My Fastest Solo Ride on MTB ~ post by Ankit Lamba

It was to be a rest day post the 108 km ride the previous morning but like every morning, the alarms on both my mobiles went off dot at 4 am. It woke me up long enough to realise that I wanted to log in some more sleep, so I dozed off again. That is until 5.45 am when I was woken up by the same nagging question, “when will I cross the 30 km/h avg speed barrier??” For quite some time this recurring thought had been coming to my mind every morning before getting ready for a ride. And this morning, I made up mind to either DO IT Or JUST FORGET IT and I got all set to break the mental block of the 30 km/h avg speed mark. 

I started off the ride at a fast pace. On Pusa Road I was clocking an avg of 26.7 km/h and from this point I went vroooooooom and it was near R.K. Ashram when I clocked 30 km/h (distance covered approx 7 km). I began to ride even faster as I knew there were inclines coming up in my route and I didn't want a drop in speed. I maintained the 30 km/h avg till 58 km and would have actually ended up with a 32 km/h avg had it not been for the stoppages at a few red lights on my way back due to which it dropped to 30.4 km/h.

Though it was early morning when there is no traffic, the challenging part was riding in the city with lots of roundabouts and red lights and still managing to make it the best ride ever. I clocked my highest avg speed 32 km/h (duration: 1h: 48m) and closed the ride at 30.4 km/h. I was really happy with my work out that day as I realised that it's all about the mindset and determination. If you take something as a passion and work hard towards a goal, the results will show and success will be yours. 


A few takeaways from my solo rides on the MTB have been:

• Always try to beat your best.
• Take challenging tasks to prove yourself.
• Try, Try and Try till you are able to achieve your committed goal.
• Ride with a strong determination and mindset.
• Discuss your solo rides with your cycling friends so that you can take good tips from them.

Training tips to increase pace on the MTB:

• 10-15 min stretching before/after the ride.
• Have plenty of water before/during/after the ride.
• Short Sprints will always help to gain power.
• Best to do solo rides or have one partner of the same stamina.
• Tight fitting clothing minimises wind resistance along with increasing visibility.
• Try to sleep well before every workout
• Running really helps in increasing stamina and improving the pace in riding.
• Hydrate properly when riding.