Are you keen to take up bike riding this year?
Cycling is a great cardio exercise that helps to burn fat, plus it's fun to do. Cyclist Emma Atkinson shares her tips for getting starting, improving, diet advice and her favourite places to ride.
Getting Started
If you’re looking at getting into mountain biking I would highly recommend a day of instruction with a trail leader first, they will sort you out with a good bike for the day and show you how to ride trails safely while having fun. Progression bikes in Scotland are the company to contact for this (http://www.progressionbikesscotland.com/). From there, if you enjoy it (which you definitely will), invest in a decent bike and helmet then get out into the mountains!
Improving
If you want to improve your riding, I would suggest just riding as often and as much as possible. If you want to be competitive then look at some gym work and specific skills training, getting a coach is a good idea if you want to get serious. James Scott from High Rise Bike Skills is a great guy to work with and deals with all levels of ability ([email protected]).
Training Tips
- Plenty of rest/recovery between sessions and races
- Pace your training – it’s not about going all out every session
- Get into a routine – allocate a time of day for training and try to stick to it
- Prepare - Make sure you have plenty of water and warm clothes for after
- Commit – It will take time to see/feel results so keep it up
Diet Tips
- Eat lots of green vegetables, especially during winter
- “Fat” isn’t as bad as everyone makes out – don’t fear it, you need it!
- Fry food in butter not oil, it’s better for you
- Eat plenty of red meat
- Stick to fruit for sugar, only use unnatural sugar for competition (e.g. jelly beans/energy bars)
Top places to ride
- Home – the trails around my house never get old
- Morzine in the French Alps
- Innerleithen at the Scottish Borders
- Bala in North Wales
- Falkland Bike Park – the trails local to my university
Bio
Began racing downhill in 2008 and was selected for the Scottish Cycling Talent Team. In 2009 and 2010 I raced for GB as a junior in the UCI world cup series. I sustained a bad injury during the season which forced me to take two years out of competition. I began university and focused on training. This year I returned to racing and have had a great season, looking forward to 2014!
www.emma-atkinson.blogspot.co.uk
Emma Atkinson will be with Flare Clothing at the London Bike Show, at the Excel Centre 13 –16 February. For more information visit; www.thelondonbikeshow.co.uk
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