Training is about balance remember.

It depends on your personality, drive, technical outlook….endless factors. Riding with better riders WILL help you ride faster and it will give you an insight into what the good guys can do.

Over the years I’ve been lucky to tuck in behind many of the worlds best on tracks they know and don’t know. Get in behind a pro on a track they know well and you will be fully blown away. Try and hold on for even a short while because nothing, not film, not stills, not Go Pro, not helicopter, nothing will give you an awareness and understanding quite like it.

In terms of fitness training this is a difficult area. A good trainer will make you faster, a bad trainer will run you down. Training will improve you and at the same time might drain the fire from your belly. The right training might also be boring and ultimately what you actually get back becomes one of diminishing returns. Get it right and get fit and the payback is MASSIVE, you can pretty much ride everywhere on any bike. Ask a trainer – just remember there’s good trainers and rogue trainers who have no right to be on the hill.

END

So there you have it, at least some of the decisions facing a rider in 2014 explained (ish) from Steve Jones’ point of view. What about your opinions though? Wang em in the comments, we know you want to.