy spin room.  Maybe I'll see you there.