I signed up for BC bike race next year and I am looking for a good training plan. I did the sweet spot base low volume and I am ready for the next steps.
Im 41 and a life long Mountain Biker. I have ridden in BC many times and am comfortable with the style of trails. My real concern is fitness. I have never been in great shape. The training plans that are out there for BCBR are 12-16 hours a week. I think I will need to get by with max of 10-12.
Any suggestions would be helpful thank you.
@Jsteens do you have other races planned or would this be your A race for the season? If itās your A race then you have a long time to put in some good training. Did you add in workouts or do only the SSB LV? If you didnāt add workouts then doing SSB MV might be a good step if you can commit that time. You likely could then do a build and come back to doing base again before dong another build and then specialty, all before the race.
Yeah this is definitely the A race. I think I will sign up for the local enduro in April for fun and a fitness guy check.
I have been getting in extra rides outside but with daylight savings coming and weather getting worse I think I will have to spend more time in the trainer. I guess I was unsure how quickly I needed to increase volume. If I do low volume again but add a day when it fits in the schedule will I still have time to ramp up volume?
Thanks for the feedback.
If you have the time to add a longer ride that would be a good addition. Trying to get an hour and a half to two hours of endurance riding in and then trying to get that up to three hours gradually if possible would be a great addition. It can be a slug to do on the trainer at first but it gets easier with time, especially if you have some form of entertainment. 
I raced BCBR this year and TrainerRoad was a BIG part of my fitness training. I live in BC so, like you, I wasnāt too worried about the technical side of preparing. I did mid-volume of Sweet Spot Base, General Power Build, and XC Marathon. My fitness was absolutely on point. So much so that I felt that I got stronger each day which was reflected in that I improved my overall position each day. Iāve been a TR user for a few years and this was the first year that I did mid-volume plans (Iād previously only did low-volume) and I found it made a big different. With the low-volume plans, I found that my fitness increased, but there were always workouts towards the end of build or specialty that I just couldnāt finish. With mid-volume, I felt the work I put in made the progression of workouts more manageable. Donāt get me wrong, there were some tough workouts that I really had to push hard to get through, but I never felt that I wouldnāt finish them.
That amount of training is a big commitment that I was willing to put in because BCBR had been a big target for me for a long time. Learning the difference between how my body adapted to mid-volume compared to low-volume, this year Iām going back to low-volume, but Iām going to complete 100% of the workouts indoors while also adding a couple outdoor rides a week.
Thank you that is just what I needed. I will bump up to mid volume at the end of November. That should be enough time with mid volume to get me where I need to be.
Does anyone want to do BC Bike race next year? My friend has to have surgery so we decided to pull out and try again another year. Both entryās with meal plans are up for sale. Let me know if you are interested.
Thanks
Jeff
If ya ride a Rocky Mountain MTB you get a head start each day, HAHAHAHHAAH Just kiddingā¦ I would love to do that race but I have a few more goals to achieve before I make the drive.
Who all is signed up for 2019 BCBR?
I just signed up. Will be my second time.
@trevorrr Iād love to hear your 2019 experience.
Iāve been wanting to do the BCBR for some time, but work in a uk school, so havenāt been able to take the time off. My headteacher has just agreed to changing my contract so I can take 10 days off in term time!!!
we are planning for 2023. Myself and my partner have both had physical issues to get through and Iām just about to start radiotherapy for early stage breast cancer. I think we need a clear year where we can get lots of training in. Iāve found my descending skills have massively improved since upping the strength training so I believe its within me to finish.
Iām kind of training for it from this point forward. Gives me something to aim forā¦
Hey, sorry didnāt see this at first.
Second go at this race was even better than the first - you know what climbs are going to suck, which meal plan works best, etc. I also upped my technical ability and could really enjoy things.
Will be interesting to see if they go back to the āclassicā course or keep experimenting. I would not sign up for the Penticton race - too hot and not the kind of trails I like. Totally different than the coast. The āsea to skyā version they were talking about earlier this year (Chilliwack, etc) would be just as good as the classic - Chilliwack already has a world class XCM race in the Vedder Mtn Classic.
Best of luck with the preparations- let me know if you have any specific questions.
HI @NorthShoreXC - can you advise some more detail about your training for the BCBR? Iām starting training now for the 2023 BCBR and was wondering what sequence/duration etc you used for your mid-volume Sweet Spot Base, General Power Build and XC Marathon?
Any tips/advise appreciated - thanks!
Fergal
@FergalK I did the race this year having used a TR custom plan for the preceding (approx) 12 months. My plan as laid out by plan builder, having added BCBR as an MTB Marathon Stage āAā Race, was as follows:
I started at the beginning of November 2021 for the race starting 16th September 2022. I only did low volume plans. In the early sweet spot base periods I added a 30 or 45 minute endurance ride once a week if I could, but time didnāt allow for this later on in the plans. I also did strength training sessions 1-2 times per week throughout almost all of the plan (excepting the last block due to time constraints).
This combination (in my opinion) got me to a super strong position come race time. I was able to climb well and was still able to be consistent throughout the 7 days.
I would just use plan builder and let it do its thing, follow Adaptive training and let it make the changes. Having done that for almost the whole of my plan it really does work well.
Hi @radicalwipeout , thanks a million for all the info, that helps a lot! 
Iāll get busy with scheduling my training similar to what you have advised
Hi @radicalwipeout, I have most of that now in my Training Plan - my only question is regarding item # 5 in your list āSweet Spot Base - Low Volume II - 3 weeksā I could not find this exact plan (I found Part 1 and Part 2 ok)
Can you advise more about this? Did you just take Part 1 of the plan (duration = 6 weeks) and do half of that? - thanks again
@FergalK The different time spans in my plan were just a result of how many weeks I had before the event. I only ever used plan builder to set up my plan, so it worked out how long to give me in the certain blocks (you canāt find these per se in the manual plan creation, you only get them with plan builder).
In the case of this 3 week block (as I understand it) I had already done a full base, build, specialty set and there werenāt a full 26 weeks left before my race start, so it worked backwards with specialty, build and then added a bit of base to fill in the space.
The simple answer and my recommendation here is to just run Plan Builder and let it do its thing, thatās all I ever did - It will give you what you need. You have 38 weeks to the race start, so plenty of time.
thanks again @radicalwipeout - everything all created & scheduled now in TrainerRoad
Excellent - enjoy your training!
See you on the strat line.
