Rocky Balboa. The Karate Kid. Kevin Bacon in Footloose.
“Push it to the Limit” fades in as the sweat drips.
Training is very serious business.
C’mon…that’s movie stuff! Fun movie stuff, sure; but let’s call it what it is in real life: PRACTICE. Race car drivers. Musicians. The bad boy of professional bowling Pete Weber. Do you think they’ve always been that good? No way.
There you go. Hop to it! I hope you’ve enjoyed this week’s blog post. PrAcTiCe, PrAcTiCe, PrAcTiCe.
…
I guess I haven’t really said anything so far that isn’t a little obvious to most of us, so how about this if you want to get a little more specific in your trai…I mean if you want a few things to practice:
Technical Skills
Riding off road more often will definitely improve your confidence, but I would also recommend riding new trails. Expose yourself to a variety of trail conditions (loose soil, hardpacked dirt and clay, sand, rocks, roots, etc) and pay attention to how they affect your momentum, handling, and braking. Maybe hit tricky sections a few times.
Trust your tires! Modern rubber compounds, tubeless setups, and low tire pressures mean there is often more grip available to us. On a familiar trail or section of trail, try braking just a little bit less than usual, and leaning the bike over just a little bit more to increase cornering speeds. Keep in mind that any braking inputs must be replaced with energy from your legs to get back up to speed.
Is there a stubborn rock or root that keeps tripping you up? Practice unweighting the front wheel as you approach it, either by shifting your weight back, briefly pulling up on the bars, or a combination of both. Anything you can do to try and maintain that momentum!
*Fast riders: all this stuff applies to you too. We can all benefit from mastering the basics.
Hydration and Nutrition
Hydration is pretty straight forward: a good rule of thumb for longer rides is one bottle of water (20-25oz) per hour but you may want to bump that up a bit if it’s hot. For technical trails you may opt for a hydration pack to avoid reaching down and grabbing a bottle.
Nutrition comes into play on rides over an hour or two. Most sports nutrition options will be either drink mixes, gels/chews, or real food (bars, baked goods, etc). Sensitive stomachs may be best served by real food that you know will settle well, but gels and drink mixes (particularly those with a lot of carbohydrates) do offer a convenience factor. Nutrition requirements vary a lot from person to person, so you’ll just have to…practice!
Clothing Choice
This is a good one to take notes on. For an individual ride, make note of the temperature, what you wore, and if you were hot, cold, or just nailed it. Eventually you’ll build up a map/list/spreadsheet of what works well for a given temperature range. Longer rides, especially those starting early in the morning, may require layers to transition from one temperature zone into another. This is pretty straight forward in the summer, but can be really challenging to get right in early November…
Now for the fun part! Blog post over. No amount of YouTube videos, equipment upgrades, or 80’s movies montages will actually make you a better rider without a little practice. So make some room in your schedule, hit the trail, and push it to the limiiiiiit…
Thank you to Aaron Schutter @aaron_two_tired for being our 2026 Iceman Cometh Challenge Trailblazer