Integrating fun and fitness Chris Kilmurray

-BOOT CAMPWhen it comes to building itness, we often keep things too rigid and fall into the trap of scientism – thinking that there’s only one proven way to achieve a goal. We need to remember that the main reason most of us ride bikes is for enjoyment and that itness comes second. But in trying to eke out the most enjoyment from your riding, you may ind that itness – or lack thereof – holds you back. Here are three ways to make getting it more fun!

1TIMEDRUNS

Timing yourself (and your friends) on your favourite trail can be a massive motivator and can mean you get speci ic itness gains out of the simple pleasure of riding fast. Whether you want to use Strava, a stopwatch, a helmet camera or a fully ‘pro’ timing system, it doesn’t matter – as long as it’s reliable! I’d recommend using a piece of trail that takes at least two minutes to ride, if possible with a mix of pedalling and technical riding. Make a personal leaderboard for both dry and wet conditions, and enjoy pushing your limits.

2REPETITION

The classic kids’ approach. Find a jump, a series of turns or anything that really motivates you and hit it repeatedly. Push up safely or pedal up – whatever works on your local trails. Getting back up to the start quickly and limiting the rest between efforts will give you potent cardiovascular training, while helping you to ride well when fatigued. Tailor the dif iculty of the section and speed of your effort back to the top to suit your current itness and what you want to achieve.

3SESSIONING

For some riders it’s a treat, for others it’s a staple part of their riding. The bene its of doing less pedalling but shredding more trails can be lost on some riders, but pointing the bike downhill demands a lot of your itness and stresses your body in a different way to riding uphill. Banging out full runs at a bike park or pumping and pushing hard into bermed turns can be a nice change, and it allows you to work on non-pedalling itness too.