Uphill good, downhill bad.
Being a smaller race with a couple of big climbs, I figured this race might be my chance to get somewhere near the podium - something I've never done. I looked up last year's results and the winning time for my age group was about 2:20. So I had my target - to be under 2:30, and as close as possible to 2:20.
From the start the pace was pretty high for me, but I managed to get into a group of 7, with about 12 or so up ahead of us. We hit the first climb and I felt pretty good - I moved towards the front of the group and felt like maybe some of the other guys were suffering more than me. At the top of the climb the pace picked up again but I was keeping up with the group, feeling like I was working hard, but OK.
Then came the first big descent - my group were all very quick going down, but on the slippery track I didn't have the courage / skills to stay with them. They got about 50m ahead of me, and when we hit the flat section I could see they were working well together. I went as hard as I could but they were gradually pulling away from me. So that left me in around 20th place or so, solo in no mans land. And that's where I stayed for the next 20 mins.
On the second big climb I could see one guy about 50m ahead of me who had dropped off the back of the group. I eventually caught him and rode with him on and off and down the next big descent. Down onto the flat section and I suggested we work together and see if we could catch anyone else - he quickly agreed and off we went taking turns. This was actually a really fun part of the race - motoring along at 30-35 km/h, passing the 30km riders and emptying the tank. We didn't catch any 60km riders, but finished just over 2:21.
I really enjoyed this race. It's all dirt roads and fire trails, but a beautiful location and a fast pace. Somehow the rain missed us and we even had a bit of sunshine, so it was a bit muddy but a beautiful day out.
I felt like I had plenty of energy all the way to the finish line - muscle fatigue was my limiting factor. No cramps, although in the last 10km I felt a few twinges and knew I was on my limit.
So a time that would have placed me 2nd last year got me 7th in my age group - maybe it's all those young 40 year olds coming up through the categories and spoiling the party for us older guys. Or maybe MTB races are just getting more competitive. But that's OK - I had a great day out and felt like I gave it my best shot. I just need to get better at the descents.
Next race Kowalski!
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Yeah, I struggle with them too. I found putting a more aggressive front tyre on helps reduce the nerves a bit (goodbye, Racing Ralph) but I sometimes wonder whether a dropper seatpost might be worth the extra weight you'd have to lug up hills in a racing situation.
I noticed when walking in to say hello to Hugh at CBD a few weeks ago that current year Scalpels have a port in the seat tube for the new Rockshox dropper post!
Good result!
I have Racing Ralphs front and rear, never thought about that.
The descents weren't technical in this race, it just seemed like the other guys were willing to go that little bit faster than me, which turns into a 50m gap pretty quickly on a long descent. Maybe a different front tyre would give me more confidence.
... and see what you think.
I've found the Rocket Ron was a definite improvement.
Nobby Nic is also good, perhaps a bit much unless it's quite loose, but good as an intermediate wet conditions tyre. I haven't tried the new version, but the old one needed to be put on in reverse to work best.
Another strong result JP well done!
Apart from buying a dually I reckon fast decending mostly comes down to having big cajones and not thinking about what 'could happen' if you got it wrong
pretty hard to do with the family waiting at home and a job to go to on Monday. That reminds me I really should go and get some income protection insurance...
Well done JP and keep it going ! There are a few "young" Masters around or so it may seem, but in the end you achieved a great result getting close to your best time.
Anyhow, think of a descent that is a bit of a challenge for you and go and give it a bit of practice.
Well done JP. A great ride.
Its a great lesson you have learnt too - as you get faster and closer to the front, the differences in fitness and physical conditioning become smaller. Its more than just being fit.
Descending fast is a skill - as much as being fast in singletrack. It can all be trained and improved, but not via power, or being skinnier...
Presumably, the only reason you go training is to make yourself go faster in races. So - in the next two months, you could continue to focus on going uphill better - and maybe squeeze another 10 seconds out of a 3minute climb (if we assume you are close to making out your climbing improvement) by doing what you have been doing, or you could think about ways to take minutes off your overall time - by accepting your climbing is good enough, and the 'ROI' of your time on hills is diminishing and thinking about other areas of attention. Downhill skills, raw power / time trialling ability for riding flat fire-roads (very important for the Fling and 1/2) etc....
I am sure you know all this - so wont go on - but think as holistically as possible about your riding and racing.
Well done though - a very good ride. You'll trouble the scorers soon, I am sure..
+ 1 to what Ant said.
Not that I've ever been fast up hill but once you have your base and have built power and speed throwing in some skills work is the next step. Working on skills can also help build and maintain fitness and power but working on fitness and power won't necessarily do any thing for skills.
With down hills a lot of it comes down to confidence. So getting use to the speed can be the key. But take it back a step first. Slow every thing down and really consentrate on technique.
I linked to a blog about this a while ago. Because most of us learnt by just getting out there and riding we've picked up some bad habits that get locked into our muscle memory. Until you slow right down and think about every action you don't realise what your are doing wrong and can't fix it.
Once you get technique down you can pick a section of track and use it as skills/interval training. Spring down for 30 secs or so, cruz back up and sprint down again etc
The post about the article about the blog about skills training I mentioned
http://ctmbc.net/node/47476
Well done jp. I did this in 2012 and its a fast race with no time to recover
Thanks for all the comments and advice everyone. @Hawkeye I will definitely think about tyres - I have always run Racing Ralphs front and rear so maybe time for a change. @Antsonline - sounds like great advice - a more holistic approach. That's one thing I love about training and racing - there's always something new to learn.
I'm off on a week's family holiday now, no bike, then see everyone at Kowalski.
Cheers.
i do believe you in one case downhill is bloody awesome but sometimes can be to overwhelming and scary, seriously i crapped my pants in new zealand on a downhill track will a 3 meter drop off as i just come off a jump, however in contrast uphill slows you up and allows you to breah and think as well as push it to the max. both are good in my view mate. good riding