We need to talk about your skills on a mountain bike.

Having good bike handling skills is not a matter of one’s amount of fitness, or capacity to tolerate physical or mental discomfort. In fact, good skills are what will allow you to convert your fitness into speed on technical sections; it is what gives you the confidence to tell yourself “yes, i can” instead of “no, i can’t” when faced with riding situations out of your comfort zone – something that is served up often on an extreme MTB event such as Yak Ru.Read More

You have probably already read or heard the descriptions about The Yak Ru Annapurna Challenge mountain bike race, and perhaps other similarly hard and arduous off-road cycling competitions. Riding a bicycle off-road, already a challenge in itself, becomes a fascinating – and brutal – endeavour when combined with remoteness, steep terrain, extremes in heat and cold, high altitude, and relentless competition.Read More

We have already established the high demands of the Yak Ru Annapurna Challenge in the previous two articles. A good deal of preparation for the Yak Ru must be dedicated to specific training for a very specific set of demands. Most crucially: these demands are unlike those at any other multi-stage mountain bike event.Read More

If you have followed us this far into our series of training/preparation articles, chances are you have already signed up for the Yak Ru, or are otherwise intent on going on a trip or bike ride with similar scope in terms of extreme altitude and conditions.Read More

Yak Ru as a mountain bike races challenges participants with tough conditions over a variety of terrain, and with the possibility of temperatures ranging between very warm arid desert to sub-zero alpine. Most cyclists who embark on the Yak Ru pose questions along the lines of how to dress in a way that is both versatile and weight-conscious, but also provides a margin of comfort and safety. Here’s how we suggest you go about gearing up:Read More

Training for an endurance event requires a mixture of different training modes. Going for long-duration rides, or ‘clocking mileage’, seems the most obvious pathway towards building good stamina for a race such as the Yak Ru, where being able to complete each race day’s distance – and to do so day after day – is key.Read More

How many Singaporean CEOs have you come across who have walked up to the summit of Bukit Timah Hill – all of 164 meters tall? Chances are, very few. What about Mount Faber and Fort Canning Hill?Read More

Being out in the mountains on your bike means being prepared to treat any mechanical issues that may occur. Part of the allure of riding in a beautiful but remote landscape such as Nepal’s is that element of self-sufficiency – getting through problems encountered on the ride without the help of a mechanic or anyone else besides other racers.Read More

If you have made it this far in our series of preparation articles, surely, you must be counting down the days to go to the Yak Ru!

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