Visit to the pool - an eye opener!

I haven't had a chance to post anything for quite a while.
 Few changes in my personal life has left me bit short of time for Blogging.

I'm writing this because I had experienced something I didn't expect.
I haven't been to the swimming pool for few years now, well not properly.

What I discovered shocked me!

All my training last few years was very bike orientated, and I thought my general fitness is OK. Apparently not.

As soon as a second length of a pool I started to have a problem swimming with the breast stroke, I kept turning left. I switched to the back stroke, it got worse! After few minutes I started to feel bit of pain in my leg - "pectineus" to be precise. The pain felt sort of familiar, but at the beginning I couldn't match it to anything. After four lengths of the pool, it got really painful. Then it hit me! I realized I know that pain, only from a different scenario ( amazing how the brain works). I get that pain when I don't use my "leading" leg during descents on a single track while standing on the pedals. I don't remember ever getting an injury in that specific area so my mind started to look for reasons.

Well, reason is very simple. I always use my right foot forward when standing on the pedals during descents, and so right pectineus is different to left one.

While on the bike it doesn't effect me much, somehow even while pedaling it makes no difference, but swimming is virtually impossible due to unbalance.
Probably in time it can affect other things like walking or running. 

It's not like I'm riding four times a week, so I didn't expect any major changes in my body since I went back to the sport, but this is definitely an eye opener.

I consider MTB as perfect exercise for the whole body but obviously one has to be always mindful of repetitive strain injury.

So fellow bikers, before you dial in that perfect balanced neutral position while shredding down the trail, don't forget about the leg on the back, is it always the same one?

I did what worked better and was easier, but I'm afraid it's gonna take some time to put things back to the way nature intended.

I wish I knew about it before, hence my reason to write about it.

Flat pedals and adjustable seatpost

Flat pedals. 

Coming from road racing, I always took it for granted that if you are serious about biking, you have to be clipped in. Become one with the bike, let the cranks be the extension of your legs, my old trainer used to say. Although that is quite right for the road racing, it's not necessary true for mountain biking. I took the advice from Gary and Sinéad, and thanks to Stephen who was kind enough to give me his flat pedals to try, I never took them off the bike again (well, I did but only for cleaning and service). 

I think that everybody who uses clipped in pedals and shoes, should at least try to ride flats on different terain. For me the difference was colossal. Not only it gave me more confidence during cornering at speed but made me feel the corners way better. For those who ski or surf it's like trying to do it with the knees bent as oppose to straight. For me the freedom of movement on the bike makes all the difference. Of course it gives me more confidence, but most important it's  the ability to move the centre of gravity to follow the trail. But you might say, what about the climbs? That was something I was wondering about too. I think the time has come when people should realise that mountain biking is not road biking off road. That's called cyclo cross. We, mountain bikers should know that climbing the mountain on the bike should not be compared to running ( like road cycling is) only to dead weight lifting. Just like during the lift, we should be trying to push the ground away from us with our feet. And again flat pedals are just perfect for that. 

Next great recent invention for the mountain bikes is the adjustable seatpost, or like some would call it a dropper post. The idea behind it is simple. When you climb then seat goes up allowing you to use maximum of the power transfer from your body to the crank arms. During descending you can drop the seat down to allow free movement on the bike letting you adopt a centre of gravity to the steepness of the slope or severity of the corner. In my opinion this device is as necessary on the mtb as brakes and gears. I've yet to meet anybody who disagrees. It surly is a game changer to your riding style, speed and a comfort for every type of riding, but especially AM , Trail and Enduro.