3 trail myths

MTB training, like many other sports, has a lot of misconceptions or myths surround it. When someone decides that they want to become better on the trails they are usually told these three myths.

"To become a better rider you must..."

1. Work on your cardio: While cardio is important, the real key to riding faster and longer is to achieve better efficiency on the trail. You can compare your cardio to the size of your gas tank and your efficiency is the mile per gallon. You get more by working on both cardio and efficiency rather than simply adding more gas to the tank.

2. Ride your bike more: Getting out on your bike is a must, but when new riders first start every time they go out for a ride they feel like they are improving. However, after a year or so of riding most people have maxed out their current fitness and skill levels, and the improvement stops. Strength conditioning is the most efficient uses of your mountain bike training time and can dramatically raise your performance.
3. Get a bike fit: Bike fits are great – if you're a roadie. Mountain biking requires a high technical skill level and you want your bike set up to best fit this need, not to work around your mobility and movement deficits. Most bike fits looks to change how the bike is set up around you regardless of how those changes affect the balance and handling on the trail. Some of the most common bike fit "fixes", such as changing stem length, will negatively affect your ability to corner and handle your bike. It is rarely the fit that is holding a rider back; it is more often the tight and weak rider that is holding the bike back.

For more great MTB tips go to: bikejames.com