For you Sport racers out there.

scotth

Well-Known Member
When did you switch to the sport class and why? I registered for the Marsh Creek race in the Sport class, but have only raced Ringwood, JH & the MountainMan. I think my two finishes were 15th & 18th in the H2H races. I have no reason other than I want to see how I do with two laps. I was wondering what made some of you move up a class.:)
 

MST.ESQ

New Member
When did you switch to the sport class and why? I registered for the Marsh Creek race in the Sport class, but have only raced Ringwood, JH & the MountainMan. I think my two finishes were 15th & 18th in the H2H races. I have no reason other than I want to see how I do with two laps. I was wondering what made some of you move up a class.:)

Scott: I have not seen you since Ringwood, but you looked pretty strong fitness wise at the end. Give Sport a shot - I attempted some long hammer-fests recently and noticed that it takes most of the Beginner class race length to really warm up and get over the burn. You may surprise yourself.

Good luck!
 

NJ-XC-Justin

KY-DH-Freddy
I raced Beginner in 2007 and moved up to Sport with some success this year. I didn't podium once as a Beginner but I put in some real miles over the winter and early Spring and knew when the first race came around I was ready.

Also I strongly believe we should all move up to Sport as quickly as possible so that real beginners don't come out and get discouraged racing against guys who are actually training and riding five grand bikes. I've seen newbs race once and never come back. It's disheartening to see.
 

MST.ESQ

New Member
I raced Beginner in 2007 and moved up to Sport with some success this year. I didn't podium once as a Beginner but I put in some real miles over the winter and early Spring and knew when the first race came around I was ready.

Also I strongly believe we should all move up to Sport as quickly as possible so that real beginners don't come out and get discouraged racing against guys who are actually training and riding five grand bikes. I've seen newbs race once and never come back. It's disheartening to see.

Justin: You found something we can agree on 100%
 

kush

Active Member
I raced 3 last events of H2H in beginner. I started in Beginner because I've never raced before, and didn't know where I was relative to other people. Podiumed 2x with same two guys. The three of us were pretty much told "see you in Sport next year". Which I would have done anyway. Two laps and a more consistent field of racers are appealing.

Train up this winter and try it - yes you can :)
 
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VanDbtRiver

Well-Known Member
i think if you want to challenge yourself, move on up. if you want to race for fun and participation....or sandbag, dont move up
 

Mare

Well-Known Member
The fact that you are questioning it means you are ready to move up. If you can cover the distance or just want more of a challenge, sport is the next step. Go for it!
 

TonyC

Active Member
When did you switch to the sport class and why? I registered for the Marsh Creek race in the Sport class, but have only raced Ringwood, JH & the MountainMan. I think my two finishes were 15th & 18th in the H2H races. I have no reason other than I want to see how I do with two laps. I was wondering what made some of you move up a class.:)

I placed 15th at Stewart in Beg/mstr riding SS.
If I rode Sport/SS at my pace I would have finished DFL. :eek:

why no Beg/SS class?
 

MMuller

Well-Known Member
1st year racing at 48 yrs old. Tried beginner at LM and got 2nd. Suprised myself. Next race figured I'd try sport at Neshimmany. The 3 laps there killed me. Next one was JH and went back to beginner and got 3rd. When just riding 2 hrs or 16 miles is no biggie, sorta. But at race pace it's a totally different thing. Totally looking forward to as many H2H in sport class as I can do next year. I have to work on maintaining race pace for the 2-3 laps. Maybe this cross nonsense will help?
 

Ian F

Well-Known Member
I never raced Beginner... at my first XC race at Doe Mtn [now Bear Creek] in '91 I thought, "I've been riding bikes for ages... and raced BMX... I'm not a beginner..." and registered for Sport...

Of course, that first race nearly killed me... :eek:

Nearly two decades later, I'm still Sport (although I did upgrade to Expert in DH before stopping).

Big difference between beginner 'rider' and beginner 'racer'...

Personally, I agree you should move up as soon as possible. Nothing worse than a bunch of sandbagging Beginner racers...
 

Ian F

Well-Known Member
Considering the races are 30 min to an hour, Cross is not going to help you endurance for a race that is 1.5 to 2 hours.

I disagree to some extent... just getting to as many races as you can will help you get better/faster.

My best season of racing DH was the same year I was able to get to most of the Thursday night mtn bike XC crit races in Philly. My ability to race hard while seeing double from exhaustion improved greatly.
 

UtahJoe

Team Workhorse
Team MTBNJ Halter's
I ran 2 races in the begineer class this year, Lewis Morris & Kittitiny, got 14th and 5th place. Then I moved up to sport for the rest of the year. Get to sleep later, more racing, and in some cases a longer course.
 

Mare

Well-Known Member
I raced 2 beginner races prior to this year (Fair Hills was my first beginner race - 16 miles, then Kittatiny - 10 miles). I got 1st and 2nd place, so I felt I was sandbagging. I had no idea how I would place in sport, but I knew I could do the distance. So this year I moved up to sport.
 

Steve Vai

Endurance Guy: Tolerates most of us.
why no Beg/SS class?

Because SS isn't a racing class, it's a bike choice;)

-Jim.

PS-I may wait to see what happens with the new race categories for '09. There may be a shuffling of sorts. Once the Semi-pro's bump back down into Expert it may stop some of the faster aka "sandbagging" Sport guys from upgrading, which will result in a faster Sport class and in turn discourage Beginners from upgrading. Having said that, I beleive beginner class is just that, a beginner class, if you're even mildly serious about racing your bike, start in Sport!!
 
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stb222

Love Drunk
Jerk Squad
I can't even comprehend how incredibly stupid this comment is:rolleyes:

-Jim.

please shed some light as I am new to the topic. Based on some articles I have been reading in current magazine, it says that 2 to 3 hour + base building/maintain rides are less of a priority for adapting your training for cross races. While cross is more of a sprint than any other type of race, how does an hour sprint help you for a longer race?
 
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