throet

Not sure if anybody else has done this or considered it, but for the cost of a nice bike, I converted an extra bedroom into a gym. It has been life changing for me. My only regret is not doing it earlier in life when the ROI would have been much greater for me. Instead, I had been paying membership fees at various gyms for essentially my entire adult life. Now I work out at home most mornings without leaving the house or worrying about crowds or sweaty equipment or annoying grunts. Some people would argue that a single multi-function unit like this isn't enough, but as somebody who has been weight lifting for 40 years using free weights, smith machines, and everything else available, I can say with certainty that I can get just as good of a workout at home with this one machine. The key is having a high, mid, and low pulley system with all the needed attachments. So for example I do my deadlifts on the low pulley using the same attachment that I use for curls. I use the mid pulley for abdominal crunches but also to attach a strap or rope and do trunk rotations. Also with this particular machine, the swingarm has a set of independent, free-moving grip bars that emulate free-weight movements. I usually work chest, shoulders, and triceps one day and then legs, back, and biceps the next, with abdominal and core work mixed in everyday. Sometimes though I'll do supersets, where I'm combining all body parts into a single workout alternating between opposing muscle groups. None of my workouts exceed 30 minutes, and I take 1 or 2 days off per week from working out. Also, if I'm riding a lot, I'll sometimes skip legs. I suspect that many of the MTB riders you see on the Podiums have never done any form of weight training, and I'm certainly not purporting that it's necessary to be a strong biker. What I do know though is that as we age our metabolism slows, and maintaining lean muscle mass is the single best way to boost metabolism. Up until my mid-forties as a very active adult, I ate anything I wanted to and never worried about weight. In fact I never saw the north side of 175lbs until I was nearing 50. Since then though I have regularly bumped up against 200lbs despite remaining very active. The only way I've managed to keep weight off without dieting (which I don't ever want to do), is to make sure that the majority of my calories are fueling muscle growth and metabolism. Easier said than done at 60, but it definitely works. It's also a great way to protect your joints as you age. The bigger and stronger your muscles are, the better protected your skeleton is. We do have to be careful though as we age because our tendons become more rigid. Using lower weight, higher reps, and sometimes limiting range of motion has helped me in that regard.

I generally buy whatever I can get a good deal on, or in some cases just see something I like at my LBS. I've never had an issue with a helmet fitting properly, assuming of course that I buy the right size. I've had a couple of the Fox Flux helmets and like them a lot - very comfortable and competitively priced. After going head first into the ground a couple of times though I decided to try MIPS; so I got a TLD A1 really cheap and have been using that quite a bit. It does sit lower on my head, which as somebody else mentioned tends to push the earpiece of my goggles into my temples some. Seems I've just gotten used to that though.

Snail and Picnic are in fine shape for riding but 1/4 Notch is still slick in some spots. Should be much better by late afternoon / evening. Didn't ride Double Down but believe it probably needs another day to dry out. I'm sure Peddlers needs more time and we didn't even bother going over there.

Ahhh …. nothing like a mid-morning ride on a cool, crisp Autumn day! Oh wait ….. we're in Central Texas grappling with monsoons and suffocating humidity in Oct. Ughh! Humidity aside, Snail and Picnic were fine but 1/4 Notch was pretty slick in spots. Still OK to ride, although the same typical mud puddles have grown in size from last week, probably from people going around them instead of through them. Didn't even attempt Double Down, but am guessing it needs another day to dry out. It would sure help if the air wasn't so saturated with moisture.

Right on! Why pay for CrossFit when you can get the same workout for free and provide a community service at the same time.

No doubt about that dude! I thought that I was in great shape until I started doing a little trail work.

That's a really tough question to answer these days, as it seems the modern school of thought has shifted to multi-movement, maximum-stress, cross-fit style programs. Perhaps those programs work for some people, but the majority of people will get burned out or burned up seeking the desired gains. I'm about to turn 60 and have been lifting weights consistently since I was 20. I'm still a firm believer in traditional resistance training, i.e. the same stuff Joe Weider introduced in the 50s. I started a new thread where I can share some of my thoughts on the subject and we can hear from others as well.

Do you ride to stay in shape or stay in shape to ride? There have been some great topics on Mojo (pre-race training, daily tonic, etc), and I thought it would be great to have a thread dedicated to cross-training and fitness. I'm keeping it in the MTB Discussion Forum because whether you ride to stay in shape or stay in shape to ride, most of us here are committed to mountain biking, presumably for as long as our bodies will permit.

I've been hitting the gym hard during this monsoon season. I don't ride road, gravel, or trainer, but I do lots of squats, deadlifts, and leg presses along with other exercises for the core and upper body. On the few rides that I have managed to get in, I felt like I was able to really power up the climbs. I generally do high reps (25-30 per set) when working legs.

We just got hammered with a downpour and it's still raining. Radar shows most of North Austin and Cedar Park took the hit. There shouldn't be any riding at Brushy today.

It won't happen again if I can help it - at least not on a Friday!

Ha I thought so but just wanted to make sure. I could never deny by love for Double Down. Once you start joining us on Fridays, we'll be sure to ride it in both directions.

Yep - DD is my favorite section out here. I was actually referring to the temps.

I had posted in the Ride Call that I was but now I remember that I committed to a 9AM meeting. So I'm out unfortunately. Might try to get out around lunch time though.

Double Down kicked my ass. It wasn't quite as cool as I had hoped it would be. Still, I'm not complaining. Rode all of Deception, Picnic, Rim, and Snail.

Heading out now brother!

I'm going back out for some this afternoon. Will probably hit Snail, Dave's Ditch, Rim, and Double Down.

Look's like we should be good for tomorrow morning. Who's in? Are we sticking with 7:30AM at 183A? EDIT: Sorry just recalling a meeting commitment. Hopefully others will still be riding. Conditions should be great!

If that's the approach that's used to promote Team Trail Party, then frankly I don't want to have anything to do with them. Hopefully that's not representative of the enduro community at-large. Maybe they can organize an event dedicated to Bartman and hurl insults at all of the entrants who fall short of baller status. Really sad.

Looked like somebody built up some nice berms on the path leading to the 2 big drops on the right heading down. I hadn't been down that side in a while though; so maybe they've been there. On the other path on the left there is a jump over what used to be a little rocky section just before the descent. I just rolled it since I had never seen it before. Suppose you could send it all the way to the downslope but that would be above my pay grade.

The layout of the Home Page along with the navigation features already mentioned really allow for the greater granularity IMO. Being able to see at a glance what the most recent posts are across all of the forums is nice, while also looking at each forum description to see which ones have updates. I simply ignore the forums that are of no interested to me, although I do agree as others have stated that some consolidation might make sense down the road.

Even though I rode yesterday morning, the "cold front" was so enticing that I went out for a quick couple of laps around Snail right before dark last night. Big thanks to whoever put the additions in there! Will be interesting to see what we find on Double Down after this most recent downtime. If 1/4 Notch is any indication, I suspect there will be some rogue rock placements. Seems the same people who like to ride wet trails are the ones who like to place rocks in front of the trickier ledges.

Mountain biking is an inherently dangerous sport - racing or not. That doesn't mean a discerning adult shouldn't seek safety insights from others who may have deeper knowledge regarding a particular venue. Hope everybody is able to stay safe out there this weekend.

Upper Picnic was near perfect this morning. Picnic X was a little damp but still in good riding shape. 1/4 notch was very slick compared to last night. Seems there was a heavy accumulation of dew on the rocks. Probably be better later after some more sunshine, assuming no more rain of course. Based on HB's report from yesterday, I'm assuming that Peddlers probably needs more time. I would guess the same for Double Down. I didn't bother to check Mulligan or Rim.

I saw a rider and a hiker come off of 1/4 Notch and both said it was fine. The biker had no mud on his tires / bike. I checked it out myself and it was rideable but definitely borderline. Whereas normally you'll have 2-3 spots of mud after the trail dries out, there were easily 5-6 muddy spots. I didn't even check Picnic, Mulligan, or Rim, and already knew from HB's post that Peddlers was out. Luckily I ran into a couple of guys that were heading over to Peddlers and I told them it was off limits per the trail steward.