just ride your bike hard whenever you can as the course allows. accelerate (get out of the saddle!!) out of every corner and get back up to speed as quickly as possible. maintain your momentum through obstacles. mistakes will be made - minimize your own and capitalize on others.' know your strengths and weaknesses so you can manage them during the race - there's almost always a section(s) where you will rock and others where you will suck. in some ways, cx is just damage control . .. .if you bobble and lose a few seconds, make it up somewhere. go hard, take chances, and keep racing even when it doesn't go as planned.