Midlands XC round 2, sport class. What do I need to know? Do practice/classes follow a standard pattern? Is a camelback really a no-no? I’ve got no info at all at present as a mate entered me!
Edit: and riding etiquette, overtaking/being overtaken etc

Its a new venue and course for this year, so you’ll know the track as well as anyone.
You won’t need your camelbak, but no-one’s gonna forcibly remove it from you.
Sport are in the afternoon race, so you’ll have 2 chances to preride the course if you want to.

Just enjoy it and prepare to be knackered.

Go, have fun, learn an awful lot in a short space of time 🙂

Wear a camelback if you want. Though you might be the only one.

Go, have fun, learn an awful lot in a short space of time

This.

Stick a bottle with energy juice in a cage, a multi tool & tyre leversand a tube in a pocket, and dump the camelbak..

Sprint really hard until you reach max HR in the first 30 seconds, then continue like this for about 80-90 mins.

Enjoy 🙂

Then later on start planning the loan for the new shorter travel bike and light weight parts that you’ll want to continue racing, like we all do 🙂

I used to use a camelbak as I had no-one to hand me bottles on longer races. Might be ok with two on an XC race tho. However it is a lot harder to drink from bottles on an unrelenting course, and if you are carrying a full load of water on your bike you’re not saving any weight over a camelbak. If you are on a long race on a hot day and have someone to give you bottles then carrying one bottle saves a lot of weight over a 3l camelbak.

tyre leversand a tube

Don’t do this – go tubeless!

tyre leversand a tube
Don’t do this – go tubeless!

I still carry one despite being tubeless. Far faster on a short distance race to whack in a tube and get it inflated with CO2 if the tear in a tyre won’t plug with jizz IMHO

and if you are carrying a full load of water on your bike you’re not saving any weight over a camelbak

What? Camelbaks are 0g these days?

Very good, keep it coming! Perhaps I should provide some context: I’m 15.5 stone in the bollocky buff so no great worries about winning or carrying a kilo or so of water! I figured it’d be easier to sip from a camelback than bottle but I guess the majority must be right. Bike is my modified Ramin, carbon forked rigid, 1x 11-42 Crest wheel Racing Ralph/Ikon speed monster. I hope it’s not muddy or I am in trouble! How does the overtaking thing work? If lapped then obviously I need to get out of the way, but how do you tell? The speed they close on you? Guessing here but I’m likely to be far less consistent than your average xc’er, faster than contemporaries down, slower up. Could get messy! 😉

Have you ever torn a tyre in an XC race? I certainl haven’t.

I accept that in the unlikely event of a flat I’m walking home. Although depending on the stakes I might encumber myself with a tube. As for levers – I haven’t used one of those for about 20 years 🙂

I figured it’d be easier to sip from a camelback than bottle

It is. There’s many occasions where I’ve been gained numerous places on a short bit of fire-road whilst other people are looking up at the sky drinking but I’m still hammering.

How does the overtaking thing work? If lapped then obviously I need to get out of the way, but how do you tell?

You’ll know! They come up behind you very quickly, and people you aren’t lapping are going at very similar speeds.

What? Camelbaks are 0g these days?

A lightweight camelbak (yes, they exist, not all camelbaks are rucksacks full of body armour, cakes and random tools) won’t weigh much more than two cages and two bottles, I’d bet. I have a Lezyne one that is a bit of fabric and a bladder.

I have weak ‘puter hands molgrips…

Overtaking – the onus is on the overtaker. They will shout “Left” or “Right” to indicate on which side they want to pass you. Don’t worry about getting out of the way (unless you want to!) as they will pass safely at most likely crazy speeds.

I wouldn’t bet on the faster down bit – lot’s of xc riders are fast down these days (just not me…)
Sport goes off after expert and elite so for the first couple of laps the only people who you’ll have overtaking you will be other Sport riders and fast Open riders.
Closing speed is a good indicator of whether you’re about to be lapped, but unless you’re racing somebody for position (i.e another sport rider) then letting them pass is the courteous thing to do. This doesn’t mean pulling off the course mind, just moving of line the next time that its safe to do so without slowing you down too much.

Just a bottle and an emergency gel will do. I don’t bother with any tools, tube etc. If I puncture, it’s all over anyway.

Faster riders will shout ‘rider’ and then ‘on your left/right’ as they steam by (on the side they’ve just shouted). There will always be passing places.

Don’t go too hard,too early.There will be a temptation to race everybody from the gun.Pace yourself.You will make more places in the last 1/4 of the race than you will in the first 3/4 as people pop left right and centre and desperately try to hold on (there’s plenty of people who get good results on ss!).
Last lap should be the fastest.

Last lap should be the fastest.

that’s optimism !

Get a practice lap in before if you can. You don’t want to be surprised by an A-line somewhere, or a mis-judged effort just before a big hill.

I wouldn’t bet on the faster down bit – lot’s of xc riders are fast down these days

Ah but they don’t have gravity on their side, owing to my ‘special capacity’ i can pass people pedalling whilst freewheeling!

Didn’t realise more than one class was out there at once! 😳

Ah but they don’t have gravity on their side, owing to my ‘special capacity’ i can pass people pedalling whilst freewheeling!

Not much freewheeling in XC races. The downs will all be fast singletrack, so weight is not an advantage. Trust me, I know 🙂

If I puncture, it’s all over anyway.

Lol, true. I once punctured on the first lap at Margam. As I pulled over, all the other riders bombed past, and by the time I had got a tube out all around me was silence and settling dust.. made the next 90 mins fairly pointless!

Be smooth on the downhills.You are unlikely to make large amounts of time but you can lose a hell of a lot.Overtaking dh will take a lot of energy as speed is higher and opportunities are fewer.If you are faster take it as an opportunity to conserve energy and lower your HR whilst going as fast as the person in front.If you are canny you can pressure them into making an error (show them your wheel every now and again) or pushing too hard and maxing their HR.

Have you ever torn a tyre in an XC race? I certainl haven’t.[/quote

Happened to me on Sunday. Fitted a tube, rode on. Tube bulged out of the hole, but didn’t burst.

Don’t do this – go tubeless!

Tubeless might have saved me from the front flat after I OTB’d and pinch flatted the tube in my last race (could have just burped and been flat anyway) but it def would have cost me a rear flat, tyre check afterwards revealed two small cuts in the sidewall with inner tube bulgeage. I don’t even bother carrying a tube as by the time I mince on getting my tyres off (they’re tight as ****) I’ll have been lapped. Front flat cost me about 3-4 mins on the last lap… 😛 / 🙁

Keep pedaling,breathing and don’t throw up (till the end). 🙂

Keep pedalling,breathing and don’t throw up at the end.

For overtaking, just shout “Race leader coming through” and everyone will get out of your way.

I’m keeping clear of you 2 at the end of a race…. 😉

Don’t go too hard,too early.There will be a temptation to race everybody from the gun.Pace yourself.You will make more places in the last 1/4 of the race than you will in the first 3/4 as people pop left right and centre and desperately try to hold on (there’s plenty of people who get good results on ss!).
Last lap should be the fastest.

To add to this… if it’s your first race then the pace from the gun can be shockingly fast, you may well find yourself right at the back with the pack clearing off up ahead. If it’s your first one just ride your own race and put it down to experience.

Guessing here but I’m likely to be far less consistent than your average xc’er, faster than contemporaries down, slower up.

I think you’ll be surprised at quite how quickly your average xc racer goes downhill, especially after they’ve been riding at their max already for a good hour.

Sprint really hard until you reach max HR in the first 30 seconds, then continue like this for about 80-90 mins.

I’d disagree with this too (for me), if I hit max HR that’d be my race over, no point being at the front if you blow up. Know yourself and ride your own race as has already been said.

Sprint really hard until you reach max HR in the first 30 seconds, then continue like this for about 80-90 mins.

I’ve seen some of the HR traces from one of the guys who regularly wins elite xc races and it is pretty much that. A bit of a blimey moment. It would kill me if I even tried.

I usually ended up with average HR at 90%+ of max when racing for 60-90 minutes (always a bit higher for cx races).
If I’d remembered to a)put hr strap on b)put computer on c)turned it on at the start d)turned it off at the end.
So not that often tbh.

I’d disagree with this too (for me), if I hit max HR that’d be my race over, no point being at the front if you blow up. Know yourself and ride your own race as has already been said.

Well, that’s you, it works for me. Its not deliberate its just how it is when I “try really hard” throughout. The other hidden agenda here that if the race is funnelling into some singletrack you’d do well to get as far up the order as you can before you get stuck behind the entry point. If you look at most of the XC race training programs, you’ll find they include “fast starts”.

I’ve seen some of the HR traces from one of the guys who regularly wins elite xc races and it is pretty much that. A bit of a blimey moment. It would kill me if I even tried.

The difference being they don’t make it look as though that is happening.

you’d do well to get as far up the order as you can before you get stuck behind the entry point. If you look at most of the XC race training programs, you’ll find they include “fast starts”.

This is the main difference between racing to get a result at the pointy end and ‘doing a race’.No point in being top 10 at the start and no where at the end.
That said I am the slowest starter in the world.I’m usually outside the top 25% for the first lap (and very usually lower).My fav races have all been from pretty much last man (I may have missed a starts occasionally).You always get a much nicer sort of rider in the cheap seats (it’s usually the mid pack try hards who are a pita 😉 )

Well, that’s you, it works for me.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/suN7Dt]Untitled[/url] by monkeyfudger, on Flickr

This is the main difference between racing to get a result at the pointy end and ‘doing a race’.No point in being top 10 at the start and no where at the end.

Only if you aren’t fit/strong enough to carry it off, or arrive late and line up behind a bunch of slower people. I wouldn’t do it if I thought I’d be falling back later on.

Best race I ever did, I shot off the line and found myself easily keeping up with the front. I panicked a bit and decided to back off thinking I wouldn’t last. Ended up in 10th place, where I stayed.. wish I’d kept the power on!

Why was I doing so well at the front? It was flat!

The reason people want ot be at the front is that sometimes getting past a slower rider can really hinder you. For example I’m slower on the climbs but quite a bit quicker on the singletrack than the people who I’m usually up against (due to being a fat knacker). If they are in front of me I might not be able to pass, or I might have to wait fo a good spot, whereas if I were able to get past straight away I could ride at my own pace and pull out 50 yards or so.

I found a good tactic for me is to sprint like hell on the fireroad bits to overtake someone and get into the singletrack first – I can then recover for a minute or and get back on the power, and pull away. If I don’t sprint I’ll end up just behind them on the next climb and they’ll pull away from me.

Seems quite a serious business! If my race depends on my uphill pace I’ll be glad of getting lapped for the company, it could be very lonely!

My HR trace racing in Sport NPS, mean of 186 bpm, not a lot of variation on ups and downs, finished top 10 somewhere.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/L1HGV]NPS-2 HR[/url] by brf, on Flickr

Seems quite a serious business!

XC is – at least outside of fun. If you want a laugh, do a 6/8/12/24hr lap race, or a mountain marathon type thing.

I think to enjoy it you have to like going flat out all the time, up, down and along. A bit like being a racing driver I suppose – sometimes simply running wide on a corner can let that bugger through who’s been on your wheel for 15 mins! Which is actually quite stressful in some ways.. it’s a lot of pressure being chased unrelentingly a bike length behind…

daveh – Member
Seems quite a serious business! If my race depends on my uphill pace I’ll be glad of getting lapped for the company, it could be very lonely!

I’m in race 1 as I’m old, but if it’s not raining then I’ll hang around for race 2 and cheer you on 😛

Some people take it (and a few other things) a little (sometimes a lot) too seriously.
It’s old blokes (and girls) riding round in circles for shits and giggles.I found it fun,got a bit more serious,stopped finding it quite so much fun and so stopped.
It’s just riding pushbikes innit.

Might put my now too small roadie Lycra on and scare people, or poke them with my 780mm bars as they go past. 🙂

Skinsuit for the ultimate win!