Obviously this is subjective and indiviual to people, but some experiences and gauges please ?

you see people ‘warming up’ by spinning on TT etc or even riding the layout… but do you go hard ? Easy ? Spin it out ? get the sweat on ?

etc etc…

Obviously the first 2 mins of the XC races seem to have a bottleneck about then, so you want optimal position for that… so how do you get the first 2 mins nailed to your max, without destorying yourself etc.

If it’s XC short lap style racing you want a good 30-40 minute warm up, ramp up slowly to spin away at endurance sort of pace to get the blood pumping followed by a 4-5 minute block at threshold sort of pace, rest peroid of 5 minutes, then about 3 x 1 minute efforts as hard as you can go with a good 4-5 minute rest in between each to completely recover. Stay hydrated and take on some carbs, continue to spin then at endurance level until as close to the race start as you can.

If you aren’t gridded make sure you time it as best you can to get off the trainer and down to the start line to shove your way as far forward as you can.

Consider warm up tights that you can unzip while sitting on the bike and throw to the side of the start finish area to collect after the race.

In my experience it’s very hard to earm up and stay that way unless you use static trainers.

My warm ups are ride the course but throw in race pace efforts and accelerations. Usually feel warmed up after that but the problem is then you hang around for a long time and cool down.

If you want a good race position and to avoid the bottle necks then you need to be at the start in plenty of time otherwise you’ll get caught out.

so how do you get the first 2 mins nailed to your max, without destorying yourself etc.

You don’t. You nail the first two minutes and then carry on nailing it for the rest of the race and get micro recoveries when you can. High intesity intervals with short recoveries will help.

I find a high cadence, low power warm up works best for me…

Depends on gridding. If you are front row or even front 3 rows, get as warmed up as you can (don’t get too scientific, it’s just one more thing to obsess on) 30 mins or so, with hard sprints in there, then get to the start line as late as possible.

If you aren’t gridded just ride around for 30 mins or so, you won’t have to go that hard anyway as the wall of hairy legs and camel backs won’t magically part for you. Warm up on the first lap and save your energy for when you can use it for good.

When I used to play rugby the coach made a bit of a MTFU point about warm ups. If you’re worried that your 10 minute warm up will leave you too tired for the game then you’re not fit enough.

Wow, longer than i thought then guys… i was thinking more 5-10 mins….

I disagree about just doing 30 minutes with a few hard sprints thrown in.
You need to think about what you are trying to acheive with a warm up.

You have to ensure you have lots of recovery after the hard efforts, especially the first one or two.

If you don’t have or want to use a turbo, try to find a hill somewhere near the start line, a good long fireroad that you can pound up a few times flat out. You need your body to respond to that initial punishment as quickly as possible so you can continue to go as hard as you can for the remainder or the race.

If you aren’t warmed up you will go as hard as you can (Which wont be as hard as if you were warmed up properly) and then your body will die and need recovery ASAP meaning everyone rides away and has a huge gap on you before you can finally dig deep and get going again

If you aren’t warmed up you will go as hard as you can (Which wont be as hard as if you were warmed up properly) and then your body will die and need recovery ASAP meaning everyone rides away and has a huge gap on you before you can finally dig deep and get going again

Amen to that!!!
Id also add in, whilst feeling like you’re life is about to end with shaking limbs watching proper smug fatties trundle past you with ease lugging their panniers smoking a fag and asking “are you ok fella, you dont look so well”?

Well either way we’ve established i need to do a lot harder warmup than i was first planning LOL.

I guess the next Qn is…. How long is ‘too long’ to get to the start line before the race for any of this warm up to be of benefit.

With Gorrick the first row, maybe 2 is seeded, after that it’s a free for all.

I’ve done a few with them but never exactly set the world on fire, i don’t expect to do that much better this time, but i am lighter, fitter and faster than previously, so would like to within reason give myself the best oppertunities possible for a respectable result.

By respectable i mean top 50% in class. Which is FAR from respectable for many on here i know lol.

I don’t think most take warming up that seriously as to be so structured. I used to smoke a last cigarette just before lining up at the start!

Riding a prelap kills many birds with one stone. Warm up, course practice, technical section practice, identifying race strategy opportunities and appropriate gear choices, fine tuning set-up, last minute tyre changes, and probably other stuff I’ve forgotten.

I’d also recommend practicing the start for the best start gear and a bit of intensity.

As others have said, getting to the start early to line up as close to the front as possible probably has the single greatest impact (unless you’re gridded of course) because the leaders get such a headstart if you get delayed by slower or gapped riders that you’ll probably never see them again.

The difficulty is in gauging your ability against the rest of the field since most people neither want to be delayed or to frustrate faster riders behind them either. Some people won’t or can’t yield though, and there are arguments for and against, particularly in relation to whether it’s safe to pass and whether the overtaking rider should go around or expect the slower rider to pull over – for example doing so may cause them to lose hard fought ground within their race within a race. With experience and knowledge of your usual rivals the art of maximising your starts where you slot into the appropriate position becomes far less fraught. I imagine most people start by racing from the back until they have some idea of where their lap times would place them against their soon to be regular rivals.

At the national cyclocross champs I saw one guy on a Turbo, must have been for a good 40mins, he was doing what looked like a full on Sufferfest workout.

When he got off the bike he looked knackered and was sweating buckets (in sub zero temps)

I later saw him getting pulled up in the race as he was too slow!

I imagine most people start by racing from the back until they have some idea of where their lap times would place them against their soon to be regular rivals

That’s been the ‘norm’ for me… (in the 3 i’ve done previously) and TBH it hasn’t probably affected my finishing position that dramatically… but i’m living in optimism that my training is paying off and i should be a bit further up. Or at the very least a bit more battling and fighting for positions.

Blimey to some of these responses! An inadvertent method is if you’re cycling to and from the races via the train stations, plus the prelap. I reckon it was good for me, I used to be able to hold 40kph on my mtb, now I struggle to do that on my road bike!

Agree with the above, but the longer the race the shorter the warm up. A CX race needs a longer higher intensity warm up than a 4 hour enduro. Basic principle for me is to warm the legs up, spin and then do a few high intensity efforts so the body knows what’s coming and is prepared for it!
Make it longer or shorter as appropriate.

Also, ride the course as part of it. It helps.

I would advise against a lap of the course to warm up. Unless your timing is PERFECT you risk getting there late and missing your start, or ealy so that you warm down and the exercise was pointless. And what if you puncture/mechanical/get lost ? That’s your race over before it starts !

You will find out what works for you, my 30 mins and sprints was about right for me, but once you are gridded front it’s much easier, you can just stroll up and plonk your bike on the front row once you are ready, and I always had a good start sprint. The proper pros take their coach to the pens, who holds their bike while they continue to pedal, and even hold an umbrella over them. Now that’s taking it seriously !

Just like riding with faster riders makes you faster, racing with faster racers will make you faster, so there is value in getting in amongst it even if your final result ends up suffering for it. In fact racing pushes you to an sustained intensity that can’t really be achieved in training, so you should get faster just by racing regularly.

Finding your limits and improving on them can be hard though with so many variables, and in a way you need to blow up a few times and/or suffer through to the end no matter what to understand how much pain you can sustain. Try to avoid withdrawing from races though since it can become a habit that undermines progression. This is reality, not some video game with a reset button.

Ditto schmicken. For a gorrick I reckon one lap easy pace well in advance of the start (say start 1 hour beforehand so long as start times allow) then 2-3 hard efforts @ 10 mins before the start then stay as warm as possible up til start time.

Some people won’t or can’t yield though, and there are arguments for and against, particularly in relation to whether it’s safe to pass and whether the overtaking rider should go around or expect the slower rider to pull over – for example doing so may cause them to lose hard fought ground within their race within a race.

Unless you are lapping someone you shouldn’t expect them to move over for you – it’s a race…

I just dug out my old turbo sessions, this is the schedule I used to warmup. I didn’t use a turbo at mountain bike races unless it was slashing it down, but tried to stick to it as close as possible. My max HR was 208 for reference. The last of the sprints was a ‘bit of sick in your mouth’ type intensity.

10mins building up to 145bpm
5mins @ 165bpm
5mins @ 190bpm
5mins @ 165bpm
5mins @ 190bpm
1min maximal sprint
1min easy
(repeat sprints 5 times)
5mins @ 190bpm
5mins @ 145bpm (kept going until as close to start as possible, get to the start line just in time, realise you need a slash “10 seconds to go” too late, gun goes……….spriiiint)

I don’t think I could get to the end of the first 5 mins @ 190 before hurling now though!

i think me and you live on different planes of existence 😉

Unless you are lapping someone you shouldn’t expect them to move over for you – it’s a race…

I agree it shouldn’t be expected, but many riders are considerate and yield anyway, and unfortunately some riders misinterpret this into an expectation, sometimes abusing and barging through dangerously. Getting stuck behind riders should be considered just as much part of racing as suffering a mechanical.

How many of us have put in an extra effort to sneak in ahead of a slower rider going into single track in order to dislodge a chasing rival, earn a recovery, or even put in an attack? How many of us coast and recover knowing its unlikely we’re going to be able to overtake if we reach a slower rider too soon? Fitter riders can be beaten by more experienced, strategic, or just plain lucky riders.

A quick steak pie whilst sitting in the car with heaters on ‘full-chat’ is good for me. Spank those whippets easy.

I think a few people on here having a warm up confused with a training session.

Oh dear, i’ve just realised how woefully inadequate my pre-race warm up is, which consists of a last minute dash for a pee and then shivering on the start line in a ski jacket until the start (where I chuck it at a friend)!

I think maybe I should re-think things!!

mtbmatt – Member
I think a few people on here having a warm up confused with a training session.

Indeed, but its been useful to spot some of the strategies that may be used for the Gorrick soon.

Although I still don’t know whether to enter or not – whats the weather going to be like in Surrey mid feb anyone? 😐

Noted in Wiggins’ recent book that his standard TT warm up is a very specific 20 minute session, and he stresses the importance of finishing it at the right time to maximise the benefits, so you don’t arrive too late or too early at the start line.
For XC, as noted, you need to be ready for an intense initial sprint if you are racing from the front.

Been racing xc for approximately three years now and before that on the road, for me the most important point, is timing. It’s ok doing the best warm up ever, but if you are stood at the start line for 10 mins waiting around the best warm up in the world was pointless.
One of the best warm up I’ve seen done is by someone at the hope series. Everyone waiting for him as he come down the track, Spins his bike around and starts right at the front of the grid. 😯
Time your warm so that you are not awaiting to long on the start grid but not leaving it to long that you are sat right at the back. After a couple of races you will get the hang of it or just do what the quick blokes do, turn up at the grid and push your way to the front. 👿 👿

I’d be interested to know how long it is before you medically lose the benefit of a warm up.

It probably helps to warm up properly, but I’m happy as long as I’ve feel I’ve warmed and stretched the muscles at least a little within the last hour. You’re going to cool down anyway waiting at the start, so as long as you’ve not stepped out the car onto the bike unridden I reckon there’s some benefit. Arm warmers and gilets are great because you can adjust or remove them during the race rather than stripping off all your layers and getting cold before you start.

IMHO unless you already know the course well and it never changes, a prelap is worth turning up early for. It enables you to adapt your strategy on the fly and measure your effort to where it will count. Plenty of people waste their effort while you’re left thinking why did they do that when the course is about to make it pointless.