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Now that the 2010 season is over (for most of us) and you have had a few weeks off from serious training, riding or competition it is time to prepare for next season. If you are serious about becoming the best rider or racer you can be now is the time to act. Do you keep a training and racing diary? A diary is a big help in the following exercise and though out the season for finding factors that lead to changes in performance. Step One: Assess your racing season and your riding ability. Were you confident and riding to your potential or did you find yourself racing below the level that you know you are capable of? Step Three: Act on your training program! Ride! Workout! Visualize! Constantly update your goals and training program based on improvement or lack of improvement. Remember, unwritten goals are just dreams, goals you write down you will commit to and strive to reach. Good luck next season and feel free to call or e-mail with questions, suggestions or to start a personal coaching program.
All the way from across the pond, young Great Brit Russ Paver absolutely killing some really fun looking trails.
The winter is the best time to improve your skills and take a mountain bike skills camp. Many skills, such as cornering involve a lot of different movements/components which means practicing "cornering" is not deliberate practice. Deliberate practice would be practicing vision through a corner three times, stopping and analyzing what you did right and wrong then refocusing and doing it three more times. This is why you see all the basketball, football, ski teams and pretty much every sport requiring skill teams doing drills more than 70% of their practice time! A few weeks of this quality practice (mixed with resistance training and cardio work) will do more than years of just winging it on the trail (according to Ross Schnell who said, "I learned more today than in the last 10-11 years of just riding" (in a rushed 3.5 hour lesson, BetterRide camps are 19-22 hours over 3 days!).
Isn't it funny how we often seek the easiest path even when we know the tougher path will be more fun and more rewarding? If we look back at our life the easy victories are not the moments we remember and cherish it is then moments when we were challenged that stand out. After failing [...]
