Hey Fellow Cyclists!

Time Off.

I did one more race after Mud, Sweat, and Beers for a redemption race, we will get to that. Beyond that race I have decided to take time off, but I'm really still exercising a lot...Ha!

The plan was to take the week off after the Fort Custer Mountain Bike Race, but life had other plans. A lot of basketball happened, a lot of hikes happened, and rides with the wife happened. This week other than Monday I have been off the bike and off from anything else that resembles exercise...well, other than house projects that require heavy lifting. I'm not sure if that counts as time off for the body to recover???

First, check below for some of the new YouTube videos, one documenting the Whiskey 50 experience that I was unsure of wether to release or not. Videos are linked below.

Just another reminder that I have a new website, bikelifewithrob.com. It has the same stuff that the old website had, but the name just makes more sense. We will no longer be using ur bike life . com! Check out the new website, let me know what you think and if you see any mistakes!

Some other new and exciting to me at least news, I am starting a podcast with the focus being on athletes. Unpacking the Athlete will have its first episode out soon, and you can get more information on episodes by following one or all of these social media platforms; Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Just search for Unpacking the Athlete.

The Whiskey experience is over, and so is MSB. After both races I felt like I could not end on either of those bad notes so I decided to clip into the mountain bike one more time at the Fort Custer Stampede. Temperatures were hot again, and this race was longer than most XC races in Michigan lasting around 2.5 hours for around 34 miles.

Race started fast until we hit singletrack which was right away, and then we slowed into a cruising pace. Behind us were the 40 plus Elite Men and at the pace we were going, I knew we would see them in lap one.

Sure enough, we were caught by ZV who proceeded to increase the pace and break up our field. This was a good thing in my mind. Eventually he decided to pull off the front and recover a bit and the pace gradually slowed back down allowing a rider or two to latch back on.

ZV went back up front and again broke the group apart. Guys rotated after that and kept a pretty good pace, narrowing our group down to 4. At one point, the guy behind ZV had something go wrong with his pedal, this slowed DK and I down as ZV slowly disappeared. I'm not sure why we didn't ask to go by right away, but we then decided up a hill to go around him and we did. This push up the hill dropped that guy off from us and it was just DK and I.

I told DK I wanted to catch up to ZV again and we worked together and brought him back into view as we closed the gap. I then grabbed a drink that was almost empty and instead of drink I got a blast of air with drink and it choked me for a minute or two. We watched ZV start to disappear again and DK said to just let him go.

DK and I took turns the rest of the race keeping the pace decent and came across the line almost together, DK taking the top spot in the Elite men open and I the second spot. Very happy with the performance on the bike here.

I'm doing the LJ100 with friends and our buddy Jason who is still battling pancreatic cancer. I can't wait for this event and for him to try and conquer this epic race. This will definitely be something exciting to share in the coming weeks.

I am planning to start riding soon as the LJ is fast approaching and I don't want to show up with nothing on the legs for a 100 mile MTB race through the woods.

As far as strength, the last routine I did, I was using dumbbells and Kettlebells for 3 reps with heavier weight and different exercises. I am using the PowerBlock Dumbbells as they allow me to go from a really low weight, all the way up to 90 pounds a dumbbell. As stated before, I always start my strength workouts with a dynamic warm up which includes walkouts, a variety of different lunges, leg swings, arm swings, and a few other things. You need to get the blood flowing, the muscles warmed up, and more of your muscle recruited for a safer experience. If you do not feel warmed up properly, or you are over 40 years old, do 10 minutes of cardio before the dynamic exercises to get it right.

Strength Exercise List: Bosu single leg balance squats x 5 reps

Depth jumps x 5 reps

Bench single leg step ups x 3 reps

Hip presses x 3 reps

Weighted chin-ups x 3 reps

Bench press x 3 reps

Single arm rows x 3 reps

Weight crunches 45 to sit-ups to one leg planks to supermans

The 3 ab exercises are all done in a row without stopping along with the supermans. As I move through this workout, I make sure to increase the weight when possible! Remember, you should change your strength routine up every 6-8 weeks for maximum benefit! I will more than likely start on some weights either next week or after LJ100.

Body work was happening, but I have done nothing this week. When I do perform it, this is what it looks like. Body work involves different things from static stretching later in the day after workouts, to the massage chair, to a foam roller, to a handheld rolling pin, and my favorite the gun! You know the new device everyone has, that hypervolt. I don't have one of those, but I do has a jig saw and you can buy all the attachments for under $20 here. I also do dynamic stretching before hard workouts to get the blood flowing better and more muscle fibers recruited to reduce the risk of injury. I have been keeping my Yoga practices on Wednesday's. As you also may have seen, I have added the Air Relax recovery boots to any post race and post hard workout recovery.

If you like YouTube, be sure you are subscribed to the Youtube channel so you don't miss all the epic MTB action! If you are stuck inside, find one of my longer fat or XC racing videos to watch will you train indoors. Check out some of the new videos below!

My road to the Whiskey 50 Off-Road - The whole story

MSB - Mud, Sweat, and Beers MTB RACE

Come Race with Me - Rust Shaker - Amazing race for me

MTBing in SEDONA!

RECAP OF THE GRAVEL SPRING RACES

Get the ebook now for free on Getting Started in Mountain Biking! It is great for the beginner to point them in the right direction, and also good for anyone on a bike as I take the guess work out of getting what you need to get riding!

Weather is starting to warm up and the sun is shining, grab some sun glasses that are affordable!

Enjoy Your Weekend Biking Adventures!

Bike Life with Rob on YouTube

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