What do you think are the most important skills to have for racing or riding hard? What is the one thing that you would put a rider over the top if they were better at that all the other riders?
We don't know what our limits are, so to start something with the idea of being limited actually ends up limiting us.
Ellen Langer
It depends on the discipline, and perhaps more specifically the duration of the event. In a <04:00 minute Downhill race cornering, braking, and bike control are incredibly important. At the other end of the scale, in say a 24-hour endurance event, being able to get comfortable with being uncomfortable and "embracing the suck" are incredibly important skills.
This is like asking what makes a good athlete.
Yeah, and there are traits that are common to all athletes, but at least with dh/aggressive riding there is a bit of a narrower skillset. All those things I listed are important (and there are some not listed that are also important but I think are obvious and don't need to be mentioned), but I'm curious as to what people think is the factor that makes or could make the biggest difference.
I put down line choice because knowing the line and what to do at crux points along the course allows a rider to carry more speed into and through a difficult section because they do not have to actively think and make decisions about what to do, that's already been done and they are just looking for markers they've chose so they know when to react and what action to take.
Think about your experience riding a trail for the first time vs having ridden it dozens of times. Racing takes that experience and compresses it.
In any discipline the ones who do the most strategic off-bike training and optimization seem to go further.
And you'd think Syncro of all people would have put that as number one!
Well you could consider line choice in that category. Pre race prep includes walking the track, looking at features, thinking about how to deal with them, etc, and then taking that info into the first laps to plan your line down the course.
What traits are required to effectively select and execute lines at race pace?
Proprioception, reflexes, mental acuity, coordination, agility.
Basically the traits of raw athleticism.
Yes, planning and practice helps, good equipment choices help. Fitness is required to allow you to execute these things over the course of a run.
Some of this comes down to nature vs nurture, but what makes a fast downhiller actually doesn't vary much from what makes a great golfer. 90% genetic lottery. Look at 10 year old Jackson Goldstone.
The trouble for both golf and MTB is that a lot of people are making money off the idea that you can improve by some totally unrealistic amount, when the reality those pro golfers were probably better after one round of golf than the average weekend Warrior can ever hope to be, same for the 10 year old downhillers.
If Joe average rides a course in 2:30 and pros are running it at 1:30, a pro after a couple months on the couch is still probably 1:40, but assuming they have no blatant issues, the average rider might train very hard and not crack 2:00.
When practicing everyone looks for the sneaky / aggressive lines to save a half a second etc. Don't forget to look for the sections that you need to get right to avoid losing 5+ seconds.....
Get the Slow / off camber corners before a long straight or pedal section right ... Preparing for punchy climbs etc. will all save way more time if you get them right than the gnarly gap that everyone loves to line up. Not saying that you don't need to do the aggressive lines to win...but don't overlook the prep on the boring stuff.
Interval sprints.... Make sure you can ride the gnar cross eyed after burying yourself on the sprint(s).
Still not sure, are you talking about racing hard, or are you asking about just specifically downhill racing?
I think I've done...1? downhill specific race in my life. I was terrible who knows what it took to win, guy who won had the physique of a potato. Big balls no brakes win the day?
Pros, I have no idea. Danny seems to hold on with that formula lol.
I did many years of dedicated XC and some Enduro though, lived with a pro then too. For that it was all about training volume, then who could stay in the pain cave the longest on the day.
For DH,surely having a high level of fitness (specifically adapted to the nature of the event/discipline) is critical as it allows the rider to better focus/push on crux sections/lines at a lower physiological load (HR, breathing, muscles) than someone less fit. But I agree with above that genetic lottery in terms of skill/racing intuition/bravery is what sets the top riders apart, fitness just helps them perform more consistently. As you go more toward endurance events that balance shifts a lot, but even in road racings there's a lot of race craft/intuition in addition to pure watts.
Mainly racing DH, but I think it relates to typical Shore riding as well.
Posted by: Kenny
What traits are required to effectively select and execute lines at race pace?
Proprioception, reflexes, mental acuity, coordination, agility.
Basically the traits of raw athleticism.
Yes, planning and practice helps, good equipment choices help. Fitness is required to allow you to execute these things over the course of a run.
Some of this comes down to nature vs nurture, but what makes a fast downhiller actually doesn't vary much from what makes a great golfer. 90% genetic lottery. Look at 10 year old Jackson Goldstone.
The trouble for both golf and MTB is that a lot of people are making money off the idea that you can improve by some totally unrealistic amount, when the reality those pro golfers were probably better after one round of golf than the average weekend Warrior can ever hope to be, same for the 10 year old downhillers.
If Joe average rides a course in 2:30 and pros are running it at 1:30, a pro after a couple months on the couch is still probably 1:40, but assuming they have no blatant issues, the average rider might train very hard and not crack 2:00.
Yeah genetics plays a part, but the avg joe is not as far out of it as people think. All those things you mentioned can be trained and improved. The mental aspect of sport can also be trained and improved. Work ethic makes a big difference. Many of the top athletes were/are that way due to their work ethic. People like Crosby, MJ and Kobe come to mind in that respect. Then of course guys like John Daly come along a throw a wrench into the works. However, even with good genetics, people still have to put in the work. There are lots of examples of gifted athletes who never panned out simply because they weren't willing to do the work.
^Joe Average is way further out than we think. See White Mamba "Im Closer to LeBron than you are to me"
Odd that fitness isn't a choice in the poll. I'll add one that might be a lil weird; Skateboarding and/or BMX. People who grew up doing these two activities seem to be always be good.
Riding/Racing MX would be a huge help for DH or Enduro.
The ultimate tool is having rich parents.
Posted by: Endur-Bro
^Joe Average is way further out than we think. See White Mamba
Odd that fitness isn't a choice in the poll. I'll add one that might be a lil weird; Skateboarding and/or BMX. People who grew up doing these two activities seem to be always be good.
Riding/Racing MX would be a huge help for DH or Enduro.
The ultimate tool is having rich parents.
Avg joe is typically way further out because they haven't done the work of practicing skills and fitness. It's not really a fair comparison between some casual who plays a few hours a week and doesn't do any accessory training and a pro athlete.
Fitness is important for sure, I just looked at it as a given, ie if you want to excel at a sport then a decent base level of fitness is understood as being mandatory.
Edit: the poll is not meant to limit the discussion to those items, I just put it in there as a way to hopefully get some discussion going.
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