Alternate MTB Options

pixychick

JORBA: Ringwood
JORBA.ORG
With the recent weather causing some questionable conditions on the trails and spring mud season growing closer, I thought I might start a thread for some alternate activity ideas.

Many people train indoors, but all indoor training does not satisfy everyone. Tell us what you do and why? Do you ride the road, hike, snowshoe, or Xc ski? Maybe it will give others some ideas, and help them enjoy their winter more.
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
For me there are a bunch of different things I do to shake it up:

* Stay on the mountain bike, but travel. Is it too icy? Travel south. Too soupy? Travel north.
* If it's just bad everywhere, ride your mountain bike out of your house. Check out soem local fields, maybe find a powerline or railroad access road to play on, or some old dirt roads that get you outside at least. I can loop together some boy scout trails and dirt roads enough that it's bearable just so long as it's not too often.
* Or do the above on a cross bike.
* Or take the cross bike on the road when the conditions are sloppy
* Or just the road bike, an obvious option but for the sake of completeness I'll mention it.
* Or the road bike on the trainer, which you say is not thrilling
* Or jog
* Or walk

I think there are a lot of ways to stay active this time of year. I think you should also hedge towards living for today at this time of year. In the summer, sure, you can put off a ride for tomorrow or the next day because you get the weather for it. But if you put off a ride yesterday you might not get the weather for it starting tonight. Don't procrastinate this time of year. Take what you have.
 

UtahJoe

Team Workhorse
Team MTBNJ Halter's
I have been going to the gym 4-5 days a week for the month. Sounds boring, and it def. is compaired to biking. However, interval training makes it go by quickly.
 

pixychick

JORBA: Ringwood
JORBA.ORG
Not much can replace mountain biking, and being outdoors. But I love the trails in NJ enough that I don't enjoy riding them when conditions are really bad, ...like slopfest. That's when I find another activity. These are some things I do:

Finding a different park that may have better conditions is a good bet, but I like to watch my footprint and try not to travel far everyday, or more than once a week if possible.

Riding with studded tires can be fun and give me a quick fix, but even that gets old.

XC skiing is fun, but you need enough fresh or soft snow.

Road riding works well, especially when above 22 degrees and enough room on the shoulder. I try posting group rides to make it more fun and more visible to cars. Hills, hills, hills to keep warm, fit and the mind engaged on something other than the wheel ahead. Two great things about the road: many can ride from home and great fitness benefits.

Even if the roads are not in great shape, I will take a mtb bike to the Dunkerhook bike path. There are quite a few bike paths and rail trails in NJ: henry hudson and sussex branch are two I can think of.

Most importantly, I try to enjoy whatever the winter brings. That in itself can be a challenge, and I am reminded how much I love the summer, and that is a good thing. Four weeks to daylight savings!:)
 

clarkenstein

JORBA Board Member/Chapter Leader
JORBA.ORG
this time of year stinks for me - i'm never home and i work real long hours, so i spend most of my time doing indoor workouts at whatever hotel i'm staying at.

on sundays i'm usually home, so i'll try to get out for either an urban ride or a trail ride, or to ski or surf. i'll pick whatever i can do based on what thing has the best conditions, and takes the least amount of time to do. if the bike trails are ice, but there's surf i can handle, i'll surf. if theres good snow and no surf, i'll try to ski. if the trails stink, there's no surf, and the snow stinks, i'll urban ride.

if none of that works i'll go for a walk.

or just drink a few beers and not worry about it as best i can.
 

Ian F

Well-Known Member
For the past few years, this time of year for me was spent in the garage taking some car apart and putting it back together... and despite my wishes to the contrary, this usually dragged out until mid-spring or Summer and I ended up barely riding at all... :mad:

Prior to being sucked into that, I would telemark ski during the Winter... My hope is that for 2010 my budget will allow me to do that again. This year, I'm stuck on the indoor trainer and my small free-weight collection.

Back when I was racing DH, I tried doing an urban ride with some friends... but decided I'm too old to be running from cops and that riding urban is a really good way to break stuff...
 

tonyride

Don't piss off the red guy
I just go to the gym and move metal around 3 days a week. I also get on the elliptical for some cardio workout. I also head north for some alpine skiing.
 

pooriggy

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Most importantly, I try to enjoy whatever the winter brings. That in itself can be a challenge, and I am reminded how much I love the summer, and that is a good thing. Four weeks to daylight savings!:)

I agree.
I mix up the activities: Road bike, XC ski, tele ski, plyometric excersises, chop wood, beat wife(kidding, I don't condone beating wife, only kids:D).
 

capedoc

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
my girlfriend and I sea kayak all year round. was too muddy to ride yesterday so we where out on the water. Large chunks of ice floating around everywhere..it was cool. Also, a few seals surfaced near our boats.

Sea kayaking in the winter is great because there's is virtually no larger vessels around. The inlets are clear and you don't put your life in jeopardy crossing the Intercoastal.


kayak3.jpg

KAYAK6.jpg
 

Steve Vai

Endurance Guy: Tolerates most of us.
My winter isn't very different than my summer. My riding is pretty consistent all year long, I don't mind the cold. I will ride the trainer if it's raining, or too icy, or for whatever other reason I need to. I also do a strength workout 3 days a week, again, not any different than summer.

-Jim.
 

VanDbtRiver

Well-Known Member
lately it's the weight room with an emphasis on core. I am eager to see how the core will take care of me in the upcomming season.
 

RNG1

Well-Known Member
This has been a tough stretch for me between busy with work and weather. I have been just managing to maintain with early morning spin classes,indoor training,floor exercises concentrating on core stuff and when I have actually been able to get outside but weather wasn't great I've been running.if anyone wants to start a once a week night ping pong thing I am down, great for reaction time and you sweat if you're into it.the problem is like tennis you need to find people who play at a similar level.
 

pooriggy

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
my girlfriend and I sea kayak all year round. was too muddy to ride yesterday so we where out on the water. Large chunks of ice floating around everywhere..it was cool. Also, a few seals surfaced near our boats.

Sea kayaking in the winter is great because there's is virtually no larger vessels around. The inlets are clear and you don't put your life in jeopardy crossing the Intercoastal.


kayak3.jpg

KAYAK6.jpg

That is sooo cool! I want to get into sea kayaking, I took a lesson and rented a sea kayak at LBI over summer and want to get a kayak.
Do you roll your kayak in the winter? Where did you see seals?
Nice kayaks:)
 

Kmoodymz3

New Member
Cool sea Kayak pics! That looks like fun.

If I can't find a clean trail but roads are ok, I'll ride the roads. Sandy Hook is great in winter, NO traffic and the wildlife is abundant. Saw 100's of shore birds, some hunting hawks, and a couple of seals yesterday.

If I can't get out I have a Tacx Fortius virtual reality trainer that is really fun. Kind of like riding a video game. Makes an hour or two on the trainer go by fast.
 

capedoc

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
That is sooo cool! I want to get into sea kayaking, I took a lesson and rented a sea kayak at LBI over summer and want to get a kayak.
Do you roll your kayak in the winter? Where did you see seals?
Nice kayaks:)

Yes, we roll our sea kayaks in the winter. When wearing a drysuit, a neoprene hood and 5mm neoprene gloves, the cold water isn't really that bad...And it's only a quick refreshing dip and then you are back up. Capsizing in the surf, being caught off guard can be a bit uncomfortable in 30º water though. Without a drysuit, it's hypothermia all the way!

Right now most of the seals are hanging out in a cove down near Little Egg Harbor, Tuckerton NJ. When I was paddling there a couple weeks ago, there had to have been over 100 of them. This seems to be a popular wintering spot as they are abundant there every year from late November till April. Seals are very curious and will surface very close to you. They are big and can sometimes be quite startling. I also encounter seals in Sandy Hook Bay and the Manasquan River. They are a lot more common in New Jersey than most people are aware.
 
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don

Well-Known Member
Not much can replace mountain biking, and being outdoors. But I love the trails in NJ enough that I don't enjoy riding them when conditions are really bad, ...like slopfest. That's when I find another activity.

Most importantly, I try to enjoy whatever the winter brings. That in itself can be a challenge, and I am reminded how much I love the summer, and that is a good thing. Four weeks to daylight savings!:)

I totally agree. The winter has some great things that are specific to it. Might as well enjoy them and when spring hits you have a little extra motivation to get on the trails.

Here is my list:

Ice Hockey - I play in an old man/nervous novice league outside 2x week. Not a 'work out' which I typically dislike but I am so spent after each shift that I can barely get my legs over the board. Helps on the reacion time a lot. Being on the ice under the stars is amazing and the gameplay is a blast.

Snowboarding - My other outdoor love I've been doing since '86. Helps you with the 'pick a line' thinking especially when riding trees. Get a lap in at the park for working on air stuff. Riding deep pow on good terrain is like riding the most amazing singletrack ever. Hopefully 20 days in this year which isn't great but decent for an old family man.

Dig/Build - Like FFT mentioned. I got hours in until mid-Jan. Digging is best when it's on the really wet side.

Paddle Tennis - Mostly my wife's sport but I've been farting around with it. It's outside and keeps you thinking but I suck at racket sports. It's fun to spend an afternoon playing in the cold when the ground outside the courts are a mess.

With that being said I'm jonesing really bad for a trip out to Cleveland :D
 

jimjo

New Member
my girlfriend and I sea kayak all year round. was too muddy to ride yesterday so we where out on the water. Large chunks of ice floating around everywhere..it was cool. Also, a few seals surfaced near our boats.

Sea kayaking in the winter is great because there's is virtually no larger vessels around. The inlets are clear and you don't put your life in jeopardy crossing the Intercoastal.


kayak3.jpg

KAYAK6.jpg

thats sweet how hard is it to paddle efficiently with the wooden paddles? i would think that it would be a lot more work than some of the new fangled engineered carbon fiber ones...

i spent a long weekend in paddling in acadia last september... had a blast... waiting for the funds to get a boat..
 

Ian F

Well-Known Member
thats sweet how hard is it to paddle efficiently with the wooden paddles? i would think that it would be a lot more work than some of the new fangled engineered carbon fiber ones...

i spent a long weekend in paddling in acadia last september... had a blast... waiting for the funds to get a boat..

I'm by no means an experienced paddler... but during the few times I have paddled my friend's CLC CH17LT, I've used both the fancy-dancy paddle he bought when building the boat and then the wooden Aleut style paddle he made himself. When I finally get my baidarka built, I can only imagine using the wooden paddle. It just seemed better to use.
 
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