training schedule

My regular cycling involves a short commute from home to the train station in the morning and back in the evening. I occasionally (very occasionally)ride the 25 miles into work, and maybe once a year I ride a longer route - maybe 40 miles, maybe 80, but it's never been more than 100 and it's never been off road.

My mountain bike experience is even more limited - there's some pretty technical stuff about a mile from the house that I tackle maybe half a dozen times a year, and once I borrowed Tiny's bike and Martin and I went for a blast in the peak district. I have an awful lot to learn in the next 6 months.

Plus, I'm not fit enough.

So I hunted around for a training schedule for a mountain bike event that's not too different to what we're planning. The closest and most comprehensive I could find was the website for the Merida Bikes MTB Marathon series
The marathon distance is only about a third of what we'll be covering, but it looks like a pretty detailed training plan, and most importantly, it caters for the "New to MTB rider" That's me.