15 MTB Racing Tips To Improve Competitive Performance

Modern-day MTB racing is largely a game of raw aerobic capacity, the ability to repeat anaerobic bursts without fatiguing throughout the entirety of a race and the mastering of many nuanced skills to achieve a high competitive performance.

So, to boost your own performance, here’s a video of 15 of the best MTB XCO racing tips learnt from local racing right up to UCI MTB World Cups:

1. Rotate Pedals

When you’re on the start line and the gun goes off, it’s really easy to slip a pedal – even the best riders do it!

One simple way to reduce the chances of this happening is to rotate your pedals so that they’re level and the cleat can easily engage as soon as you stamp down.

Even a few missed pedal strokes can be costly in the max effort start of an XC race, so the faster you can get into the pedals, the faster you can get to that narrow first section of singletrack.

Experiment in training with which foot is best to have clipped in ahead of time and which is best to push off with, as this will also affect how quickly you can engage your cleats and get off the line.

Practice these during your trail rides or at traffic lights to dial in that muscle memory.

2. Fingers Off The Brakes

Another tip for the start line, given that it’s so critical, but try to resist holding the brakes right before the start.

Taking your fingers off the brakes can give you one less thing to think about and allow you to push off the line better.

Even if it just makes a split second difference, this could still mean a few extra places higher up the field in what is often a hectic part of the race.

You’ll also be able to better grip the bars and use your arms for that initial generation of power.

3. Nail Your Pre-Ride

Scoping out the track you’ll be racing on is really useful and should always be done where possible, especially for your highest priority races.

Try to get a few laps of the course in, where the first one or two will be at a slow pace.

Take your time getting around and be as observant as possible, stopping at any technical or influential sections of the track to assess line choice, gear selection etc. You’ll also want to include either a lap at race pace, or at least a lap featuring some key sections at race pace, ideally the main climb or combination of climb and descent.

There’s quite a difference in speed and technique needed when hitting parts of the track at full speed compared to just cruising along, so the more familiar you are the better.

4. Warm Up Close To Race Start

Making sure you’re warmed up for your race, given the XC and even marathon racing is very intense right from the off is important.

But, if you warm up too far out from the start of the race, its usefulness can be diminished.

Warm ups allow the muscles and tendons to be stretched and activated, and also raise the temperature of the main muscles ready for the race. You want to maintain this generated heat by moving the warm up as close to the start of the race as practically possible, and using both passive and active heat maintenance techniques to retain that heat.

Active heat maintenance would be spinning the legs on the road/trail or by using a turbo trainer or set of rollers.

Passive heat maintenance would generally be used for colder races, where you’d wear warmer, insulating clothing like tights and a long sleeve jersey.

5. Core Workout Warm-Up

As well as the muscles typically thought of when it comes to cycling, having a strong and activated core is essential for good MTB performance, given how much is demanded in terms of technique and balance.

So, adding in some of your favourite core strength exercises into your warm up can really help with everything from power generation to balance and coordination. It can also help to ease common discomfort that might arise throughout a race, such as lower back or shoulder pain.

Good exercises to use include planks, side planks, crunches and bird dogs, but feel free to add in whatever works best for you or targets your particular weaknesses better.

Consider doing these exercises before starting to actually warm up by riding the bike, and then if time permits, after you finish a spin on the road or turbo trainer/rollers.

6. Be Aero

Although the effects of aerodynamic efficiency are typically far less influential in MTB racing than on the road, it can still be used to your advantage at certain times.

On exposed sections of a track and/or when the speed is high, such as on a fire road, getting low and reducing your frontal area on the bike can result in a lot of free speed.

This free speed can then be used to get away from riders just behind you, bridge up to a group up the trail, or simply contribute to faster lap times.

Some of the pro XC MTb racers are now catching on to this, and sometimes going as far as holding onto the top of their front forks to get even lower, but just by lowering your chest towards the top tube and bending your arms, you can see fairly significant increases in speed.

Give it a try in your next race…

7. Fill Bottles Half-Full

This one’s a quick and easy tip, but can help to save a significant amount of weight over the course of a race.

If you have support in the feed zones, consider only putting around 250-300ml of fluid into your bottles, and even perhaps starting without a bottle at all for the first lap, where it’s unlikely you’ll be drinking anything anyway.

With all the weight saving measures XC racers like us seek from our equipment and bodies, saving weight from unnecessary fluid is a mechanically safe and simple way to improve your power to weight ratio when everything is taken into account.

Of course, for hotter races and where support is lacking, this strategy might not be applicable or conducive to improved performance, but is worth leveraging when possible.

8. Eat At Least 3H Prior

Your pre-race nutrition strategy plays an important role in how successful you can be, and although it might not win you the race, it could certainly lose it for you.

A common mistake that even experienced riders make is eating too much too close to their race.

This is an issue because A) you can experience lower blood sugar levels right when you don’t want them because you haven’t given enough time for them to stabilise and B) you need to allow time for the food to digest, as it hanging around in your stomach when you’re racing as hard as you can is going to be really uncomfortable.

Try to have finished your main pre-race carbohydrate-rich meal 3 hours before the start of your race. Within this 3-hour window, try to only snack on very light foods and in small quantities, taking in these calories as liquid and/or solid form.

What does work well though to top you up right before the race kicks off is a gel, taken on the start line, or with around 5-10 minutes to go.

9. Pass Competitors Steadily

Like a few of the other tips in this list which concern using your energy smartly and sparingly, try to use as little energy as you need to when overtaking competitors in a race.

Whilst it might be tempting to lay down a huge spike in power to assert your dominance and flex your superior endurance fitness, usually all you’ll need to do to get past a rider mid-race is a slight and gradual increase in effort.

This will save your legs and preserve your matches for other more important times of the race, such as making an attack in the last few laps or sprinting for the line.

It can also help to avoid cramp and other fatigue issues that can arise in racing due to the body being pushed harder than it ever is in training, even in your most intense workouts.

10. Stand On The Pedals

Most XC races will feature a number of sections where you’ll want to maintain momentum and push hard to get through them as fast as possible, e.g. short, sharp climbs.

Standing on the pedals offers some advantages over staying seated that are quite specific to MTB racing, where you’re not as concerned with efficiency like you might be on a longer climb.

Standing will allow you to use more of your bodyweight to generate force on the pedals, and has the added benefit of making it easier to use the arms for leverage.

Something to watch out for when standing on the pedals is rear wheel traction, which is reduced when the bodyweight is shifted more to the front of the bike, and especially if a jerky pedal stroke is used.

You also want to minimise the time your standing when going very fast but still producing high torque, such as it a hard surge. If your gears slip or the chain snaps, all of that bodyweight can send you flying over the bars in no time.

However, where possible, try to use this pedalling technique and as you build up strength and endurance in the legs with each training session and race, you should find yourself faster over the course of a lap, and particularly in well suited portions of the track.

11. Clear Cleats

Back to another start line tip and that is to check that there’s no mud or stones stuck around your cleats.

It’s easy for both the cleats and your shoes to become clogged up with dirt before the start as you walk around or do some final riding off road as part of your warm up.As stressed before, even a few missed pedal strokes can be costly and push you down the field only a few seconds into the race, so this little check can be worth its weight in gold.

Try clipping in and out a few times whilst standing on the start to check smooth operation and dial in that final muscle memory before the gun goes or whistle blows.

12. Time Your Laps

One of the characteristics of experienced racers is the ability to post consistent lap times throughout an XC race, which relates to a wider skill of good pacing.

For those who are less experienced and not yet adept at being able to ride the same speed for the first few laps as their last few, timing your laps in a race can be really helpful. Whilst it can take a bit of getting used to trying to remember to hit that lap button on your head unit at the same point each lap, as well as holding in your mind what time you posted the previous lap, once it becomes a habit, you shouldn’t find it too much of a struggle.

Using the start/finish line can work well as the point you hit that lap button, but equally you can choose a non-technical section of the track where there’s little danger should you need to look down at your head unit briefly.

This isn’t something you’ll need to do forever, since you’ll naturally start to improve your pacing with conscious effort, but will help to accelerate your progression in this important area of your racing.

13. Use Hard Surges Sparingly

Understanding the concept of ‘burning matches‘ is helpful when it comes to being smart with how you use your energy in a race, and basically states that every athlete has a limited number of efforts well above threshold they can produce in a given time.

The fitter and more race-prepared you become, the greater number of matches you have to burn, and the size of those matches (the duration you can perform a certain high power output) increases.

Using these hard efforts sparingly and only at critical times will help you to get an edge of the competition, which likely features a lot of riders who don’t give enough thought to this idea.

One part of the race you’ll see other burning their matches (and that can tempt you to burn your own) is right at the start of a race.

Again, if the field is going to come together when the trail narrows, or you’re about to hit a long climb where the pace will naturally settle down anyway, using these hard efforts can be a waste and mean you don’t have as many available to you in the latter stages of a race, again where there is lots of opportunity to make up time and placings.

In your next race, try to hold back when you can afford to and see what effect it has on your endurance.

14. Raise Your Gaze

As mentioned in the previous point about getting free speed from being aerodynamic, raising your head and subsequently your gaze will do the same thing.

Lifting your head up will allow you to look further down the trail and spot obstacles further ahead of time, so that you can choose a line without needing to slow down as much or be too reactive. You can then use your peripheral vision to spot trail features close to you.

This is especially key as the race goes on and you get tired, since this is where speed can start to drop off and mistakes can be made.

The other key benefit of lifting your head up is improved breathing, since it will naturally open up the chest and the airways, improving your oxygen intake and potentially the amount of oxygen you can deliver to the working muscles.

Practice this outside of racing, and it should come naturally in competition.

15. Take Post-Race Notes

The final tip here should help you to learn as much as possible from your racing, whether you posted a less-than-stellar result, or even if all went to plan.

There’s nothing like racing to show you where you’re strong but most clearly where you might be limited and giving away time to your competitors. So, whilst it’s fresh in your mind, you’ll want to make some notes on how a race went and identify a few key areas for improvement.

To do so, you can either write them down in a notebook, use a notes app on your phone, or add the comments to the actual workout file on a program like TrainingPeaks.

As you do this more and more, you’ll be able to constantly iterate your training plan and improve your preparation for your target races, and it’ll also give you plenty to look back on at the end of the season when you’re planning the next on a macro level.

Summary

So, we hope these actionable tips can help to improve your MTB racing. If you’re at all interested in working with us on a one-to-one basis, take a look at the performance services we offer below. We have helped both amateur and professional-level MTB athletes achieve their competitive goals and look forward to hearing about how we might be able to help you: