Your XC race

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I cant believe there has not been a thread on XC racing yet so I thought I would start one.
I have been a on and off XC racer for several years, lately more off having not raced for 2 years or even ridden my MTB for the last year. Well one of my MTB club mates messaged me asking me to make up the numbers for a multi club championships. So I entered and last weekend dragged my bike out of the shed and went for a blast and found out my rear brake was virtually usless so put it into the local LBS who diagnosed contaminated pads and my rear rotor was very thin, so I got the bike back this saturday and off to racing this Sunday.

It was a local race with 4 waves, each wave consisting of a club or 2 or the first wave which was riders with no club at all. 11 members of my club and another 24 from others , so a small field.
The course was fairly non technical, short start straight then into the woods, lots of twisties around the trees which some sapping uphill sections and a few dips and a large fallen tree to get over and a very steep bridge. At the end a long 400 metre straight into a headwind with a jink into the trees through a couple of S bends then a tight right to the short finishing straight.

Well in my wave of 11 I was probably the oldest at 59 whith most being a lot younger. From the start I got into the trees in 7th and for most of the race thats where I stayed. In the first lap I felt I was in a one man race again with the fast guys out of sight and the slower ones also. Then towards the end of the first lap I became aware of someone hunting me down. It was a hour + 1 lap I figured it would be a 6 lap race.

Well the race between me and the club mate behind became a case of me dropping him through the twisties then him reeling me back in on the hills and long straight. On the 3rd lap a faster rider from a wave behind caught me, he was at least 20 yrs younger and built like a racing snake but his 26 inch wheels let him down. He was catching me in the twisties, holding me on the hills but I left him standing on the long 400m straight. However I was using him to good effect to speed me up and hold off my club mate.
On the 4th lap I dropped him like a stone on the long straight and was very surprised to get the final lap bell as only 55 minutes had gone so I knew max effort now!. I was surprised the guy on the 26 inch caught me half way around the lap and Killed himself up a hill to overtake, So I sat on him just waiting for the long straight. Then I saw one of our really fast guys trying to sort his bike out by the side of the track, I thought oh dear. My club mate behind was now far behind. Then suddenly another club mate hove into view, could I catch him and gain another place!. Well Mr 26 was doing his best to dislodge me before the straight which got us ever closer to the guy in front. Then the speedy guy who had the mechanical started catching us fast. I knew I could not hold him off till the finish but maybe I could use him on the long finishing straight.
So I ensured he would have a difficult time getting past me in the twisties before the straight. As soon as we hit the straight I got out of his way and as he zoomed past jumped on his tail and stayed with him for the first 200m, the club mate and Mr 26 were history!

Final result was I was 6 out of 11 in my club and since we were time chipped I was given 17th out of 35 in the overall mens, not too shabby I thought for a 59yr old who had gone into the race expecting to be much further down the order.
Now I have a dilemma as I have entered the next race which is a normal all in,( not aged based just ability based) in the 3rd and bottom league but from this result should be in the 2nd one. I will probably try to get bumped up into the 2nd one as I would rather chase than lead.
Sorry no pictures as my partner thinks I am a daft old fool for racing XC again so did not come with me . Someone did take photos but I am in none of them.
 
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OP
OP
HarryTheDog
Location
Basildon Essex
A picture not of me but a 51yr old team mate going over the only significant feature of the race . ( Xc races are dumbed down in covid times to stop trips to the hospital)
1618821171979.jpeg
 

Drago

Legendary Member
Never done any proper racing, but took part in a 24hrs endurance XC event for charidee a few years ago with a team made up of fellow MIAS trainers. 4 x 2 hour stints left me about done in, but our team (of which I was one of the younger riders, being then in my late 40's) didn't come last.
 
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I like Skol

A Minging Manc...
Looks like loads of fun and right up my street. Done a bit of CX racing with @dan_bo in the past and managed reasonable places. Like you I would be aiming to finish in the top half and hopefully give some of the young guns a surprise. However, at only 47yo I may be considered as one of the young guns by some :whistle:
 
OP
OP
HarryTheDog
Location
Basildon Essex
@Drago and @I like Skol in both XC and CX racing the largest and most competitive fields are the over 40's and then over 50's . Here the regional and Local MTB organisers have now dropped BC as BC charges them too much per entry and too many rules and have gone for ability based league racing. When i raced Xc before where we started after the youngsters we were often told not to be too nasty too them when we caught and overtook half their field.
2 years ago there were no places in a over 50's CX race so I and some others had to race in the seniors ( under 40) I got the same relative positional result in that that as the over 50's.
 
I've thought about entering one of the Gorrick races but two things put me off.
The age categories mean that the oldest group is the Grand Vets but that is everyone over 60. At 73 a potential 13 year difference is pretty significant in terms of physical performance. I'm certainly a very much lower rider now than when I was 60 (or even in my 60's). Not that I'd have any expectations of placing well but I'd rather not look too crap.
That leads me to the second concern which is that at the moment Gorrick are using their Area 51 venue (their own land) which is a fairly small area but into which the routes zigzag unrelentingly but each lap is pretty short. Therefore the potentia lto keep being lapped and generally getting in the way of others is pretty high.
Haven't decides yet but might just try it sometime (but maybe not).
 

Hacienda71

Mancunian in self imposed exile in leafy Cheshire
Done the Mountain Mayhem 24hr twice was going to do the 2020 event, but cancelled for obvious reasons. Bit different from the road racing and TTing I am more used to, but good fun and a good sense of comradary between the riders.
 

Venod

Eh up
Location
Yorkshire
I cant believe there has not been a thread on XC racing yet so I thought I would start one.
I have been a on and off XC racer for several years, lately more off having not raced for 2 years or even ridden my MTB for the last year. Well one of my MTB club mates messaged me asking me to make up the numbers for a multi club championships. So I entered and last weekend dragged my bike out of the shed and went for a blast and found out my rear brake was virtually usless so put it into the local LBS who diagnosed contaminated pads and my rear rotor was very thin, so I got the bike back this saturday and off to racing this Sunday.

It was a local race with 4 waves, each wave consisting of a club or 2 or the first wave which was riders with no club at all. 11 members of my club and another 24 from others , so a small field.
The course was fairly non technical, short start straight then into the woods, lots of twisties around the trees which some sapping uphill sections and a few dips and a large fallen tree to get over and a very steep bridge. At the end a long 400 metre straight into a headwind with a jink into the trees through a couple of S bends then a tight right to the short finishing straight.

Well in my wave of 11 I was probably the oldest at 59 whith most being a lot younger. From the start I got into the trees in 7th and for most of the race thats where I stayed. In the first lap I felt I was in a one man race again with the fast guys out of sight and the slower ones also. Then towards the end of the first lap I became aware of someone hunting me down. It was a hour + 1 lap I figured it would be a 6 lap race.

Well the race between me and the club mate behind became a case of me dropping him through the twisties then him reeling me back in on the hills and long straight. On the 3rd lap a faster rider from a wave behind caught me, he was at least 20 yrs younger and built like a racing snake but his 26 inch wheels let him down. He was catching me in the twisties, holding me on the hills but I left him standing on the long 400m straight. However I was using him to good effect to speed me up and hold off my club mate.
On the 4th lap I dropped him like a stone on the long straight and was very surprised to get the final lap bell as only 55 minutes had gone so I knew max effort now!. I was surprised the guy on the 26 inch caught me half way around the lap and Killed himself up a hill to overtake, So I sat on him just waiting for the long straight. Then I saw one of our really fast guys trying to sort his bike out by the side of the track, I thought oh dear. My club mate behind was now far behind. Then suddenly another club mate hove into view, could I catch him and gain another place!. Well Mr 26 was doing his best to dislodge me before the straight which got us ever closer to the guy in front. Then the speedy guy who had the mechanical started catching us fast. I knew I could not hold him off till the finish but maybe I could use him on the long finishing straight.
So I ensured he would have a difficult time getting past me in the twisties before the straight. As soon as we hit the straight I got out of his way and as he zoomed past jumped on his tail and stayed with him for the first 200m, the club mate and Mr 26 were history!

Final result was I was 6 out of 11 in my club and since we were time chipped I was given 17th out of 35 in the overall mens, not too shabby I thought for a 59yr old who had gone into the race expecting to be much further down the order.
Now I have a dilemma as I have entered the next race which is a normal all in,( not aged based just ability based) in the 3rd and bottom league but from this result should be in the 2nd one. I will probably try to get bumped up into the 2nd one as I would rather chase than lead.
Sorry no pictures as my partner thinks I am a daft old fool for racing XC again so did not come with me . Someone did take photos but I am in none of them.

I enjoyed reading that, well done for holding the chases off, and well done on the result.
 
OP
OP
HarryTheDog
Location
Basildon Essex
I've thought about entering one of the Gorrick races but two things put me off.
The age categories mean that the oldest group is the Grand Vets but that is everyone over 60. At 73 a potential 13 year difference is pretty significant in terms of physical performance. I'm certainly a very much lower rider now than when I was 60 (or even in my 60's). Not that I'd have any expectations of placing well but I'd rather not look too crap.
That leads me to the second concern which is that at the moment Gorrick are using their Area 51 venue (their own land) which is a fairly small area but into which the routes zigzag unrelentingly but each lap is pretty short. Therefore the potentia lto keep being lapped and generally getting in the way of others is pretty high.
Haven't decides yet but might just try it sometime (but maybe not).
The oldest guy in my race was 71, he showed off by not bothering with a XC bike but used a CX instead ( as did around 3 others) . He did get lapped by a fair amount of people though, but I am sure they showed him the respect he deserved and no one elbowed him into a ditch.
 

Drago

Legendary Member
There were some very, very quick boys and girls out there, and being twice as heavy as some on them made me hopelessly uncompetitive (thats why I don't compete). My stamina and climbing are great, but "speed" and "Drago" are rarely found in the same sentence.

But on the more technical sections their inability to read the terrain well in advance, poor positioning, poor stance and gear selection for each obstacle, and in most cases obvious lack of training meant I was making up good time compared to the racing snakes. Funniest bit is that after a while I was recognising other riders and watching them make exactly the same mistakes with every lap.

I'd say to anyone already racing and wanting to step up to the next level that a few hundred quid spent on some training is easily worth 10 times that on a "better" bike. That's not an advert for me personally as racers aren't my usual target audience and I may be giving it up this year for health reasons, but as a general piece of advice I would say some proper training will comfortably bring the best performance improvement per £££ spent.
 

I like Skol

A Minging Manc...
But on the more technical sections their inability to read the terrain well in advance, poor positioning, poor stance and gear selection for each obstacle,
This was also my experience of CX racing. In the 3 or 4 races I did I found my fitness was reasonable, but the real gains in places were made in the technical sections. I was riding my CX bike but my Ninja MTB skills meant as soon as it got slightly iffy I was hop, skipping & jumping past my opponents who were off the saddle and dabbing a foot down for balance.
Fitness, physique and the best bike in the world don't mean squat if you are floundering like Bambi on ice :laugh:
 
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