What are tactics?

"Anything you can do to help yourself succeed." Edward Borysewicz (Eddy B.).

There are cyclists who “win” during training and cyclists who win during races. These are not always the same athletes. On race day the strongest rider does not always reach the finish line first. The “x” factor here is race tactics. A brilliant race tactician can finish a race in front of a stronger but less tactically aware rider every time. Mountain bike racing has a large tactical component to it. Tactics can give you that extra edge to finish on top.

A tactic involves a decision followed by an action. There are two types of tactics: preparative tactics and race tactics.

Preparative Tactics Preparative tactics involve decisions and actions that you have control over. These are the tactics that you should have practiced and perfected during training. Preparative tactics include your training taper, equipment choice, day before rest and ride schedule, prerace meal, warm up routine, selecting what gear to start the race in and race nutrition and hydration strategy (knowing what and when you will eat and drink). There are no excuses for making preparative tactical mistakes. Spending three hours inspecting the course the day before an event will take the snap out of your legs on race day - and is a stupid tactical mistake. Racing with no water or sports drink will lead to dehydration and a sub optimal performance - and is a preparative tactical mistake. Don’t put yourself in the position of saying “I knew better than to _____”. Perfect your preparative race tactics until they are second nature and become a prerace ritual.

Race Tactics Race tactics are decisions and actions you make on the fly during a race. These are the tactics that you cannot practice, but are developed with race experience and smart riding. These types of tactics include staging, pacing and interacting with other competitors. When things are going well you can control a race, make your own decisions and actions and gain the tactical advantage. Often however, you are reacting to the actions of other competitors. This is where things get complex and a myriad of tactical options are available to you. How do you take your strengths and weaknesses and use those of your opponents to gain advantage on a particular race course?

Gather Information To make good decisions that will positively affect your race outcome you must gather as much information as possible. You need to be familiar with the course, familiar with your strengths and weaknesses and familiar with the strengths and weaknesses of your competition. If you know all three of these factors you can use your fellow competitor to help you during parts of the race that you are weak in and get around them in sections where they will hinder you. For example, if you are a weak descender/strong climber you may allow a faster descender around you at the top of a descent. You can then stay on his or her wheel on the descent, benefiting from a draft during any straight sections and following his or her superior lines through the technical sections. The superior rider will pull you down the hill faster than you could have gone by yourself. When you hit the climb, you can go around this rider and use your climbing prowess to create a gap. As with any tactic, the story is not black and white – there is some risk. The risk you take here is that the descender may be so much better than you he or she will ride away from you on the descent. You cannot accrue any benefits by letting a rider like this pass you. All you will do is provide them a clear trail to make a huge gap on you. Unless you know the abilities of a competitor it is best to be in front on a descent.

Assess your Competition What if you don’t know your competition? This will often be the case when you travel to a new area for a larger race. There are some tell tale signs to look for to help you size up a stranger and guess at their riding skills. First off, a fancy bike and ripped calves will not tell you much. Study your competition and look for clues that tell you what kind of rider they are. Are they pedaling smoothly with a high cadence? This is the type of rider that is good to draft off. Do they have a choppy, low cadence pedal stroke and are steering a wavy line? This is the type of rider that is likely to come off their bike at the first bump or obstacle. You want to get around this rider as quickly as possible.

Know the Course The start profile of a mountain bike race is always the same: a mass start followed by a bottleneck. The bottleneck usually occurs when the single-track starts – but not always. Large fields can create bottlenecks before you even reach the single-track; at corners, over bridges and through water crossings. It can be useful to watch other categories start on a particular course to identify the first bottleneck. Any part of a course that causes you to slow down is a potential bottleneck. The first bottleneck in a race is where the initial selection takes place. This part of the race will decide whether you finish in the top third, middle third or bottom third of the field.

Staging The best place to stage is as close to the front as you can. That is a no brainer. Staging is crucial to a good placing. To have a realistic chance of winning you must be in the top ten through the first bottleneck. At races where you expect a large and competitive field you must stage up to an hour early. This is crazy, but it is reality. You still need to warm up. You can do your warm up on the start line on a stationary trainer. Just before the start, hand your trainer to a friend. Don’t mount your bike yet. Hog as much space as you can on the start line by standing next to your bike and stretching. Stick out your elbows and tell off anybody that tries to squeeze in too close to you. Don’t be afraid to be assertive. You have put in many hours of training and don’t want to waste it by locking handlebars with another rider seconds after the gun goes off.

To decide what side of the start line area to position yourself on, examine the first 400 yards of the course. If the course quickly makes a turn to the left you, should line up on the right ride of the line. When you come to the corner, the traffic on the outside of the turn will flow faster and more freely. On the inside of the corner riders will get bunched up and the possibility of pile ups is high. Also, examine the ground surface. The ground in the middle of the road may be hard packed and fast and the ground at the edge of the road soft and slow. Line up with the smoothest and most hard packed surface in front of you. Notice any “danger zones” in the first 400 yards. A danger zone is an area where a rider may wobble and come off his or her bike. The traffic will be so thick at this point that you will not be able to see danger zones - so it is important to know where they are and avoid them. The last thing you want is to be forced off your bike by another rider at the start and passed by the entire pack.

After the Gun The next big tactical decision to make is how fast to ride off the start line. This depends on the course profile and your abilities. You need to start as fast as you can but not too fast. You will spend the rest of the race suffering and trying to recover if you start so fast you fill your legs up with lactic acid. However, if you start too slowly you will end up behind a logjam of riders at the first bottleneck and automatically relegated to the last third of the field.

If the first bottle neck is within a couple of minutes of the start line you need to err on the starting too fast side. In an ideal situation you will have staged on the front line. After you hear the gun go off wind up the pace so fast that the riders staged behind you do not have a chance to come around you. Get out of your saddle and sprint for the first 50 yards. This will string out the pack and reduce the congestion you will encounter when you hit the single track. If you have a ten minute fire road climb before the first bottleneck you can moderate your starting speed and pick people off on the road. In this situation stage beside somebody that you know is a strong climber. Latch onto their rear wheel from the start and let them pace you up the climb.

Know Where the First Bottleneck is Aim to be in the top ten through the first bottleneck. At the first bottleneck the top few riders barely slow down. The further back in the field you are the slower the traffic moves until it is common for those at the back of the pack to be at a complete standstill. This is a huge advantage for the leaders who will be cruising up the trail unimpeded.

Give your next race more thought than simply training hard and toeing the start line. Some tactics will give you an extra edge and may boost you to the top of the podium.