FAO Racers – a Q

Those of you that race, how do you get on? Why do you do it?

I quite enjoyed it when I could have a good tight scrap with 5-10th finishers in Masters a few years ago, but I couldn’t do that year in/year out…and I don’t think I’ve got the determination to get on the podium reliably.

Top-half finisher (not by much). Not chasing a podium.

I do it for the pre and post race beer, BBQ and cake and to catch up with my equally uncompetitive mates (that’s not to say we don’t compete with each other on the quiet).

EDIT: I forgot the most important reason. If I don’t have a race on the horizon I wouldn’t have the motivation to ride.

In DH I normally end up in the there for the beer & bbq end of the field, have a good time uplift and race catch up with people and ride my bike.

In gravity enduro came top half – then started trying to work out how to knock the s off!! still had beer & bbq though

Podium a way off considering the size & quality of the masters field.

I loved racing to push myself and feel the pain… Yes i really did love it.

Haven’t raced now for about 3 years though, don’t think i’ll ever have that same motivation, if i can’t be half descent i wouldn’t bother.

I won 1 race 8)

I like riding a mountain bike quickly and its better than spending Sundays in B&Q.

Depending on the level of the race I can be at the back or at the front.
I don’t have to be near the podium to enjoy myself. After a while you get to know the people who are at similar level to you, so you concentrate on how you get on relative to them.

I’m new to racing, had no idea i’d like it this much, and i have secret ambitions for racing too.

I think partly

I loved racing to push myself and feel the pain

I love the pain and love pushing myself to see what i can do.

And partly that i’m very competitive, i like the tactics involved even if atm i’m a newbie and learning them, and i love the speed as well. *is now even more upset that sundays race has been cancelled*

Racing for me is the hobby. What I race doesn’t matter so much.

Iain

I’m not exactly a racer, and I’m nowhere near as fast as ac282, but I’m, faster than my mates so don’t often get to ride as hard as I can for an extended period!

I’ve been entering local races for a year or two now. Just the odd event, good to do a big ride, ride hard and not have to faff with navigation, route and post-ride grub as that’s taken care of!

I’m enjoying bantering with the Kielder Trail Reaver race regulars and the others I know from trail builds.

I’ve done one as a challenge (100 miler) and one as pure prep for that event (Kielder Calling).

I might do a few further away as a bit of a change and a social event.

I’m quite competitive but I know my place (never gonna be a podium finisher in a big event) and I’m good at not being upset if things don’t go my way. I have my targets and they’re normally a mix of

1. Top %age
2. Beat the guys who I beat last time
3. Improve my position/time from last time

I’ll admit it, I do like winning though 🙂

Just natural progression from when I started riding proper.
Got pretty good over the years and would finish well in the top ten, but that was pre kids and road races were longer affairs and that suited me.
Actually collapsed shortly after the birth of our first child, she was very very premature, that and carrying on with racing took it’s toll.
Took nearly ten years out, and returned hoping to start off where I left, but that was a no no.
Racing is ingrained in me, but I now finish right down the field.
Best results last year were 11th in an XC race. and 19th overall in the Vets National cyclocross Championships.

I used to love racing just for the banter, was never any good at it though.

I race because it’s part of the variety of riding I do and it’s good for fitness. I only ever finish mid-table in vets but like JT above I like to try and beat the ‘usual suspects’.

Do Sportives count?

I hated it and loved it equally.

To me, racing was about putting your ego on display, about saying ‘this is how good I am’, about looking around on the start line and feeling sick with nerves, about feeling that ,at that moment, I’d rather be anywhere else in the world than racing.

Mountain bike racing was a bit dull; it always ended up as a wierd time trial through odd forests. I used to race in the expert or elite class, not because I was good, just because it was the only way to actually race without hitting bottlenecks of 40 odd riders at every turn. I was pretty fast, winning a couple of local races and doing top tens in National series like the Diamond Back.

Cyclocross was my thing, although I didn’t do it for long, came top ten in the North West, rode the 3 Peaks, but just loved it; the whole intensity, the skill needed to ride at warp speed on skinny tyres, the run/ride bits, the mud plugging. The perfect bike too; that bastard child of mountain and road bike…

Road racing was hard; after mountain biking and thinking I was ok, I got battered in my first road races, just dropped and wasted so easily. By the time I got to grips with UK racing, my team had started to race in Belgium for the odd week in the summer, then do a little stage race in Holland. Got battered again; not finishing any races for ages.

Just had the odd great day when the wind got behind me and I could do it, riding down every attack in a road race, then leading out the sprint while my mate sneaked the win, riding people off my wheel just because I could.

Glad I did it, but it reminds me how fast I was, and how slow I am now…

If I can stretch the original question to cover all types of mountain bike competition, not just racing, then…

How do you get on ?
Trailquests;
Usually top 10 out of 40 – 70 entrants. Got 3rd overall in last year’s MTQ Autumn Series.

Marathons (6 to 24 hour solo);
Usually top third, top quarter on a good day.

Why do you do it ?
Trailquests; It’s the sort of riding I like anyway, using roads to link up bridleways over a large area, with the added interest of competition.
I like the way everyone sets off at different times on different routes.
I like meeting other riders during the event, sometimes passing in the opposite direction, sometimes catching, or being caught by someone going the same direction.
I like sitting down with other riders afterwards and going over each others routes on the map and thinking how I should have done it differently.

Marathons;
I like the challenge, both physical and mental.
I like the whole riding in a bunch of 1000 bikes thing.
I like the constant overtaking and being overtaken and the mutual encouragement with other riders.
Most of all, I like the look of awe from team riders when I tell them I’m riding solo.

I tend to try and aim for a finish in the top 25% of my category, generally try to beat my times from last time and other people who I’ve raced against before.

Do it for the challenge as opposed to winning, never seen the podium

Just like the pain/competition/satisfaction when you have ‘done a ride’

Racing is different to hard training. You are at your limit when racing (or should be)

Sportives aren’t races.ha ha.

MTB’s – local then looking for top 5/10
Road Races – (E12) – always looking for points
Crits – looking for top 8
Cross- bit of fun in the off season.

Commuting (its exactly that)

Why do you do it?

Because I want to get past that g1t who’s infront of me.

I’m, faster than my mates

ooh, get you Jon…

Just wait till you start to approach middle-age, by which time we’ll be out the other side again 🙂

I do it because its fun, normally there is a big group of us so it’s interesting to see the progress.

I only race DH, and normally at a weekend if its a Regional, i’m top 1/3 in my catagory, or 1/2 at a National.

Should be better, last year I spent most of the season crashing. Podium at a Regional should be achievable, not at a national though, way too many quick guys out there.

Don’t take it too seriously, i’m there for the crack, getting to ride places I wouldn’t normally & having a bit of friendly banter & rivalry between a group of friends 🙂

Does get a little tiresome when you are in that crashing phase though.

I have entered many races and fallen into the pocket behind all the good people but in front of all the weekend warriors, so saw no-one and had no real race. I only kept doing it through grim determination to do better.

However shortly before my kid was born I did a couple of races on flatter courses where I was jostling for a top 10 place wheel to wheel with other racers. Bloody hell what a rush!

2012 is going to be my season. Watch out you Masters 🙂

I started doing them as a challenge not really bothered about position. But then I got fitter and now try and set targets or even win in smaller ones. Normally top 10% in a mtb race of reasonable size. I will race whoever is around me but am fully aware that I can’t give the time to training (and just maybe don’t have the talent) to ever hit the big time.

I road race because the actual act of racing is fun. Riding in a fast group, jockeying for position, chasing down breaks, going on a suicidal break, pushing it as hard as you can up a climb – great stuff. My record is pretty poor in the 4 I’ve done. 2 bunch finishes and 2 DNF due to a mechanical and a puncture. I rejoined after a lap out on the puncture race and got a mechanical just before the final climb so was no point continuing other than to hand in my number. I still dream of glory and think I can get a podium if there’s a good climb to the end and avoid any bad luck.

I won my road club hill climb competition in 2010 and this weekend got a 2nd overall (first in age group) at the Kielder Border Raid. These tastes of the podium keep me going.

I like to push myself and I like the atmosphere and competition. There’s some really good banter around races and some really good riders at them too. Much better experiences than a solo trip to a trailcentre or solo road riding.

I still do the odd sportive and big race I have no chance in (Kielder 100) as the challenge of getting round fast is enough. Set myself a sub ten target for the Kielder 10 this year after 11 hours last year.

ooh, get you Jon…

Just wait till you start to approach middle-age, by which time we’ll be out the other side again

Good 😉

you should have never encouaged me!

The kind of racing I do is probably not the kind of racing you had in mind. I like the utlra-distance multi day stuff because it take you to outstanding places and lets you have real psychological battles with the other racers. You can’t beat rolling into town to see the people you’ve been chasing for days looking like zombies or (on the other foot) hearing them pass while you sleep and having to scramble back onto the bike.

I’ve come 2nd in the Iditarod (hold the SS record) and 3rd in the Tour Divide. I’m currently bricking it at where I ought to be aiming in this year’s Divide.

These events give you a continuous project. And to quote a more eloquent racer than myself: “We go to look for cracks in ourselves. We come back to see if we’ve fixed any”.

Same level as marginwalker race wise (albeit hes f00ked at the moment ;-)).

If you have “had a ride” you feel great afterwards if you dont you still feel good as you have pushed yourself to the maximum limit, you feel alive and stimulated.

Flushes all the dross and drivel out of your system thats built up over the last few days from dull and mundane tasks.

Also its important for me that im not the fat couch potato that 90% of the UK population are, would rather beast myself in the hills while its cold, raining and windy in a race anyday that watch a reality tv/soap/quiz show while slowly becoming a slob.

This sums it up better than i can……

‘Tourists and locals are watching from sidewalk cafes. Non-racers. The emptiness of those lives shocks me.’
Tim Krabbe.