You have decided to try mountain bike racing and now what do you do? Here are a few tips to get you going:

Take a look at the clubs to see if there is club in your area that you could contact to get help started with preparing for your first race. Many clubs have club races, group rides and experienced racers who would be happy to share their enthusiasm for racing.

You can also check out the athlete info page for training tips and all sorts of information on racing in Saskatchewan.

Check out the event calendar to see when and where the races are and choose an event to participate in. Each event will have a link to information on that event as it becomes available. There is also a generic event entry form on the event calendar as well to print out and mail to the organizer.

Registering for a race:

There are two approaches to registering for a race. If you intend on doing more than two events during the year, you must use the second approach. If you are not sure how many races you will do or are trying racing for the first time, it is probably better to use the first approach.

The first approach assumes that you either have a general Saskatchewan Cycling Association membership or no membership in the association. Print out the generic event entry form from the event calendar page.

Fill in all the blanks on the form with the race information and your personal information. Choose your race category based on the guidelines found on the mountain bike racing page.

Entry fees will range from $20.00-$40.00 for a race for early registration. Early registration deadline is usually the Thursday before the event. After the deadline, entry usually goes up by $10.00. If you don't have a CCA race license, you will also require a single event license of $20.00 to cover you under insurance for the duration of the event. A single event license is good for one event and only one can be purchased once per year.

Mail, fax or drop-off your registration with the race organizer. Remember that you must include payment to be included in early registration otherwise you will have to pay the late registration fee. You can also register for the event on the day of the event.

The second approach requires the purchase of a race license from the Saskatchewan Cycling Association. With a race license, you must purchase a general membership from the SCA. The membership form can be downloaded either in web or pdf format from the column to your left. Fill in the appropriate information, check the racing general membership, select a club and choose the appropriate box depending upon your age for your license. You will notice that the license is not appreciably more expensive than a one-day license and the SCA membership has many benefits. Once you have filled out the membership form, fax or mail it to the SCA and you will be sent a race license with your license number on it. This will allow you to register for races without incurring the one-day license fee.

When you head out to a race there is often a significant amount of equipment and items to be packed and it is terrible to travel two hours to a race only to realize that you have forgotten something important like your helmet.

Clothing:

• Helmet, shorts, eye-wear, gloves, shoes, jersey, socks
• Wet weather gear (weather can change quickly in Saskatchewan)
• Cold weather gear (jacket, tights, warmer jersey)
• A clean set of clothes to change into after the race.

Equipment:

• Your bicycle.
• A minimum of a spare tube, small tool kit, and bike pump.
• Possibly spare tires for different conditions such as mud or rocky terrain.
• Possibly a more complete tool kit to handle major repairs if you break something during practice.

 Food and Drink:

• Bring snacks for before and after the race.
• During a race you will require as much as 1.5L of water per hour of racing depending on the temperature so bring lots of water and water bottles for both before, during and after the race.
• For races longer than an hour it is highly recommended that you have some sort of food during the race to keep your energy up. Powergels and Gatorade are two of the most popular choices because they are easy to consume and digest quickly.

Practicing the Course:
It is very important to do a pre-ride of the race course before the race. This gives you a chance to ride the course, note where turns are, hills, obstacles and to practice the difficult parts. It is very dangerous to race with out doing a pre-ride for obvious reasons.

Most race courses are marked the day before the event so you can either come out to the race site a day early to ride or early on the day of the event to get a practice lap in before the race.

The Day of the Event:
Refer back to MTB Racing page for the schedule of events for a typical mountain bike race. Sign-on is from 9:00-10:15AM and you must sign-on even if you have already pre-registered! If you have a race license you must show it to the person doing sign-on.

During this time the course is also open for practice. Remember to allow enough time to do a pre-lap so that you are back before the officials start staging riders at 10:45AM for the start of the race. A pre-lap will often take up to an hour to do as you are going much slower than race pace and stopping often to observe parts of the trail before riding them.

If you are in the Junior or Senior Expert or Elite categories you must get your bike marked between 10:00-10:30AM at the start-finish area.

The organizers will have a list of race categories posted and the number of laps that each category will do during the race. The laps are chosen to get as close to the ideal winning time for each category as possible. The list will also tell which wave you start in.

Staging of riders starts at 10:45AM and at this time the riders are divided into their starting waves. This allows the officials to start four smaller groups instead of one large group and is a done for rider safety. The first wave is made up of the fastest categories and the waves are sent off in order to the youngest categories.

Here are some helpful hints that will help you during your race:

• The start is usually very fast as riders try to get a good position before the track gets narrow and its harder to pass. The shorter the race, the more important a fast start is. Keep your wits about you though and don't do anything stupid :)
• Drink regularly. Many people forget to drink until they are thirsty and by then its too late. Dehydration come quickly and will really slow you down.
• Pace yourself. After the fast start, slow down a bit to a pace that you are sure you can hold for the duration of the race. This will give you a little extra at the end if there is a sprint.
• You use less energy climbing when seated so only stand when absolutely necessary.
• Stay focused one the trail ahead of you. If you are distracted by the riders around you, you have an increased risk of crashing.
• Riding down hills too fast and crashing is slower than riding at a slower more controlled pace.
• If you wish to pass a slower rider, be polite! Let them know you wish to pass and on what side you are passing on. Also, choose a safe location to pass!
• If a faster rider wishes to pass you, pull over when it is safe and there is room.
• Remember if a descent is too steep for you, walk down it rather than risk injury by riding something you aren't confident on. Your riding skills are at their worst while racing because of the stress of competition.
• Count your laps, the officials cannot tell you when you are done and spectators make give you incorrect information!