Following this thread, as I'm in sort of a similar boat as you are. I'm also a recent convert from road racing, and incidentally, I think we raced together in my last road race (2016 Jersey Devil). Your travails as described early in the thread, I can so relate to them. A few fine folks around here have seen me unclip on gnarly switchback descents, etc.
Do you think your CX experience helped you acclimitizing to the needs of MTB riding? Also, what skills did you feel were most important to pick up early?
Good luck with the remaining races!
Jersey Devil. I really like that race. It’s a little too much climbing for me. I think I finished back of the field and stayed with the peleton 10 of 12 laps in 2016. I was in great shape, but it was a bit too far. I’m more of a crit guy. A tweener. I sprint better than climbers and climb better than sprinters. I could be a solid domestique. I can ride with most any group without getting dropped, but can’t Break away alone for shit.
My motivation for focusing on MTB was multi-faceted.
First, I’ve been racing road since 1997. Even training very well since 2016 it was clear I had peaked out there. Spent 6 months training for State Crit Championships only to go into final turn in about 5th or 6th place (perfect position) only to get taken out. See photo attached. With my skill set, crit racing is a bit of a crapshoot. I’ve finished 2nd through 10th, in big fields, but never won on the road in 20 years of racing.
Also, in 2016 a couple of my buddies crashed hard at Ronde van Mullica through no fault of their own. I managed to not crash for 19th, but my buddies had had enough road racing. I got tired of taking on a lot of risks riding mostly solo without teammates.
Next, I’ve ridden cross a few years now. Last year was the first year I focused on it in the Cat 4/40+ field mostly. Had a lot of good results and a lot of fun. My weakness there, too, was technical skills. CX, I think, has a lot more Roadies, so I think there is some real speed, but tech skills seem to be the great equalizer. I started last row and finished ~40/100 at Nittany CX #2 last year - 3 legit crashes. I almost stopped there, but focused on practicing my cornering, dismounts/mounts and did an assload of grasslaps at the park in High Bridge and at Vorhees HS (even got chased out by the AD on a gator once, LOL). Had a lot of fun with CX.
That in a nutshell got me thinking about MTB.
I honestly thought that I would do well in endurance on fitness alone versus MTBers. Thought it would override my limited tech skills. Well, that didn’t turn out to be true. I got smoked at Ringwood (5:10) and WayWay (4:00+) and Mooch (4hrs and I didn’t even bother with another lap). But at Mooch I realized my laps were mid pack with the Cat 2 XC field, so I switched of to XC and I like that a lot better. I feel more like I’m in a race than just suffering.
I guess the things that have helped the most have been tubeless tires and just learning to trust the bike. It will just ride over a lot of shit. I rode very tentatively, but won Cat 3 at Hop Brook; rode with the Cat 2 guys and won Cat 3 at Iron furnace and put a lot of pressure on myself to win wire to wire at Bear Creek, so that I could upgrade on a high note.
Now I’m just focused on trying to compete with the Cat 2s. That’s a bigger nut to crack. Maybe we’ll be racing together on MTB soon.
BTW, what’s your name ecappy?