How to get faster

Fabien Barel did an interview a while back about speed and flow. He said something along the lines of inexperienced riders pedal to be fast and experienced riders pedal less and flow. Makes perfect sense. If you flow the trail all relaxed and smooth you'll have lots of energy for the punchy climbs. When I was training in BJJ I made the classic 'white belt' mistake of starting all amped up and tried to muscle my opponent around. This lead to me gassing out and being beaten. Translate that to bikes and its the same thing. Try and relax and be methodical about how you ride.

^^^This.

This year when I entered the local mtb series focused less on going fast all the time. Put effort this time into dying to be more smooth and go with the flow. Less effort on hammering to make up for bobbles and such. Better results with less effort.

One thing I started trying coming into corners is stop pedalling before the corner and let the bike slow itself down. Braking way less now.

That Fabian barel interview that Tmack mentioned is excellent. I also believe what other people have said about the interval training and super sets in the gym. When you have the fitness you can ride harder , faster , longer. But when you also have the technique and skills on the bike that the Fabian barel interview talks about you can put it all together.

I'm able to ride harder , faster and longer now then i ever have before because of the time I've put in at the gym but I'm not winning any races because I need more riding time.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that IMO , fitness is very important but time in the saddle is more important. My 2 cents.

Pumptrack time too: high intensity, uses your whole body, makes you smoother and if its a good track pushes your cornering.

Fast: Smooth non-frantic lines and transitions, look ahead, finish braking before the apex of each corner, look way ahead, double-up/pump everywhere, firm suspension, better fitness, take chances, look ahead, stay on your bike.

Pay someone to improve your cornering, train with monika marx, don't forget to have fun.

do you feel your race results are due to lack of cardio conditioning ?? physical conditioning or your riding skills and or equipment ?

i just did my 1st Enduro last Sunday at Sumas , and i have only been back in the sport for just about a yr myself after a decade lay-off .

this race was alot of fun and one hell of a challenge on a 40lb Entourage .

some key areas i found myself lacking in was mainly cardio endurance at a anaerobic state for extended durations and lactic acid burn in my legs , i was either gasping for air or my legs and lower back where on fire from lactic acid . IMO these two areas are what affected my results more then any other condition ,

ya i,m sure a sub 30lb true trail/enduro bike would have helped on the course for the last 1/3 of stage 2 but i rode the bike i had and was very comfortable at speed and over the terrain and obstacles .

if i could redo the race o would run a dropper too allow me to get a better pedal stroke while climbing this played into my lactic acid burn in my legs and lower back .

and theres my ramble LOL

^^^This.

This year when I entered the local mtb series focused less on going fast all the time. Put effort this time into dying to be more smooth and go with the flow. Less effort on hammering to make up for bobbles and such. Better results with less effort.

One thing I started trying coming into corners is stop pedalling before the corner and let the bike slow itself down. Braking way less now.

ya been layin off the brakes alot more thru sections and it has been helping me alot i,m able to carry more speed thru sections then i did before .

i have also been letting the bike do its job more as well and that has helped rather then steering around stuff i now run it over and get thru in a straighter line cover less travel with less bobbles .

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- It will be winter soon - XC skiing the choice of champions.

I've focussed on trail running this year and this worked (PB by 1.09 in the Knee Knacker last weekend)

OR the skin track I found the bike really helped my ski conditioning so skiing must really help on the bike?

A top skier recommended speed sessions go 1hr fast as I could up hill and it really made a big difference I am way faster now, even tho I would never tour that fast now I got more gears than most people I ski with whereas I used to be REALLY slow