Onboard race footage from The first round of the 2024 British National MTB XCO points series is upon us and we headed up to Scotland to race what was a brutal course at Kirroughtree Forest.
With lots of climbing and some super technical decents, it made for a challenging race, especially as the wet weather came in just before my race!
I had some positives and negatives to take from the weekend, but a lot more work to do.
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My son won all his gorrick and southern xc races, but at national elite level , the standard is sooo high , he now rides d.hill In n .wales. ! just don't be dis heartened, yours are the best mtb vids by far !!!
Yeah the step up from regional and local racing to nationals is mind blowing… I guess that’s what happens when you bring all of the best riders in the country together 😅
Big ups, Giorgi. I'm recovering from shoulder surgery now, and my only hope of retaining any fitness at all for when cx season comes around is intervals on the turbotrainer. These videos make it a lot more enjoyable to gut it out at threshold; thanks very much for uploading them. Interesting to hear a lot of the same negative self talk from you that I find when I rewatch my racing -- it is often good for a laugh, but I have to be quite careful not to let myself believe it too hard...
Hope the recovery goes well! And glad my videos are helping a bit… it sucks being on the turbo, especially as the weather improves, I had to do it due to injury a couple of years ago and it’s tough!
Personally I thought you did bloody brilliant, those climbs omg, dude you should be well happy, 👍👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
🙌
wow that was a legit course!
with rockgardens, chose a line and hit it with speed. Have to be confident, while going through it feather ur front weight off the front tyre. Weight should be just behind ur saddle, gently holding bars but if ur tyre goes another direction have to hold bars soft but hard enough to guide ur front tyre along ur line. The faster the better.
A valiant effort!
Think about doing longer (duration, 3 or more hours) road rides including some good hard climbs. I think your overall fitness would benefit.
great race video, nice course, good effort G
Come for a few rides in South Wales mate - few Cwmcarn loops would be a good day out! I used to live nearby and ride in Deepcut so I completely get what you mean about not having rocks to ride on - its the opposite here! I watch your videos wishing I could blast around Deepcut and Swinley and not be bashing down rocky wet descents all winter!
One day I will make it to some of the Welsh trails… so many people have said go to bike park wales but I just never get around to it 😂
If you are coming to wales, go natural! So insane stuff around for xc riders
Yeah Giorgio I'd agree with this! BPW is great at if you do just want a pure day of descending it ticks the boxes but its easy to just have fun on super groomed trails all day! If you want an XC ride with descending on rocks then Cwmcarn or Afan are way better. I personally like a triple Cwmcarn loop (Twrch, Cafall, riders choice)... 2 cafe stops, 50k-ish, 1500m climbing & descending
Eye opening and superb honest insight into the pointy end of the hobby/ sorry sport. Reckon your dad lapped me about 5 yrs ago😂
Great footage once again. If you hadn't had the cleat issues, would you have got a top 10? If that's a possible yes, then you've achieved you goal of a top ten. Plus. you should have taken Dell Boy's advice on tyre choice. But, you don't need any of us to tell you that, You'll limit these mistakes as you progress and build your experience to move forward.👍
Possibly could have got a top 10 but I guess that’s racing, you need to have kit and equipment all on point to perform. Hopefully I have got my mistakes out of the way early in the season 🤞
Good effort Giorgio! We can’t do well in every race. ALL my races this season have been like that, until this last race in Ocala. I have one race left until September/October, I feel I’m JUST coming into form NOW! I’m gonna keep my focus and be waiting for next fall.
Exactly and hopefully the good races are too come 🤞 ahh man such a shame that your season is coming to an end but it’s good motivation for next year
Brutal climb.
Horrid 😂
Mate's front wheel left the chat lmao
Should be happy with the performance Giorgio. I did ask someone far more experienced than me his opinion. His last 2 race wins, he ran on a similar scenario. Looks a fast flowing course.
I’m not massively dissatisfied but hopefully it some better legs as the season gets going 🤞
Great race and great effort Giorgi! About 9 minutes in you said you trained so hard before the race? Maybe you trained too hard and did not have enough recovery before the race? You're working a 9-5 too so that adds up! That was a gnarly and nasty little course that looks like it required tremendous power output with few places to recover.
I did have a full recovery week before the race and looking back at my training compared to previous years I haven’t trained as hard as I thought… I have put more time into descending/singletrack practice which has improved but these sessions have replaced time on the bike which I think has hit my fitness a bit, a few other things as well have played a part but I’m sure the legs will come good when it matters 👌
11th without being able to clip in is good mate. Blimey.
I agree!! You were only 1 away from top 10.
Enjoyed watching that for inspiration while I'm on Zwift. You've definitely improved on the technical side. Well done. Yeah (as a bystander) it looks like the top expert riders at national level could probably race elite (similarly the top B cat racers on Zwift can get respectable finishes in A).. it's tough competition. The elite chase for us viewers was much appreciated.. I'm sure there's an internet meme I should reference here..
The tech skills have improved lots which is good but just need to find my legs now 🤞 the top expert riders will likely be promoted this season… I hope 😂
Shouldn’t have rested! 😂
😂
I’ve gone from aspens to the racing ray/ralph combo and I’ll never put the aspens on the bike ever again When you say Bambi on ice I know exactly what you mean and the aspens sapped me of all confidence They are just terrible tires
I have enjoyed riding them in dry conditions but they are no good in the wet that’s for sure 😅
G, I seem to recall hearing you use a phrase, "..with their choppers swinging..." , I wonder if you could explain this terminology for me please? ! Enjoy the race films very much, mostly because I no longer cycle I guess. I also think that you need to do a training course and practise in cycle engineering with your Dad, tyre choice and pressure keeps coming back to haunt you, doesn't it. Good luck next time!
The not pg term would be “Swinging your willy” 😂 I guess trying to have a bit of a macho man off I think the tyre problem in this race would have likely been the same for everyone as the course was dry during practice which didn’t leave a lot of time for sorting tyres 🤔 I also had a problem with my GoPro… so the time I should have sorted tyres etc I was trying to fix my GoPro attachment 😅 The video is more important to me than the race 😂
Low HR and empty legs... Sounds like overtraining? Pirelli Scorpion xc 2.4 my choice for this season. One race behind, feels great!
I think it was a mixture of a lot of things but the travel always kills me 🤷♂️ 👌 I will have to have a look at them!
Scotland and aspens are 2 things that should not be in the same sentence 😂
Lesson learnt 😂
I don't have any particular tip for the rock garden, other than avoid the sharp ones. But I wanna know, is it possible to you to put the speed that you go? I saw the gap but it seems you were in a decent speed for that particular rock garden IMO. The minute 7:00 I believe it was the right choice because the mud was way harder to maintain the grip and the speed. Keep the pace, you're doing great, mate!
I will try on the next one but the speed can be very difficult to line up with the file and sometimes isn’t very accurate… I have already edited the short track video but will look into the one after 👌
The number one and two didn't pass you until well into the race. That probably means that those guys you tried to keep up with, were starting off too fast.
It’s likely but I think a lot of people struggled with mechanicals as well due to the conditions
Someone said that the B line at Cannock is as quick as going down the rock garden. Hope so, I'm on 26" 😂
Hmm I’m not sure about that it’s normally got a dead stop corner in it
@GiorgioCoppolaCycling watched someone's race footage from last year and he commented that it may be quicker, that might depend on the riders in front of you and how they cope, not sure which race category he was in tho. I'm definitely going the safe route on 26" wheels tho, .. if it is the Dirty Nokka course in a couple of weeks I might get chance to try it. Wasn't in the winter classic in Feb.
Looked like a really fun course, wouldv'e enjoyed it even more when not wet. Hope you can fix the legs, overtraining perhaps? Not getting the heart rate up can be a sign.
Great course and definitely better in the dry… it was such a shame as it was bone dry in practice 😅
Are you doing the Torq 369 this Sunday Giorgio ?
Yes I’m doing the 6hr pairs 👍
@GiorgioCoppolaCycling Nice. I'm doing the 6 hour v50 solo. I'll see you pass me a couple of times 🙂
I love how you take ownership of your downfalls and don't excuse them all away. As for switching to your Mezcals, good plan not to. Those are my dry tires and have never done me any favours in anything wetter than damp. Even my Barzo/Mezcal combo is not a good wet choice. Other than some large knobs, doesn't look like anything less than a tractor tire would have done you any better. Pure slop.
Any recommendations for the fastest tyres for 70% dry 30% wet conditions, any opinion on racing ray/ralph combo? Cheers
I find the mezcals to have a lot more grip than the aspens…. Although they are not a mud tyre without having an extra set of wheels it’s almost impossible to have all the tyre choices 😅 as it’s meant to be a summer sport it would be nice to just race a dry summer tyre 😂
@@___..Will..___ If I were racing a 70/30 split race, I'd just go ahead and start on my dry tires and just be mindful in the wet. In full on wet conditions, I do tend to ride the Nobby Nic myself. It's heavier and very beefy, but it gives me the grip I'm after. Of course, it's all rider skill and confidence that helps choose their tires. In dry, I do ride Mezcals on my 29" hard tail and Barzo/Mezcal on the full squish.
@@GiorgioCoppolaCycling I haven't ran the Aspen, but they look like a first cousin to the Ardent. I could feel the "debris" hitting my shins when cornering with the Ardent. Never did race on it mind you. Are they heavier than the Mezcals?
Another fantastic course, great commentary and well, a mediocre result. Hey ho. I am regularly lapped by the elite boys - flippin' amazing athletes. Hope you find a solution to the legs lacking power. Over-training, under-training, too much rest, not enough, nutrition, caffeine. I'd like to know cause it happens to me too. Good luck on the next one.
I think I always struggle with the travel and a few other things this year but hopefully some good legs soon
Sounds a bit like you might be overtraining a bit ..
I likely think it was the travel as I have been training less than I ever have… which probably doesn’t help