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My short course XC experiment is proving interesting (ie painful)
My preferred 6hr strategy of letting all hare off and catching up a few hours in has hardly surprisingly proved a complete failure. They pissed off, I never did.
All my laps were within 40s over 15minutes but I was pretty slow - last in the vets which would have been midfield in the open. I rode hard (average HR 91% of max)but within myself.
So is it faster to start near the front go completely into the red and lap slower thereafter or to be slower on the start, really hammer it on the non technical sections and use the tech sections as recovery or what?
XC racing is mental. You need to be at the front at the beginning, and you need to stay there! It depends on the course though - if there are singletrack sections on which you have an advantage (climbs or descents or what) then you need to be in front of pepole otherwise you won't pass.
Physiologically it's quicker I think to ride a steady pace, but that doesn't account for all the passing you'd have to do, and the psychology of it.
I find it harder to pass / over take or catch up riders on flat, or downward facing singletrack.
Uphill, some climbs and fireroads I find it easier to rest up my HR a bit, take some water / food on board, and get ready for the next bit.
Short course racing for me is flat out all the way - if you are finding it hard, suggest intervals (in training) are the way to go - but it's not as simple as me simply saying that.
For the future, either do more races or try out a training plan / coach for this coming season?
I'm no XC racer, so anything I say can be ruled invalid, but from what I'm lead to believe
I rode hard (average HR 91% of max)but within myself.
means you weren't trying hard enough. You need to find the point right between 'I'm going to be sick in my mouth' and 'Sh*t, I just sicked in my mouth'
You go as hard as you can at the start, then go a little harder and keep it up until the end.
/\ x100
Flat out from the go, hope you don't blow up.
Get to the start two hours early. Stand right at the front of the grid. Stay there. Get people to feed you food and coffee, hold your coat, act as a proxy when you need a pee.
Go off like the hounds of hell are chasing you at the start, stick your elbows out at every corner. Be grumpy to everyone else on the course and practice shouting levelled rider coming through' as loud as you can.
Well, it seems to work for someone I know.
Wot njee said.
I find I'm crap for the first lap, even if I've warmed up a bit before the off. Lap 2 I might pass a few folks (as I've normally started near the back of the grid) then sometime late on lap 3 I'll often get lapped by the elite guys and not end up doing the full race distance! My most concerted efforts of flat-out almost bonking self-harm sadly don't ever get me anywhere near the points! Good fun though. 🙂
The other thing is that if you adopt the "flat out and hope for the best" technique you will learn if that works for you, personally I'd rather crawl across the finish line a broken man, then finish thinking 'I feel quite fresh still'. Sadly I always seem to be doing the latter lately, just can't push as hard as I could when I was fast, which may be directly related!