Evening all,

Got my first XC race coming up tomorrow. Does anyone have any useful tips or suggestions? 😀

If you cross the finish line first you win.

Try and get a good position at the start, otherwise you will have to wait behind everyone when the first bit of fireroad turns to singletrack.

Don’t go too fast, don’t go too slow.
Don’t get carried away at the start and kill yourself in the first half hour.
Don’t do anything you don’t normally do, like different energy drink/gels/tyres etc.

Make sure you check your tyres are inflated how you like them, your seatpost is at the correct height (if you remove it to stick in the car), your gears are shifting nicely…..all the things that make it that bit more familiar & comfortable.

Wear the right amount of clothes. Better to be a bit chilly on the start, than too warm for the whole race.

And have fun! I enter the odd race here and there, always do rubbish due to a complete lack of fitness but alwayas have fun……

Don’t get worried at the pace from the start!

Tip 1: Try and catch the rider in front
Tip 2: Try and drop the rider behind

Aside from other usual riding tips which always apply (eg don’t fall off) that’s about all there is to it.

Oh and have fun!

Thanks guys! Can’t wait now….must resist urge to stay in the pub all night. 😀

Early night

Drink plenty (not beer)

and

Enjoy!

good luck! 😀

Try and warm up properly before the race (I hardly ever do) it reduces the nausea on the first lap 😕

1.use your elbows – having a bad patch and someone wants to overtake you, elbows are allowed.
2. Say your neck and neck with someone on some fireroad and its about to go into some singletrack. ‘you got a stick jammed in your rear mech’. As they look down power through!!
3. Wear as much sponsors logo’s as possible. Winning the mental race also helps
4. Pretend your tired even when your not. Your challenger will think there beating you. Pretend your ‘just’ hanging in there then at the right moment give it some gas
5. Need to walk a climb? Thats cool. Stay in the middle and let no one, i repeat no one, get by. ‘sorry mate, didn’t hear you’.
6. Use the ’10 @ kirroughtree’ plan of attack. Everyone in front of you just shout ‘race leader coming through’. They’ll hate you but let you by. Still a place gained is what its all about.

pick the right category

Radoggair’s got it all covered. I’d also add that water bottles make good weapons, if you take a fresh one as you cross the line you can afford to hurl one at some irritating rider each lap.

My best bit of advice would be not to do anything different to usual, don’t try anything for the first time in a race.

If it’s the Gorrick at Crowthorne don’t be put off by the start, it goes uphill for about 20 yards, then down for a bit on fireroad, into a 90 degree left then up a hill, which tends to lead to a very rapid deceleration. It can be carnage if people clash handlebars or anything, keep your wits about you, don’t look at the wheel infront.

You will probably die..

If you don’t well done, welcome.

1. Ride very fast for a good position at first.
2. Ride very fast to keep said position.
3. Ride very fast when you’re lungs are bursting and you can’t go on for much longer.
4. Repeat no.3
5. Repeat no.3
6. Repeat no.3
7. Ride very fast for last lap 😉
8. Have post race jacket potato.

Well done!!

All very good advice cus i won a race once…

Ride your own race

Its not worth racing for position from the off [although the red mist will come down and you’ll do it anyway!] as there is absolutely no point in destroying yourself in the frst 5 minutes then hating the rest of the race.
If you’re a 100% effort kind of guy and ride like that all the time.. then sure.. drop the hammer and giv’er

You can ALWAYS PASS other riders during the race.. unless those riders are like raddogair 😉

If its a long race with lots of fireroad… draft those sections if your speed is similarly matched to the guy/s around you.
If you charge ahead, he’ll just draft you and then pass you later when he’s rested up having sat on your back wheel. (30% less effort drafting?)

If your heart rate is 220bpm.. ease up 😉

Look ahead, be ready to shift gears when you need to for climbs.. nothing worse than mashing gears once you’ve started going up as you’re shifting too late.
If you’re riding with others, draft but look past them to see whats coming (climbs, techy, things to avoid) don’t just stare at the guy in fronts ass 🙂

Log climb coming up? sit up behind a hot chick as there is no better motivator than a girl in tight lycra right in ront of you to get you up that hill!

Can climb well but can’t ride the tech quite so well? Then follow a better rider through the techy stuff to get better line choice and learn to flow the sections better. Plus having a better rider in front helps your confidence when rolling through sections.
Can ride tech well but not so hot up the hill… draft.

Keep soem in the tank for the techy sections.. you’ll need extra strength to 1/4 punch your front wheel over stuff or to give short blasts of effort. This will make you smoother and ultimately faster than 100% with nothing left to give when you need to – honestly

Best bit of advice if you want to get the mental edge.. when going over the top of a climb, shift gears so that you maintain the same effort you were putting in on the way up the climb for about 20 extra pedal strokes. The guy riding with you will probably get blown off the back. Although don’t blow yourself up doing this.

First race… enjoy the experience

If you win.. you chose the wrong catagory and you’ll get heckled.. if you loose.. so what, its your first race!

Lastly… don’t be a dick. No one likes the guy who tries passing at really inappropriate times and ends up having to get off and push or crashing as he’s got himself in a silly place.
If you pass someone, you better be able to ride away from them.

Actualy.. probably ignore the techy suggestions as the only UK race I’ve done had absolutely no technical terrain whatsoever.. its also the only race I’ve DNF’d in.. it was like a road race on dirt 😕

Lastly… don’t be a dick. No one likes the guy who tries passing at really inappropriate times and ends up having to get off and push or crashing as he’s got himself in a silly place.
If you pass someone, you better be able to ride away from them.

+1 nearly got into a fight with a cock who did this ❗

Lastly… don’t be a dick. No one likes the guy who tries passing at really inappropriate times and ends up … crashing as he’s got himself in a silly place.

Thought I’d be smart once and pass a whole pack of slower riders by cruising past through the ferns and stuff next to the singletrack. Obviously I went head over heels into a massive hole that appeared too late to avoid whilst every single one of them (and plenty more) passed me as I tried to extricate myself from my bike. I have no doubt that they were thinking “blimey, that guy shouldn’t have been such a dick” and, of course, laughing their arses off…

Why did I do this? Inpatience. Everyday I bemoan drivers’ inpatience whilst commuting yet it hit me too. Not agressively, but just enough for me to think I should try to beat the system. How I could have avoided this:

RealMan

Try and get a good position at the start, otherwise you will have to wait behind everyone when the first bit of fireroad turns to singletrack.

I was a calm and patient English gentleman who elected not to get (nearer) to the front of the starting line pack and thus paid for it.

Also: Resist the urge to tell those who scream “Rider!!!!!!” at you from behind to jolly-well **** off. Their manners, courtesy, pleases, thank yous, and any abilities to overtake lesser riders like the cycling gods that they are go out of the window during racing.

Top, top tip: have fun – I’ve always had a great time.

Thanks once again for all the tips chaps.

Well its all over now, I’m still grinning like a Cheshire cat. Will definitely be back for more. Learnt lots about myself and my abilities over the duration of the race. Other than my stamina waining in the third and final lap, my only real issue was being far to over dressed, I had to stop at the beginning of the second lap to remove my jacket. Lost a couple of places, but soon made them up once I had cooled down a bit.

Njee – Yep, it was the Gorrick race. Nice having a bit of local knowledge, it sure helped with the more technical sections of the track.

Radoggair – LOL, I used No.6 twice to good effect, once on my mate who was not amused 😀

Well done Neil. Sounds like your first race went well.

Bit late, but my tip would be to race fair. Don’t use any shabby tactics, you’ll get yourself a bad name. Something you don’t need on the race circuit.

SB

Thank you stratobiker! I will bare that in mind as I would, of course, rather earn my position based on my merits.

On that note, what generally is the done thing when you want to pass a slower rider? The only time I encountered any today was on the firetrack so didn’t really have to shout anything as there was plenty of room for maneuver.

On that note, what generally is the done thing when you want to pass a slower rider? The only time I encountered any today was on the firetrack so didn’t really have to shout anything as there was plenty of room for maneuver.

I’d shout rider behind or something. Then wait for them to let me pass.

If I’m in front of someone and they shout at me, I’ll keep going until I see a place where I can move over safely without losing too much speed/time for them to pass.

NNOP, i did my first real race today at gorrick. It was a good fun event i must say and im pretty knackered!

Didnt have anyone shout “RIDER BEHIND” or “KEEP LEFT” or whatever either on tight singletrack like i have on smaller fun races. There was one point in some tight singletrack where i was being held up and some much quicker people were being held up but there was literally no where to pass.

Just call rider up as a warning, then on your left/right when you are going to pass.

Remember that your idea of a gap in which you can pass safely isn’t always the same as everyone else’s.

Always try to say thanks.

GB

Tom, did you ride it SS? Rigid or with your foxs?

SS 32:17 with the foxes. Will go to 32:18 next time unless i get much fitter, it was okay for the first lap but the second and third became very difficult. Still manned out most of the climbs.

My rigid SS is a fixie atm so wouldnt have been great 😀

Tom, now the adrenalin/excitement has long gone I am starting to feel it a bit now. 😀 The pace was the thing that startled me the most. As I normally ride alone as most of my mates are either fat, scared of the dark, or a combination of the both I never really have anything to judge my normal ride pace against.

P.S Your are a mad man riding it on a SS. 😀

On that note, what generally is the done thing when you want to pass a slower rider?

I almost always ask “I’d like to pass you when its convenient” or “I’ll pass on the left when there’s room”

If you can get a sentence out with controlled breathing and be polite about it then you’ll be surprised how many riders out here will give you passing space.

Remember slower riders are still there to race, so if you’re gasping ‘rider’ or ‘trail’ to try and get them moving.. there’s fat chance i’d move aside to let someone who doesn’t sound like their heart rate could take the stress of a passing move and leave me stuck behind them while they try and recover from the effort of passing.

I wont lie though.. I’ve been passed (let passed) by a fitter rider up hill on many occasion to end up stuck behind them in the descents or techy.. I have used the frustrated phrase ‘get the f*ck off your brakes’ on a handful of occasions 😉

Glad you had fun.

so…. you didn’t win. Man, you suck!!!

kidding, anyway well done on your race. Although like a few on here we’re known as the ‘fast boys’ and would always do well, the pace at the beginning of every race, whether xc, marathon or endurance is always quick. You learn though that position is vital and many races if your not quick over the first mile you always end up waiting in queue’s as a bottleneck begins at the first singletrack section.

So, now you know what to expect you can start aiming 10 places higher at the next race and so on and so on

BearBack I am probably that rider. World’s biggest wuss on anything going remotely downhill but I can usually overtake a fair few on the ups. If I didn’t I’d be right at the back of every race (instead of, oooohhh let’s see, third from last!).

If you’re behind someone and really racing with them, a Pro II is invaluable for out-psyching them. Bursts of loud freewheeling at seemingly inappropriate moments makes them think they’re having to pedal hard and you’re just cruising.