Category: Blogs

5 Ways To Motivate Yourself To Keep Riding

I love cycling and I still have days when it’s a struggle to hoist myself out of my chair and saddle up for a ride. Motivation is the same for all of us: It waxes and wanes like the moon. You just need a few little tricks to keep yours shining bright when it would otherwise dim. Here are a few favorites.

Find a Friend—Or Four

Remember how as a kid you’d bang on every door on the block or call every friend in a 5-mile radius until you found someone to come out and play? When you did, you’d tear up the neighborhood until your mom called for dinner. And if you didn’t? You’d mope back home and veg in front of the TV. You may be bigger now, but you’re likely still a kid at heart and it’s still more fun to play with friends.

If none of your friends ride, it’s easy enough to find some who do. Head to your local bike shop and ask around. Start going on organized group rides. Join a local bike club. Once you hook into the cycling circle in your area, you’ll find plenty of like-minded people to play with.

Sign Up for Something

Nothing gets you out on your bike like knowing you have a 100-mile ride to do in five weeks. Signing up for a bike tour vacation, a big single-day ride, or our 21-Day #RideStreak Challenge will give you even more reason to get up and go when you feel like staying put. Local bike clubs are great sources of information on races, rides, and organized cycling events throughout the year.

Do It for Charity

Name the cause and there’s likely a ride for it. I’ve pedaled to raise money for AIDS vaccines, multiple sclerosis research, diabetes funds, heart disease organizations, terminally ill children, and to find a cure for cancer. Riding for worthy causes reminds you that it’s a privilege to have a healthy, able body to ride a bike and will fuel your motivation because you know you’re doing good for more than yourself. Websites like Active.com can help you find charity events in your area.

Lie To Yourself

When you’re feeling lazy sometimes it helps to fib to yourself. Tell yourself that you’ll just go out and spin easy for 20 minutes just to do something. Once you’re out there, there’s no way you’re turning back in 20 (and deep inside you know that). But giving yourself permission to bail if you’re not having fun is often all you need to get rolling in the right direction.

Do Morning Workouts

Of course, this means leaving your soft, warm bed earlier than usual and that is anything but easy. I’m a morning person and an avid cyclist and I still wrestle the urge to roll over and get a few more zzzs when the alarm goes off. Make it hard to talk yourself out of riding by placing all your clothes in a neat pile directly in your line of sight from the pillow before you go to bed. Also prepare your water bottles and have them in the fridge ready to go. If you go to the trouble to pave the way the night before, you’ll be far less likely to let yourself down come morning.

How & When To Hydrate While Cycling

Everything you need to know to stay hydrated- before, during & after a ride

Sipping fluids before and after a hot-weather workout is just as important as drinking during a ride. Here we turn to the experts for the when, how and what of staying quenched.

Time It Right

Hydrating before pedaling helps you avoid drying out on the road. For best absorption, sip 12 to 16 ounces of water four hours before hopping onto your bike; two hours before, sip another 12 ounces. While riding, drink enough to match the intensity of the exercise, the heat of the day and your body’s needs—the average recommendation is one 16-ounce bottle per hour in cool weather, up to as many as four bottles per hour in extremely hot weather, based on a 150-pound cyclist. Afterward, your goal is to replace lost fluids and electrolytes. If the ride was easy or moderate, sipping water and having a small meal within an hour of finishing should be sufficient, but if the ride was long and intense, use the weighing method below to determine your drinking regimen.

Customize

People sweat at different rates, and rides vary in terrain, speed and distance, but hydration goals are the same regardless. “Your aim is to minimize fluid and electrolyte loss or gain,” says Douglas Casa, Ph.D., the director of athletic training education at the University of Connecticut, at Storrs. The best way to learn your individual sweat rate: Step on the scale before and after a long or hard ride. If you weigh less afterward, you should be drinking a bit more; if you weigh more, you should cut back to avoid over-hydration.

Keep It Simple

“On easier rides, stick with water. You’ll get the mother lode of electrolytes, calories and fluids from the meals and fluids you consume prior to, and after, your ride,” says Casa, who’s been researching hydration and exercise issues for more than a decade. When a ride is intense, pushes past an hour, or is in hot weather, consider a sports drink. “I recommend staying away from the stuff with 9,000 ingredients,” says Casa. “You just need the essentials—fluid, carbohydrates and electrolytes.”

Try & Try Again

The only way to find what drinks work for you is by testing them. “Some products may not taste good to you, while others may sit in your stomach in a bad way,” says Casa. If you’re the type of salty sweater who finds white streaks on your jersey after a ride, you may need a drink with more sodium. For extreme salt sweaters, Casa suggests adding 1/4 teaspoon of salt to 16 ounces of sports drink (that’s 600mg of sodium). If you find that a sports drink upsets your stomach, try diluting it with water. “Just never start a big event with a new product in your bottle,” says Casa. “That’s a recipe for disaster.”

Do E-Bikes Have A Place In Barbados’ Local MTB?

Raleigh Tokul iE eMTB w/ Bosch motor and Battery

The conversation around ebikes has stirred up many emotions over the period of it’s introduction to mountain biking and the advancements made since then.Many critics describe ebikes as a harbinger to the destruction of local trails. Others class it as the lazy man’s choice of transport.

I decided that if I am to form an opinion, it should be based on facts and therefore I chose to experience this futuristic mode of transport first hand by joining Roger and Gregory of EBike Island Adventures on one of their Pedal Assisted Culture Tours.

Click for more info

Components spec’ed for eMTB

The bike selected for my adventure was a Raleigh Tokul iE eMTB. Standout components I noticed were:

• Fork – Rock Shox Judy Gold 120mm 27.5+
• Rear Derailleur – Shimano Deore M6000
• Brakes – Tektro M735, 4 piston front 180 rotor, 2 piston 180 rotor
• Wheels – 27.5″x2.8 Kenda Havoc tires on 45mm ID rims w/ Formula Boost hubs
• Motor – Bosch Performance CX, 250W 20Mph
• Battery – Bosch Powerpack 400wh

The Details

Having not adjusted the fork’s sag nor fiddled with any tire pressure settings, the bike tracked the terrain pretty decent. The 2.8 tires with their large air volume/low psi offering, allowed the rear end of the bike to soak up much of the small bump chatter usually associated with riding a hard tail. The 120mm fork suited the terrain we traversed and never felt out of composure going through the cross country oriented trails. Though my thirst for gnarly terrain wouldn’t be satisfied on this ride, I felt that the fork, the bike’s geometry and plus tires, would make for a cracking time on slightly more aggressive trails.

No I haven’t forgotten that this post was meant to cover my experience of riding an ebike but that’s just it, it’s a bike when it’s all said and done. The Bosch performance motor via the small mode switch located on the handlebar, allowed me to cycle from Eco, Tour, EMTB and Turbo by simply pressing a large Plus or Minus button on the display. This translated into varying degrees of pedal assistance. You still have to pedal but the physical effort required is reduced as you increment the modes. This was a pleasant surprise when I ascended one of our favorite technical climbing trails “Consette Single Track”. On reaching the top I couldn’t believe how easy the pedal assist got me over. There was a bunch of hikers there who candidly said “you like you got a motor in that bike”. The one time I wish I could have said the motor was my legs but alas I showed them the Bosch motor.

The fun was about to begin, for at the top of this trail was the start of “Ben Trail” a tight and twisty single track. The bike and I darted through the tight turns between the trees with my face having a permanent grin. The pedal assist had zero function here, as the bike was just like any regular trail bike. However, the 2.8 tires gave me gobs of traction and allowed me to break even later than I usually do.

I could see the benefit of the ebike in these two scenarios right there. I could pedal up the climbs multiple times to session that descent without getting gassed. Which would make for epic whole day runs with the boys.

Don’t try this at home…

Heading back to the start point we decided to take a route I’d never chosen in the past for good reason as Pot House hill in the past always seemed like a killer hill. Due in part to the hills steepness and super bumpy eroded semi paved surface. Engaging the Turbo, I made light work of the climb and actually made a KOM. I made sure to switch my strava to eBike so there would be no complainants from the roadies.

Final Thoughts

A great lookout spot in Barbados

eBikes in general are a fantastic way to get people who would not be interested in mountain biking due to some of the excuses I’ve heard in the past, out on the trails. It makes for family, friends and tourist excursions to be a lot more fun, as everyone can adjust the degree of pedal assistance to ensure the group rides together. This also means that you can ride for far much longer. Equating to either more calories being burnt or seeing more of a destination in one outing than you would normally be able to do and still be useful for the remainder of the day. Not to mention that a person with a heart condition or other disability now has an option to get out and hit the trails. If you haven’t tried an eBike yet, I strongly suggest you give them a go before coming to a conclusion.

A Bajan’s Review of 3 Modern Trail Bikes

In April of this year, while on MTB 246’s annual bike adventure, we travelled to Pisgah North Carolina. While there, I got to test ride 3 of 2019’s most popular Trail Bikes; the Yeti SB130, the Ibis Ripmo and the Evil Offering. Each has unique characteristics that shone on the trails and below I give my impressions.

Disclaimer: I don’t claim to be any bike expert but having rode many bikes in many places, the last couple of years, I wanted to share my experiences and insights, as some may never get the chance to test ride a bike before purchasing.

Additionally, the bikes below, websites’ have all the tech lingo. So, I’ve tried to keep the jargon to minimum. However, I would like to suggest, that you take a look at Geometry Geeks website. They allow you to compare all the stats of your favorite bikes. A great way to see on paper which bike may suit your intended needs.

Nothing beats real world testing so onto the reviews…

Yeti SB130

Room for a bottle cage on the frame is a nice touch

Specs

• Frame: 2019 Yeti SB130 Carbon 29, 130mm
• Fork: Fox Performance 36, 150mm
• Shock: Fox Performance DPX2
• Brake: SRAM Guide R
• Drive Train: SRAM GX Eagle
• Tires: Maxxis (Front – Minion DHF 2.5, Rear – Aggressor 2.3)

Fire Mountain Trail System and Trace Ridge Trail Head allowed me to truly test this bike’s capabilities.

The Syrupy aka the

The SB130 climbs like a goat that takes pre workout drinks. Every hill I pointed the bike at, it effortlessly skampered up, which I attributed to the super steep seat angle and 44mm offset fork. Having never rode a Maxxis DHF tire before, it’s traction was a great compliment. The bike was also very nimble on flowy sections of trails.

The Sousesy aka the

The SB130 was checking all the boxes for a fun trail bike until I pointed it down a super steep enduro line. The descending felt like I was holding on for dare life, like constantly being on the edge. In short, not confidence inspiring. The SRAM Guide R brakes’ bite point seemed too instantaneous and even after adjusting the lever reach, I still couldn’t adjust to their lack of modulation. This and the poor high speed damping of the fork made for some of the worse arm pump I’ve ever had.

At only 130mm of travel, the bike interestingly never felt like it bottomed out.

The Sousesy aka the Bottom Line

The SB130 was checking all the boxes for a fun trail bike until I pointed it down a super steep enduro line. The descending felt like I was holding on for dare life, like constantly being on the edge. In short, not confidence inspiring. The SRAM Guide R brakes’ bite point seemed too instantaneous and even after adjusting the lever reach, I still couldn’t adjust to their lack of modulation. This and the poor high speed damping of the fork made for some of the worse arm pump I’ve ever had.

Ibis Ripmo

This bike’s color scheme was sweet off!

Specs

• Frame: 2019 Ibis Carbon Fiber 29 145mm
• Fork: Fox 36 Performance, 160mm Travel, 44mm Offset
• Shock: Fox Float DPX2, 145mm Travel, 210mm x 55mm
• Brake: Shimano Deore
• Drive Train: SRAM GX Eagle
• Tires: Maxxis (Front – Minion DHF 2.5, Rear – Aggressor 2.5)

My demo of the Ripmo occurred on Trace Ridge Trail Head, Spencer Gap.

The Syrupy aka the
The test ride on the Ripmo was considerably shorter in comparison to the other 2 bikes but I did notice a couple of things.

The bike’s climbing ability was adequate, not as fast as the SB130 at getting up the trail but definitely capable of doing it.

The bike also felt very lively at popping off of features. I attributed this to its extra mm of travel front and rear. The Shimano Deore brakes gave me that familiar modulation I was missing with SB130 and the front suspension felt a lot less chattery.

The Sousesy aka the
I couldn’t find much not to like about the Ripmo. Maybe if I had spent a little more time, I could have found some faults as I didn’t get to point it down as many gnarly lines as the rest.

This bike’s color scheme was sweet off!

The Sousesy aka the Bottom Line

The Ripmo felt like a solid bike that could be used in almost any MTB scenario; Marathons, Trail days filled with ups and downs as well as full on Enduro courses.

EVIL Offering

Specs

• Frame: 2019 EVIL Offering 140mm Travel UD Carbon 2019
• Fork: Rockshox Pike, Charger 2, RCT3, Debonair 140mm Travel, 51mm Offset
• Shock: Rockshox Super Deluxe RCT Debonair
• Brake: SRAM Guide RDrive Train: SRAM GX Eagle
• Tires: Maxxis Minion DHF 2.3 F&R

My demo of the Offering occured on Bracken Mountain Trail, Daniel’s Ridge Trail and Black Mountain Trail

The Syrupy aka the
The Evil Offering hands down was the most fun bike of the bunch. The bike’s geometry and suspension gave it that hover bike feeling I was told about in online reviews. On relatively flat but bumpy trails, the bike’s rear suspension’s small bump compliance was amazing, allowing it to track over roots or small moving rocks. Beacuse of the previous SB130 and Ripmo experiences, I spent a bit more time ensuring the fork was setup correctly on this rig and man did it shine. The bike devoured the trails. I could not belive how much more confidence the bike gave me. I kept pushing the bike to do more and it seemed to love it. The ganrlier the line I took, the bigger the grin I had on my face. I was so glad I chose this to ride on the descending of Black Mountain as the gnar was up and as Bajans like to say ” I Up De Ting!”.