Mountain Bike Racing - ganna do my first race this weekend.

I signed up for the Coyote Classic race here at the Franklin Mountains st park in El Paso Tx and southern NM region. I have only been mtn biking for say 4 months so kind of nervous. Im doing the beginner race which is 12 miles. Saturday are the downhill races and sunday the XC races. Convinced my wife to go with me to check out the downhill races.

Is there any advice you guys can give for noobies? Should I wear knee pads? Should i take my camelbak or just use bottle? huh cant think of anything else at the moment.

Good luck, what do you use when you ride normally?
Bottle or camelbak? Do what you are comfortable with, then there is less stress on you. I cut the gatoraide in half with water, less irritating on the stomach.
Make sure you have a multitool, pump, tube patch kit, and then you are prepared when nothing goes wrong, Murphy's Law applies as always. If its going to be wet, carry a secong pair of gloves in the back of your shorts, if you spill and put your hands in the muck, you at least have clean dry gloves so you can hang on and sprint back into position.

Oh, and eat at least two hours before, so you arent stuffed too much.

Be sure to get a good nights rest prior to the race, and lots of water!!! Eat something that will stick with you in the morning, but not too heavy.
I prefer the camelbak, less hassel on the fly, but keep your training/raceing the same. Never start something new at a race.
Walk/ride the course before the race if you can, look for good lines or tricky areas, but the most important part is have fun, winning can suck if you don't have fun, besides if you have a good time you'll ride more and do better at your next race.
Good luck!

I usually use a camelbak, and have never worn pads. Though sometimes i think i should since getting my clipless pedals my left knee would be a lot happier. :D
Thanks for the advice. Ill let you know what place i finish in tomorrow.

Man i dont know what the heck i was thinking... I was definetly not ready for that race. At times i wanted my bike to just fall apart hehe. But i stuck to it and am glad i did. Felt good to come across that finish line. Even if i probably was the last one in my division and age group.
one thing is for sure. Im going to train a lot more for the next one in april. Just dont know how much better i can get by then. Even though it was still fun.

good job finishing. Sometimes, that's the tuff part. I've wanted to bail out before, too.

The best words of wisdom I've received for a gentleman in Blue Ridge Georgia: "The only way to get good at racing mountain bikes, is to race mountain bikes."

It gets easier, sign up for the next race.