Stepping it up to National Level

[downhillingdemon]

loosing Saturday to stick my head down trial pits

one can only wonder what that might be

is that a dropper post or suspension on your HT? i am curious about both...

You probably don't want to know about trial pits, it's rather dull. I will stick a few photos up when I get them off my camera though!

It's a gravity dropper - I'd not use any other type of dropper post now, well, not until the others catch up with reliability and ease of maintenance. I certainly can't do without it for riding, most of my trails are long up, long down kind of jobs and it's just super to be able to get the saddle right out of the way for techy descents/drops etc. I ride with it down a lot actually, even when milling round town etc. Everything is so much easier without a saddle in the way!

Saturday
Rest day

Sunday
A last minute change of venue to a muddy Ribbesford left me rather apprehensive. Last time, it wasn't the best of rides. Too many roots on too many awkward corners, and that was in the dry.

This time though, I couldn't believe how confident I felt in the mud, over the roots, in general. Even the first roll down was ok, and after that, I just got quicker and quicker through the singletrack. I put it down to partly being a far better rider than last time and having a wet scream up front. The biggest factor though, an I-pod. Calm, dark music silences the white noise of bike, windrush, inner monotone and leaves just surreal focus.



Of course, the best bit of the day, as always, was the company. Such a great group of riders out, including a new vegan face in the form of Rex, who took the change from his normal rigid-singlespeed trail centre riding to full-suss DH all in his stride, even with a non-existent front brake. Paul, Johnstuff and Jarmonkeys deserve special mention for hitting the big doubles, despite the mud. goog was flying as per normal, until stopping to set up the DSLR with flash. His pictures just keep getting better and better.

This is Johnstuff styling it up as always!


The day for will remain immortalised in one photograph though....



Picture taken by Johnstuff, this is Jarmonkeys on an epic tactical dismount after a slightly overcooked run-in. Jarmonkeys, as always, bounced like a child and survived without a scratch.

[bob_summers]

i dread to think which bit hit the dirt first. good to know he was OK, nothing's much worse than a ride that ends up with waiting for the ambulance/chopper.

i like the idea of dropper posts, certainly. i have tried to convince myself they are a bit unnecessary and i can't justify the price, but every time (and especially after having ridden up and down for 3hrs already and you just want to get home) i drop my seat for what looks like a descent but ends up going up again, these post seem cheaper

what do you think about not dropping the post? i know some folk reckon it's not needed, but last time i did a techy descent with the post up, i got whacked in the nuts then went over the bars...

[fredrikw]

there are two schools here, of which I tend to adhere to the HTFU and learn to descend properly if a majority of your time on the bike is spent climbing I'd definitely give priority to the weight issue as well. on the other hand, if the climbing is just transportation on tarmac, and the fun riding is descending then it's another issue. personally I try to find as gnarly and technical ascents as possible, that where the fun is

sorry for jumping in with my lycra thoughts in a DH log

[Johnstuff]

Lookin' good there DHD! I love Ribbesford, can't wait to go there when it's dry!


IMO the seat dropping thing...depends on what trail/terrain you're gonna ride. Anything with bigger jumps/drops I'd always have a low seat. I chopped down my seat post to allow me to run my saddle lower on my DH bike and it made a huge improvement, I hadn't realised how my high seat had limited my movement. Mainly so when I jump I can move my weight around the bike to correct for any problems, eg. if you feel you're gonna go over the bars you can quickly move your weight back to correct. You could still move your weight back with a higher seat but there is more chance of catching your shorts/trousers on the seat and you could get a seat in the chest if you land worng. Basically I think jumping is far safer with a low saddle.
If you wanna ride up hill for any distance then a higher saddle is obviously better for pedaling.

Having said that, I'm often suprised at how high a lot of DHers seem to have their saddles. I do come from a trials bakground though where the norm is no seat or a very low one.

[downhillingdemon]

:shock:

i dread to think which bit hit the dirt first. good to know he was OK, nothing's much worse than a ride that ends up with waiting for the ambulance/chopper.

i like the idea of dropper posts, certainly. i have tried to convince myself they are a bit unnecessary and i can't justify the price, but every time (and especially after having ridden up and down for 3hrs already and you just want to get home) i drop my seat for what looks like a descent but ends up going up again, these post seem cheaper

what do you think about not dropping the post? i know some folk reckon it's not needed, but last time i did a techy descent with the post up, i got whacked in the nuts then went over the bars...

Heh heh - he actually landed stomach down on the transition and kind of slid out of it as far as I know! It's a huge double really - the take off is actually out of shot to left!

What do I think about not dropping the post? Well, I used to be hardcore 'I'm not dropping my seat, I can get down just as well with it up'. As the terrain I was riding became steeper, and my over-the-bars moments/bike entanglements increased, I realised I had to follow the guys who's riding I most admired, and forced myself to get used to riding without the saddle there. I didn't learn how to do a drop-off properly until I dropped my saddle and was no longer restricted in my body movements. I can now do one with my saddle up, but I'd rather not if the option to get the saddle out of the way is there. Like John says, it's amazing how much your body movements in the air can alter a dodgy take-off.

All the best descenders I know drop their saddle. That's not to say I wouldn't leave it up though, depending on the situation. If I was racing XC on undulating XC trails then I wouldn't bother as the time lost/weight penalty would probably counter easier descending. Additionally, due to the number of riders (well in the few XC races I have had experience of), you tend to get stuck behind people who are slow to descend anyway, unless you can pull a dodgy overtaking move out of the bag. XC racing is won on hills and flat, never descents, so having saddle in the way wouldn't make much difference.

However, there is the new breed of 'gravity enduro' racing that is developing in the UK, I'd certainly run a GD/drop the seat for that as the main timed competition is based around technical descending speed. There is no way you can descend quickly AND safely over technical terrain with numerous drops and steeps with a saddle hitting you in the stomach. How are you supposed to make the most of your natural suspension if you can't actually bend your legs completely and allow the bike to move underneath you fully?

So as Fredrik says, it's really a seperate issue if you are racing/training for XC to if you are riding to descend as quickly as possible and the rest is all just a means to getting to the top.

The gravity dropper is really a small weight penalty which allows the best of both worlds for me

sorry for jumping in with my lycra thoughts in a DH log

You're very welcome, it's not all DH here you know. I do pedal sometimes and even, once, was alright at techy climbs (although I admit, I hate techy climbing on a HT with a passion so have got very lazy now!)

Lookin' good there DHD! I love Ribbesford, can't wait to go there when it's dry!.

Nor me, I might even brave some of them doubles in the dry! It's gonna be sooooo fast in the summer

Training
None at the moment - worked too long Tuesday and have come down with a stinking cold today - I do have to go to site tomorrow and it right pisses me off that I am well enough to go to work, but not well enough to get to the gym

*is unbelievably grumpy and vile today*

[downhillingdemon]

Thursday - Gym
Unfortunately, there was no avoiding site today, no matter how rotten I felt with my cold. Luckily I was done relatively early and spent the afternoon in the warm writing reports. By 5:00 pm I was getting really annoyed that I was well enough to go to work, but not really to go to the gym. So I thought 'stuff it', downed some painkillers and went anyway. Pretty pleased I did - wasn't a spectacular session, of course, but I did manage to churn out the 5x5 on squats I wanted. That certainly cheered up my evening!

Warm up on treadmill - 12 minutes

Squats - Cycle 2, Week 2
Free: 15, 15
Bar: 5, 5
25 kg: 5
35 kg: 5
42.5 kg: 5, 5, 5, 5, 5

Pull Ups
Warm up - bar rows
Pulls - 2, 2, 1, 1 - second double was much easier than last week which is good, considering the circumstances tonight!

Lat Pulls
3 block - 15
5 block - 12
6 block - 12, 12

Inverted Sit Ups
16, 16

Roman Chair
10, 10

Press Ups
10, 10

Ha! Take that nasty cold bug.

As a note, interesting thing I noticed with squats when warming up....I felt much more comfortable in my right leg and could go really deep. I put this down to the osteopath session I had on Monday evening. To be honest, I was going to withhold judgement about how successful it had been as I have been stung by a quack (aka a chiropractor!!) in the past and thought it may take longer than one appointment. However, the session had covered much more ground than a few minutes of cracking bones. It was a really quite gentle session, but I did feel like it had made a difference straight away, mainly because walking felt a bit funny! I thought that may have been psychological, however, Tuesday I really started to get DOMS in my back and felt like I had been deadlifting the day before. It was a real shock as I didn't think the session had been 'rough' enough to do that. Anyway, Sandra (who is also a riding buddy of mine and a lovely lady) worked a fair bit on my right hip/side to get it mobilised again. I really felt a difference tonight.

[downhillingdemon]

Friday
Rest day

Saturday
Upton-upon-Severn was soon to be Upton-under-Severn, again.

BigGoodWolf set a challenge on the STW forum to get a picture of your bike by a bridge. What a brilliant idea to motivate people to get out and explore new places! So we went for an easy pedal. I knew my recovering lungs wouldn't thank me for pushing them up hill, so headed down to the valley floor on a bridge hunt, bridleway assessment mission....and to gawk at the flood barriers going up in Upton-on-Severn. Considering they said we were in for heavy rain, we were pretty lucky with the weather. Stormy skies and gales, but no rain for the time we were out. Lots of mud though. It was a proper 'soul' ride and made me very happy

A bridge


Going under a bridge.....ok, it was a wee bit deeper than I was expecting...... *cries for premature death of poor bearings*



Bridleway hunting



Another bridge


Oh, and of course, the flood barriers


Sunday
My nextdoor neighbour decided to continue the ongoing noise saga and have an all-night party. I wont go into details, other than to say it took me screaming blue murder at the top of my lungs, at 4 am before they turned the music down.

Two hours sleep is not conducive to a good day's riding, but we still had a reasonable time milling around on the DH runs at the FoD. I took the hardtail, good job too, as I was struggling with bad habits developed from riding the big bike too much recently. Didn't take too long to get me back over the front of the bike and start to ride properly again. Last run of Ski-Run went particularly well, notably so considering the conditions. We tried to grab a space on the uplift, but had to watch as it pulled out of the centre full with day passes. The push back up in torrential rain wasn't appealing when so tired from lack of sleep, so we cut our losses, packed up and headed home.

Monday
Goodness gracious me.

An early finish!

Headed out on the hills around 3 pm and suffered my way to the top of the Beacon. Stormed the descent, only to flat straight after. Spent far too long repairing the tyre only to realise I hadn't bothered to bring the lights, so had to stay close to home. Turned out to be beneficial as I picked up a smashing little bridleway with an easy road climb to regain the height lost.

Had a further session with Sandra the Osteopath in the evening. Deep massage and cracking of bones really helped release a good deal of tension from my back. Felt as light as air walking back to the car.

Tuesday - Gym

Sluggish after a long day i so n the office so beasted myself a bit on the warm-up.
12 min run
10 min cycle

Bench
Struggling for a workout plan at the moment so went the high rep route today. It hurt. I need a plan ASAP.

20 kg bar: 10, 10
25 kg: 10
32.5 kg: 10, 10, 10 - last rep was a real fight as the bar tipped back on the way up. It was probably a good job there was no spotter as I had to push it through or look face looking like an eegjit!

Shoulder Press
I was a bit done in after benching so spent ages working with hand positioning trying to find a good one that took some pressure off my left elbow when push pressing. After four sets of 6 with the bar, I figured I should probably just wait until I have chance to look up good PP form on the internerd.

Funnily though, strict press doesn't put anywhere near the same pressure on my elbow.

Light bar: 10, 10
20 kg Bar: 6, 6, 6, 6
Strict press 22.5 kg: 5, 5

[downhillingdemon]

Wednesday - Nightride

Cold, frosty, still trails were eaten up by my sore, but still strong feeling, legs. Imaginary stalkers then chased me back - no-one would've got near catching me on the 500 meters to home

[downhillingdemon]

Thursday - Rest Day
Was planning on resting Friday, but for some unexplained reason (maybe the oestopath work??) my knees were really sore all day. Didn't fancy risking a heavy squat session on dodgy knees and also had period pains from hell, so it was an easy decision not to go to the gym.

Friday - Gym
Warm-up
10 mins on treadmill

Squats - week 3 of cycle 2 with 5x5
I was a bit unnerved about these. I was unsure about the weight...doubting myself right until the first set was finished. Once I knew how it was gonna feel, the rest were relatively easy to churn out. 3rd and 4th sets were a bit messy though - got depth, but lost the tension in my core and noticed feeling a bit unstable toward the end of the sets. 5th set felt good though!

Warm up whilst waiting for cage:
Free squats: 10, 10
25lb plate held on chest: 10, 10 - amazing how deep I can get with these after watching that vid about goblet squats. Right down
on my heels!
Bar: 5
30 kg: 5
37.5 kg: 5
45 kg: 5, 5, 5, 5, 5

Set 2


Set 3


Set 4


Set 5


Pull ups
Warm up - rows
2 (and a half ), 2, 2, 1, 1

Lat Pulls
4 block: 10
5 block: 10
7 block: 4
6 block: 14, 14

Inverted sit ups
15
With crossed arms: 10, 10

Press-ups 10, 10, 10

[downhillingdemon]

Saturday - Nightride

Short pootle to get my legs spinning and try and ease the DOMS. The MHC have spent time hacking down trees and scrub on the North Hill switchbacks. I know I 'should' be upset, but I admit it has returned one of the nicest trails to an alpine-style cruise and I loved every second of not having to fight the vegetation.

Noticed that I was American-style bunnyhopping over drainage channels with ease tonight. That was something I never thought would happen running flats.

[downhillingdemon]

Sunday - DH Day
Had a cracking day at hopton on the big bike n goog n Johnstuff. Trail riding was going really well, although I admit my jumping technique left a little to be desired on occasion! Still, it was just another day of feeling happiness at being able to whizz about on muddy trails with enough confidence to really enjoy every moment.

Monday - Jedi Training Day
I'm going to write this up as a blog entry on it's own, so won't say too much here other than it's suffice to say it was, yet again, more than worth the money (and the long journey) to get tuition off of the best coach I have ever come across.

Here's a link to Jedi's blog write up for the day.
http://ukbikeskills.blogspot.com/2011/0 ... yself.html

Tuesday - Recovery
One thing I didn't mention was the not-so-small crash I had on Monday when I failed to make a decision on landing area until it was too late I ended up with two bruised knees, a bit of lower back pain, but an fair bit of shoulder and neck pain. Nothing major that painkillers wouldn't ease, but certainly major enough to need time off riding and the gym.

Wednesday, Thursday - Scotland
A 1000 mile round trip to fit in an urgent survey for work, oh, and some Scottish trails...Woot!. The shoulder was easing off nicely by the time I met up with my local guide at 9:30 on the Thursday morning. Good job too, as the pace was way higher than I am used to, and the trails very much more pedally. YET AGAIN I failed to change the DH tyre on the front. Big mistake for the undulating black grade I was shown - or the climb up, especially as my front mech was sticking and I was stuck without the granny ring if I tried to change down at short notice. TBH, first trip down the gulley monster I was all over the place, partly because of the bike, but mostly because of the huge drop to the left hand side.....how I love being scared out of my wits by my fear of fallling.
Still, I was particularly proud of myself as I realised I was more than capable of making far better work of the trail if I stopped thinking about the drop so got BJ to take me around again. I enjoyed it a lot more that time although the short sharp up's were still killing me. We ended with a trip down the blue run where I was pedalling as hard as possible, and still watching BJ disappear. Still had an awesome time, despite being as slow as a snail - the berms on the blue at Fochabers are lovely, perfectly placed works of art, and the jumps with endless transitions were so much fun. The trail pixies have worked wonders, and it's tragically under threat due to resource shortages.



I was totally beating myself up for my lack of trail fitness and skills, but I've come to realise there is a very good reason for these things, namely that I have been focusing on DH training, and ultimately (right now, anayway) I want to use my limited training time to become as fast as possible on the DH trails. My bike is also set up for DH and that's not likely to change in a hurry. I'd love a 140 mm trail fs for pedally days out.....but these days make up less than 10% of the riding we do and I just don't have the funds. It has given me a kick up the arse to get some XC tyres sorted for the HT, as that will at least make the pedalling easier when I do decide to use it for trails.

Friday - Rest
Shoulder still not 100% for weights, so decided to just hang on and go back to the gym next week

Saturday - XC
Tyre testing and pedalling work. I was amazed, although not surprised, at the difference running a lighter tyre on the front made. I ended climbing the Beacon in the 32 ring (rather than the granny like normal!). The Nobby Nic I had borrowed though, that wasn't nice at all on the downs. Squirmy, unpredictable and easily flatted. After an hour of very hard work (of which I have no record as I forgot to press 'start' on the Garmin ) I rode straight to the bike shop to purchase a single skinned Maxxis Hi Roller. That'll sort it. Hopefully!

Oh, and I found out via Alex's lovely Iphone application that the head angle of my HT is currently.....wait for it....somewhere between 64 and 65 degrees. No wonder it rides like a barge unless it is going down a very steep hill

[Alistar]

Bummer about your crash. Lucky you don't seem too injured though, but sometimes those niggles can take awhile to sort.

Yeah tyres can make a huge difference on the uphills especially if your new tyres weigh half as much as your old ones. Had these 800g (ea!) XC mud tyres and replaced them with some weighing under half that! But the newer ones although great if its dry, are crap if its muddy, or you're riding on wet clay,gravel etc so I need to get some better alrounders at some stage too My old ones are quite good for those conditions but just too heavy...

[bob_summers]

very very jealous of your skills coaching. you're looking super smooth in his videos, worth the effort and money, i;d say.

great rock (ed oxley) is doing a skillz week here in july. it's £700 inc accommodation

[Mr. Cleetus]

Every time I have a look at your log it simultaneously scares the #$%^ of me and inspires me.

Thats great about the skills coaching - there should hopefully be some coming up for me in the next few weeks!

[Frostfire]

Your log is amazing, keep up the posts! I loved the vids and I hope your feeling better after the crash!