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Training for the CamelBak Highland Fling Mountain Bike Race

In two weeks time I will be taking part in one of the biggest mountain bike events in Australia. I'll be doing what is affectionately called "The Full Fling" and I have been preparing myself mentally and physically over the past two months.

Held over the weekend of 9 to 10 November, the mountain bike course winds its way through the Southern Highlands and includes a wide range of terrain and scenic locations. It's a challenging and fun event that caters for riders of all skill levels.

As the event organisers say, ''Whether you’re a mountain bike racing veteran, or new to the scene, the CamelBak Highland Fling is the race to mark on your riding calendar. Not only will you have the chance to compete alongside Australia’s top elite riders, but you’ll experience a true festival of mountain biking across two days of events”.

The town of Bundanoon, located in the picturesque New South Wales Southern Highlands, will come alive as the main hub for the “Fling”. And with over 2,000 riders, plus support crews, families and friends, it really is a major event on the Australian mountain biking calendar.

The main racing takes place on Sunday 10th November, with riders selecting the 110km Full Fling, 55km Half Fling or 100Mile Fling.

Riders will take in private farmland tracks that cross into the stunning forest and gully trails of Wingello State Forest, and event organisers assure us that, “Challenging climbs will be rewarded with sweet descents.''

In the build up to the race, I've been heading out on my road bike and mountain bike at every opportunity to get some kilometers under my belt.

While my approach to training has not been too scientific, I have broken it down into the following key areas:

- Nutrition
- Sleep
- Time on the bike
- Hills


Nutrition

About 10 weeks out I started focusing on my diet. Breakfast has been a daily serve of mixed grain porridge with fruit on top. The rest of my diet has involved eating LOTS of potatoes, rice, fresh fruit and vegetables and lean meat. It's all about volume. You need lots of carbs and protein in order to have the energy required to do major distances on the bike.


Time on the bike

Training has involved a lot of road riding with a little mountain biking.

When speaking to Ben Mather, an experienced mountain Biker and winner of a previous MTB event, he revealed that he does most of his MTB marathon training on the road. So this year I have been testing out that technique.

I started with a weekly ride to work, which is 21km each way. Then I upped this to twice a week and gradually added longer rides on the weekends to my schedule.

More recently, I’ve been aiming for two long rides per week of between 80 and 100km, plus a day or two of riding to work. As I come close to the event I am getting out on the mountain bike to make sure my single track skills are up to scratch.


Hills

Hills have become my friend. As my training progressed I have started to pick routes that have big hills. Hills provide the best strength training opportunity and with over 2000m of climbing in the full fling I need to be comfortable powering up them.


Taking part

At the end of the day I'm not trying to win this race and my training has reflected that. I'm really just going there to enjoy taking part. There is still time to jump on board and sign up. If you haven’t been doing a great deal of training then you should probably opt for the half fling. For those seriously keen riders the 100 mile fling is just the ticket!

Find out more about The CamelBak Highland Fling at
http://www.wildhorizons.com.au/highland-fling