Sport to Pro in 2 years
 

Hello,

I am new to the forum and also started a BLOG today. My new blog is http://mikedmanthey.blogspot.com/. You can watch my blog daily to get updates on my progress to becoming a professional mountain biker this year. I will have my daily training schedule as well as diet and nutrition facts on the blog. I am 32 years old and have been riding since 2001. I started training seriously a little less than 2 years ago. Last winter was the first winter where I did not get fat and have my knees hit my stomach for the first couple of months in Spring.

good luck man! good reading.

you need to get in 5000 to 10000 hours of training....then we can see about you as a pro rider...read the book Outliers to see why

Thank you I will read that book and I have heard that before and it is true for some people. I also know people that have been competitve in Bike racing that have crossed over from other sports like cross country skiing and running. There are also people who go Pro at 18 that do not have that base of exercise. Thank you for the well wishes.

good luck not sure what your training is right now and I'm certainly no expert but if you have the natural ability then make sure you do some reading on structuring programs even hire a coach if you can afford it

good luck

no, ya don't. it depends on a lot of factors. I know a cx skiier who never rides, but can jump on a
bike and finish in the top 10, pro MTB race.

it is whatcha got that matters.

I do have a training program that I have been following over the last 1.5 years. In Cyclo-cross over the last 2 seasons I have gone from top 2 in Cat. 4 races in Sept 2007 to top 10 results in Cat. 1/2. In mountain bike races I went from Winning Sport races to Winning Expert races in one year. This year my plan is to go from winning expert to Top 3 overall. The training program has made all the difference in the world. You can watch my daily training and my up and coming race results on my blog. http://mikedmanthey.blogspot.com/.

One thing you will notice in my training is that I do Quality over Quantity and I focus alot on Core and functional strength training. I even break the rules about not doing upper body workouts.

you should look into crossfit. I have been doing it for 3 monthes it focuses on core and does the whole body lots of pull ups but it'll get you so fit. I am noticing worlds of difference on the bike. handling and stamina are awesome!

I went from 10 and under girls to total world domination in just under 3 months.

looks like you know what works best for you

keep it up

this is my first season racing and I'm a Clydesdale at 215 ....been reading Friel's books and will be training once this damn IT band get's better

any tips for a bigger dude?

All this fitness crap makes me wanna go jump off some stairs and eat a massive cheeseburger.

With proper training and fitness, you could do both at the same time.

I am in the middle of my 12 ounce curls right now.

XC skier?

Those are my favorite type of curls. Newcastle, Harps, yuengling etc.. Always seem to treat me right.

And then that guy junkyard took it all away from you.

I didn't know that the Mountain Biking simulator had a multi-player online version?

It is quite dynamic. I have integrated it with World of Warcraft. I'm the guy with the pink afro riding a wheelie on a Kona hardtail... but only online, not in real life.

In real life, the afro is lime green.

You know me well.