[croscoe]

Hi. Please forgive my ignorance. When you are racing XC, are you racing against the clock or to get in the lead position? I was watching some videos on youtube, and trying to figure out if the person that starts last out of a big group has to work his way to the head of the pack. I hope this makes sense. Thanks for your time.

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[LowCel]

You are racing against each other / yourself. The clock really doesn't have much to do with it in xc racing. If you plan on winning or having a top five / ten finish you had better start on the first line and be prepared to suffer from the start in order to maintain your position and not get behind a bunch of slower riders. If you are going to do well plan on reaching max heart rate within 15 seconds of the start.

[apclassic9]

You should also keep in mind that in most xc races there are a number of classes, so you might or might not be racing against the biker in front of you!

[ZeCanon]

Yep, XC races are mass-start. So, whoever gets to the finish first, wins. The timing is mostly done so people can see how far off they were from everyone else, and to give them a goal to improve upon I suppose.