Most riders think they have a skills problem…

But what if the real issue is how your body moves?

In this podcast, I break down why so many riders struggle to improve their cornering, manuals, and jumps — even after spending time and money on skills clinics.

The truth is, movement is the foundation of skill.

If you can’t move well off the bike, you’ll never reach your full potential on it.

You’ll learn:

✅ The difference between a movement problem and a skill problem

✅ How poor mobility and movement patterns limit your riding progress

✅ The key movement patterns that drive better bike control (and how to train them)

✅ Why strength training — done right — makes every trail skill easier

Think of it like this: Mobility → Movement → Strength → Skill

Once you fix the foundation, your skills start to take care of themselves.

Until next time...

Ride Strong,

James Wilson

p.s. Want a simple plan to build strength, cardio, and mobility that actually helps your riding?

👉 Grab my free guide — Strength & Cardio Basics for the 40+ Rider — and learn how to train smarter, ride stronger, and stay pain-free for life.

Get your free copy here → https://www.bikejames.com/40-sc-guide/

Some thoughts on the Red Bull Rampage - how we got here, where we're at and how to save it from itself.

Most riders try to get faster by doing more cardio or riding harder… but the real performance breakthrough comes from learning how to breathe better and control your tension.

In this podcast, I’ll show you how to use Breathing Gears — a simple system that matches your breathing to your effort — so you can stay ahead of fatigue, climb stronger, and ride longer without gassing out.

You’ll also learn how to use Ramping Isometrics to train your breathing control and strength off the bike.

Together, these two tools can make a noticeable difference on the trail in just a couple of weeks.

✅ What you’ll learn:

How to “shift” your breathing before the trail forces you to

The 3 Breathing Gears every rider should know

What to do if you struggle with nasal breathing

How to train your breath and body with Ramping Isometrics

Why these are game changers for 40+ riders

Whether you’re looking to crush climbs, improve endurance, or simply enjoy your rides more, this is one of the easiest (and most overlooked) upgrades you can make.

👉 Get started with my Strength & Cardio Basics for the 40+ MTB Rider program here: https://www.bikejames.com/40-sc-guide/

Do what most riders won’t… and you’ll perform like most riders can’t.

One of the biggest upgrades you can make to your riding is learning how to master the standing position. Once you feel strong and stable when standing up then you’ll unlock a whole new level of performance and fun.

Why? Because standing up is where all the magic happens:

(I recorded a podcast going over this, if you prefer you can listen to it here.)

• It’s the position you use to execute every technical skill on the trail.
• It’s your strongest, most powerful pedaling position.
• It makes technical climbs easier—letting you maneuver your bike, use ¼ and ½ pedal strokes, and avoid pedal strikes.
• You can “cheat” with bodyweight, using gravity to help turn the pedals over instead of relying only on leg strength.
• You can ride more upright, taking stress off your neck compared to being hunched over seated.
• You save your crotch from getting mashed into the saddle during hard efforts.
• And you’ll gain a big advantage over riders who stay shackled to the seat.

Yes - standing pedaling is harder at first. But only because you need to build the right skills and strength. Once you do, you’ll never go back to spending so much time grinding away sitting down.

Here’s how to speed up that process…

If you have followed my newsletter for any length of time then you know that I am a huge advocate for better breathing habits. Breathing is the one lever that you can pull that will improve just about everything you do on the bike, including cardio, strength and even your skills.

As important as it is, though, few riders really focus on it as part of their training program. The good news is that it doesn’t take a lot of time and you don’t need fancy equipment.

In fact, a great way to train your breathing is to use a straw. Yes, the same thing you use to drink your favorite beverage when you’re out at a restaurant is also a great training tool for your breathing.

Just get a straw, have a seat and start to breathe through it. Just 5 minutes of this a few times a week will make an impact on several aspects of your breathing that will help you on the trail.

Breathwork training is an important part of MTB cardio training, especially as we get older. The good news is that it doesn’t take a lot of time or equipment - 5 minutes of breathing through a straw a few times a week can be enough to make an impact on it.

And if you want to learn even more about breathwork training for MTB, be sure to check out my Guide To Better Breathing For MTB. In it you’ll find how to assess your breathing and several drills and strategies to help you optimize your breathing for better health and performance.

Until next time…

Ride Strong,

James Wilson

As you get older dealing with pain becomes more and more of a reality. Old injuries flare up, wear and tear add up and it all leads to more and more pain. Pain leads to time off or even surgeries and surgeries definitely lead to time off. Time off leads to loss of fitness and motivation which can lead to quitting.

So one of the best strategies for riding for a lifetime is to do everything you can to address pain early and to prevent it from getting worse. Prevention is the best plan of all because pain that you never had doesn’t need to be addressed at all.

In an effort to help more riders achieve the goal of Riding For A Lifetime I wanted to start sharing some tips on addressing pain for some of the most common problem areas faced by riders as we get older. In this post I wanted to start with one that almost every rider faces at some point, which is knee pain.

The knees take a beating on the trail. Everything we do on the trail involves the knees, from standing to seated efforts, from uphills to downhills and from techy trails to smooth flow trails, the knees are working hard to help us perform at our best.

The knees are an amazing structure that need to be both stable and mobile. Lacking in either of these things can lead to stress being placed on the wrong areas, which lead to pain and loss of performance.

On top of that, you need your feet to be supported properly so that your legs can move in the most functional way possible. Poor foot support is a major cause of knee pain both on and off the bike and an area that a lot of riders are confused about.

So let’s break down what each of these things means for us on the bike and how we can support our goals of having strong, stable knees that can take a pounding and come back for more.

Until next time...

Ride Strong,

James Wilson

While most people come into mountain biking worried about their fitness and cardio, it doesn’t take long to realize that your technical skills play a big role in your performance. Better skills mean you can ride faster and waste less energy, as well as helping keep you safe.

Over the last several years skills training has become extremely popular, with countless videos showing you how to improve your skills and a lot of skills camps popping up. In fact, if you’re reading this then I’d bet money that at some point you have done something to help improve your technical skills.

And while videos and camps can help a lot, there is one thing that most riders don’t think about that can make or break your ability to actually apply those skills to the trail - your breathing.

Better breathing can impact your performance and health in a lot of ways. While some of them are obvious, once you understand all of the ways how you breath impacts the body you realize that optimizing your breathing isn’t optional if you want to get the most out of yourself on the trail.

This is especially true if you are in the 40+ crowd. Breathing mechanics and smart use of specific breathing patterns isn’t something that declines with age and it allows you to maximize what you still have. While younger riders can use the physical advantages of youth to get away with a lot of bad habits we can’t do that and still perform at a high level on the trail.

So stop letting your breathing hold back your skills on the trail and start to incorporate these tips into your training and riding. And if you want even more info on optimizing your breathing check out my Guide To Better Breathing For MTB, where I show you how to assess your breathing and share even more ways to optimize your performance and health.

Until next time…

Ride Strong,

James Wilson