Archive of BMW Motorrad Club Cape (2006 - 2019)

Hi Jacques,

I am sure some of the more experienced riders will have lots of advice for you I don't have much. However I am a firm believer that to be riding fit it is all about hours in the saddle in the terrain in which you want to be fit.

So as you say, you don't get off road riding fit by riding lots of tar road.

I do no excersize what so ever and as you know I am almost 60. But I do do quite a bit of serious and semi serious off road riding. I have also recently bought a "plastic" bike (KDX 200) and this gives me a serious work out every time I ride it. It also keeps my eye in for normal and serious off road riding, I recomend this tool highly. If I don't ride for a while and I do a longish ride I am "pap tyres" at the end of the day.

In fact I rode today after not riding for about six weeks, I not only rode like an idiot but when I got home I was "moeg" and it was all tar.

The regular "gymers" will surely also have good advice for you.

Bum hours my friend, bum hours!!!!!!

Hi Jacques

As ek my beskeie bydrae kan maak as 'n novice....  Ek is nou al aan-en-af op teer en grondpaaie.  In die begin na 'n dag se beginners off-road ride, het ek die volgende dag gevoel asof 'n trein oor my geloop het. Ek beskou myself nie as heeltemal onfiks, maar daar werk ander spiere as wat jy in 'n gym kan laat oefen. (Kardiovaskulêre- oefeninge is nie te versmaai).   Wil jou graag die gemoedsrus gee.....dit gaan elke keer beter....sodra jy meer ontspanne begin ry (minder stres op jou spiere),die basiese beginsels begin toepas (wat tydens al die training geoefen word), tegnieke instinktief gebeur, meer geloof in die GS se vermoëns het en lekker "gejel" het met jou dream machine, sal jy dit meer geniet.  Ry binne jou vermoëns en kry die basiese dinge eers onder beheer.  Daar is te veel op die spel.

Ek stem 100% saam met Geoff, daar is niks soos ure in die saal.....al is dit 200kms op 'n Sondagmiddag. Moenie opgee....dis ongelooflik bevredigend om te sien en voel hoe jy vorder na elke trippie wat jy suksesvol afhandel.   Life's a journey....njoy the ride...and the challenge.   

Jacques, I agree with Geoff and Anna-Marie about hours in the saddle. Core strengthening exercises will cover most of the muscles you use riding off road, then you also need some upper body strength and leg endurance. For endurance training I do mountain biking, as it exercises my reflexes as well as fitness and endurance.

Soos die ander sê Jacques TITS(time in the saddle). Cardio is natuurlik ook 'n goeie begin en 'n belangrike basis vir enige sport. Ek het ook die gewoonte begin om 'n bietjie te strek voor ek ry. Veral as jy weet dinge gaan bietjie tegnies raak. Self na jy klaar is doen weer 'n strek roetine. 

Gym does not specifically make you bike fit - though there are some exercises that are beneficial, and an overall strong body is definitely more capable for things like picking up the bike or stopping it from tipping over.  Core strength is vital.  I had a personal trainer at the gym for a year - it is amazing the variety of exercises and parts of the body that get neglected.  Our 'old-school' regimes of situps, squats, pushups and pullups are not enough.

Now I do gym 3 times a week, and Pilates on a Saturday.  On the days inbetween I ride the trials bike for 30 minutes.  Still, this is not enough to be bike fit for a day of riding offroad on an Adventure bike.

 Riding a dirtbike twice a week or more is the quickest way to get and stay bike fit.  Say an hour on Wednesday (sports parade), and 3 hours at Zone 7 over the weekend.  In a month you will be fit (and have new respect for competitors in the Roof or the Dakar).

Being a massive motorsport (motorcycles) fan and following all the top riders in the world in MotoGP, World Superbikes, AMA Supercross and MX, and the WC MX and enduro on social applications like Facebook, Twitter and also browsing personal websites etc., I have built up some idea of the training methods of a lot of the top riders in the world. This includes the top guys in the Dakar, Darryl Curtis for example.

The first thing is cycling, they all seem to cycle a huge amount, whether its mountain bike or road bike based. Where we think 40km is a good training run, they do 150km. Troy Bayliss would do about 180km per day on cycling days.

Gym work or resistance training is also important and I have read articles ranging from guys that only do super circuit type training, to guys who do proper weight training routines and our very own Sheridan Morias who works out with a tractor tyre and a twelve pound hammer, and does short intense sprints in between. So tyre flips and basically donering the tyre with the hammer.

A lot of them also do boxing training with a punch bag. I have a punch bag and it is an incredible workout to just bounce around and hit the bag for as long as you can, which isn’t usually very long.

Then many of the top guys in the world will spend hours riding motor cross or enduro. Pound for pound, motor cross riders and boxers are amongst the fittest athletes in the world. I have worn my heart rate monitor both during the Pick n Pay Mountain bike Argus and about the same amount of time riding at Zone 7 and I burnt more calories and got my max heart rate higher on the MX bike. I can ride all day on the GS, but about 10 laps of Zone 7 flat out is about my max at the moment, so still work to do. This also gives you an idea of the main muscle groups used because the next day you can feel it in your quads, hamstrings and the centre of your back, from top to bottom.

And then as the others have all indicated, time in the saddle will get you conditioned. I don’t have a problem on the GS anymore, but I do remember when Trevor started me cycling, I had pains in places I didn’t know I had places, but as the weeks went on, the backside was not sore anymore, my feet didn’t hurt in the cleats, my shoulder pain went away because basically I was getting conditioned to the bike and even started to enjoy it a little. It works exactly the same on the motorbike.

It doesn’t really matter what you do in the end, because anything is better than doing nothing at all, but when you are fit you WILL enjoy your riding a lot more. Fitness is something I have noted before and tried to get something going. Perhaps it is time for another try, come in Trevor.

http://www.bmwmotorcycleclubcape.co.za/bmwmcc-cape-cycling-and-fitness-g...

a popular topic in January - see this post from 2 years ago

http://www.bmwmotorcycleclubcape.co.za/fitness-training

Good luck with the training (and keeping those New Year's resolutions ).

Ditto to all the above advice.

For me time in the saddle works. Any time on your bike adds to your fitness. Practicing cones (slow riding) funnily enough is a good workout and excellent for improving technique. I also cycle hills on the mtb for aerobic training.

Good luck Jacques.