This week’s show is the final episode in our 3-part series on preparing for XC or cross-country mountain bike racing.
In the first part, Colin and I talked about how to train in the months leading up to a big goal event. In Part 2, we then moved on to discuss the ins and outs of tapering and honing the form in the week or so before your race. In this episode, we have a chat about some tips for the day of the race, including common mistakes to avoid as well as some pacing and in-race pointers.
Avoiding common mistakes
We kick off by looking at some of the mistakes that can be made on the day of your race. One obvious one is doing too much training leading up to the race, and actually on race day itself, be it in your pre-ride of the course, or the warm-up.
Another big issue that we talk about is not making any drastic changes in the 48 hours leading into your event, whether this be equipment-related, diet-related etc. We know it can be tempting to pull on that fresh pair of shoes or try out that new carbon-railed saddle for your big race. Experience tells us though that it’s always best to resist this temptation unless you’ve done some thorough testing beforehand!
Getting your nutrition right
Something that can really screw up your race day when everything else has gone to plan is your nutrition, and in this show we talk about the timing of your nutrition.
The big takeaway here is not to consume your pre-race meal in the 1-2 hours before race start. Instead, try to have all your main fuelling completed in the 3-4 hours before he start. That way, you won’t be kicking off your race with low blood sugar levels or undigested food, which can make you feel really sluggish out of the gate.
Pace your race
A big part of a successful race performance is pacing correctly, which is not something that’s easy or straightforward in XC racing. Colin and I talk about some strategies that can be used to try to pace your race, including using a Garmin’s (or similar computer’s) lap function to make sure your times are consistent, as well as gauging your effort using metrics like heart rate or power.
We also touch on the difficulty of trying to pace when you often find yourself in a group or perhaps making a mad dash at the start of the race to get into a section of narrow singletrack in a good position. It’s always a balancing act between going as hard as you can and fighting for positions, but also conserving energy and lasting until the finish!
Warm-up tips
The final key topic we cover in this show is the warm-up for a race. Everyone has their own warm-up drill that prepares them well and puts them in the best frame of mind for racing. Even so, there are a few good guidelines that you can follow to improve the effectiveness of your warm-up!
We discuss how making some element of your warm-up race specific is a good idea. These intervals or portions of the warm up need only last 20-30 seconds, but putting in a few efforts at the speeds you might experience at the start or on a short, sharp climb will get the body raring to go.
Something we also introduce is the idea of “heat maintenance”. This is essentially using tactics to retain the heat of the muscles that has been built up as you exercise in your warm-up. Some of these tactics include shifting your warm-up closer to the start of the race, and wearing insulating clothing like thick tights or trousers to keep the temperature of the leg muscles high.
Time to get racing!
The race season is just starting, so it’s a great time to put some of these tips into practice if you fancy giving XC racing a go. We’d love to hear your tips as well as your experience with racing, whether you’re a first-timer or have been racing for years. Get in touch with Colin on Twitter @colinmcgray and myself at @bytombell. Please let us know any feedback or ideas you have for the podcast itself, and stay tuned for the next episode.
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