Fit for the start of the season: 5 tips to help you reach your highlight of the year
Jan Timmermann
· 14.04.2026
2025 promises to be a good year for mountain bikers. Spring is just around the corner and the MTB season is within reach. For many bikers, a special event marks their highlight of the year. Be it a long-planned tour, crossing the Alps or taking part in a race.
Looking at the calendar, some people will realise that these highlights of the season are fast approaching. For some, they may only be a few months away. The winter was long, the Christmas dinner was good. Professionals work on their basics in the off-season. For everyone else, the bike may already have gathered some dust.
Is there still enough time to get fit and sweeten 2025 with a successful experience on the bike? Yes! But only if you work on your fitness and pay attention to a few points. We have summarised the most important training tips for late starters.
1. set goals: The highlight of the season
If you haven't yet decided on the highlight of the 2025 MTB season, it's a good idea to set yourself a goal. A special event with a fixed date motivates you to train and helps you to keep going when your inner bastard wants to pull you onto the sofa. Motivational boosters can be sporting competitions, such as marathon or enduro races, a planned stage, such as a transalpine mountain bike ride, or even a long day tour. It is important to decide on the date in order to keep the time aspect in mind. The following pages provide inspiration:
2. slow but steady: the smart start to training
A cold start has never done any athlete any good. The bad news for anyone who has cut back on their exercise programme over the winter: The best way to combat low performance is consistent endurance and strength training.
If you are interested in sport, it is best to start the strengthening and basic endurance programme ten to twelve weeks before the start of the season. If you train twice a week over the winter, you can prevent injuries and sore muscles when the weather improves.
The much-advertised "last-minute beach figure" is unfortunately a myth. Making resolutions now for next winter can therefore do no harm, regardless of your sporting goals: The WHO recommends 250 minutes of moderate or 75 minutes of intensive exercise per week to maintain good health.
>> Smart roller trainers, for example, can help you stay fit while it's still uncomfortable outside.
But there is also good news: Anyone who spent a lot of time on their bike the previous year has an advantage. The body can recall what it has learnt more quickly. With a good training programme in 2024, bikers have a good chance of quickly getting back into shape for the 2025 season after a winter break. Important: The introduction to training should be gentle.
If you are starting from scratch, you should refrain from intensive intervals for the time being and focus on your base first. Tours should be completed at a low heart rate (G1/G2 range) and high cadence for better oxygen uptake. It is better to avoid rides lasting longer than four hours. After two weeks of six to eight hours a week, a longer tour is also possible.
3. strengthening & stretching: The accompanying programme
Bikers don't like to hear it, but cycling is only half the battle. Only a strong and agile biker can achieve full performance. Injury prevention is essential, especially in the case of previous damage to the musculoskeletal system. In addition to sessions on the bike, regular strength training and stretching are therefore part of any conscientious athlete's routine.
Strong legs provide power on the uphill, strong shoulders and arms prevent fatigue on the downhill and well-trained core muscles ensure stability. Classic multi-joint exercises such as pull-ups, bench presses and squats are particularly effective. They train several muscle groups at the same time.
Appropriate units should be scheduled at least twice a week. For successful strength training, however, studies also suggest that the frequency is less important than the total training volume. For example, if you can only fit ten to 20 minutes of strength training into your daily schedule, but do it consistently five to seven times a week, this can be an effective method for muscle growth.
Agility, coordination and speed are the key to good bike handling and help to bring power to the trail. For example, bikers would also do well to work on their balance and neuroathletics. We have compiled the best exercises in our fitness series:
4. no fight without food: food as fuel
The best pre-season preparation is useless if your diet consists exclusively of junk food. Athletes rarely go to such extremes, but it's true: The body can only consist of and function with what we feed it through our diet.
There are endless guides, counsellors and ideologies on proper nutrition. Food is a highly emotional topic and affects us all. For the start of the MTB season, bikers don't have to turn their routines in the kitchen upside down. A radical change in diet requires adaptation and can cause both physical and psychological stress.
In the end, virtually all studies come to the conclusion that people should eat a healthy and balanced diet. The latter point is simple: it is best to eat a varied and colourful diet. And try out a new recipe with new ingredients here and there.
Healthy food for athletes sustainably replenishes calorie requirements and contains a variety of nutrients. A blood test is the best way to find out exactly what the body needs in each individual case. High-fat and high-fibre foods are not the best choice for high training loads.
Easily digestible and protein-rich foods are better. For the transition from winter to spring, a brief analysis of your own eating habits is recommended. If you identify a need for action, you still have time to optimise your body's nutrition for the start of the season.
5. duty instead of freestyle: don't forget your riding technique
For many bikers, training primarily means endurance sports. At best, they also follow tips on strength training and stretching. However, riding technique is all too often forgotten as a building block. Without the right technique, the highlight of the season is at risk. Not only does the risk of falling depend on it, but also speed.
If you can only gain a single second in every corner, you can benefit more from this than from a few watts more on the crank, even in a marathon. If you place your braking points confidently and safely, you will be faster for longer.
Especially when you don't have a lot of time at the last-minute start of the season, the main focus is on the route and altitude metres. Bikers want to ride and are more likely to opt for a tour in the forest on a Sunday than a deserted car park. An understandable, but not always optimal choice.
A course is quickly marked out with disc cones. Practising basic riding techniques such as cornering, braking and general bike control is essential. It's more entertaining with mates or in a club. Pump tracks are ideal locations for playful riding technique training and can also be easily combined with a family outing.
On the trail, section training can be a game changer in order to be prepared for key sections at the season's highlight. The greatest progress is promised by feedback from professionally guided driving technique courses.
Jan Timmermann
Editor
