Calling all elite MTB riders

[4barlinkage]

Road cyclists and TT specialists in general *** themselves when they get on mtb's as the rapidly changing pace and intensity of higher cadence riding is something they don't experience on rouad bikes. Road bike do give great base though and help with strength training at low cadence. Hence allot of pro's doing road cycling to strengthen their base over longer low intensity rides and then doing shorter high intensity interval rides.

 

The type of racing that would favour your strengths as they currently are would be marathon racing which tends to have large portioins of district road riding broken with the odd bit of singletrack or jeep track here and there.

 

XC racing (thankfully) is starting to follow international trends and is becomming more technical and challenging. It also requires a rider to be physically strong as well as being able to maintain a high intensity of riding for prolonged periods of time(Roughly 1 and a half hours) (I'd guestimate 75-95% of your max) - It's hard....,.

 

Your bike selection choice for competitive use on marathon racing would be a lightweight 29er hardtail. My suggestion here is screw everything else, look at light(but strong) wheels, a good frame(for racing I suggest a carbon option) and a decent fork. Everything else wears out and can be replaced over time. After the things I mentioned above, don't worry too much over parts, although I would suggest looking at SLX or better from Shimano or X-9 or above on SRAM. Don't judge the bike from the rear deraileur either(Rookie mistake). Rather have top-end shifters than a top-end deraileur. That's where the shifting quality comes from.

 

Hope this helps

[Bos]

Road cyclists and TT specialists in general *** themselves when they get on mtb's as the rapidly changing pace and intensity of higher cadence riding is something they don't experience on rouad bikes. Road bike do give great base though and help with strength training at low cadence. Hence allot of pro's doing road cycling to strengthen their base over longer low intensity rides and then doing shorter high intensity interval rides.

 

 

 

Hope this helps

 

You serious? The most intense afkak Ive ever experiance were in road races... sitting on the wrong side of the wind, getting blown off the back, chasing to get back on and doing a pull in front. All of the above will happen once every 10 minutes..

Maybe you refer to grouprides?

 

The Break you will be fine, Its an awesome new experiance man, dont let us spoil it. Just enter one and go for it. take a stab at a middle distance (50-60km) and know that it always hurts like hell in the begining, maybe less so than in the early stage of a road ride. Mtbikers try get the group small right from the get go.

 

Get a Scott spark Expert 29. there was one on here for 20k the other day and If you get a retailer who stock them and will give you some discount you should get it for just over 20k. Carbon frame, fox fork, XT components, BOb's your uncle...

[Vega]

Hi Guys

 

This is mostly a question for the more elite MTB guys.

 

I am thinking of trying my hand at some MTB. From a performance point of view I would probably fall into the more elite category as this is where I left off with my road racing. Would just need to get my skills sorted out. My strength lies in TT on the road and I would typically ride a 40km TT in anything sub 57min when generally fit, peaking around 55min. Never been a great climber.

 

So my questions to you guys are:

 

1. What type of events should I look at trying out, i.e. marathon, cross country, etc?

2. What type of bike should I be looking at getting for this type of racing, i.e. hardtail, dual?

3. What kind fo price should I be expecting to get a bike for an elite level of racing to be on average with the rest of the bikes in this category. Bike does make a difference as I have seen on road?

4. What would be best for this type of rding from a 26er vs. 29er point of view?

 

Thanks up front!

The Break

 

An elite MTBer who can't climb well - now there is a novel idea. Or am I missing something?

Edited August 2, 2012 by JanS

[patches]

Bob's your uncle...

 

hopefully not! Dirty uncle bob!

[BergForce]

An elite MTBer who can't climb - now there is a novel idea. Or am I missing something?

 

Maybe its Gauteng there are no mountains there only mine dumps, but they are way smaller than the mountains of the Cape.

[Eugene]

MTBing?............Married life is making you soft. Buy a 26inch Axis hardtail and be done with it. Spend the balance on the nursery.

[The_Break]

MTBing?............Married life is making you soft. Buy a 26inch Axis hardtail and be done with it. Spend the balance on the nursery.

Shouldn't you be working and not on the HUB?

[The_Break]

Thanks for all the advice guys. I do not believe cadence or intensity will be a factor at all. Raced enough in Europe on their crit cobbled courses puffing smoke at the rear to know that nothing will EVER be harder than that.

 

For interest, what kind of cadences you talking about. Roadies don't ride low cadences. My TT cadence is 95-97RPM.

[SwissVan]

Sorry not an elite level rider, but there dont seem to be to many around at the moment.

 

29er HT, the best you can afford + 10%

 

Skip the elite races for this year, do it for fun and to get used to the mtb scene. Enter as an age grouper and just ride for fun until you have got used to it and have improved your technical skills / confidence to the extent that you feel ready to enter (race) elite.

 

Enter both marathon and cross country events.With XC start off with smaller "fun" regional events if your technical abilities dont match your fitness levels. XC is great for developing your technical confidence. Try go to XC races where you can ride the race route the week or day before, this helps a lot with XC lap races, nothing worse than doing a XC race and not knowing the course.

[RocknRolla]

also try out some of the bike parks to gage your natural technical ability. and to gain confidence.

 

PWC Bike Park in Bryanston has a range of trails from really easy to insane stuff.

 

Rietvlei is good for starting out with easy stuff and progressing to maxHR type stuff when you venture onto the blue trails.

 

Thaba is a good gage of strenght (climbing) and technical riding.

 

Kingskloof will give you the best climbing a mountainbike trail has to offer in joburg - and you get to ride very technical terrain.

 

Groenkloof is great for progressing from easy singletrack to the xc type stuff of fountains.

 

so i suggest before you stand in a queue and get frustrated at a race, try our some of the bike parks...

 

apologies to the punctuation, spelling and grammar nazi's - too damn lazy

 

<Edit: MTN bike park - now PWC Bike Park>

Edited August 2, 2012 by RocknRolla

[Eugene]

Shouldn't you be working and not on the HUB?

was about to say the same to you.

[The_Break]

was about to say the same to you.

Don't forget I pay your salary. So I am the one who is allowed to ask this. Hehe

[Wyatt Earp]

An elite MTBer who can't climb well - now there is a novel idea. Or am I missing something?

Ja, I reckon it would make the difference between being elite or petite.

[Big blade 511]

And apparently 20k can get me a very competitive rig?

Hi th e break. I have been riding at the top level of mountain biking in kzn for some years now, I would suggest u get a 29er hardtail and stay away from races for about 2 months I have learnt all my skill just plain down having fun on 2 wheels. I good bike would be a Scott 29er pro or Cheaper option silverback. Stick to local racers no matter what distance just find ur legs first only u can tell what u prfer in mtb Hope all goes well never forget to have fun bud. HoPe i could help

[LazyTrailRider]

R40k is what you need for race ready competative bike and gear such as shoes, lid, clothing, etc

 

Bullsh!t.

 

A couple of years ago I kicked plenty of ass on an R18k HT rig, for R20k you can definitely get something more than capable, a few months old if you shop around, or even new if you're lucky and do your homework. He would already have most of the kit needed coming from the road, except for shoes and gloves. R2.5k should cover that, so call it R25k all in with a bit of contigency.

Edited August 8, 2012 by MH for short