Ride E-Bikes for motocross training? Aldon Baker is all about it. 12

As a professional motocross trainer and ex-pro mountain bike racer, its a bit of a shock that Aldon Baker is adding some electricity to his program.

“The enjoyment factor is on a whole different level.” - Aldon Baker

5. Recovery

This was actually the first reason Aldon got into e-bikes. He said that he and some of his riders were invited to a Specialized ride day on the Sunday after Anaheim 1. It was a mountain bike ride and he was a little nervous about it for his racers because the day after a race is focused on recovery, not hammering. On the ride he noticed some guy pedaling with ease and chatting with the smallest amount of effort. He was on an e-bike and Aldon immediately thought they should be on e-bikes the day after a race, too. 

Class One e-bikes have a max assist speed of 19 mph. Once you get to that point, the bike isn't putting any power into the drivetrain.

“I always say that the day after a race, when recovering, heart-rate wise you want to be in your base zone. You are trying to get some blood flow but not put the body under real stress. The cool thing with the e-bikes is you can pick whatever setting you want. If you are feeling more beat, you can use more of the assist. Between the three settings we have on the Levo you can pick one or the other and you can go and do an hour bike ride and have a good cadence and a good spin and have it be a good recovery instead of it being more of a grind."

“Before, I would have to pick courses that were very flat for recovery. Now we don’t really have to do that because you’ve got your bases covered either way.”

6. Have more fun

If you like something, you’ll do it more. A simple premise that applies to training and working out as well. Some people like the gym, but I would wager more people prefer riding, even when talking about something you have to pedal. Apparently, e-bikes are just a lot more fun to ride. You can spend less time grinding on steep climbs, you can explore trails you never would on a regular bike, and you can pack in way more trails in the same amount of time.

Enjoy your "training" and do it more often.

“I think the big thing for most people, other than professionals, you really want to enjoy your training and your riding. I feel like e-bikes give you the most amount of options to pick what you really want to do. The guys feel that too. They love riding the e-bikes, but depending on what training I want them to do, I’ll say, ‘OK boys turn it off’ and they’ll have to pedal hard."

“I’m not professional anymore, where in the past, my whole day was regarded as training and preparing to go professional racing, naturally I was stronger and a lot better. Those days are gone. I can’t ride the mountains that I use to the same way that I used to. But having the assist makes it so much more enjoyable. The assist gets you over the hump in a way, which I feel like you can enjoy a lot more. You can ride farther, you can go and do more challenging courses easier. It gives you more options.”

7. Even the pros need a hand sometimes

We all know how gnarly these guys are, with training lifestyles that rival olympic athletes and any other elite level sport. But even they say that they want help getting up the extremely steep trails. It’s more about not blowing up too quickly and being able to train for the duration prescribed by Aldon, rather than burning through all of their energy on one climb and just wreck their legs. 

“All my guys have actually said they didn’t think that, when they had the assist on, it would still be a workout. They thought, ‘Oh, well, that will be the easy ride.’ But it’s not if you are trying to maintain a particular speed. Like I said earlier, if you are pedaling down a flat road and you hit 19 mph and you want to hold that, or go a little faster, it won’t help you past that, so you are still pushing. The guys didn’t know that and they realized it is a good workout and only really helps on the steep stuff, which they like because they are like, ‘I’m not a pro [mountain biker] and I don’t have that kind of leg strength to ride steep, steep climbs.”

For more information on riding mountain bikes for training, check out this story with Johnny O’Mara, and/or head over to our sister site, Vital MTB


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