And so off we went on our journey. We were lucky that on one of our first spins we met a guy who new some of the local trails. I’ll never forget the first time we went down Paradise – it blew our minds. We thought mtb’ing was tootling around on fireroads....Another thing in our favour is that we started at similar levels of fitness and vaguely similar levels of ability. So we got fit and better together. Barry joined us soon after but he was fit and good so he was able to slot right in.
So why am I telling you this?
It seems to me that there is a growing interest in mtb amongst the non mtb’ers in the club – especially as a winter pastime. I sense that some of the triathletes can see that taking up mtb at least for the Winter, might be a good way to stay fit and have some fun at the same time.
I would like to share what I see as the benefits of Winter mtb’ing, and also dispel some myths:
- Road cycling in the winter is no fun. It’s too cold and wet and the roads are too dangerous. Conversely mtb’ing is great fun. It’s never too cold as you are moving much slower, if it’s too wet you duck under a tree, and there’s no cars to deal with. And the muck! Look at this pair!
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- Wednesday evening spins (especially) in the Quarry are more like interval training.
Apart from the obvious training benefits there’s also The Craic:
- Mtb’ing is sociable. Because you are moving slower than on the road, and spending 90% of your time going uphill there’s plenty of time for chat and slagging. And chat we do. Just ask Barry.
- Getting to know your local area – how many times have you been up the road to the 9 stones? From the places we get to you can see the whole are from a different perspective
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I know a concern for some is the apparent danger. For most of you, your only exposure to mtb’ing is our race in March. Don;t forget that at that race you are seeing Irelands best xc racers, on what is considered to be a technical course. This is not representative of what we do week in week out. It’s important to note that for every technical downhill that we have there’s almost always an alternative ,non-dangerous fireroad option. For anyone starting out we would be advocating this until you find your feet.
For me, I look forward every year to the Winter mtb’ing. The racing is over – be it mtb or triathlon and it’s time to get out with your mates and have a bit of craic.
We’re putting Sunday October 9th aside to introduce people to mtb’ing. We’ve had a good few enquiries from outside the club, so we will be telling those people to come along that day if they are interested and we will show them around and give some tips. We would love to see some of our own (currently non-mtbing) members there as well. Don't forget we have a club bike and most of the regular mtb'ers us have 2 bikes (or more
) so don't be shy to ask for a bike.We will post details of what to bring etc.., nearer the day.
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