Strategies/Tactics for Mountain Bike Racing

JoE CooL · Jun 22, 2005

I’m just looking for some feed back from the peanut gallery on some racing strategies/tactics for mountain bike racing. I’ll list in brief some of the “lessons learned” from a few years of mid-pack sport class racing here in Texas.

1. Pass early and often treat other racers as obstacles

2. Pass riders going into the single track not coming out

3. Don’t let riders pass you thinking you’ll catch them later (you won’t)

4. Don’t let others set your pace for you because you’ll either blow up or have them slow you down

5. If at all possible make sure your in the top 10 going into the single track after the start

6. Everybody else is hurting just as bad as you are, embrace the pain

7. Avoid “taxi cab” racers the constant stop and go riding will kill your tempo…pass the trail slugs

8. If a rider wrecks in front of you and takes you out also don’t panic it spikes your heart rate and screws up your mental game RELAX

9. Don’t pin your heart rate right off the start it’s harder to recover from that than it is to increase your pace at a steady rate and more often then pace eases up slightly before the single track bottleneck

10. Count to 10 when ever you feel that you can’t continue on and try and catch that racer in front of you, more often than not you be able to hang with them

11. Once you go from attacking in a race to riding defensively in a race it’s over…

12. cyclocross racing is much worse/painful/harder than any XC race

13. Eat and drink every 30min. no matter how good you think you feel

14. If your in a group of racers in your own class it’s better to be the chaser than the chased let the guy in front kill himself from the effort

15. There is no shame getting off and running up a short technical climb the goal is to go from point A. to point B. the fastest not to show what a great technical rider you are

16. The shorter the race the longer the pre-race warm up should be

These are some that I could think of off the top of my head and once that I’ve been told I imagine I’ll think of some more later on but I would like to hear from other racers. My biggest weakness are the starts and climbing so I don’t have many tips on that however I’m looking for some good tips on that area.

Iktome · Jun 22, 2005

Is it ok if I disagree with a few?

JoE CooL said:
1. Pass early and often treat other racers as obstacles

Pass early and often but always treat other racers as your friends.

2. Pass riders going into the single track not coming out

Pass riders going into and coming out of single track. Especially if they have been holding you up.

3. Don?t let riders pass you thinking you?ll catch them later (you won?t)

It's a long race, don't panic if someone passes you.

4. Don?t let others set your pace for you because you?ll either blow up or have them slow you down

Know when to let someone else set the pace, especially if it's windy or if you're in a moment of crisis. Often a wheel to follow for a moment will get you back on track.

9. Don?t pin your heart rate right off the start it?s harder to recover from that than it is to increase your pace at a steady rate and more often then pace eases up slightly before the single track bottleneck

Be ready to 'pin' your heart rate right off the start. If going crazy hard at the start kills you, adjust your training so you can do it and still recover. The pace slows before the bottleneck because there's a bottleneck. Don't get caught in it. You won't win in the first 10 minutes, but you can certainly make life difficult for yourself if you go to slow and get caught way off the back.

11. Once you go from attacking in a race to riding defensively in a race it?s over?

Know when to attack and when not to. Race smart. If you're in a moment of crisis, try to ride 'defensively.' Get to a singletrack section first so you can set the pace. Get to know your competitors strengths and weaknesses as well as your own. Don't attack when you're weak.

12. cyclocross racing is much worse/painful/harder than any XC race

An XC race done correctly feels like a 2 hour cross race. Cross just teaches you the pace you have to maintain to succeed in an XC race.

14. If your in a group of racers in your own class it?s better to be the chaser than the chased let the guy in front kill himself from the effort

More often than not, you'll run out of trail in your chase. Being at the front allows you to ride your own race. But find motivation whereever you can.

Of course, everyone has different experiences. Go as fast as you can, be nice to your fellow competitors, have fun.

JoE CooL · Jun 22, 2005

Let me clarify a few things so you know where i'm comming from

1. Pass early and often treat other racers as obstacles
(what I meant is if you just sit in on the group the riders up ahead are going to ride away, time after time I've sat in on a group trying to recover while the riders I was trying to catch rode away)

2. Pass riders going into the single track not coming out
(this has backfired on me something awful, I'll ride their wheel coming outa the single track then sprint to get in the singletrack before they do. If I attack as soon as we come out of the singletrack into the double track I spend too much energy before I need it when I get back into the singletrack. My strengths are the singletrack not the wide open)

3. Don't let riders pass you thinking you'll catch them later (you won't)
(many times I've let riders who I thought I was holding up go by me only to find out post-race that they were hurting just as bad)

4. Don't let others set your pace for you because you'll either blow up or have them slow you down
(I can ride at a certain tempo really HARD if I go above that for more than a few minutes I go bOOm ! I know I know more interval training)

9. Don't pin your heart rate right off the start it's harder to recover from that than it is to increase your pace at a steady rate and more often then pace eases up slightly before the single track bottleneck
(once again going from 99bpm to 185bpm kills me and I need some shorter interval sessions I have better luck building up to a hard tempo/pace than going balls out from the start I do the majority of my passing with in the first 4 to 6 miles of a race)

11. Once you go from attacking in a race to riding defensively in a race it's over.(for me I always try to ride aggressively if it's late in a race with a few miles to go and I got a guy in my class coming up fast I go from attack to "jesus!!! Just let me ride hard enough to get to the finish")

12. cyclocross racing is much worse/painful/harder than any XC race
(in a mtb race I usually keep it between 87% to 93% of max heart rate and in a 45min. cyclocross race I've averaged 97% of max heart rate, a few years ago I did one lap at a race averaging 96% of max heart rate but blew up shortly later and had 1/3 of the field that I passed pass me back)

Nat · Jun 22, 2005

Nice topic! My tactic has always been, "Go as fast as I can and try not to blow up." No wonder I'm such a mediocre racer.

LowCel · Jun 22, 2005

Nat said:
Nice topic! My tactic has always been, "Go as fast as I can and try not to blow up." No wonder I'm such a mediocre racer.

LOL, I generally have the same race plan you do. Except I also try to have fun and not overthink it.

Everytime I let my mind get involved it screws me up.

tomk96 · Jun 22, 2005

JoE CooL said:
3. Don't let riders pass you thinking you'll catch them later (you won't)
(many times I've let riders who I thought I was holding up go by me only to find out post-race that they were hurting just as bad)

Just because they were hurting just as bad doesn't mean you weren't hold them up. Let them pass and try and stay on their wheel. I've let riders pass and stuck to their wheel for the next 5-10 mins. They're faster than me, but letting them pass and riding with them helped me pick up my own pace. Plus I definitely don't want to be the guy everyone hates because he's slow and doesn't let anyone pass. It's a race.

KingOfOrd · Jun 22, 2005

Racing is a game. You can never ride your own race or the dude who is faster than you will just pull away. You have to know some general info of the other riders. Ride with the leaders at a nice pace that is good for you or if that pace is to slow try to catch some other riders. It all depends on a course and knowing when to attack and when not to attack.

My experience with "Riding My Own Race" has left me to believe that you are not going to win any races. You might be pretty close to the leaders but that isnt a win. The way I see it, You go as hard as you can for as long as you can. Im not saying all out but you should be pushing yourself.

glenzx · Jun 22, 2005

mtb+me said:
Racing is a game. You can never ride your own race or the dude who is faster than you will just pull away. You have to know some general info of the other riders. Ride with the leaders at a nice pace that is good for you or if that pace is to slow try to catch some other riders. It all depends on a course and knowing when to attack and when not to attack.

My experience with "Riding My Own Race" has left me to believe that you are not going to win any races. You might be pretty close to the leaders but that isnt a win. The way I see it, You go as hard as you can for as long as you can. Im not saying all out but you should be pushing yourself.

Funny, the two races I've won as a sport, and the others I've placed in as an expert - I rode my own race. What else can you do? Going as hard as you can for as long as you can IS all out, and you should give 100%, and it's still your own race. There is no better feeling than "riding your own race" and doind well. Winning is just icing on the cake. When in the lead, I felt like someone would catch me at any second - so "my own race" was just as fast as I could sustainably go.

LOL at "ride at a nice pace with the leaders"!!! That'd be an oxymoron. No such thing, unless there's something really wrong. When I've set the pace, or got on a leaders wheel, there's not much "nice" about it!

glenzx · Jun 22, 2005

JoE CooL said:
3. Don't let riders pass you thinking you'll catch them later (you won't)

9. Don't pin your heart rate right off the start it's harder to recover from that than it is to increase your pace at a steady rate and more often then pace eases up slightly before the single track bottleneck

These two seem to be at odds with each other - in that sometimes you need to "peg it" to "not let riders pass". Not to mention I've never seen anything resembling an easing up of the gas approaching the singletrack!

Anyhow - fun post, welcome to the "peanut gallery".

santa_cruzer · Jun 22, 2005

Hey Joe,

I tend to agree with you on most of these especially 1-7 and 11. There is a certain level of aggression and awareness that are needed when racing (it is competition after all).

1. Pass early and often treat other racers as obstacles
Maybe change the word "obstacle" to "challenge" it sounds more pc.

xray_ed · Jun 23, 2005

My 2 bits

When following a rider through really tight singletrack, I find it better to stay about 10-15 yards behind the other guy. I find that if I stay right on his wheel I wind up braking too much and having to speed up more than I would if I were solo. This wastes a ton of energy. Also if he crashes, dabs or even slows too much he can cause you to stop or even take you down. If an open spot appears I can speed up and pass him with more speed. Instead of creeping by, I can blast past him and really break his spirit!

Just my thoughts.

JoE CooL · Jun 23, 2005

good stuff here good stuff...

believe me i'm not p*ssyfooting around however i've learned that keeping the needle in the redzone for too long for me will soon lead to a early demise in a heads up sprint i'll lose in a long hard grunt you'll be chewed up more often than not, most of my peer competitors know that they better get on the gas hard and drop me because if we are stomping thru the single track i'll suffer like a dog before i'll let you by. (sometimes the dog is a poodle some times the dog is a rabid pit bull tho')

i'm not Geoff Kabush who can pin it from the start and ride away from the comp, here in Texas we have a variety of races in all types of courses from really hilly to flat as a board i know my strengths and weakness on the more "Houston racer friendly" course flat and technical i can ride away from my comp on the "Hilly central Texas" courses the climbing causes me grief.

even though the 40-44 mens sport class is small and we average 30 riders per race their is still a good mix of riders from houston, austin, waco and dallas to make it intresting. it is fun to see the guys that killed you the race before on a hilly course come limping in on a flatter power course that you excel on.

we have two seasons here in Texas the spring championship series Feb. to May and the fall Texas cup series Sept. to Nov. with about 14 races total and then the cyclocross series from Nov. to Feb. with 10+ races so that means year round training it's really hard to peak a few times a year so many just focus on the spring series.

some of my best advice i've gotten is to THINK more when racing instead of just going balls to the wall and hope you don't blow up to soon, however i'm an emotional creature and sometimes have to "prove" a point early on in a race that comes back to haunt me later.

most of the far and few info on mtb racing stresses the start and climbing as the big advantages and lo and behold those are my biggest weakness woulden't you know it

please keep the ideas flowing

KingOfOrd · Jun 23, 2005

Cool, thats great for you. You won a couple races. Was it worth it. You put down $25+ so you could ride on some new terrain. You look at a pro race or most expert races, you will never see one guy just pull from the start to the finish solo. It takes 2+ riders to be attacking and counter-attacking each others moves.

So if I ever see you in a race you can ride your own pace, I will ride your wheel, 200 yards from the finish I will attack and you will watch me ride past.

Iktome · Jun 23, 2005

mtb+me said:
So if I ever see you in a race you can ride your own pace, I will ride your wheel, 200 yards from the finish I will attack and you will watch me ride past.

Where do you race? Maybe we can set something up. Glen might be willing to travel.

And for what it's worth, Ms. Dahle regularly wins her races attacking at the start of the race. I have a feeling she's a little faster than you (or any of us). And Marco Bui won the Houffalize World Cup by attacking off the start. So sometimes it works, at least in those slow World Cup races that don't have much competition.

LowCel · Jun 23, 2005

mtb+me said:
So if I ever see you in a race you can ride your own pace, I will ride your wheel, 200 yards from the finish I will attack and you will watch me ride past.

You must be one hell of a rider if you can hold on to Glen's wheel. I have been racing three years and I can only dream of being able to hold on a top five expert racer's wheel. Maybe in a couple of years from now but I still don't see it happening.

Nat · Jun 23, 2005

mtb+me said:
So if I ever see you in a race you can ride your own pace, I will ride your wheel, 200 yards from the finish I will attack and you will watch me ride past.

Whoa ho ho! That's some pretty tough talk considering the caliber of racer that Glenzx is! Internet swagger!

preparation_h · Jun 23, 2005

mtb+me said:
So if I ever see you in a race you can ride your own pace, I will ride your wheel, 200 yards from the finish I will attack and you will watch me ride past.

Ooops....the tough guy tough guy attitude came out again!!!

XC_Miles · Jun 23, 2005

#8 is especially true. As last weekend in Macon, I got stuck behind a slower female expert racer as I was trying to pass for 4th and 5th in Senior Sport, and was stuck back there for a while. She then bobbled going up a small steep rise I was too close to her wheel and went for a trip into the bushes... I then panicked as there were a couple other Sport riders that had found my wheel again in the bottleneck that took off while I was off the bike. I then chased WAY too hard and blew up.

Long story short if I would have just gotten back up and ridden like I was previously I would have probably caught the guys in no time, but I ended up bridging back to them quickly and blowing up. Led to a very poor race performance that made me wish for it to end. Being patient is a virtue I need to become better at implementing.

Maurice · Jun 23, 2005

glenzx said:
Funny, the two races I've won as a sport, and the others I've placed in as an expert - I rode my own race. What else can you do? Going as hard as you can for as long as you can IS all out, and you should give 100%, and it's still your own race. There is no better feeling than "riding your own race" and doind well. Winning is just icing on the cake. When in the lead, I felt like someone would catch me at any second - so "my own race" was just as fast as I could sustainably go.

LOL at "ride at a nice pace with the leaders"!!! That'd be an oxymoron. No such thing, unless there's something really wrong. When I've set the pace, or got on a leaders wheel, there's not much "nice" about it!

Man, you expressed my feeling exactly, I can relate to that. First XC race I placed this year (first year Expert) I had absolutely no idea where I was with respect to the rest of the racers. I race a singlespeed bike when everybody else is on geared bikes, so at the start almost everybody passes me. A friend actually taped the start once and we can see me spinning out near the end of the pack. That's why I can't tell where I am, I just set my pace and pass people in the climbs, don't even look at their numbers it's so freaking hard already.

I rode my own race hard, even crashing just as hard once. Just before crossing the line my wife told me my place (she keeps track better than the organizers...), what a rush !

Maurice

*rt* · Jun 23, 2005

Nat said:
Nice topic! My tactic has always been, "Go as fast as I can and try not to blow up." No wonder I'm such a mediocre racer.

LOL! that's my tactic too.

1. Go fast.
2. Don't fall down.
3. Don't blow up.

So far in most of my races i'm 0 for 3 on sticking to my tactics.

rt

Strategies/Tactics for Mountain Bike Racing

JoE CooL

Iktome

JoE CooL

Nat

LowCel

tomk96

KingOfOrd

glenzx

glenzx

santa_cruzer

xray_ed

JoE CooL

KingOfOrd

Iktome

LowCel

Nat

preparation_h

XC_Miles

Maurice

rt

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