my public statement

Status
Not open for further replies.
walter said:
Is puke hill the trail behind the damn, that takes you to the grassy knoll?
If you take it one way its got those steps, and off to the side its got the tight switchbacks?
Click to expand...

No, that new tight swicthback is pretty sweet though. Me and my friends refer to Puke Hill as that long climb after you pass the big shelter. Theres a few benches along the way to taunt you when you can't even breathe. Good stuff.
 
What's Fred run, 32/17? At Round Valley? You guys are just unfair to this kid.
 
Let's get this back ot. jake, have fun and put in more TIS. Norm spoke about the benefits of cycling on your own bike. Not that you want to drop any more coin now, but you might want to consider the trianer option. Mid-March, we start the mornings!
 
normZurawski said:
What's Fred run, 32/17? At Round Valley? You guys are just unfair to this kid.
Click to expand...

Sorry, last OT post. AON is riding geared today.

But getting back to Jake... IMHO whats missing from your rides is you having FUN in the woods. Put the fun back into it and the fitness will follow. You're over-analyzing it.
 
Kirt said:
Sorry to debunk all the MTBNJ experts:

http://www.trainright.com/articles.asp?action=display&uid=832

http://www.singletrackworld.co.uk/article.php?sid=589

Jake keep taking those spin classes.
Click to expand...

Kirt,

The first link is for CTS, which generally has their users riding 7-8 hours/week during the offseason. So throwing in a spin class as 1-2 hours of that won't hurt. And like the article says, it helps you lose weight.

The second article is a guy saying, "I think that...". This is the Internet. You can find people saying they "think" dropping acid will help you ride faster. Hardly a dissertation on the benefits of spin classes.
 
normZurawski said:
Kirt,

The first link is for CTS, which generally has their users riding 7-8 hours/week during the offseason. So throwing in a spin class as 1-2 hours of that won't hurt. And like the article says, it helps you lose weight.

The second article is a guy saying, "I think that...". This is the Internet. You can find people saying they "think" dropping acid will help you ride faster. Hardly a dissertation on the benefits of spin classes.
Click to expand...

The CTS article says more than that:

"Because the workouts are so intense, if you are looking to improve your fitness on the fast track, attend regularly. If you can fit 4 to 6 spin classes into your workout routine each week, within a month you will notice a marked improvement in your fitness level. Not only will you be able to reach the end of the spin class and still be able to see straight, you will likely notice your clothes fitting a bit differently, receive compliments on how great you look and feel more energetic overall. Who couldn’t use a boost to the ego and energy level with winter approaching? Taking a few weeks at the gym to attend spin classes can also give experienced cyclists a jump start into their winter foundation training"

The 2nd is not just the internet. It's 1 of most from a popular magazines in the UK & the writer has some pretty nice credentials:

"Matt Hart from TORQ Performance Consultancy is our resident expert and is ready and waiting to service all your health and fitness needs, so why don't you e-mail him a question to get the ball rolling. About Matt Matt Hart is a former Pro-Elite Mountain Biker, holds a degree in Sports Science and coaches numerous successful riders on the Mountain Bike race circuit. He’s also an established writer on ‘all things fitness’ having produced articles and consulted for FHM Bionic, Men’s Fitness, Shape and the now sadly extinct madformountainbiking.com. Matt can be contacted at matt@torqfitness.co.uk And if you want to see what he does, visit the TORQ website at www.torqfitness.co.uk"
 
Shaggz said:
It doesn't? Sh!t...
Click to expand...


I don’t think you’ve been imagining it Steven, your mates have definitely benefited from their "Spinning" classes (or whatever form of studio cycling they do). Regardless of your personal situation, I feel that one class per week could pay huge dividends to your fitness. If you find it difficult to motivate yourself to cycle on weekdays during the winter, you must try a class. If you only usually cycle at weekends during the winter months, the impact on next summer’s form from two-weekday studio cycle sessions is likely to be phenomenal.
 
spin definitely is a great way to boost cardio and get in shape. there is no doubt to that. it's an excellent offseason semi-crosstraining tool, imo. i just don't think it's cycling specific training.

anything you read on singletrackworld is crap. just ask the guys at http://www.mlehworld.com . not that they're experts on anything aside from slagging each other....


jake, i'm impressed, and a little jealous. based on amount of posts, your little blog here is clearly more popular than mine, which is located here:

http://www.mtbnj.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1219

😀 😀 😀
 
The CTS article doesn't really conflict with anything I think. A jump start into winter foundation is basically early December. Most programs are out of the offseason in early February. I don't think any CTS programs will include 4-6 sessions of spin class. Those articles are basically telling people what to do before they spend their money, ie, get less fat. I agree that losing weight will help you ride better, faster, more efficiently.

As it pertains to Matt Hart, there are plenty of people with equal credentials who would say spinning is fine for weight loss and entry level, but little more. In the article he says once a week, and that "nothing beats the real thing." If Jake is going to work out 4 times a week and include 1 spin class, I don't see anything wrong with that.
 
kirt: I'm putting in 4 days a week on the trainer, and haven't been bored to tears yet. Just not sure if/how the spin class will help, or if it will be consistant with what I am trying to accomplish at this point in time.
 
i haven't checked in on this in a couple days b/c i've been busy. the last two days were crap for me. took sat. off and planned on riding today but had to take my folks to the airport then took the kiddies to the aquarium in point pleasant. nice day, just not for riding.

first off, thanks to all of you...even heythorp. you've all been a great help with this couple day funk. the biggest problem for me is that i forgot. forgot a couple of things, actually.
1. i forgot how long it took me to get to the level that i was lifting at when i started riding. i was a good seven years in, and three of solid training just core power. i should know better, but i forgot. a big problem for me is that i'm used to competing at a high level. i don't like being the mountain lion bait...or close to said bait. i simply don't have enough overall saddle time to justify the gains i want to make. i don't think it's going to matter how hard i push myself b/c i'm probably not going to smoke heythorp up the needle. it should also be noted that i'm not a fat @ss. even when i was 250, i wasn't. i'm literally trying to rewire my body for cardio vs. the strength/power/gym rat that i've been. the body is fighting me on it.
2. i forgot to have fun. the single most important thing. there's no point to any of this if it's not fun.

i've been doing more than just two days on the spin bike...i've been getting at least three with one day on the trail. that's a lot for me considering i could maintain my levels of strength with three trips to the gym a week at an hour a pop. i think this is going to be good for me until it gets a little warmer. then i'll go for more days, more hours, more miles.

until i get to the level i want to be, which by all accounts won't be until the end of next year ( 🙁 ) if you see me on the trail sucking wind...just don't run me over. 😀
 
heythorp said:
there are people at all different levels doing all different things. When you are starting from the begining and overweight, spinning is the best thing you can do to loose the pounds and get a cardio base.

If you want to do that spinning on a spin bike, trainer or out on the raod it doesnt matter. After that is what building a base is. A base level of fitness which some people dont have yet. Jake is one of these people. He needs a base badly.

Many of us here forget where we started from. Many here have been riding for years and years. That base fitness accumulates and is very important. To get a real true base fitness for cycling it takes 3 years.

But when you are where jake is, you just need areobic fitness. Which is why if he was runnning, spin bike, real bike anything really right now is good for him.
Click to expand...

Well said, I couldn't agree more. The only other thing I would say is he should stop the lifting, it doesn't seem like he needs to get any phyiscal stronger. Just pedal!
 
Jake - Like Jeff said I would just concentrate on having fun. I improved a lot last season mainly because I was just enjoying riding. My motivation was hitting that fun drop , trying to pedal through a tough rock garden, hitting a steep roller etc... My goals are more about riding the tough obstacles, getting to them makes me ride more and my fitness improves. Go riding with as many group rides as you can, that helped me a lot. That's just my humble opinion but I'm not going to win no race's either.🙂

Good work with the spin classes that can only help if you can tolerate it.

P.S I've rode once in the last 6 weeks😱
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom