How do you guys warm up for an MTB race? I've noticed I fade badly around the 15-20 minute mark and it takes me the same again to get my second wind.

This could be my shitness with fitness but I'm hoping it may be due to a poor warm-up for which I have no set routine other than try and get a practice lap in not go too fast to tire myself or so slow I won't get a feel for the course.

I notice quite a few riders warming up on turbos before the race – whats the idea here – keep your heart rate at a certain level for a sustained period?

I use a good stretching routine, then a bit of a ride around the campsite/area. But I think for me the stretching is most important.

But a muscle warm up is very important.

A warm up gets the body internal temp up to its most efficient level. A good one is 10mins gentle, 10 mins harder then a few sprinty efforts, followed by 10mins gentle again.

From your description, it sounds like you go off from the start, your body goes mad as all the lactic acid builds up then you need to calm down a bit to clear it out of the system, followed by getting your second wind. It might just require some harder training to work on this?

GB

warm up before race??

whats that.

Me, i normally go out fast, go faster, burn up but on a piece of singletrack so no one gets by me while i recover, then go again, puncture, fix it, go mental to try and recover lost time, over take people, get overtaken as i burn out again, crash, moan, sprint again to recover, over take more people, dont eat enough or drink enough, cramp, bonk, recover again, finish.

Simples !! 🙂

About 30-40 minutes of pretty fast riding does me. Just to blow out the cobwebs and get warm enough to strip down.
Still nearly always slower in the first half of a race doesn't matter if it's MTB, cyclocross or road.

Did you do your road race/pursuit?

radogonair – your name jock ?

radogonair – your name jock ?

he uses my tactic does he!!

And this is why we will never win 🙄

we are planning beer n curry in fort william on the friday night as our warm up for 10UTHB

😉

i'm planning a dose of early morning work tomorrow followed by calorie intake on friday night ( mainly mars bars and maltesers 🙂 )

lol at raddogair!

Oldgit 30-40 minutes seems like quite a lot before a 2 hour race – I'd be shattered before the start!

And yes I did the road race and didn't cause any damage to myself or others! Will defo be back for more as they run midweek so a chance to get a bit of race practice in before XC at the weekend.