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On: 05 March 2015, At: 04:27
Publisher: Routledge
Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House,
37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK
Jamie F. Burr , C. Taylor Drury , Adam C. Ivey & Darren E.R. Warburton
To cite this article: Jamie F. Burr , C. Taylor Drury , Adam C. Ivey & Darren E.R. Warburton (2012) Physiological demands of
downhill mountain biking, Journal of Sports Sciences, 30:16, 1777-1785, DOI: 10.1080/02640414.2012.718091
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2012.718091
JAMIE F. BURR1,*, C. TAYLOR DRURY2, ADAM C. IVEY2, & DARREN E.R. WARBURTON1
1
Kinesiology, Cardiovascular Physiology and Rehabilitation Laboratory, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British
Columbia, Canada, and 2Experimental Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Abstract
Mountain biking is a popular recreational pursuit and the physiological demands of cross-country style riding have been well
documented. However, little is known regarding the growing discipline of gravity-assisted downhill cycling. We characterised
the physiological demands of downhill mountain biking under typical riding conditions. Riding oxygen consumption (V_ O2)
and heart rate (HR) were measured on 11 male and eight female experienced downhill cyclists and compared with data during a
standardised incremental to maximum (V_ O2max) exercise test. The mean V_ O2 while riding was 23.1 + 6.9 ml kg71 min71
or 52 + 14% of V_ O2max with corresponding heart rates of 146 + 11 bpm (80 + 6% HRmax). Over 65% of the ride was in a
zone at or above an intensity level associated with improvements in health-related fitness. However, the participants heart rates
and ratings of perceived exertion were artificially inflated in comparison with the actual metabolic demands of the downhill ride.
Substantial muscular fatigue was evident in grip strength, which decreased 5.4 + 9.4 kg (5.5 + 11.2%, P 0.03) post-ride.
Participation in downhill mountain biking is associated with significant physiological demands, which are in a range associated
with beneficial effects on health-related fitness.
Introduction
Current exercise recommendations stress the importance of habitual physical activity participation
for the prevention of chronic disease and promotion of fitness (Garber et al., 2011; Warburton,
Katzmarzyk, Rhodes, & Shephard, 2007; Warburton, Nicol & Bredin, 2006). Physical activity
guidelines specifically note that cycling for sport,
active transport, or recreation is strongly associated
with many health benefits and improved fitness.
Despite these well recognised global health-related
fitness benefits, within the sport of cycling
there exist a number of sub-disciplines that
remain poorly characterised and incompletely
understood.
Mountain biking is a relatively novel sport, conceived in the late 1970s (Berto, 1999), and adopted as
an Olympic sport in 1996. Since this time, the sport
has witnessed considerable increases in participation,
especially in the traditional cross-country (XC) style
riding. The physiological demand of XC mountain
biking has been convincingly demonstrated to be of a
vigorous intensity, with high aerobic-anaerobic
*The corresponding author is currently at: Human Performance and Health Laboratory, University of PEI, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada.
Correspondence: Jamie F Burr, University of PEI, Applied Human Sciences Kinesiology, Human Performance and Health Laboratory, Charlottetown, PE,
Canada. Email: jburr@upei.ca
ISSN 0264-0414 print/ISSN 1466-447X online 2012 Taylor & Francis
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2012.718091
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11/8
31.9 + 5.6
176 + 10
70.1 + 10.8
16.2 + 6.6
2.9 + 0.8
6.3 + 4.8
written informed consent was provided by all participants following both written and verbal explanation of
procedures. Prior to participation, all volunteers were
pre-screened for safe exercise participation using the
Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire Plus (PARQ) (Warburton, Jamnik, Bredin, & Gledhill, 2011).
Experimental design
We used a case-control study design, with each
participant acting as his or her own control under
standardised conditions at rest and during a graded
exercise test. All testing for each participant took
place on a single day and is described in detail to
follow. In brief, baseline fitness and anthropometric
measures were collected at rest, prior to any activity.
Participants then completed a representative DH
ride, wherein physiological variables were measured
continuously (where possible) or immediately following cessation, to characterise the DH ridinginduced physiological responses. After a rest period
of approximately 45 minutes, each participant then
completed a graded exercise test, allowing comparison of ride-induced physiological effects to a
controlled exercise stimulus.
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while participants were on course. This measure was
taken with no rest following the ride to approximate
the ride-related effect as closely as possible. Measures
of grip strength were also repeated for comparison
with pre-ride values to determine if a fatiguing effect
of riding was evident. Following these measures,
participants reported their average RPE during the
ride, using the original Borg 6-20 scale (Borg, 1982).
All post-ride measures were taken in this order, to
avoid the confounding effect of strong isometric
gripping on blood pressure and to ensure both blood
pressure and grip strength were taken within approximately 120 seconds post ride.
Maximal aerobic fitness assessment
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Table II. Participant baseline physiological data, with ride-related measures that were collected continuously during the ride, or immediately
following (BP and grip strength). Predicted values for RPE, heart rate, and blood pressure, which were projected from individual
physiological responses during a standardised graded exercise test (GXT) are included for comparison with actual values measured in
conjunction with a DH ride.
RPE (620)
Heart Rate (bpm)
SBP (mmHg)
DBP (mmHg)
MAP (mmHg)
Grip Strength (kg)
Baseline
Ride-related
GXT predicted
6
65 + 13
122 + 9
79 + 5
93 + 5
97.6 + 25.3
13 + 1
146 + 11
144 + 12
77 + 8
99 + 6
92.2 + 24
10 + 3
127 + 18
136 + 26
79 + 8
23.1 + 6.9
1.6 + 0.6
6.7 + 2
146 + 11
% maximum
52 + 14 %
80 + 6%
Baseline versus ride-related: *P 0.05, **P 0.001; ride-related versus GXT standardised , P 0.001, GXT Graded exercise Test,
SBP Systolic blood pressure, DBP diastolic blood pressure, RPE rating of perceived exertion (NB: True RPE at rest was not collected,
but is interpreted as 6 which is no exertion at all), Grip strength both hands combined. Data are presented as mean + SD.
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Figure 3. The cumulative proportion of a downhill mountain bike ride spent in each 10% intensity range above the minimal level associated
with changes in health-related fitness. This breakdown of proportional intensity has important prescriptive implications considering that
higher intensity exercise requires shorter durations/frequencies to achieve similar effects.
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