This is a fitness tip letter for all the regular riders whom can't get up on Sunday with a massive MGD hangover and whip out 80-100 miles of single track. I do admire you naturally talented riders and even envy your ability, I would love to crack a few MHLs (Mikes Hard Lemonades), wake up a little fuzzy and sweat it out on the trail, but I am just not talented enough.
When I ride on my "big days" I want to be on my game. So, when I drop my KTM 250XC-FW on the first nasty rocky section I can easily pick it up without puking. In fact, I can do it three or four times if I am having a bad day. And when I am at 90-100 and 10-15 to go until we reach the truck and coolers, I got arms, legs and lungs to spare.
Try getting on a bicycle three times per week for aerobic fitness. Look up Tabata training online and learn how to really improve your VO2max capacity(not applicable for MGD riders). Next, get into the gym three days per week and lift weights. Try to use the fitness bands and do a lot of "Core" work, and please don't wear a wife beater and stare at yourself in the mirror. If you have a "Trials" bike get on for a few 30 minute sessions per week in your driveway and practice your balance, and if not get a balance board.
Nutrition (you MGD guys cover your ears): Try and hydrate in the morning before you ride (beer does not count), bring snacks and eat often during breaks. If you are riding with a very fast crew, as I often do, and the minute you reach them they take off, then put your calories in your water. Go to Hammernutrition.com for the best fitness fuels on the market. Try the Hammer Heed and the gels.
There are probably not too many guys who would take riding/ fitness advice from 5'7", 128 lb. old lady (43) who LOVES Enduro riding, but as an ex-mountain bike racer and a 15 year veteran of top level ski instruction, I do have lots of experience in athletic pursuits. And, I can ride 100 plus two days per week at or above 10,000 feet, without having to crawl the next day. Unless, of course, I had too many MHLs at the end of the day.
Pippy, "Fitness Savant"(self-proclaimed of course)
We get a lot of weird letters here, but this one struck a nerve as a fellow drinker of adult beverages. But I'd like to learn a little more about the "pippy" program. I, too, have developed the "JIMBO" program that sounds to be similarly based in stupidity and random fact. You don't belong to a kennel of Hash House Harriers do you? -Jimmy Lewis