There’s a lot to think about when it comes to your next DH or Enduro race. You’ve been training for months and your bike is in perfect working order, but you still have all the things you need to consider on the day of the race.
Line choice, nutrition, logistics, spares/replacement parts, clothing/protection and final setup tweaks all still need to be considered on race day. Even the basics such as getting between the venue and your accommodation are rumbling around your head on race day. And don’t forget - did you bring your lucky undies? Are your knee pads still smelly from last weekend?
Phew, there is a lot to consider!
And you haven’t even seen the race course yet.
You have a LOT on your plate, but as with most things, the cream rises to the top in racing. Racing rewards those who are organized, prepared and fully focused on doing the right things at the right time. Those racers go into their race runs knowing what they need to do, and they execute these things flawlessly.
We all strive for race weekends like this where the pressure is off and the performance is peaked!
But with all the ins and outs of racing, how can we race at our best week in and week out?
Risk:Reward Ratio – Make Your Downhill Pre-Ride Count
When you arrive at the race venue you only have a limited time to check out the course you will race. In enduro, you might get as little as one full run on each track. In downhill, you might get all day to practice one trail, but you need to be careful that you don’t get too fatigued by over-practicing. It’s your last chance to make any setup changes to your bike, so you’ll probably also be thinking about that too.
In a nutshell, you have limited time and a scattered focus when it comes to your pre-ride, but it is incredibly important to make the pre-ride count.
Pre-rdiing is crazy important. We already know that as we learn a trail, we learn how to brake more efficiently since we can already anticipate what’s coming up on the trail and we’re planning for the next section before we even get to it.
But with limited pre-ride time, how can you deliver on what you came here for - to ride the track as fast as you can?
The Biggest Pre-Riding Mistake
One of the greatest mistakes racers make is focusing too much of their energy on marginal gains while overlooking their biggest weaknesses.
The worst examples of this are racers practicing risky lines over and over when the potential risk:reward ratio is too high – there simply isn’t enough time to gain in these sections (the reward) when the risk of crashing or making a mistake is so high.
Focusing on marginal gains like these during your pre-ride will result in you either leaving time out on the track in your race run or getting injured. This is especially true as you get tired over the weekend.
You should instead focus your energy on riding slightly better where you are losing the most time.
By doing this, you could gain a big reward for a low risk. This is exactly what you should be aiming for!
How to Simplify Downhill & Enduro Race Pre-Ride Routines
MTB is incredibly complex, but racing as fast as you can is all about doing the little things right. Appropriate body position, good line of sight, good bike setup, good pacing, etc. all come in to play.
And then there’s braking.
Braking is what you do to control your bike considering all the other elements of MTB at play. Poor body position will result in poor braking, while overpacing will result in overbraking later on down the track.
Your braking is the one other variable besides run time that you can use to quantify your DH and Enduro riding and racing (heck, you can even use it for XC). As you dig into your braking - and especially your Key Opportunities - you’ll uncover all sorts of things related to your riding. Afterall, a better FlowScore means a better race time - and there’s science to prove it.
To make it easy to use BrakeAce for pre-riding Dh and Enduro, we devised the Key Opportunities strategy. Your KOs are your weakest parts of the trail, and the BrakeAce app shows you how you’re braking and where you’re doing it. Each KO is even characterized by your braking weakness - it highlights whether your Intensity, Modulation or Duration are your weakest link!
We created KOs with both racers and weekend warriors in mind. By showing you only 3 KOs, you can tackle your training or pre-riding by focusing only on 3 sections of track instead of thinking about every section of the track. (You’re still busy thinking about your smelly knee pads anyway. Plus, what did you pack for lunch?)
Yes, you probably braked more than 100x on your last run down, but by drawing your attention to only 3 parts of the trail, you have only 3 sections to think about. Capitalize on these and you’ve just unlocked the fastest way to a faster time!
Think about the KO pre-ride this way: just focus on a small improvement in your biggest weaknesses.
It’s really that simple.
"The worst examples of this are racers practicing risky lines over and over when the potential risk:reward ratio is too high – there simply isn’t enough time to gain in these sections (the reward) when the risk of crashing or making a mistake is so high."
How to Pre-Ride a Downhill or Enduro Race with BrakeAce
Alongside all the other ways you can use BrakeAce in training and testing your setups, we designed the BrakeAce app so that you can make your race days more streamlined. We literally made BrakeAce to help mountain bikers get faster. To help you, we have three ways you can use BrakeAce on an Enduro or Downhill race weekend to get your best possible ride.
Check out 3 ways you can use BrakeAce to Pre-Ride a DH and Enduro Race below:
Pre-Ride Option 1: BrakeAce Method Pre-Ride
This pre-riding option is for when you have at least two runs of the same track. It is perfect for Downhill practice since you need to dial in your riding on one track. You can easily use it in enduro when you can do multiple runs, and of course this is the perfect training method.
The BrakeAce Method is 4 steps to faster downhills. Since your Key Opportunities are the weakest links of your ride, focus on improving in these sections to save not only practice time, but also to cut down your runs times. The beauty of the BrakeAce Method and Key Opportunities in general are that you only have to focus on THREE sections of the track. You won’t focus on risky lines with nothing to gain either.
The 4-step BrakeAce Method is as follows:
Take a run down the track and record with BrakeAce (that’s easy!)
Identify your Key Opportunities. This is also easy since the app shows them to you on the map
Session your Key Opportunities. Two easy things to try are finding new lines that let you lower your FlowScore in this section, or tighten up your braking zones.
Ride the track again. Don’t overthink any other sections - just focus on executing your new plan in your KOs. This could very well be your race run since you’ve built your confidence in Step 3
Pre-Ride Option 2: Mental Notes & Self-Talk
If you’re strapped for time or can’t do the BrakeAce Method, look at your braking data in your KOs.
Is there something simple that you can do in these sections? Mentally replay that section in your head, and focus on executing it better during your next run.
Another easy mental note you can make is all the locations of your Brake Checks. Focus on your line of sight in these sections to gain more confidence in your riding.
Pre-Ride Option 3: Braking Data Overlay
Heaps of racers are already using GoPros to pre-ride Downhill and Enduro races and in race practice. The beauty of any POV footage is that you can use it for precise timing of your lines, and to recall any tricky sections. Heck, you could even notice an alternate line that you hadn’t seen before, thanks to the wide field of view!
BrakeAce works with GoPro, too. You can pair up to two GoPros with the BrakeAce app. This lets you start your video and your braking data at exactly the same time.
If you record your pre-ride and course practice in this way, you can later export your braking data from the BrakeAce web app and overlay it onto your POV camera using 3rd party software like DashWare or RaceRender.
With your braking overlaid on video, you can not only see your timing and line choice, but you can also see how you needed to brake to ride those lines. Being able to see your braking overlaid on video is every racer’s dream!
That’s Not All
There are plenty of other ways you can use BrakeAce at races.
You can compare yourself to a mate and find the ultimate line combo.
You can see where you’re dragging the rear brake.
You can identify your biggest weakness in the race (everyone brakes differently when they are racing - some riders are much worse in races!) and use this info for future training sessions.
Another simple option is to focus on braking with purpose. You can talk yourself through braking with purpose by asking yourself, “why am I braking?” This is especially effective as a training ride!
Your options are pretty much limitless! How will you use BrakeAce?
For more training sessions to help you gain time, check out these 3 training sessions you can do right now!
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