Keeping it going on a long race.

[GeoffRidesBikes]

G'day

So some idiot has decided it would be a good idea to enter a 6hr as not only my first XC race, but my first MTB race of any kind in 6 years. I'm not too worried about not being up to the task but I wanted to pick your brains about downtime strategy. I'm not an athlete but I think my fitness is decent enough to not have a heart attack, at least.

We've entered as a duo and I reckon the downtime while my team mate is out cutting laps will be killer - how do you push past the block and get back on the bike hard? It'll all be mental I think but it'll also be hard to not gulf down shitloads of food in between stints on the bike.

Most of my weekend riding is around the 2hr mark and I've definitely got more in the tank, just need some pointers on pit lane strategy. What words of wisdom have you got.....Get on a stationary trainer? Sit in a camp chair with my feet up? Punch some pig carcasses Rocky style?

 

[Knuckles]

Durrie and VB. You'll be gagging to get back on the bike.

 

[creaky]

You don't have to swap every lap. If you have the fitness then a 1hr or 1.5hr rotation gives you more time to get a rhythm going and more time to digest between sessions.

 

[GeoffRidesBikes]

Durrie and VB. You'll be gagging to get back on the bike.

This is WA cob so I'll go an Export instead of that green swill, obvs, but yeah that's basically the plan.

You don't have to swap every lap. If you have the fitness then a 1hr or 1.5hr rotation gives you more time to get a rhythm going and more time to digest between sessions.

It's a 10km loop so given our fitness levels we'll probably get at least 2/3 laps in each before a spell. I've never ridden the trails and it's actually a pretty decent road trip to get there so it's all going to be an adventure of some kind.

It's the between times that I'm umming and ahhing about. If I go hard on the bike and then sit down on my ass it's going to be a slog getting back on and spinning up a hill.

 

[The Duckmeister]

Throw the normal lap on/lap off plan out, it's utter shit because you barely get in the zone before you finish the lap, then you cool down & when you're back out you're trying to warm up & get going again. Do at least double laps, or better still, a simple split. If your mate is fitter, send him out second - you ride until you're stuffed, then he does the rest.

 

[GeoffRidesBikes]

Yeah my strategy is to keep going not to the point of failure, but pretty far, and then come in for a spell. I've never done anything like it and neither has my team mate so we really are just going to make it up as we go.

 

[Minlak]

The best bet is to not masturbate between laps it will sap the go straight out of you....

 

[thecat]

Get your nutrition right. It easy to get into the mind set of "I need to fuel up..." and eat a bunch of shite in you off laps put the wrong stuff in at the wrong time and it will tell
Keep hydrated.

foam rollers are great to stretch out and keep your muscles from tightening up as they cool

If you are going hard warm up each lap. Yep it mean you ride further but it's important

 

[BLKFOZ]

Do one lap on, one off - look at every time sheet, it's always much faster than doubles or more. Even the elite riders drop 2-3min per lap on the 2nd of a double but often get quicker through the race doing single laps. It might hurt early in the lap when you start cold but you quickly warm up and your times will be considerably faster every lap compared to multiple laps.
The team we caught and beat last year at the Mont, after a few mishaps on our part, went to doubles overnight and each rider dropped almost 10min on their 2nd lap. We stayed with singles and didn't drop at all.
Just eat what you normally would between laps. I tend to have fruit, bread and cookies at races. A gel before each lap after the 3rd or 4th lap and some electrolyte drink helps too.
If you're not planning on a podium, don't destroy yourself too early and make sure you have fun.

 

[GeoffRidesBikes]

Mate i'm definitely not planning on a podium - i'll be ear to ear grinning with just a finish.

I can see the merit in what you're saying about the single lap as i will definitely wane off on the 2nd lap. I do love a good conflicting theory to ponder!

 

[akashra]

G'day

So some idiot has decided it would be a good idea to enter a 6hr as not only my first XC race, but my first MTB race of any kind in 6 years. I'm not too worried about not being up to the task but I wanted to pick your brains about downtime strategy. I'm not an athlete but I think my fitness is decent enough to not have a heart attack, at least.

We've entered as a duo and I reckon the downtime while my team mate is out cutting laps will be killer - how do you push past the block and get back on the bike hard? It'll all be mental I think but it'll also be hard to not gulf down shitloads of food in between stints on the bike.

Most of my weekend riding is around the 2hr mark and I've definitely got more in the tank, just need some pointers on pit lane strategy. What words of wisdom have you got.....Get on a stationary trainer? Sit in a camp chair with my feet up? Punch some pig carcasses Rocky style?

I tend to think that 3hrs is a distance achievable by anyone. Yes, some people still struggle towards the end of that 3hrs, but you can usually push yourself through it if you have an average level of fitness. The first race outside dirt crits I did was the Easter Chase The Sun event in 2007, and I entered it in a similar fashion that you seem to have - a "WTF am I doing" type entry, and just went out doing laps with a break here and there. Don't worry, we've all been there

There's two main bits of advice I can give.

1. Make sure you look after your food intake, nutrition and hydration before it becomes a problem. Figure out how often you have to eat based on body mass, and make sure you don't miss any opportunities for getting food down. It's really easy to miss those first or second timings to get a gel, bar or banana down on the first lap while everyone's still together, it's crowded and your head isn't quite in a rhythm yet. For example, for me that means 45 minutes before starting, 15 minutes before, 25 minutes in to the race and then every 25 minutes, and getting down a 500ml bottle of water every hour whether you feel like you need it or not. You may not feel like you need it in hour one or two, but come hour three or four it may start catching up with you and it may be near impossible to catch up.
1a. Once you've done your fair share of endurance races you'll probably find you can do a whole 3hr race without touching a gel or bottle. That's not saying you should, but it's not uncommon to find you've finished a 3hr race and not bothered eating.
2. 4hrs in is about the point where all the casual racers will really start to suffer. In 2008 I did nine 6hr races plus a few 100km marathons and at every race, the 4hr mark was about the point where I started seeing my position in the race go from mid to high 20s to inside the top 10 (back when fields were regularly 50 to 80 deep). My pace wouldn't change, but I could push through that 4hr mark whereas a lot of others started struggling, slowing down, taking rests etc. If your goal is to have the best *race* as you can and finish in the best race position, then keep this in mind, and get used to just forcing yourself through it when it starts to step up to that next level of difficulty. And if race position doesn't mean anything to you (and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that, to be clear), then take it easy, take a break, and go out again when you're ready.

Hope that helps.

 

[thecat]

Just eat what you normally would between laps. .

^^^ This.

Don't get tempted into trying your mates favorite gel/sports drink/ bag of white powder... for the first time on race day. Go with what you are use to. Gels are good for quick energy, but quick in quick out. Real food on you off laps is the best bet topped up with a gel or two through the day. But give them a go on a normal ride before trying them in a race.

 

[Knuckles]

I tend to think that 3hrs is a distance achievable by anyone.

Turns out, this is actually true.

 

[GeoffRidesBikes]

I tend to think that 3hrs is a distance achievable by anyone. Yes, some people still struggle towards the end of that 3hrs, but you can usually push yourself through it if you have an average level of fitness. The first race outside dirt crits I did was the Easter Chase The Sun event in 2007, and I entered it in a similar fashion that you seem to have - a "WTF am I doing" type entry, and just went out doing laps with a break here and there. Don't worry, we've all been there

There's two main bits of advice I can give.

1. Make sure you look after your food intake, nutrition and hydration before it becomes a problem. Figure out how often you have to eat based on body mass, and make sure you don't miss any opportunities for getting food down. It's really easy to miss those first or second timings to get a gel, bar or banana down on the first lap while everyone's still together, it's crowded and your head isn't quite in a rhythm yet. For example, for me that means 45 minutes before starting, 15 minutes before, 25 minutes in to the race and then every 25 minutes, and getting down a 500ml bottle of water every hour whether you feel like you need it or not. You may not feel like you need it in hour one or two, but come hour three or four it may start catching up with you and it may be near impossible to catch up.
1a. Once you've done your fair share of endurance races you'll probably find you can do a whole 3hr race without touching a gel or bottle. That's not saying you should, but it's not uncommon to find you've finished a 3hr race and not bothered eating.
2. 4hrs in is about the point where all the casual racers will really start to suffer. In 2008 I did nine 6hr races plus a few 100km marathons and at every race, the 4hr mark was about the point where I started seeing my position in the race go from mid to high 20s to inside the top 10 (back when fields were regularly 50 to 80 deep). My pace wouldn't change, but I could push through that 4hr mark whereas a lot of others started struggling, slowing down, taking rests etc. If your goal is to have the best *race* as you can and finish in the best race position, then keep this in mind, and get used to just forcing yourself through it when it starts to step up to that next level of difficulty. And if race position doesn't mean anything to you (and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that, to be clear), then take it easy, take a break, and go out again when you're ready.

Hope that helps.

Cheers for the words.

I'm hoping to use this as a springboard for the Dusk til Dawn overnight 12hr at the end of the year. Gauge how buckled i am after this and then work hard for the next 5 months to get myself up to pace to be able to enter the 12 hour.

Gotta have a goal.

 

[GeoffRidesBikes]

Well, that was really quite the experience. Thanks for all your tips guys. My teammate and I had a fucking blast - big road trip with the boys, some awesome trails and a pretty decent personal achievement.

At the end of the day, it was always going to be course dependent. We wound up doing a practice lap the day of the race, as time did not permit doing so at any other time. It was the first chance we had got to do some reconnaissance on the loop at all and I guess beggars can’t be choosers. After that, we came to the conclusion that were likely going to be one lap wonders before needing a break.

The lap in/lap out strategy would have worked fine if I had my nutrition and hydration sorted a bit better. I was kind of just making it up as I went and did an utterly deplorable job of it I think. I wound up cramping up really bad during my 3rd lap, the downtime after that was a disaster and the 4th (and final) lap almost killed me. There was lots of good advice in here, the most important thing I took away from the whole experience is that I grossly overestimated the influence of lap strategy and cool down, while underestimating how bad I can make it for myself not eating and drinking right.

Incidentally enough I managed to pull a rabbit out of the hat on my last lap despite one of my lights failing, my seatpost not staying up and barely being able to move my legs. I made it back before the cutoff by 5 minutes and my mate managed to get out and get our 8th lap in!

It was my first XC race and won’t be the last – there’s an XCO on my local trails in a fortnight that I’ll enter and see how I go on a more conventional format. I’ve got a lot of reading to do before my next decent event like the 6hr.

 

[ninjananna]

40km in 3.5 odd hours ain't too shabby for us mere mortals - well done

 

[ktastrphe]

Good stuff finishing the race!

I just paid my entry for the Dwelli 50/50 - is that what you are doing in a fortnight's time? Will be my first XC style race, so hopefully I have been reading up on everyone's advice in this thread.

 

[Ky1e]

Awesome result mate! May it be the first of many!!

 

[GeoffRidesBikes]

Good stuff finishing the race!

I just paid my entry for the Dwelli 50/50 - is that what you are doing in a fortnight's time? Will be my first XC style race, so hopefully I have been reading up on everyone's advice in this thread.

Nah shit no haha, just the XCO round at Kalamunda, 5th July. Are you talking about the Kala 50/50 on 19th July or the Dwellingup 100 in September?

Good luck with it either way! I couldn't believe how good the trails were in Karratha. Was a long way to go but the journey is part of the adventure I guess. They put on a bloody good show.

 

[ktastrphe]

Yep confused myself, the kala fiddy fiddy, and if that goes ok, then the 64km version of the dwelli hungy