mountain bike fitness is about variability (so, having a big gear box) and the ability to produce torque in a variety of situations/cadences.

so, workouts should for the most part reflect that. also working on making good technical decisions when you are completely blown up is another good thing to practice.

The MI races you mention are all excellent events. Be sure to scrutinize the course/race details of each as the dynamics and technical requirements can be quite different.

For the gravel races, you'll often be riding in a pack, paceline, drafting, etc (think road race). Also, you'll want to set-up your MTB with smooth'ish-rolling small knob tires (think cyclo-cross).

For the MTB races you list, refine your offroad technical skills, lots of roots, rocks and plenty of climbing.

Along with your familiar sustained power sessions, work consecutive 30-60sec threshold intervals, as you'll need them for both gravel and MTB (think surges, breaks, sprints, short/sharp climbs).

You might also consider The Lowell 50 and of course Iceman.

Always best to just ride on the trails, but assuming it's not something you have access to all the time. In general though, fitness is fitness. So trainer sessions focused on improving fitness, whether you're doing 20' intervals or 90" intervals apply the same. Mountain biking does have lots of spurts in VO2, but it also helps to have a big engine if you're doing 50+ mile events.

As far as handling skills, you can work on those even if you don't have a trail. Just going to a park and working on jumping on and off curbs, making tight turns around light poles or trees, etc. Find some grass or dirt slopes and practice off camber maneuvering. These are the best places to experiment with how to shift your weight and test the bite on your tires because the consequences are just falling into the grass or dirt rather than off a steep slope and into a tree trunk or boulder. Learn how to manual and bunny hop over small objects.

Don't underestimate how great handling skills can be just as if not more important than great fitness. I've seen guys who I can smoke during a road ride just leave me in the dust on a demanding MTB ride because do far less braking and thus far less pedaling.

Jason N wrote:

Mountain biking does have lots of spurts in VO2

mountain bike RACING has spurts so far beyond vo2 that it's laughable. just getting over easy elements can require 600w+ for 2-3s. the power profile of just a casual mountain bike ride on moderately technical trails is basically all spikes

https://www.strava.com/...s/945282657/analysis

as is the cadence profile. so working from that knowledge base, if you want to be good at mountain bike racing, you have to be good at variable and frequently very high outputs at various positions on the crankarm profile at various torques.

I forgot this is a triathlon site. :)

I'm basically a road racer now, who pretends to MTB. So when I say that mountain biking has lots of spurts in VO2, I meant exactly what you're referencing to. To a triathlete, the bolded might mean spurts in the 330-400 watt range. LOL.

I guess I should probably clarify that if you're coming from a strict triathlon background and converting over to MTB, then some intervals that have spikes in the 500+ watt range would be useful to get yourself used to the demands. Because I road ride often, and ride like a roadie, those types of efforts are just second nature to me and I incorporate them into my rides regularly.

Attend a MTB skills camp.

Assuming you really meant it when you stated that you have no bike handling skills....You should strongly consider going to a MTB skills camp for a day or more.

Yes, you will get better on your own by just riding. And, you will get better still by riding with others and racing. But, you will improve even faster if you take a weekend and attend a reputable MTB skills clinic held by a MTB coach/instructor.

I attended a skills camp put on by Lee McCormack and it was worth the time and money. (leelikesbikes.com)

People do not hesitate to seek coaching or skills instruction for golf, tennis, skiing or swimming and they ought to do the same when it comes to mountain biking.

Good luck.

second that. i never did, but luckily i learned a little in college (10+ yrs) ago and have had some really good buddies along the way. would still go to a legit skills camp/clinic if the timing was right and i could find one that i ''trusted.''

although, to be honest, i could learn new skills from a newbie as everyone always has a slightly different approach and you never know what you might learn!

Ride your mountain bike on technical singletrack at least once a week- usually a long ride on the weekends. Ride with people that are technically better than you/can teach you lines. Race XC while training for the longer stuff.

I have been fascinated with Nino Shurter's Hunt for Glory series of YouTube videos. Nino swept every WC event this year including the Championships and a Gold medal from Rio last year, which give him a pretty solid claim on GOAT. ( not trying to start that debate here - but he is at least worth listening to!)

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOTDjUtlQSI_N7ZWioe65ww

He is very open on his training methods and I understand with every episode why he is great and I am not... but I still enjoy his sessions. Something we could all go to school on is his gym routines ( episode 9 ) - he does stuff with the same tools I have in my closet (and occasionally on my floor) that I can hardly believe. Squats on the exercise ball with his eyes closed for one...

No better advice or tips out there...

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" I take my gear out of my car and put my bike together. Tourists and locals are watching from sidewalk cafes. Non-racers. The emptiness of of their lives shocks me. "
(opening lines from Tim Krabbe's The Rider , 1978

Still ride your road bike regularly for overall fitness and power production. Steady trail climbing is not that much different from road biking. Its the punchy and technical climbs which will get you, and there's no "looking at your numbers" to ride that stuff. You give what you got to stay on your bike, or you don't.

Ride in the trails very aggressively to hone your technical ability. Try to practice how to ride gnarly and sketchy terrain, and also challenge yourself to take efficient lines and carry speed. Riding smart and confidently in mountain bike races will end up saving you tons of energy.

there is no debating the fact that Nino is the GOAT!

his strength training regimen is one of the many reasons that he is so unstoppable. to be a good mountain biker you have to have incredible trunk strength and body awareness.

Lots of great info so far. regarding trails, I'd add that it's best to try to ride a wide variety of locations. don't just keep riding the same spot over and over. that'll make you better at riding those trails, but in a race, you're often going to experience trails and terrain you've never encountered. much of this is about experience, which builds confidence.

oh, and be in the correct gear before it's too late. knowing when and how much to shift is another acquired skill.

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TEAM F3 Undurance

Thanks for the replies everyone! It sounds like I'm on the right path given my calendar for next year. I have reached out to a couple of the mountain bike skills clinics to see if they ever did anything in MI. Lots of gravel rides to keep my endurance up for rides like the Barry Roubaix 100 and Michigan Coast 2 Coast while hitting the single track 2-3x per week to work on my bike handling skills for Lumberjack and Marji. Most of our trails are filled with roots and rocks so there's definitely a technical component. Fortunately I live within 5 miles of multiple trail systems. I will start adding some VO2 max type workouts this offseason once I'm forced inside and will add some longer mountain bike rides next year. It's pretty easy to get 60 miles in by linking the various trails near my house together.

What region of Michigan are you in? There's not much in the lower peninsula that I would consider highly technical like what you will experience in Marquette for the Marji Gesik. Lumberjack and MG are very different races on very different terrain. Most of the lumberjack course is very smooth and flowing singletrack, albeit very hilly, whereas MG is rocky, steep and technical with more elevation gain overall. I'd recommend getting up to the area prior to the race to check out the trails if you have never been, Ore to Shore is a 50ish mile race in the area at the beginning of August. Ore to Shore sticks to double-track and fire roads while MG is a tour of every inch of singletrack in the area.

The mix of gravel and singletrack you are riding now should serve you well. Try to find a mountain bike team or at least some else faster than you to ride with too; following a more experienced rider will help you pick up on how to choose good lines and keep your speed in the corners. When I've done Lumberjack, most of my training was on gravel roads with 1 or 2 hard singletrack rides each week with a team and big multi-trail trail rides on the weekend where we would link 2-3 trails with gravel roads.

Welcome to the dirt club. Hope you like it, and keep the rubber side down.

I'm from SE Michigan and do a fair amount of mountain biking. If you need some help with it let me know.

I'm in GR, maybe a mile and a half from Luton. To me, that's technical. It's the Ups and downs with tree roots and rocks that I struggle with. I've been doing some reading on Marji and it should be what I'm used to, on steroids! I'm expecting quite a bit of bike a bike. Lumberjack seems much easier from the videos I've watched. It's hard to judge elevation, but it looks to be pretty easy single track with a little bit of climbing. Maybe longer climbs compared to Marji or Luton and around 3k ft per loop.

Looking forward to Crystal this weekend.

My biggest struggle right now is back pain. Someone mentioned having a solid core earlier... I have no core. I can generally ride for about an hour before it becomes an issue. I'm starting P90x3 tonight with my wife and am in a weight loss competition with my team, so hopefully those two things will help going into next year.

My team (Apex if you're from the area) has some decent riders and for the most part they are cool with me riding... even though I might not see most of them very often b/c they are too far ahead! I remember a couple years ago one of them got stuck behind me and was asking if someone should ride in front of me to show me the lines... I turned around to ask "what lines?" and then crashed into a tree... I do that a lot (the crashing part).

I know this isn’t on topic but hearing that you are burnt out on the sport after basically 18 months because of Ironman is just so disappointing for me, but also hugely predictable and instructive in terms of why triathlon is on the decline

From memory, and correct me if I’m wrong, but you signed up for your second Ironman before you even finished or attempted your first, which you did in your first season? And now you did those two Ironmans within 12 months of each other and you are looking for a new sport ...

Because triathlon is Ironman, right?

It really sucks to watch folks like you come into the sport and be so excited about it, but then you feel like you need to do Ironman and then you do Ironman (twice) and of course dislike the sport afterwards. And yeah then we all come on here and perseverate about why the sport is on the decline

I'm in SE Michigan, but I know the trails around GR too. Luton and Merrill are both super fun trails. Not that technical in my opinion, but you can definitely make them hard as you go faster. Try to get over to Brighton or Poto on the East side for a taste of more old-school trails with fall-line climbs and descents. It's a different experience.

Lumberjack terrain is really similar to Luton with a bit more sand. I think it was only my second MTB race and I got through it with almost no experience.

Living in West Michigan I didn't really understand technical until I rented a downhill bike at Whiteface Mountain. Yankee is probably the most technical we have in the area but even that is ride-able for anybody with a little bit of experience.

You are partially correct (nice memory). I'm the idiot who reserved the condo for his second IM before racing his first. In my defense, I'm only a partial idiot as I waited until I was in the car on the way back from my first to sign up for the second. I had done shorter races for a couple of years before that and worked my way up to the IM distance. I did not immediately jump into Ironman.

My reason for switching to cycling only is actually due to an IT band injury. I've been fighting it for two years, have spent thousands of dollars seen multiple doctors, PT's, etc only to have it rear it's head during both of my races. I was fairly certain we had it figured out this year as I had zero problems throughout training (aside from burnout, but that's a different story), but I ended up walking the entire marathon at MT. I'm tired of dedicating an entire season to a race that ends in disappointment due to injury.

My initial plan was to switch to aqua bikes for next year as I think I can be competitive at a regional, if not national level (based on the times from Miami last year), but when I sat down and really thought about it, I didn't want to put the time and money into the swim that would be required to be competitive (I use my gym for the pool only, and that's pretty pricey. Some local schools are available, but the hours suck). Maybe next year. I sat down and thought about things for awhile and realized what I really enjoy is riding my bike. If I could find someone to pay me to ride my bike all day that's what I would do. Unfortunately I haven't found anyone willing to do that yet! My new plan is to ride as many gravel and mountain bike races as possible. Fortunately we have an abundance of both in our area and I can race pretty much every weekend if I so desire. And the best part, I can race 10 or more times for the price of one ironman. I can do 2 or even 3 gravel races for the price of an Olympic around here and they usually have a better post race atmosphere (aka food and beer).

The downside to making the switch to gravel and mountain biking is that I need new gear... and that might lead to a divorce after what I spent on tri gear the past two year!