Hey Fellow Cyclists!

I STILL have not personally raced the bike since the Fort, and I have no plans right now to do so, the left shoulder was at 80% two weeks after the separation, but seems to be very slow going still at this point.

Let's start with 100 miles of mountain biking on all singletrack. There is nothing better than being able to stay on singletrack for that long, and that is why I planned to do this ride at Owasippe, a place that I could make this happen. I started early with a new friend Jim (he was the first American to finish the Race Across America this year, and he will be on the podcast soon), and he rolled two laps with me, I would get a little ahead, and would just turn around and ride back to him. This gave me about 12 extra miles to play with for the day that included a green loop I did by myself. I did lap three solo, and then had my friend Brent join me for laps 4 and 5. These laps felt really good, as I was feeling good, and this brought me to about 75 miles at this point. Then I made a bad decision to try some caffeine gum, and within 15 minutes my stomach was not feeling well at all. I should have known better as I have had this same reaction before, I just thought I would react differently for some reason. Needless to say, the last lap and a half were tough with the stomach issues, but I managed to hit 100 miles at Owasippe. My takeaway is obviously to skip the caffeine! I would drink 2 bottles of hydration every 2-3 laps on this ride, I had a banana at somewhere in the 50-60 mile range, and I would drink an ensure every 1.5 hours while riding. I made refueling stops as short as possible and was able to complete the ride in about 7 hours and 50 minutes.

The Following weekend, Rob, Brent, and I set out to do a full Dragon Loop, our first lap was counter clockwise. We hit about 41 miles on this loop and Brent had to leave, so Rob and I nutritioned up, and then did another lap in the opposite direction with a slightly different route for 42 miles. The Dragon is my favorite trail in lower Michigan, and if you have not been I would highly recommend going and giving it a try. The trail flows very nice, there are enough jumps along the way to keep you happy, and the views are unmatched. A word of caution, if you are riding and you approach corners that you can't see around, give a shout out so that you don't have a head on collision.

Next on the list, is the new way that I am putting together YouTube videos. I will probably still have some videos from the bikes perspective, but will be shifting gears to make them more enjoyable. My first attempt was at MC, Check out the first video in the new series called, How I RIDE!

How I Ride Mosquito Creek

I am in the middle of Coyote Season, we just had out first race up at Mid Michigan Community College and the kids did great, looking forward to more racing for them.

Labor Day Weekend, it's my birthday tomorrow, so I figure what better way to celebrate both occasions than with a sale. Almost everything is on sale on the website, check it out here!

I started a podcast and I am enjoying the interview process, getting to know athletes, and learning as I go! Unpacking the Athlete has published 12 episodes, and you can listen to them on most podcast platforms including Spotify and Apple Podcasts, just search for Unpacking the Athlete. You can follow on social media to know when new episodes come out, or you can also subscribe to alerts in your podcasting platform. Unpacking the Athlete is also on all of these social media platforms; Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Again, just search for Unpacking the Athlete. My next guest is a 3x NUE Series Champion so be sure to subscribe so you don't miss out!

As far as strength training, make sure you always do a proper warm up, I skipped mine yesterday morning and paid for it the rest of the day with some pulled muscles and an out of place rib. I am using dumbbells and Kettlebells for 4-8 reps in a very slow controlled to failure single set. I try to make the set last 60-80 seconds and the muscles are totally spent. This is saving me time and I will see strength gains in the coming weeks. 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:

8 Bosu Squats

5 Plyo jump squats

Bench Single Leg Squats x 6-8 reps

Bench single leg hip ups x 6-8 reps

chin-ups x 6-8 reps

Dumb Bell press x 6-8 reps

Single arm rows x 6-8 reps

knee to elbow planks to bicycle flies to kneeling opposites

The 2 ab exercises are all done in a row without stopping along with the kneeling opposites. 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!

Body work is not as crazy as normal, and I have been pretty much only using the Air Relax Compression Boots and some light stretching. When I do perform it my normal routine, 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!

Check out the Podcast episodes below, click their name:

Danielle 24 Hour MTB & Getting Kids on Bikes

My Favorite Bike

Why I Love the Bike

Cole PRO XC MTB

Anabel High School XC MTB

Marc XC MTB

Tom US Champion

Nate SingleSpeed Sensation

Jason Superman

Tory Gravel Racing Queen

Julie Pro XC MTB

Brent XC MTB

Latest YOUTUBE Videos:

How I ride Mosquito Creek

Riding Wet North Marquette Trails including Wildcat

South Marquette Trails in the Wet, Zuegs Preview

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!

Remember the Labor Day Sale on the Website!

Enjoy Your Weekend Biking Adventures!

Bike Life with Rob on YouTube

Grab my $10...on sale for free ebook, Getting started in MTB - Your 1st 90 Days

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