Ultra-distance cycling races are physically and mentally demanding events that require above-average endurance, stamina and skill. Resting during these races is essential for maintaining optimal performance, preventing injuries and avoiding fatigue. Some of the benefits are: Resting allows the muscles to recover from the stress and damage caused by prolonged exertion. This helps to prevent muscle cramps, soreness and inflammation, which can impair the cyclist's ability to ped

If you are reading this, you are probably one of those adventurous souls who love to challenge themselves with epic feats of endurance. You are unsatisfied with the usual weekend rides or even the occasional century. You want to go beyond what most people think is possible on a bike. You want to ride 1000km or more in a single event without external support, relying only on your strength, skills and resources. You want to experience the thrill of ultra-distance cycling. But

If you love cycling and you are looking for a new challenge, you might want to consider ultra cycling. Ultra cycling is a form of long-distance cycling that involves riding for extended periods, often over multiple days, across varied terrain, sometimes in remote wilderness (with wildlife) areas and extreme weather conditions. Ultra-distance cycling races test the endurance, stamina and mental toughness of riders, who have to cover distances ranging from 200 km to over 7400 k

First, what is gravel? It is a sedimentary rock that consists of small pieces of rock fragments. Gravel can be natural or artificial, depending on how it is formed. Natural occurs when rock is eroded by water or wind over time. Artificial is produced by crushing larger rocks into smaller pieces for construction, road building, and landscaping. What is a gravel bike ride or race? It is a type of cycling that combines elements of road cycling, mountain biking and cyclo-cross. Y

Improving doesn’t have to be complicated! This blog post provides you with five simple tips that will help you improve your cycling performance. Follow these tips and you'll be on your way to reaching your cycling goals! Consistency Adaptability Progressive Overload Recover Fuel your body Move your body regularly every day or at least every other day. Consistency in training to me as a coach and athlete is exercising at least 3-6 times per week, which should be sport specific

Taking the time to assess what went wrong this season can provide ample opportunity to improve your chances for success in the season to come. This guide is based on personal experience, outlines possible scenario and how to fix it. Fatigue Did you burn out? Where you prone to excessive aches and pains? Did you get sick easily and too often? Remedy: First rest, and then start easy and slow. Purposely ceasing training for a few weeks will give your body and mind time to rest,

The Munga is an annual ultra-distance single-stage mountain bike race for anyone crazy enough to pedal a bike across the Karoo amid summer and an opportunity to test your fitness and see if you have what it takes to become an ultra-endurance cyclist. Here are seven tips that will help you make the most of your experience at The Munga: Timeline Your bicycle. Training. Get to the start line. Start line to race village 1. Maximize efficiency. Don’t quit. 1. Now your timeline I

Preparing for the Munga can quickly become a search for the perfect equipment. Which shoes? Which lights? How much fluid/water? Which bags? Do I need aero bars? How many power banks should I carry? There is no shortage of equipment to choose from, but I don't think preparing for an ultra-distance race is about finding the best individual products. I've learned some of this through my own Munga attempts. Equipment problems, discomfort and fatigue taught me that small problems

The Munga is not a normal bike race. It is an annual ultra-distance, single-stage mountain-bike race across the Karoo in the middle of summer. The distance is just over 1,100 km, the time limit is 120 hours, and riders are largely responsible for themselves between the race villages and water points. It can be brutally hot during the day and very cold at night. The roads are mostly flat to rolling dirt roads, but after many hours on a bicycle, even relatively uncomplicated te

Use this guide to dial in your race nutrition for ultra races such as - The Munga MTB The Munga Grit Race Around Rwanda Bikingman Series Cape Epic Gravel Burn Race Around Austria Radamring 24 hr Attakwas 36One MTB Challenge Swartberg100 Around The Pot 100/200 Miler Old Mutual Wealth Double Century and many others. The guide can also be applied to ultra bicycle rides, bike-packing adventure rides, century rides, etc. Personal tip: For the multi-day non stop events above 1000km

Exercise and nutrition are connected, achieve sports performance at any level depends on meeting day to day nutritional requirements. This guide introduces some of the basics of nutrition and healthy eating, and the effect on your cycling performance. Please note this nutritional guide is not intended to be a medical opinion, diagnose, or treatment of any sort. Balanced Diet This refers to the intake appropriate amounts of food and fluid to supply nutrition and energy to supp

The Cape Epic is one of the toughest mountain bike stage races in the world. Eight days. Two riders. Long days in the saddle. Thousands of metres of climbing. Technical terrain. Heat, cold, wind, dust and the occasional mechanical problem. But preparing for the Cape Epic isn't simply about becoming fit enough to ride a long way. I learned that during my first Cape Epic in 2015. The Cape Epic demands more than fitness The race takes place in the Western Cape and the route chan

Before you head out of the door, remind yourself that the ultimate goal of every outdoor bicycle ride is to return home safely. The most important thing to remember when riding your bicycle outdoors in winter or summer is that backing off or cutting a ride short can never be a bad decision. Ride indoors on really bad days...there are times when you have to abandon and get on the indoor trainer. Why you should ride outside in ride-able winter conditions? Well it may be unpleas

Off-season training is a term that refers to the period when an athlete is not actively competing in their sport. Off-season training is usually designed to help athletes maintain or improve their physical condition, skills, and mental readiness for the next competitive season. Off-season training can vary depending on the sport, the level of competition, the goals of the athlete, and the individual preferences of the coach and the athlete. However, some common elements of of

My recovery weeks generally consists of 2 active recovery rides during the week and one or two endurance rides on the weekends. There are recovery weeks where I do very little (2 rides) to no riding at all. Personally I found that a rest week completely off the bike creates more time for other stuff, more sleep, and brings more physical and mental freshness. Blend the easy week with the very best recovery method – 7 to 9 hours of quality sleep! Recovery happens when you sleep

Fatigue is a natural result of a race, hard session and or load; it is the body’s way of communicating that it needs rest. Choosing to ignore this message will only lead to overtraining, illness and or injury. What can you do to improve your recovery time? Warm-up, recovery starts before a race or hard session. Refuel during training and racing. Cool downs, this help your body to return to its pre-exercise state and kick starts the recovery and adaptation phase. This should

After weeks or months of base and build training, you're close to the start line—but your job isn’t done yet. To truly show up at your best, you need to navigate the final two phases: Peak and Taper. Though often lumped together, these phases serve different purposes: The Peak Phase is about sharpening your fitness. It’s when you do just enough race-specific work to hit your highest form without digging a fatigue hole. The Taper Phase is about shedding fatigue, not fitness. H

You have invested in a solid base training phase, and over the last 3 to 4 months, you focused on your strengths and weaknesses and prepared your body for the higher intensities and the season. Up next is the build phase. The goal of the second phase is to prepare you for your specific race requirements. During the build phase, at least 2 weekly workouts should be specific to your goal/event, and all of the other workouts during the week are dedicated to recovering and mainta