First time @ the Mega, how fit do you need to be?

gettricky

I was planning to train every weekend over May/June in Wales, unfortunately I craked my ribs 5 weeks ago at Brechfa, going over handle bars. So haven't been able to ride since.

Getting a bit nervous now, should I be? :?

xtreem

[b]gettricky[/b] wrote:

Getting a bit nervous now, should I be?

No. But when is the Mega?
And if you're fine and can ride now, you have 1 month and more to train. Plenty enough time.

bomberesque

I took 6 weeks off my bike due to work pressure after riding 130km a week for 8 months. I was dead afraid that my fitness would go up in a puff of smoke. When I got back on my bike I was shocked to find that I had actually got faster and fitter after the time off.

Then I crashed, nearly breaking my leg 2 weeks ago and have been on crutches ever since, so perhaps best not listen to me anyway ;-)

chuck f

to get through the qualifier successfully, you'll need to be able to ride hard over VERY technical terrain for 45 minutes, at altitude. Fear not, it's almost as mental as physical. Be a pretty fit, technicaly competant mountain biker and enjoy.

gettricky

Xtreem wrote:

[b]gettricky[/b] wrote:

Getting a bit nervous now, should I be?

No. But when is the Mega?
And if you're fine and can ride now, you have 1 month and more to train. Plenty enough time.

First week of July.

Not long left :P

grumsta

It's not the first week of July its the 10th, 11th and 12th.

I've not done it before but I have mates who have and they say the main thing is forearm pump, so try and do some long descents with no rests, and maybe use a gripmaster or something similar

I've been training for fitness for it too but I don't think its as much of an issue as its mostly downhill.

Northwind

I know a guy who's done it twice now, he said first time he trained like mad on the bike and felt it was a waste, second time he trained like mad on his upper body and arms and it paid off. But then he's pretty much a riding machine even without extra training.

plasma_man

I've just been off a month, cold/flu, that sort of thing. I just went out my first run yesterday and blew away my old times! Was really surprised!

sara flowmtb

You should be fine. The blokes often have to queue up on the singletrack bits so you can get a bit of a rest then Just go along with the attitude that you just want to ride it and do as well as you can having had some time off the bike. If you take a rest on the way down you won't be the only one. As you go down you pass people fixing punctures, other mechanicals, recovering from falls and generally just needing some time. As others say it's upper body strength that's the big issue so maybe try to start on some strengthening exercises.

Just go to enjoy though and you'll have fun. It's a fantastic atmosphere and great fun. I'm about to do it for the third time, and have never 'trained' for it, and do hardly any riding between november and may because of the snow out here. Although we do make up for that in the summer

See you there.

gettricky

Cool, thanks for advice. Its miraculously healed over past week, literally hit week 6 and feels OK. I did a small ride this weekend and all systems go. Should be alirght for upper body strength, have to do press ups with claps legs and hands in air at kung fu three times a week. 8)