Need help --girlfriend needs 45 minutes to get Mountain bike "warmed up" each time we ride...

Hopefully someone has some good ideas on ways to warm up a person's balance
and skills for just before you hit the trail.
On many of the trails we have in North Florida and South Florida ( where we
live), the trails are almost gratuitously technical with huge palmetto roots
and log piles the moment you get on the trail. My girlfriend is fine on this
after 30 or 40 minutes of riding, but in her first 30 to 40 minutes, she
can't get her cycling skills or balance working----after this period, all of
a sudden she gets her "cycling legs", and she can ride great. Maybe its a
middle ear thing, maybe a blood re-distribution thing, whatever it is,
someone must have some warm up drills that could be used to short circuit
this problem. In other words, there has to be some way to do something for 5
or 10 minutes, to speed this acclimatization up, and allow her to ride with
a group without messing up the first half hour or more for everyone else???

Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Dan V.

On 2004-01-12, Dan Volker penned:
Hopefully someone has some good ideas on ways to warm up a person's
balance and skills for just before you hit the trail. On many of the
trails we have in North Florida and South Florida ( where we live),
the trails are almost gratuitously technical with huge palmetto roots
and log piles the moment you get on the trail. My girlfriend is fine
on this after 30 or 40 minutes of riding, but in her first 30 to 40
minutes, she can't get her cycling skills or balance working----after
this period, all of a sudden she gets her "cycling legs", and she can
ride great. Maybe its a middle ear thing, maybe a blood
re-distribution thing, whatever it is, someone must have some warm up
drills that could be used to short circuit this problem. In other
words, there has to be some way to do something for 5 or 10 minutes,
to speed this acclimatization up, and allow her to ride with a group
without messing up the first half hour or more for everyone else???


Are you sure this isn't a confidence thing, rather than a true physical
acclimatization thing? Lack of confidence can really do a number on
you, even on stuff that you're body's perfectly capable of doing.

How often do you guys ride? Maybe if you rode more often, she wouldn't
need as much prep time.

Just some thoughts ...

--
monique

"Monique Y. Herman" wrote in message
...
On 2004-01-12, Dan Volker penned:
Hopefully someone has some good ideas on ways to warm up a person's
balance and skills for just before you hit the trail. On many of the
trails we have in North Florida and South Florida ( where we live),
the trails are almost gratuitously technical with huge palmetto roots
and log piles the moment you get on the trail. My girlfriend is fine
on this after 30 or 40 minutes of riding, but in her first 30 to 40
minutes, she can't get her cycling skills or balance working----after
this period, all of a sudden she gets her "cycling legs", and she can
ride great. Maybe its a middle ear thing, maybe a blood
re-distribution thing, whatever it is, someone must have some warm up
drills that could be used to short circuit this problem. In other
words, there has to be some way to do something for 5 or 10 minutes,
to speed this acclimatization up, and allow her to ride with a group
without messing up the first half hour or more for everyone else???


Are you sure this isn't a confidence thing, rather than a true physical
acclimatization thing? Lack of confidence can really do a number on
you, even on stuff that you're body's perfectly capable of doing.

How often do you guys ride? Maybe if you rode more often, she wouldn't
need as much prep time.

Just some thoughts ...

--
monique

Monique,
Sandra is riding her mountain bike once to twice per week. This added to
her road riding ( she is aiming at masters nationals on Road this year, and
averaging a total of about 12 to 13 hours per week, with mountain biking
about 3 to 4 hours of this when I get my way :-).
As to confidence, this is certainly a big factor in her first 30 minutes of
riding--then suddenly she gets less timid, commits more, and finds
everything easier. But on many of the trails we go to, there is just no good
way to get an easy 30 minutes of trail before it gets technical. When we go
to Tsali in N.C. , this is a non-issue, as its "legs and lungs", without
knarly roots or other unavoidable obstacles. But on trails here, there is no
place to ride for confidence building in the first 30 or 40 minutes. I got
her a new 2004 Trek Liquid 25, to remove alot of the technical confidence
issues, and it has done a great deal to help---but if we could speed the
initial warm up or confidence building period, she would have a lot more fun
every time we go out.
Any thoughts?
Thanks,
Dan V

Dan Volker scribbled on a scrap of paper:
Hopefully someone has some good ideas on ways to warm up a person's
balance and skills for just before you hit the trail.
On many of the trails we have in North Florida and South Florida (
where we live), the trails are almost gratuitously technical with
huge palmetto roots and log piles the moment you get on the trail. My
girlfriend is fine on this after 30 or 40 minutes of riding, but in
her first 30 to 40 minutes, she can't get her cycling skills or
balance working----after this period, all of a sudden she gets her
"cycling legs", and she can ride great. Maybe its a middle ear thing,
maybe a blood re-distribution thing, whatever it is, someone must
have some warm up drills that could be used to short circuit this
problem. In other words, there has to be some way to do something for
5 or 10 minutes, to speed this acclimatization up, and allow her to
ride with a group without messing up the first half hour or more for
everyone else???

Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Dan V.

Go a jog? Ride to the trail head? Set up a trainer in the parking lot? Suck
it up and
just ride? Think about something else?

I feel best in my rides after about 8 miles or so, I enter a whole
different zone. But prior to that, ,I just ride and don't focus on my
performance level.

Now, when you said this:

In other words, there has to be some way to do something for
5 or 10 minutes, to speed this acclimatization up, and allow her to
ride with a group without messing up the first half hour or more for
everyone else???

That puts up a number of red flags...
Is she a novice and you are a testosterone poisoned animal, and she's
getting frustrated trying to keep up with you? Is this an appropriate group
for her to be riding with? ( the "messing it up for the group" part is your
giveaway.. )

Does she need a different group to ride with? or perhaps to go out with you
when you are in "patient" mode as compared to "herd" mode"

At any rate sounds like a "head" issue and not a "body" issue to me

Penny

Monique Y. Herman wrote:
On 2004-01-12, Dan Volker penned:

Hopefully someone has some good ideas on ways to warm up a person's
balance and skills for just before you hit the trail. On many of the
trails we have in North Florida and South Florida ( where we live),
the trails are almost gratuitously technical with huge palmetto roots
and log piles the moment you get on the trail. My girlfriend is fine
on this after 30 or 40 minutes of riding, but in her first 30 to 40
minutes, she can't get her cycling skills or balance working----after
this period, all of a sudden she gets her "cycling legs", and she can
ride great. Maybe its a middle ear thing, maybe a blood
re-distribution thing, whatever it is, someone must have some warm up
drills that could be used to short circuit this problem. In other
words, there has to be some way to do something for 5 or 10 minutes,
to speed this acclimatization up, and allow her to ride with a group
without messing up the first half hour or more for everyone else???



Are you sure this isn't a confidence thing, rather than a true physical
acclimatization thing? Lack of confidence can really do a number on
you, even on stuff that you're body's perfectly capable of doing.

How often do you guys ride? Maybe if you rode more often, she wouldn't
need as much prep time.

Just some thoughts ...


I agree. This sounds like a confidence issue. You can't "warm up" a
middle ear. I suspect she's really self-conscious about her skills and
pressure from the group makes it worse. The OP's comment about her
"messing up the ride for everybody else" tends to bear this out. I
would suggest more frequent rides, either alone, as a couple, or with a
more relaxed beginner's group so that neither she nor her boyfriend has
to feel embarrassed about her initial clumsiness.

Kathleen

Kathleen scribbled on a scrap of paper:

I agree. This sounds like a confidence issue. You can't "warm up" a
middle ear. I suspect she's really self-conscious about her skills
and pressure from the group makes it worse. The OP's comment about
her "messing up the ride for everybody else" tends to bear this out.
I would suggest more frequent rides, either alone, as a couple, or
with a more relaxed beginner's group so that neither she nor her
boyfriend has to feel embarrassed about her initial clumsiness.

Kathleen


yes, if I knew my partner felt that way about my presence at certain
functions, I wouldn't be exactly hot to trot to participate either.

Penny

--
me and my bike:
www.specialtyoutdoors.com/biking.htm

Go a jog? Ride to the trail head? Set up a trainer in the parking lot?
Suck
it up and
just ride? Think about something else?

I feel best in my rides after about 8 miles or so, I enter a whole
different zone. But prior to that, ,I just ride and don't focus on my
performance level.

Now, when you said this:

In other words, there has to be some way to do something for
5 or 10 minutes, to speed this acclimatization up, and allow her to
ride with a group without messing up the first half hour or more for
everyone else???

That puts up a number of red flags...
Is she a novice and you are a testosterone poisoned animal, and she's
getting frustrated trying to keep up with you? Is this an appropriate
group
for her to be riding with? ( the "messing it up for the group" part is
your
giveaway.. )

Does she need a different group to ride with? or perhaps to go out with
you
when you are in "patient" mode as compared to "herd" mode"

At any rate sounds like a "head" issue and not a "body" issue to me

Penny

Hi Penny,
If Sandra is just riding with me, its not much of an issue--I am fine with
her taking whatever time she needs to gain confidence and start
committing--and having fun. We have a couple we ride with that we really
enjoy hanging out with, and riding with...Once Sandra is warmed up, she can
really fly--I mean on the legs and lungs sections, she can dust all of us,
and she does well on technical once she gets this mind set as well. But on
the Florida trails, the first half hour gets her upset, because the other
couple are comfortable from minute one, and they have to wait every few
hundred yards, because Sandra keeps stopping to walk over some root or log
she really could have ridden over easily.
Part of this problem could be the choice she has insisted on, of using SPD's
.....Because she likes the speed and power she can use with them, she has
been unwilling to switch to flat pedals with pins and rubber soled shoes
that will stick to them well. The other couple uses them, and they allow
fearless entry to big roots and logs, because even if you mess up, you don't
really crash--you just instantly push off with a foot. So in the first 30
minutes, Sandra tends to ride with one foot clipped in, and one foot
unclipped ( where it can slip off easily, and also catch her if she hits a
root wrong). But this absolutely prevents committing to any real obstacle,
and is self defeating in the warm up! The best thing I can think of is to
get her some of the soft soled flat pedal shoes and flat pedals, and attempt
to coax her into giving these a fair try. She likes to do things her way :-)
i.e., I would never or could never, "push" her into doing anything.

What do you think?
Dan V

On Mon, 12 Jan 2004 09:47:00 -0500, Dan Volker wrote:

What's the betting that 'Mountain bike' was added as an after-thought to
the title? Spoilsport...

BTW, I suggest beer - it will help her relax.

--
a.m-b FAQ: http://www.j-harris.net/bike/ambfaq.htm

a.bmx FAQ: http://www.t-online.de/~jharris/bmx_faq.htm

Dan Volker wrote:

"Monique Y. Herman" wrote in message
...

On 2004-01-12, Dan Volker penned:

Hopefully someone has some good ideas on ways to warm up a person's
balance and skills for just before you hit the trail. On many of the
trails we have in North Florida and South Florida ( where we live),
the trails are almost gratuitously technical with huge palmetto roots
and log piles the moment you get on the trail. My girlfriend is fine
on this after 30 or 40 minutes of riding, but in her first 30 to 40
minutes, she can't get her cycling skills or balance working----after
this period, all of a sudden she gets her "cycling legs", and she can
ride great. Maybe its a middle ear thing, maybe a blood
re-distribution thing, whatever it is, someone must have some warm up
drills that could be used to short circuit this problem. In other
words, there has to be some way to do something for 5 or 10 minutes,
to speed this acclimatization up, and allow her to ride with a group
without messing up the first half hour or more for everyone else???


Are you sure this isn't a confidence thing, rather than a true physical
acclimatization thing? Lack of confidence can really do a number on
you, even on stuff that you're body's perfectly capable of doing.

How often do you guys ride? Maybe if you rode more often, she wouldn't
need as much prep time.

Just some thoughts ...

--
monique


Monique,
Sandra is riding her mountain bike once to twice per week. This added to
her road riding ( she is aiming at masters nationals on Road this year, and
averaging a total of about 12 to 13 hours per week, with mountain biking
about 3 to 4 hours of this when I get my way :-).
As to confidence, this is certainly a big factor in her first 30 minutes of
riding--then suddenly she gets less timid, commits more, and finds
everything easier. But on many of the trails we go to, there is just no good
way to get an easy 30 minutes of trail before it gets technical. When we go
to Tsali in N.C. , this is a non-issue, as its "legs and lungs", without
knarly roots or other unavoidable obstacles. But on trails here, there is no
place to ride for confidence building in the first 30 or 40 minutes. I got
her a new 2004 Trek Liquid 25, to remove alot of the technical confidence
issues, and it has done a great deal to help---but if we could speed the
initial warm up or confidence building period, she would have a lot more fun
every time we go out.
Any thoughts?
Thanks,
Dan V


Maybe she's not warmed up in general. If she's at her limit technically
on these trails right from the trail head, she's not going to warm up
very quickly. Maybe she should try 20 minutes of dedicated warm up time.
Oh, and any thoughts of her "messing up the first half hour or more for
everyone else" is your/their problem not hers. Why do you invite
someone on a ride and then expect them to live up to your expectations?
That's not a "ride" its a race. If you want to go out and hammer, you
need to do it in a well matched group-where all agree. Otherwise you
accept what you get pace wise. Didn't we all learn this in MTB
Etiquette 101?

Shawn

Dan Volker scribbled on a scrap of paper:
Go a jog? Ride to the trail head? Set up a trainer in the parking
lot? Suck it up and
just ride? Think about something else?

I feel best in my rides after about 8 miles or so, I enter a whole
different zone. But prior to that, ,I just ride and don't focus on
my performance level.

Now, when you said this:

In other words, there has to be some way to do something for
5 or 10 minutes, to speed this acclimatization up, and allow her to
ride with a group without messing up the first half hour or more for
everyone else???

That puts up a number of red flags...
Is she a novice and you are a testosterone poisoned animal, and she's
getting frustrated trying to keep up with you? Is this an
appropriate group for her to be riding with? ( the "messing it up
for the group" part is your giveaway.. )

Does she need a different group to ride with? or perhaps to go out
with you when you are in "patient" mode as compared to "herd" mode"

At any rate sounds like a "head" issue and not a "body" issue to me

Penny

Hi Penny,
If Sandra is just riding with me, its not much of an issue--I am fine
with her taking whatever time she needs to gain confidence and start
committing--and having fun. We have a couple we ride with that we
really enjoy hanging out with, and riding with...Once Sandra is
warmed up, she can really fly--I mean on the legs and lungs sections,
she can dust all of us, and she does well on technical once she gets
this mind set as well. But on the Florida trails, the first half hour
gets her upset, because the other couple are comfortable from minute
one, and they have to wait every few hundred yards, because Sandra
keeps stopping to walk over some root or log she really could have
ridden over easily. Part of this problem could be the choice she has
insisted on, of using SPD's ....Because she likes the speed and power
she can use with them, she has been unwilling to switch to flat
pedals with pins and rubber soled shoes that will stick to them well.
The other couple uses them, and they allow fearless entry to big
roots and logs, because even if you mess up, you don't really
crash--you just instantly push off with a foot. So in the first 30
minutes, Sandra tends to ride with one foot clipped in, and one foot
unclipped ( where it can slip off easily, and also catch her if she
hits a root wrong). But this absolutely prevents committing to any
real obstacle, and is self defeating in the warm up! The best thing I
can think of is to get her some of the soft soled flat pedal shoes
and flat pedals, and attempt to coax her into giving these a fair
try. She likes to do things her way :-) i.e., I would never or could
never, "push" her into doing anything.

What do you think?
Dan V


upon reading that, I think maybe you are making her problem, your problem.
So what if she can't commit to an obstacle for the first half an hour... is
that her issue, or your issue because you think she should? If she thinks
it's a problem, perhaps she should post. You are being a well meaning male
who want's to " fix" a female. That can be rather annoying at times,
especially if you are the target "fixee". If she likes to do things her
way, lighten up back off and let her do it her way. If she needs to change
something, she will, in her own time, figure it out herself.

If this couple is not comfortable waiting, who's problem is that... hers,
yours, or theirs?

In the meantime you can practive your bird watching skills while wating for
her.

just my 2¢ of course