I devoted a year to XC RACING & the results SURPRISED me | My Mountain Bike Journey Continues

[Music] winter is on the horizon here in the midwestern United States a time when I usually reflect on the past riding season and what I've learned this year was different than years past because I devoted this year to racing and as a result I've learned quite a [Music] bit [Music] ah yes cross country racing now I'm not new to mountain bike racing get I've done an occasional XC race or Enduro race here and there but I've never done any of it in any serious way and as a result I would generally perform poorly but this year was going to be different you see last year I I reviewed this very expensive cross country race bike and my conclusion was well you can hear it for yourself I don't feel like I could push the Mach 4 SL hard enough to really get the benefits of that Tech that didn't sit well with me why can't I get the most out of an XC race bike I ride XC Trails a lot and something had to change so I dedicated myself to training for and racing cross country over the winter I spent a lot of time on the trainer while watching Dylan Johnson and siten Macky videos I didn't have the funds to buy a $10,000 high-tech full suspension XC bike so I got my hands on this polygon sink Line Carbon XC hard tail with the commitment to training and the right equipment I was ready to take on this challenge I wanted to know if I could give a good effort and do well damn it along the way I made lots of mistakes so let's get into it the Yankee Springs time trial is the longest running mountain bike race in the state of Michigan it dates back over 30 years and as the name implies there is no Mass start here each racer starts separately and you're ranked by your time being the first event of the season I thought of that as a positive the negative I've never ridden this trail system before so it's 12 M of blind riding at race Pace oh it's Sandy as hell this will be a common theme as the season goes on all right here we go PR good T oh my God so much sand I think off the start I pushed a bit too hard and my leg started to burn way too early in this race so I dialed it back and tried to keep a sustainable [Music] [Applause] pace all right [Music] Trail come on come [Music] on all [Music] right oh the wrong line Choice bounced me into this tree that's the risk of running a blind race I'm amazed that I came off of that without a scratch sorry but the dumbest mistake I made was assuming I wouldn't crash or need to make a Trailside adjustment because I brought the absolute worst tool for a quick repair fiddling with loose bits Trailside was a disaster I lost nearly 4 minutes trying to get the bar straightened this was an easily avoidable mistake I was feeling demoralized at this point but I pushed as hard as I could oh oh this climb sucks top of the room right go [Music] [Music] woo by the end of the race I was convinced that I was going to be near last place but I managed a 36 out of 53 in my group not great but not a total loss I had a little time between the Yankee Springs time trial and my next major race so I decided to hit up a short track race a short track XC race is just what the name implies this is a multi-lap race on a short course pace is Fast and the riding can be aggressive my biggest mistake here was lining up in the middle of the pack this left me scrambling to pass slower Riders while the leaders pulled away [Music] 15 16 17 18 19 40 [Music] 21 [Applause] want to go one to go want to go by the middle of the race I'd caught up to an equally matched Rider and struggled to pass him all the while I could see the lead group several turns ahead and we were keeping Pace had I moved up to the front of the start I might have been in that lead group and would have had a much better result to be successful at anything in life you have to believe in your yourself I didn't I assumed I wasn't going to be as fast as the leaders and backed off I lost the race before it even started I wasn't going to make that mistake again you are done congratul this particular race is important to me it's the first of a series of three races in the Chicago area that is run by our local Trail group camber one minute guys one minute 2 one [Music] go [Music] starting in the front head paid off on the multitrack I'm pushing hard but the other two Riders I'm battling with are making a push to pass Raceway Woods is an old racetrack that closed down in the 1960s and it was left to become the forest that event became the trail system this section is a remnant of that old Racetrack and there's lots of buckled asphalt that was slowing me down in an effort to grab the lead again I decided to go wide to the smoother section of track then cut in on them and take the lead back we were running out of multitrack fast and it's going to be more work trying to pass on the single track but my Gambit failed in fact it failed miserably as I was now starting to lose ground by the time I reached the single track they were gone the bad part is is I only have a passing familiarity with graceway woods and at this point I'm holding third place my only hope is that they hit a bottleneck where I can catch up but I'm sure as hell not going to give up my third place spot this kind of [Music] sucks come on you got it W oh what one there we go super loose I can't believe it I'm going to make Podium this is YouTuber gold oh except I didn't make turns out One racer in my group had a birthday between when he signed up and when the race happened so he started 2 minutes ahead in the wave before mine after an adjustment to the time he still made podium in second place which then bumped me to Fourth I'm happy with the result but running the whole race thinking I made Podium and then not get it was kind of a bummer but that falls on me I should have been more familiar with the trails especially since they're only an hour's drive for me before I ever committed to XC racing my friend Rico told me about a unique race in Michigan's Upper Peninsula called miners Revenge say that you'll see what's unique about it shortly Rico did this race last year and thought I'd enjoy the challenge of this place after briefly surveying some of the course the evening before I worried that perhaps I under biked myself God yeah yeah and it I mean it's just really cool stuff that was awesome scary you'll be all right my polygon XC hard tail was set up to be ultra light and Ultra fast the only change I made to the bike for this race was to add a dropper post isn't it adorable a 50 mm Rock shocks Reverb axis should do the job I think my biggest concern was shredding the ultr lightweight tires on the sharp rocks of this trail system and the carbon XC hard tail might be a handful on the Steep gnarly terrain plus I'm riding this Trail totally blind running a full squish bike here would be the logical thing to do trying to see if anybody even is on tail everybody's on full suspensions so I decided to run the hard tail starting prank any last words tell my family I love him all right here we go [Music] [Music] woo [Music] here you go I'm racing through a mine how cool is this I told you this was a unique event right walk bike walk your bike this is crazy oh no you found it all right I didn't have high expectations about this race Rico and I decided to I don't know what to call it other than buddy race we would tackle the course together waiting on each other if we got hung up the reality was that Rico was waiting on me oh man I'm glad I L off the breaks all [Music] right definitely here to have this might have been the most grueling course I've ever ridden and I signed up for two laps of this thanks Rico oh oh there we go again that looks nasty don't stuff oh [Music] God Roo just breath into this thing woo oh my God that was awful that was so bad it gets easier for the second half of the lap so this is we're not this is a half this is the second half of the lap right okay see you on yay [Laughter] oh God all right come on stay on it holy woo as we got into the second lap I felt a little more confident now that I've seen the course I Unleashed Rico to go and Shred the remainder of the final lap without being encumbered by me oh man oh that's nasty come on come on come on [Music] rocks are [Music] sticky it's been a great hike so [Music] far here we go holy [Music] crap the two laps of miners Revenge totaled a little over 10 miles and took me almost 3 hours to finish it was a tough Race by far the toughest to date I'm not too concerned about this performance I didn't really take it too seriously but I now have a better feel for the terrain if I do this race again I'll be better prepared and maybe I'll give it more effort you're probably thinking that the big mistake was not grabbing the full suspension bike but in reality I'm glad I used the XC hard tail the climbs were much easier on the hard tail which is nearly 10 lb lighter than the full suspension it really boiled down to a lack of experience with an XC bike on this type of terrain on the second lap I cleared several sections that I walked on the first here comes the pseudo effort yeah the next time will be much better I didn't die and got a much needed adrenaline rush and how did I do oh my God dead that was hard last the poos meltdown was the second race in the caners series but to me it was the most important this event has the biggest field of racers in the area and most importantly it's held at my home Trails I know this system better than any other and I've previously done this race finishing at the back of the pack in 2019 which was my first mountain bike race and in the middle of the pack in 2022 when I was was getting over about of Co this time there were no excuses it's Ste or die guys go on the siren I set up the bike for maximum efficiency for this race I removed the dropper post and went back to the fixed seat post and for the first time I'm racing with clipless pedals I have very little experience with clipless pedals on single track I've never had an interest in clipping in but the gains from running clipless pedals Shimano spds in this case is noticeable I've been practicing for a few now and I felt the Meltdown was the best opportunity to use them of course nothing is ever easy Mother Nature decided to dump on us a few hours earlier than expected the organizers modified the course in order to minimize the damage to the trails Halos does not hold up well to rain off the start my slow clip in definitely hurt me I need to keep Pace with the league group here if I'm going to have a chance at winning this the plan is to ride the bike in as straight a line as possible conditions are very slick [Music] left I [Music] left I luck come between you thank [Music] you as long as I keep my forward momentum I should be good or maybe not every second lost here is costing me position me don't worries right just ride your ride have fun good luck thank you up there bro thank you too I need to push through and close ground on the lead group bottlenecks are my biggest fear no they almost always happen on an UPS slope and I'm quickly realizing that I am not good at clipping in in these conditions and again I'm losing positions with every second I stop R run let's do this we're almost done almost done one more up okay come damn lost a ton of [Applause] spots I lap two the field was more spread out which gave me some room to really open it up to try to catch up the hope is that the leaders are pacing themselves and won't see me coming hey heyy hey hey hey on your right thanks good luck y you in these conditions I felt like I was on the razor's Edge good luck one mistake and I go Downs is this race okay perfect thanks all right and of course as I'm about to come off the single track and head to the finish the unthinkable happens okay veryy oh yeah on the other side going very oh yeah yeah picked the bad day to learn clipless pedals I crashed and my saddle got knocked sideways the seat post clamp is so clogged with mud that I can't CL itoo last yeah it's pretty bad oh come I want this thing close damn it I am so close if I stay here trying to fix it I'm going to destroy all that effort like I did in Yankee Springs earlier this year damn it we got to go have to deal with it all right [Music] so I slammed the seat got in a hard gear and sprinted I got [Music] nothing got [Music] it God [Music] until I couldn't anymore yes grassy Hill years ago I lamented of how much of a sufferfest this climb was and when you put in your head also that your rolling resistance is off the charts with all that grass and those thick naobi Maxis minions it just tends to get in your head a bit at the time I blamed it on my tires but it ain't the [Applause] tires no come on and that was it my third payos meltdown in the books with the bottlenecks and the crash at the end I didn't expect to do all that well despite all that I managed in eighth place in my age group while not a podium finish it was a significant improvement from my previous efforts perhaps I shouldn't have gone with the clipless pedals the Meltdown was the climax of my racing season after that my drive to win and my general need to stick to my training regimen began to fade but I still had one more race in the camber series The Paul Douglas Pursuit Paul Douglas is a new Trail in the area that's windy but mostly [Music] flat [Music] [Music] despite the 95° weather and some mild food poisoning I managed the sixth place finish and with that my XC Race season came to an official end it was a pretty busy season of riding training and discipline I took myself out of my comfort zone by under biking or simply running a setup that I wasn't accustomed to became more fit and my cardio was excellent bizarrely enough I actually gained weight a lot of that was muscle in my legs but I also seemed to have built up a gut so I never really mastered my diet but in the end I became a stronger Rider and as someone who much prefers to go downhill I actually enjoyed the suffer Fest that is XC racing I'm happy with how the season turned out in fact I ended up ranked 10th overall among all ages in the camber series proving that consistency and showing up is half the battle I didn't make Podium this year like I wanted I made enough mistakes to keep it just Out Of Reach but that's the nature of anything worthwhile we have to be in a constant state of self-reflection be willing to learn from our mistakes exhibit humility when we're learning and confidence while we're competing we have to dig deep when all seems hopeless Victory happens when your best efforts intersect with the right moment and when you're always making your best effort your time will eventually come I hope you enjoyed this leg of my journey thanks for [Music] [Applause] watching n nah nah nah n nah n nah n nah nah n nah nah n nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah [Music] nah

Channel: Adrenaline Is Life

Views: 108,556

Keywords: xc racing mountain bike, how to train for xc mountain bike racing, xc mountain bike racing 2023, cross country mountain biking, cross country mountain bike racing, cross country mountain bike training, cross country mountain biking tips, cross country mountain biking pov, how to race xc mtb, syd and macky, Berm peak, loam ranger, raceway rally mtb, paul douglas pursuit, CAMBR, Yankee Springs, yankee springs time trial, palos meltdown, polygon syncline, Miners revenge bike race

Id: d_olAjRdDlw

Length: 27min 42sec (1662 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 23 2023