Tacx Extreme MTB – motocross course

My exploration of this software continued with a session on the Motocross course. A short session (nothing like the 30 minutes taken by the “opponent” that comes loaded) I treated this one as a quality session to develop speed and strength.

The course comes complete with doubles, moguls, what looked like the odd triple and plenty of jumps. On my version of the Tacx hardware (green controller) the point of getting air was irrelevant and the moguls are a nice touch but if you can’t pump the bike through them they are little more than an annoyance. I suppose they did up the work rate but reviewing the data later it did not have any effect on my HR so it was of questionable value. The ride however was tough, the whole way round, and if you pushed it, it was enough to give you a pretty good workout – my legs were a bit wobbly at the end but that could be because I pushed a big gear throughout and made sure I didn’t use the cheat technique to get you over the lumps and bumps more easily.

The video was…. how can I put this nicely? OK it was brown, just as you’d expect a MX course to be. I like to use the scenery as a distraction as a rule, there isn’t always much to see but at least there’s stuff moving by. This time, I found the top tube and the patterns created by splashes of sweat (make that torrents of sweat) more interesting.

As a quality session this was a success; as a visual spectacle it was a disaster. I will ride this one again because it is tough and there’s little point in riding the turbo if you don’t work hard. I want to have a look at some of the pre loaded, shorter courses and maybe stitch a few together to make a long programme. I will also have a look at the virtual cycling site to see if I can download any custom courses (invariably harder and more fun than the pre loaded stuff). I may also have to dig out and dust off my steering frame and do some proper exploring to see what else is hidden away in this new terrain.

Tacx – Extreme MTB

I loaded the expansion pack today. The loading was quick and straightforward. The first time I selected a ride the screen went black and seemed to freeze but I navigated back a couple of screens using the control on the bars.

The ride I selected was “The Dam Ride”, a simulated 11.1 mile course. To start you kick off with a long road section, easy enough for the first few yards then a long slog uphill. It took me about 12 minutes 30 seconds to crest the climb and it was followed by a long downhill blast – still on the road. All too soon it is over and you head off road onto an innocuous section leading to a tunnel. Don’t be fooled though, this is tough and it carries on being tough until you exit the tunnel. It is a constant progression of tough, easy, tough, easy with a bit of tough thrown in for extra fun. My heart rate got quite high here and only really stopped when I popped back out onto the road. This was followed by another climb and so it went on until a few yarsds before the end.

A 30 minute session then, seemingly not too bad but once I had finished I realised how hard I had worked. My legs felt tired and I was dripping with sweat – just as if someone had emptied a bottle of water on me.

I’ll have a look at the other rides over the next week or so but so far it looks very promising indeed.