TRAINING TIPS

As the snow begins to fly many of us will dust off the rollers, update our collection of cycling DVD's and settle in for a season of spinning indoors. Others will hang up the bike completely for a little time off. Regardless of your interests or off season training plan, keeping your mountain bike ready to roll can become a major training benefit that produces excellent results. Because it take a bit more effort and at times is a bit more challenging, you'll find that it not only builds good fitness but helps with your bike handling skills as well.Along the Wasatch front, many of our really good trails are just not accessible to ride during the winter but are great for snowshoeing or backcountry skiing. We'll chat about those in another Winter Training post in the near future. Instead, mountain bikers can hit up many of the shoreline trails from Ogden to Provo, and even trails like Glenwild or Roundvalley, near Park City. The best part about all these trails is that they're all pretty popular and easy to get to so they tend to get packed down from snowshoers and hikers and that it makes the riding conditions much better. Trails like Muller Park are great as well but you'll notice that the higher up you get the less traffic there has been to pack it down. Further up the trail the snow gets much deeper, the packed foot path gets narrower and it becomes a bit harder to keep a straight line and stay out of the soft stuff. It's still worth it for the ride back down.I rode Muller Park last winter with Revolution rider, Blake Zumbrunnen. Because the foot path narrowed down, we didn't quite make it to the rock, but the ride was quite the workout. When you ride in the snow you have to focus a lot on your handling skills by adjusting your weight and position on the bike. The key is to keep a smooth cadence and relax your upper body, especially when it gets icy. During the ride the snow was pretty deep on the trail but the foot path down the middle was wide enough that there was a bit of room error and slippage. When you begin to slide it's best to make small corrections or, if you're on ice, try not to make any. The moment you make a big change by shifting your weight or tapping your brakes, will be the moment you may go down or sink your front wheel in the softer snow on the side of the trail.On our ride we did encounter a few sections of black ice on the trail. You could actually see the dirt underneath the ice. On the way up they were pretty tricky as well but we weren't moving very fast so it was easy to catch yourself before you went down. As I was crossing one of the icy sections on the way back down I noticed that my line of path wasn't very straight and I was headed for the edge of the trail. It's very important that when crossing these slick sections that you don't have to change your direction half way across. Try to pick the straightest line possible before you get on the ice. As I was headed to the edge of the trail I tried to make a slight adjustment buy feathering the brakes. Before I knew it, I was sliding across the ice on my hip. Thankfully the soft snow helped soften the fall. Landing on ice is not an ideal place to fall but if you have a little speed working for you, you can try to slide it out.Riding in the snow once or twice  a week if not more will definitely improve you handling skills and reaction time on your mountain bike. Plus it builds good habits that teach you how to relax your upper body, adjust your weight to help your forward momentum and develop good spinning techniques. All of which can save you a lot of time and energy during the summer when you're back on the dirt. A few tips for riding in the winter and on the snow are:Tire pressure: The lower the better. Take what you'd normally run and drop a few pounds. I've known some riders to use as little as 15-20 psi. You'll have to experiment for yourself, but you'll find that it helps the lower you go.Socks: I'd recommend tall socks or tights. The last thing you want is snow getting down your shoes or freezing your lower legs if and when you have to get off and walk. Because I'm sure you'll find yourself doing that from time to time.Hydrate: As always, don't forget to hydrate. It often seems to be forgotten about during winter sports because you're not feeling the heat of the sun. But the moment you begin to dehydrate is when everything can go wrong. You're more susceptible to fatigue and frostbite if you're not taking in fluids like you should be. Just because it's cold and you're surrounded  by frozen water doesn't mean you don't have to drink it.For those of you one the road, check out T-Bird's post on cold weather riding.