worldtraveller

I am thinking of doing a local mt bike race later in August.

It is a 8 hour mt bike race
8 hour enduro

so way it works, you have 8 hours and you do as many laps as you can on a certain course.

I am curious as to strategy on doing this.

i done regular mt bike races before that lasted 2 hours
and done road races

for a 8 hour time race of multiple laps, how do you race it

Would you ride each lap like a regular race? like go full race pace the whole time? or do you go at a slower pace to so you can ride whole 8 hours.

the race is a solo ride or team.

I would be doing the solo aspect. So that hope to clear things up.

I know one would stop a few times for sure to eat and rest. But just like some strategy or feedback from others who may have done such an event before.

Thanks

merlin55

Eating and hydration is very important, but you shouldn't need to "rest". Over several months you should increase your training rides up to at least one six or seven hour ride, every other week or so. Try and find a 2 hour loop where you can park your car with your food and supplies, and ride 3 laps. A HRM that records time spent in each training zone might help you set a good "8 hour pace"

StephenH

Just go ride it and see. If you anticipate being competitive, then it gets important as to how you work the details. If you're not competitive anyway, then you have more flexibility.

My one experience doing something like this was a 12-hour time-trial (ie, non-drafting road race). The first 100 miles went great, then I just ran out of steam. I doubt there's much that I could have done differently in the way of actual performance, other than being more fit in the first place.

In my case, the course was a 26-mile loop, so I stopped each lap to refill water bottles, etc. One lesson learned is to minimize your time off the bike. If you can have a bunch of water bottles all iced down where you just grab a couple out and then keep riding, you can speed things up.

I've been using Perpetuum on some of the longer rides, and having to mix that up each lap was something else to slow me down.

If you have a crew person to take care of some of that stuff for you, it would help.