Went mt bike riding today

[Vicki]

I went mt bike riding today at Huntsville State Park (just north of Houston) and I had a blast. But I have been noticing that there are way too few women riding compared to men. Today I only saw 2 serious women riders compared to about 15 men. It is that way at other trails too. The guys that ride with my husband have wifes or girlfriends that don't ride. Oh well I don't care. I'm going to ride as much as possible. My husband is planning on riding his first race in Sept. I think I may just try it too. I don't know how well I will do but I think it will be fun.

Any advise on training for a race other than just get out there and practice and practice?
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"Life is too short, just get out and ride."

[Dogmama]

Good for you for getting out there and doing it!!!

I play on my mt bike, I'm more of a roadie, but I can give you some general tips. This is how I train for a century:

Progressive overload - do a little more each week and be sure to recover between sessions. If hills are a problem, train hills and make sure that you give yourself recovery time in between. The time between sessions is when your muscles, tendons, ligaments repair & get stronger. If aerobic fitness is a problem, do intervals. Spinning classes are great interval training. Don't do more than two sessions of interval training each week and be sure to space them apart.

The week before, taper off. The last three to five days should be light to no-riding and carb loading. Especially the night before, be sure to eat something high carb and easy on the stomach. Not too much, or you won't sleep.

Race day you'll find the adrenalin helps you get over the hills & scream down the trails.

Most important tip = HAVE FUN!

[han-grrl]

Hi Vicki

this is my first year racing. i am doing an evening series here at the local hills. This is what i have learned.

the race is your ride. forget about placing and how other people are doing. just try your best.

the goal of your first race is to finish only. safely. that means if you feel uncomfortable doing a section get off your bike and run! it is best to keep moving either walking/running your bike or pedalling slowly.

just because you can do a trail in non race mode doesn't mean come race day it will be the same thing. nerves and adrenaline are higher you are trying to go faster, which mean sometime messing up on technical sections you might be new at...but ABSOLUTELY do not doubt your ability if you must run with your bike. A good racer knows when you are better off OFF your bike than riding. i was having trouble on a climb so i got off my bike, some guy came up riding and i was actually travelling at the same pace as he was OFF my bike and feeling less strain in the process.

race is considered high intensity so the next day you should rest (or active rest, zone 1)

as for training: how fit are you? a good "recipe" i have learned from an ex-racer is this:
1-2 days zone 1 days (do 1 day if you have a good cardio base or 2 if you are very fit already)
each of these followed by rest day or yoga
these days should be at LEAST 3 hours of long slow riding, you should be able to talk while doing it pace. this builds up your cardio

1-2 days of intensity (zone 4-5; do 2 days if you are very fit, 1 day if you are just starting out)
each of these days followed by a zone 1 active rest
a real nice intensity work out is doing 1 minute of hard followed by 1 minute recovery, this could be a hill or just going full out. do this for 1, 2, 3, 4, 3, 2, 1 minutes.

1 day of Play riding, zone 3 having fun ride. you need these other wise everything else will start not being so fun.

Good luck and happy riding!

Hannah

[han-grrl]

Hi Viciki

i decided to post on this subject separately. The ratio of men to women at provinical cup races at the elite level is USUALLY about 2:1

at the races that i do there are usually about 8 women to about 80 men. Women typically feel intimidated by this type of sport and especially racing.

I teach women on mtb clinics here and it is very inspiring to see a new group of riders. We had one weekend with over 60 women! Aged from 20-50! it was awesome.

remember now that you have discovered the sport, you can grab your girl friends and go riding too! there are also some women mtb groups around, perhaps there is one in your area. you might need to surf the net for that.

just some tidbits to think about...

happy riding

Hannah

[Vicki]

Thanks for the advice Dogmama and Han-grrl
I am going to try it. I did the spinning yesterday, I had never really done that before. I liked it. I've been doing sprints too. I think they will help.

I hope to go mt.bike riding this weekend. I am really very slow but I have a good time. I just need to keep practicing.

I don't have any girlfriends that are into riding. I wish I did. The friends that I have told about my riding think I am crazy for riding that much or that far. Little do they know how much fun it is. Maybe the more I ride, I will someday find someone who likes to ride as much as I do (on the road and mt.) . My husband likes to ride with me but I know he also loves to ride with his buddies. It seems to be much easier for men to find riding buddies than women to find riding buddies. I will just have to keep looking.

Vicki