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  • 2017 XC Racing Thread
  • ferrals
    Free Member

    adsh – Member

    My reading was that volume in training gives a base that assists interval training later on. If you’ve had to sacrifice volume for time constraints it might have an effect.

    That probably makes sense, I did very little from late Dec through to end of Feb (17hrs per month instead of 30 in 2016), started building back up in March and had quite a heavy April (march and April similar hours to 2016), so I’m probalby still feeling the lack of base in the two months when I should have been building it.

    Also be careful about ‘messing around’

    Vaild point, strava says I was ‘messing around’ at 165-171 bpm 😳

    Steve, that properly impressive!

    stylish
    Free Member

    2 busy weekends coming up for me, Hadleigh first for the UCI Junior and Elite races, then a long trek North for the Nationals at Aske, this Commisaire lark goes down well with the wife at times!

    So if anyone’s at either event, pop over and say hello, I’m likely to be the mildly stressed one in grey……with biscuits.

    winterfold
    Free Member

    Tyres: Ive just put a Nobby Nic (F) and Thunder Burt (R) on and am amazed at the free speed I feel Ive gained while not losing much grip, compared to my other sets of tyres; HR2/Ardent, Ground Control x 2, Aspen x 2, which seem to do one or t’other.

    I’m thinking of doing the Scott Marathon at Wantage – is the Thunder Burt up to something like that? Its the Snakeskin Pacestar version 2.1″, I’m running tubeless.

    Fresh Goods Friday 696: The Middling Edition

    Fresh Goods Friday 696: The Middlin...
    Latest Singletrack Videos
    weeksy
    Full Member

    I’m thinking of doing the Scott Marathon at Wantage – is the Thunder Burt up to something like that? Its the Snakeskin Pacestar version 2.1″, I’m running tubeless

    Should be fine, it’s proper Rocket Ron sort of territory really, as light/fast as you want. I can’t recall the last time i punctured on that surface. Tubeless, it’s my regular haunt and i’ve never punctured.

    winterfold
    Free Member

    Cheers weeksy

    steve_b77
    Free Member

    Here’s a couple of shots from the weekend out in Belgium

    r8jimbob88
    Free Member

    So who’s at Cannock tomorrow for Midlands round 3? Forecast continues to be warm and dry so another dusty round!

    Kryton57
    Full Member

    Nice pics Steve_b77. There’s a rumour going around that I’ll be stage racing in the Ardennes in 2018, I’m encouraged by your pics, less so the climbing stats 😀

    mrmo
    Free Member

    Should be fine, it’s proper Rocket Ron sort of territory really, as light/fast as you want. I can’t recall the last time i punctured on that surface. Tubeless, it’s my regular haunt and i’ve never punctured.

    was thinking about doing it, but the puncture thing, not sure when or where on my Ridgeway trip last weekend i did it but my rear Rocket Ron took a hammering, there are over 10 latex blobs where flints have cut through the tread. The side walls aren’t looking that healthy either! So whilst i didn’t get a flat the tyre is looking decidedly second hand.

    Anyway, how does the wantage round compare to doing the Ridgeway? any single track or is it on similar farm tracks?

    I really need a kicking before August.

    adsh
    Free Member

    I have punctured on the Ridgeway and more than once. Likewise my tyres get micro-nics so I tend to use Conti Protection and avoid the ruts with the more obvious flint surface.

    weeksy
    Full Member

    Anyway, how does the wantage round compare to doing the Ridgeway? any single track or is it on similar farm tracks?

    Around here/there there’s a distinct lack of singletrack. I don’t know the course they’ll use, but it’s fairly limited in the way of interesting/technical stuff around Wantage. I’ll be more than a little curious to find out after you’ve all done it though

    steve_b77
    Free Member

    Kryton57 – Member
    Nice pics Steve_b77. There’s a rumour going around that I’ll be stage racing in the Ardennes in 2018, I’m encouraged by your pics, less so the climbing stats

    Apparently these were quite rare weather conditions, it was 2degC last year and very wet with some of the course bordering on unrideable

    iain65
    Free Member

    I’m at the midlands also tomorrow, racing in the morning with the other old blokes, bright orange Cotswold Cycles-TREK kit on, say hi if you see me, always good to meet other STWers.

    r8jimbob88
    Free Member

    How’d you get on Iain? Fantastic course at Cannock wasn’t it!

    Techy, rooty and loamy. Managed 9th today out of a field of 66! Felt good on the bike and lap times were very consistent which was good. I usually die towards the end but felt strong still.

    iain65
    Free Member

    I had a disaster, led the GV race for the first half lap, settled into about second/third after the fire road climb, got into the tight section, caught a load of back markers from the vets and we all started moving through them slowly. I was looking for gaps ahead and clipped a post which threw me off slightly, clipped a tree, again no big deal but was now heading straight for the next tree which I hit hard! Got myself back together but had lost a load of time and was struggling with an arm not working very well, finished 11th in the end which was bit depressing.
    Hopefully a better day at Richmond next weekend.

    That was a good result r8jimbob, well done. I did like the course none the less but I have asked Nick to move a couple of trees for me when he sets it next time to try and avoid the same problem 🙂 the first half of it was really good, fast and flowing and a pleasure to ride.

    r8jimbob88
    Free Member

    Well done Iain still a great result. That long climb was horrible! I clipped a tree at one point which spat me off course, fortunately it spat me onto an alternative line that I hadn’t spotted so I probably gained some time!

    Aske next weekend for me too. Apparently it’s a tough one with lots of climbing. I’ve always thought I preferred flatter courses but found I could pull away on the climbs at cannock which surprised me.

    I’ve found myself a true nemesis to try and beat this year. I’ve raced him 4 times this year and it’s 2-2 at the moment. He’s definitely a climber though!

    I’ll be racing at Dudmaston the week after too. Really good fun course which I snapped my chain on the start sprint last year so never got to race on it!

    r8jimbob88
    Free Member

    Anyone know what’s happening with the results from Wasing Park? They’re still not on Roots and Rain!?

    r8jimbob88
    Free Member

    Anyone know what’s happening with the results from Wasing Park? They’re still not on Roots and Rain!?

    ferrals
    Free Member

    No I know, its a bit annoying, I’d like to see my lap progression, although the timing chip missd my last lap.

    Was watching the aske preview video the otherday, looks like the sort of course I’d love, but gutted can’t go up and race it!

    r8jimbob88
    Free Member

    I’ve e-mailed the results from Wasing park to Seb at R&R. Think he missed them! Hopefully online shortly.

    ferrals
    Free Member

    They are up now, nice one for emailing him

    reformedfatty
    Free Member

    So what are the benchmarks for dipping ones toe in XC racing and not coming in last.. say I wanted to finish and be no worse than 2/3rds of the way down the field?

    Most of my riding is trail centreish at the moment which let me down big time when I nosed into gravity enduro.

    Like me, my bikes are not exactly heavy but not light either – a cotic rocket and a soul.

    ferrals
    Free Member

    I would enter a fun race and see how you get on before deciding whether or not to try a harder category. When I first got back into racing I was seduced by my strava times around the Afan trails into leaping straight into sport and was resoundly thrashed, I think I was lapped by everyone that didn’t DNF. Conversely based on lap times, if I remember rightly I’d have won the fun cat. Categories will vary with region I think though.

    Practise start sprints as that is half the battle. Expect a slightly different technical challenge than trail riding. More natural trails, offcamber stuff and very steep but rollable chutes/drops

    kiksy
    Free Member

    So what are the benchmarks for dipping ones toe in XC racing and not coming in last.. say I wanted to finish and be no worse than 2/3rds of the way down the field?

    Most of my riding is trail centreish at the moment which let me down big time when I nosed into gravity enduro.

    I’m very much a beginner when it comes to XC racing, but from my experience, general trail centre riding isn’t a great benchmark unless you are going 110% round the entire loop both up and down and nearly vomiting at the end….Then without stopping, doing it again.

    It’s nearly impossible to simulate race effort when on a normal ride (I’ve found).

    I’ve found there’s a lot to learn about racecraft, fueling, pacing etc in XC which you can only learn through experience.

    I would suggest just entering a local race, expect to come last, then anything else is a bonus. I’d also suggest sticking with it. It took me 3 or 4 races to “get” XC racing, now I really enjoy it.

    weeksy
    Full Member

    I’m not ‘new’ to XC racing, but even though i’ve done the odd race over the last 6 years, i’ve only actually competed in about 7-8 races overall.

    Only this year have i really enjoyed the racing a bit more and that’s come from me having battles through increasing fitness and ability. The other times it’s become quite a slog, the Gorricks are generally winter based and wet/windy/horrible, you then die a death trying to keep up… it can turn into pure hell. (in a bad way and a good way).

    I recently did a Southern XC race, which was absolutely brilliant, really was. I’ve gained some speed/fitness, which meant i was racing against people for the whole race, people 2-3s ahead and 2-3s behind me, chasing, pushing, overtaking, being overtaken and fighting back… etc. The course was exceptional despite being quite flat, but flat suits my skills and abilities more than climby. It was by a long way the best XC racing experience of my rather scattered career.

    iain65
    Free Member

    Cheers r8jimbob88 – sounds like we are on the same schedule, Aske this weekend and Dudmaston next, hopefully it will go better than last week.
    That fireroad was bit of a killer, my 15 year old was racing in Youth and I caught him near the end of that section on lap 3, the cheeky monkey then re-passed me into the singletrack section and promptly demonstrated he could do the technical stuff better than his old man, most annoying 🙂
    Maybe see you on Saturday practice, let us know what number you are. Iain.

    Bream
    Free Member

    Finally the time is nearly here for my first race season to start, Saturday is the first round of the Mitsubishi MTB Challenge, the marathon XC cup in Sweden with Billingeracet in Skövde: Billingeracet

    Done it the last couple of years and it’s a good course, albeit I’m already dreading the final death climb to the finish straight, that seriously hurt last year. Good entry this year again with ~800 entries so far and 75 in my class of H40. Last year on the start line I had a heart rate of 160, before even doing anything, very impressive start up a long hill that allows you to make up some good positions before heading into the forest.

    Training seems to be on track to improve on last years’ time, only concern is my endurance base so I’m expecting to have to deal with cramp as normal.

    Quite excited 😀

    Kryton57
    Full Member

    I had a terrible race last night – round 2 of Beastway in London. Started well – off the grid with the leaders in that pack until the first piece of singletrack backed us up. But then in the first laop started to fade quickly. I had nothing in my legs and thus it was to continue. I’ll be lucky if I’m top 20 in a series I finished 8th last year.

    Can’t think why – I did have a hard Sunday road ride, rested Monday and did a low effort 1h Endurance + 4sprints the previous day for prep.

    It was also rock hard and rutted and has got me thinking about a) putting the lighter wheels on the Anthem and racing that or b) consolidating both bikes to a Spark 930. Having said that there were plenty of HT’s in front.

    Sigh – theres always next week I suppose!

    steve_b77
    Free Member

    I’m off to Single Track 7 at the weekend, 7hr solo for me. Was thinking it could go ok until I saw the list of people who are going and “tuning up” for WEMBO 24hr in a couple of weeks 🙄

    fifeandy
    Free Member

    Can’t think why

    Sometimes it just happens.
    Mind says go, legs say no.
    Was only a few days ago you said you were feeling strong on the club ride so I wouldn’t worry too hard about it.

    Final week of a training block by any chance? I find that’s the time when legs are least likely to co-operate.

    adsh
    Free Member

    What you did you do before Sunday? If you have power but it fades it would suggest either you went out to hard and/or you were only superficially fresh.

    What did you have to eat during the day?

    2tyred
    Full Member

    Aske this weekend for me. Haven’t done an English round of BMBS before, nor have I ridden anywhere round there. Has anyone seen a preview video or anything?

    Organising round 1 of the Scottish series, then DNFing round 2 hasn’t given me much of a national ranking this season, so a start at the back to look forward to!

    ferrals
    Free Member

    there is a preview vid (based on a recent nutcracker round) on xcracer

    looks mint. wish i was going! Hope they do it next year!

    2tyred
    Full Member

    Nice one ferrals – that looks ace!

    Kryton57
    Full Member

    What you did you do before Sunday? If you have power but it fades it would suggest either you went out to hard and/or you were only superficially fresh.

    What did you have to eat during the day?

    Working backeard

    Sat = 10m TT
    Fri = rest
    Thurs = 2×20 turbo
    Weds = 10m TT
    Tues = 1hr Endurance ride
    Mon = Rest
    Sun = 59k mtb
    Sat = xc race (11th)

    Food wide nothing unusual other than i scoffed 165g of liquirice allsorts which i shouldnt have.

    ferrals
    Free Member

    Interestingly I read I thing on ukxcnews where they suggest a very short spin on the day after a race, a complete day of rest two days after and then steady pace training three days after before getting back into higher intensity stuff. Much more rest than I would give myself post race but makes sense as racing is more fatiguing than even a super intense training session

    Kryton57
    Full Member

    I just re read Frield lead up to race week / recovery.

    It didnt include 770 tss like mine did. Oops

    r8jimbob88
    Free Member

    Might see you at Aske then Iain. I’m number 404 and lucky enough to be gridded front row for the Sport Cat race at 14:30. Stockport Clarion kit in Red / Yellow and black. Basically a Belgian flag on wheels!

    I’m really excited but also feeling additional pressure because I’ve beaten almost everyone at some point this year in the line up apart from one person. Could be on for a decent finish….?! Saying that a few guys around me are stronger climbers and there’s a lot of climbing st Aske!

    iain65
    Free Member

    I’ve had a disaster this weekend, I thought I had entered but did not so cannot get a late entry so will not be in Aske unfortunately, Absolutely gutted as I would have been gridded around 10th I reckon.

    ferrals
    Free Member

    Nightmare Iain!

    Good luck Jimbob, great seeding! Give us a race report tomorrow!

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