Alpine Road Trip

Thredbo Alpine Village is one of the few alpine destinations in Australia that is open year round. Snow in the winter and mountain bike trails in the summer makes it one of my favorite spots and is only a 2 hour drive from my home town. The mellow and relaxed village is kept alive throughout the summer with activities like mountain biking (XC/AM/DH/4X), hiking, alpine slide (bobsled), river fishing, access to the sports institute and people just chilling out.

The Trails

The XC/AM single tracks are multi-use trails shared with a few walkers. The single track is combined with some steep fire trail which provides a good physical challenge, especially at altitude. There are 3 main single tracks being the Pipeline Path, Bridal loop and the Meadows Single Track. The Pipeline is the tamest of the three single tracks but isn't necessarily a walk in the park either. It traverses across a hill and has a few tight corners along with some natural obstacles included. The Bridal Loop is a relatively slow and very technical at some points. The trail is narrow with moist dirt which offers plenty of traction. It is important to hold your line on the Bridal Loop as a short lapse in concentration can send you bumping through some large tufts of grass. The Meadows Single Track would have to be one of my favourite trails due to its height of technicality. To get to Meadows you need to ascend a bit of steep fire trail that is well worth the climb. The Meadows Single Track starts with a wooden bridge leading you across a river and into the dirt where a trail of non-stop rocks, roots, roll-overs and stairs await. I love this trail just because of how technical and rough it is; it is a great test of your balance and handling skills.

I think that Thredbo is set up with better facilities for the downhill market however. The top-top-bottom down hill trail is accessed by chairlift and has a combination of fast fire trail and specially built single track through the trees and meadow-like ski runs. This is a world class racing facility that is apart of the MTBA Australian Mountain Bike Series which shows that it is a high quality course.

The 4X track consists of dry, gravelly dirt with waist high berms and a set of jumps and stutter sections. It is a fun place to go after you take a lap of the mountain and is a great time to practice BMX track riding for supreme single track skills.

What You Need For Thredbo

To ride at Thredbo you can take your own equipment or you can hire everything from the local mountain bike centre rawNRG, including down hill equipment and lift tickets. There are guided tours on offer for both XC and DH trails, as well as a workshop there repairs can be done. Through the summer it can get pretty hot so take appropriate sun protection and plenty of water. The Village has plenty of restaurants/cafes for food and also has a small supermarket.

Take Your Riding To The Next Level - Core Strength

Your core is basically the trunk of your body consisting of the abdominals, obliques and back muscles. strengthening this area has exponential benefits to a mountain biker and after a few strengthening sessions riders will notice improvements.



How Will A Strong Core Help You Go Faster?

Mountain biking is a sport that requires your kinetic chain. The kinetic chain refers to the link of muscles starting from the neck, through the shoulders, back/ABS, legs and finishing at the feet. Just imagine you are climbing a steep hill; which muscles are you using? You are most likely pulling on the handlebars with your arms, shoulders and back muscles to provide leverage for your legs to push upon the pedals. Your core happens to be at the point that links the upper and lower parts of your body, allowing you to gain leverage from your arms. Without core strength, any efforts to increase leg or upper body strength are being wasted. Your core is also used as a platform that your legs push against, known as the peddling platform. With a stronger core and in turn, a stronger peddling platform, you will have a more powerful and more efficient pedal stroke.



Strengthening The Core

There are two primary ways to strengthen your core being both dynamic and static. Dynamic exercise refers to moving the muscles while as you can guess, static exercise refers to holding the muscle still. Dynamic exercises generally work major muscles while static exercises bring in secondary or supporting muscles which stabilise your body. It is important to incorporate both types of exercise although, you will get better results by focusing more on the static spectrum of things.

Dynamic Exercises

• Sit ups/crunches for the front of your stomach (six pack)
• Side crunches for your obliques
• back hyper extensions/Superman's for your lower back

- Back hyper extensions can be done at the gym on a back extension machine

- If you don't have access to one, you can lie with your tummy on an exercise ball (or even the floor) and lift one arm at the same time as the opposite leg as one repetition. Switch arms/legs for each rep.

Static exercises

The prone hold is a fantastic core strengthening and stabilising exercise. To start the prone hold, lie on your tummy then prop yourself up on your forearms and your toes, similar to a push up position. You want your back to be relatively straight but you can allow yourself to have a slight bend, pointing your back side up towards the roof. Don't let your hips sag to the floor.

For a beginner, aim to hold for 30 seconds and for a bit more advanced aim for 60 seconds. try to incorporate sets of 3 or so to give your core a good workout. Do your prone hold after your dynamic exercises to really strengthen the core and aim to progressively overload (see definition of progressive overload in cycling fitness basics )by increasing duration per set by about 5 seconds each week.

If you can incorporate some of these exercises (especially the prone hold) each week I can insure vast improvements to your riding. Check back after a few more posts (when you have ripped ABS) for some advanced core exercises.

Flexibility - The Key To Your Athletic Potential

Cycling has a restricted range of movement, so why should we stretch? Stretching does more than just increasing your running stride, it is the cheapest performance enhancer and injury prevention you have access to.

The Effects Of Stretching
When you stretch, you are increasing the flow of vital fluid to your muscles which clears out lactic acid and brings with it nutrients to repair and rebuild. Stretching also improves the amount of vital fluid that can go to your muscles which greatly improves performance during exercise. Have you ever felt stiff and sore the day after an intense workout? This performance decreasing feeling can be made better through a regular stretching routine. Remember that even if you aren't working hard on the bike, it doesn't mean that you can't be improving performance.

When To Stretch
The best time to stretch is directly after exercise while, your muscles are still warm. Stretching after a workout greatly improves recovery, making you better, sooner. It is also great if you can include one or two flexibility sessions during the week as this will greatly improve your results. All you need to stretch is an open bit of floor, so it is easy to slot in a session when you are watching TV or surfing the web.

Which Muscles?
Stretch everything to gain maximum effect. Hamstrings, quadriceps, calves, glutes, back, triceps, shoulders, pectorals and anything you think I've missed. Aim to hold the stretch for 15-30 seconds and even repeat for a greater effect. If you don't know how to stretch a certain muscle or area please ask me by leaving a comment or by sending me an email to bigfoot_789@hotmail.com

Injury Prevention
By stretching your muscles, your joints also gain flexibility which will greatly reduce injury, both acute (happens in an instant eg, after a fall) and chronic (develops over time/overuse injury). Having flexible muscles also reduces the risk of a tear. Mountain biking is great in that it is low impact making it gentle on your joints, however as we all know, if you get on a bike, you will fall off at some stage. For an article on how to prevent falling and how to reduce injury check it out mountain bike anti-stack training.