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

Having excellent bike handling skills is not a matter of one’s amount of fitness, or capacity to tolerate physical or mental discomfort. In fact, functional skills are what will allow you to convert your fitness into speed on technical sections. The ability 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.

Yak Ru Cross Country Race – XC

You have probably already read or heard about The Yak Ru Annapurna Challenge mountain bike race(XC). Riding a bicycle off-road becomes a fascinating – and brutal – endeavor 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 particular set of demands. Most crucially: these demands are unlike those at any other multi-stage mountain bike event.

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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.
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Yak Ru as a mountain bike race challenges participants with harsh conditions over a variety of terrain, and with the possibility of temperatures ranging between the hot 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:
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Training for an endurance event requires a mixture of different training modes. Going for long-duration rides, or ‘clocking mileage,’ seems the right activities 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 vital.
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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?
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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.
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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!

We have gone through the hard skills and strategies for dealing with almost every aspect of the race, except perhaps the most critical element of all. Here are four essential things to keep in mind.

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