Mountain Biking Is The Healthiest Sport. (grab from the web)

It makes you fit. When you mountain bike you use and develop both aerobic and anaerobic systems. Regularly participating in mountain biking improves your physical endurance and increases your fat burning capabilities which will result in more energy both on and off the bike.

Cycling strengthens your heart, making it more efficient resulting in improved physical performance in both sport, recreation and general living.

Mountain biking is great for your lungs. Cycling in the wilderness around trees forces you to fill your lungs with clean, fresh and non-polluted oxygen which will flow through your bloodstream, clearing toxins and making you fell great.

Mountain biking is a low impact sport. Mountain biking takes care of your joints by being a low impact sport. There is no pounding associated with peddling which is good for preventing injuries both acute and long term.

Mountain biking builds your immune system. Just like when you were a kid, playing in the dirt helps to strengthen your immune system by exposing yourself to different kinds of bugs. A stronger immune system means you won't get sick as often and you will recover quicker from any illnesses you may get.

Mountain biking develops your sense of balance. Having a better sense of balance helps to prevent injuries while also improving your general coordination.

Mountain biking improves your reaction time. Flying down a trail at 40km/h and you come across a nasty rock section surrounded by trees, you need to pick you line FAST, otherwise you may be eating the dirt pretty soon. Other examples may include reacting to varying trail surfaces, that giant root sticking out at the end of the blind corner or reacting to the unpredictable actions of other riders.

Mountain biking makes you smarter. Cycling circulates vital fluid around your body pumping it through your muscles and through your brain. Better circulation to your muscles = better muscles so better circulation to your brain = better brain.

Mountain biking makes you better at mechanics. Repairing or tinkering with your bike improves your awareness of how things work like wheels, bearings, springs etc. The more exposure you've had with the parts on your bike, the handier your repair skills may become

Mountain biking is a social sport. Cycling can also maintain your social health where you can easily link up with some of the friendly mountain bikers of the world.

Mountain biking is fun! Any outdoor physical activity that you enjoy and want to do more of is the best thing to keep happy and healthy.

Mountain Bike Psychology (grab from the web)

Lately I've been thinking about the power of the mind and how it can greatly effect our performance. Think about it - if you're feeling flat or depressed, your performance levels are nowhere near that if your motivated and excited. So why don't we spend more time strengthening our mind to drive us into better performance?

Today we will be looking at powerful mind technique which is commonly recognized as imagery or visualisation. Practicing imagery/visualisation has been known to strengthen the pathways between your brain and the rest of your body which can improve your coordination with certain techniques. I can recall numerous skills that I have achieved with imagery/visualisation being a key additive to the technique's success. Imagery/visualisation is a greatexercise to improve your ability to ride lines, rail corners, clear jumps and win races.

How To Do It

You can strengthen your brain-body pathways at any opportunity where you are doing nothing; it might be on the bus, in the waiting room or on the loo - but the best time for brain training is probably when you just get into bed at night when it is dark and quiet. Basically all you have to do is visualise yourself doing stuff! Like any training method, you will need to progressively overload your sessions - start with around 5 minutes at a time and gradually build the duration. After a few sessions your imagination ability will improve and so will the quality of your visualisation. Visualise yourself riding tricky lines through single track, clearing jumps you can't yet hit and cornering with precision for starters; you will be able to think of areas you want to improve depending on where you are at with your riding (you may look at riding relaxed and smoothly - floating over the terrain, having good peddling form, riding in a tight bunch etc.). When visualising, make sure you are using good riding technique so it can be converted into reality. It is important that when you are visualising yourself ride, you are looking through your own eyes as if you were riding, not as if you ware watching yourself from a distance.

If you are new to mountain biking or you are unsure on how to tackle a technique, watch videos (youtube) and/or better riders who can execute the skill to see how it is done properly. We can learn a lot from our downhill/free ridebrethren so don't rule them out when observing skills.

Imagery Training On-The-Go

One thing I do a fair bit of is picking lines on any remotely rideable thing. If I'm walking down a staircase I'll visualise myself riding down the stairs. If I see an open rock face I will plan the best route to the bottom. Even if it is unlikely that I will be facing any of these obstacles in a single track situation, similar hazards on a smaller scale are sure to arise and I am able to attack them with more confidence because I have already pre-planned a bigger stunt.


Stay tuned for more psychology techniques to improve your riding, coming soon...

Bike Handling Skills - Grip Training (grab from the web)

Have you ever come to the end of a long ride or race and could barely grip the handlebars? Your weak hands are not only putting you at greater risk of falling off but are forcing you to ride slower at a time where you need speed the most. Strengthening hour hands/forearms can greatly improve your bike handling skills as you will gain a stronger grasp on the handle bars which will lead to better control when cornering, jumping and riding through the rough. Stronger hands will also mean that you will be able to ride harder and faster for longer because you will be less fatigued as the hours pass. There are a number of ways you can strengthen your grip without expensive handstrengthening gizmos.


Shock Pump/Arm Pump = fatigue in your fore arms derived from absorbing shock when riding down rough trails. To reduce shock pump, take a look at some of the exercises below:


- Chin Ups

All you need here are monkey bars or a chin-up bar. If you don't know what chin-ups are, basically all you do is hang from a bar and lift yourself up until your chin is above the bar, lower yourself then repeat. Lifting your body weight will give your hands a great workout as well as working your lats which are useful when pulling up on the handlebars.

- Just Hang There

If you can't do chin ups just hang on the bar for a while. Start by holding on with both hands and progress to holding with one hand. Run yourself through some timed sets and progressively overload your workouts.

- Tug-of-war

Roll up a towel, grab a friend and get each of you to hold onto either end of the towel with one hand and start tugging! This is a cheap and easy way to start strengthening your hands/fore arms.

Warning
When doing your grip exercises, make sure you don't over train as you will run the risk of Carpal Tunnel syndrome which can be quite painful.

Alternative Recovery Drink after ride (grab from the web)

So last post I let you in on how to make cheap energy drinks. After a ride, race or workout it is important to start replenishing your body with things that will help you recover. Like energy drinks, there are heaps of expensive protein powders and additives that claim to make you recover faster and better. Many of these products are great, but there are some drawbacks you should look out for. Many protein powders are made in the same factories that banned substances are manufactured so if you are a competitive racer, you may have traces of a banned substance in your system which will get you into trouble. Also, your body can only consume so much protein - excess protein in your diet wont be absorbed into your muscles, you just piss it out which seems like a waste of time. Another drawback is that these protein supplements are often expensive but if you're on a budget, there is an alternative.

Many athletes around the world use full milk as their post workout drink. Milk has a good amount of protein, fat, carbohydrates and sodium which makes it a solid recovery drink. Chocolate milk is also good as it has more sugar than regular milk and will replenish more of your calories. It is important that you have a well rounded diet that provides you with all your daily nutritional needs, but if you feel like your protein intake is lacking, you can mix milk powder with milk to give you a cheap recovery drink with a bit more protein and other nutrients.

just mountain bikes...

kakaibang mga bundok biseklita...parang di ko sasakyan ang bike na ito...


Here's one of the more 'interesting' products we've seen in a while. This one comes to us from Austria. Would you ride it?

The bike has 180mm travel front and rear, and the fork is integrate into the frame. One of the primary benefits of the design is being able to maintain the headangle throughout the range of travel. The bike has a 29" front wheel and 27.5" out back. The fork and its linkage are made from 7075 aluminum.

Santa Cruz's lady brand, Juliana, gains a lady-spec'd version of the recently launched Bantam. The Juno features 27.5-inch wheels, 125mm travel out back and 130mm up front. The spec list includes a women's specific saddle, smaller diameter bars and grips, and tailor fit wheel/bar/stem/crank size depending on the size purchased. Complete bike weights are as low as 30-pounds for the Primiero model shown here.

Minnaar's V10c was on display, flat rear tire and all.

Stevie Smith took his Devinci Wilson Carbon to another World Cup victory in 2013. Backing up his win in Hafjell, Norway from 2012, Steve didn't let rainy conditions slow him down one bit and rallied his way through the rocks and mud to the top of the podium. Steve's first win of 2013 came in adverse conditions at Mont Sainte Anne earlier this year. Must be somethin' about the wet!

FireEye's new addition to their lineup looks pretty slick. 650bees, 150mm travel, 67.5-degree head angle and all that jazz.

We're not sure how to feel about the e-bike invasion into MTB, but we've got to admit that the rigs are looking more and more well put together. The bike has 180mm of travel front and rear. It's powered by a 250 watt, 36 volt Bosch Drive Unit. Weight is a whopping 48.9-pounds (22.2kg).

The Magix has 155 or 175mm of travel built around a 650B chassis.

This "Hybrid" doesn't use a motor, instead, it has a 29-inch wheel up front and 27.5-inch out back. The Fab. 4 has a 6061-T6 aluminum, powdercoated frame with internal cable routing, Syntace X12 through axle and tapered headtube.Starts at 1499 Euros for the frame and shock.

This new Csepel Woodlands rig looks like it'd be a blast to ride. 150mm travel and 27.5-inch wheels out of Budapest.

Ghost introduced the Riot at Eurobike. A 130mm travel trail bike, it features a brand new suspension system developed in house. The XTR build shown here weighs in at a mere 11.2 kg.

After the SB-66 and the SB-95, Yeti is introducing the SB-75 – a reiteration of the “SuperBike” concept molded around 27.5-inch wheels.
Yeti is also updating its classic 575 frame – from this point on it will be offered in 27.5” only. The frame is still based on the ASR suspension but has been redesigned to accommodate the new wheelsize.

Someone did it. 27.5" front, 26" rear. That's for the medium size. If you bump up to the XL you'll get a 29" front, 27.5" rear. And XS has a 26" front, 24" rear. Interesting...

Jumeirah Open beach- morning splash

Went last week  for an early splash on the beach last week at Jumeirah Open Beach.

Excellent water temperature and a small crowd so we have a dip for a couple of hours before the sun

unleashed its full heat. Anyway, a good way to start the day, took some shots around, enjoyed snorkelling

and swimming, while the rest went for a jog along the beach.