Originally Posted by
JRCurzon
You raise some interesting points, a dropper post would definitely help but I'm a broke-ass student so its not really an option. I have a 29er so I have that in my favour. I will try that idea of sprinting mixed with climbs as a training method, where I live is very hilly and a normal 1hr session normally sees about 200m of climbing, but I'm not sure how much sprinting. Thanks for that tip.
There is a lot of very good advice in this thread regarding the bike and the "engine".
I don't see how the question regarding times for a full suspension carbon bike vs a hardtail can be answered. There are too many factors.
As far as your current bike- There might be some unlocked potential there.... you have stated it is a 29er aluminum hardtail without a dropper post. Tell us more about the bike. Brand & model? What fork? Are you running tubeless? What drive train? What terrain do you race in?