Hello, I do harescramble/Cross Country style races periodically whenever they show up in my area just for fun and for a challenge. For the most part I ride singletrack and try to push myself when riding offroad often. I don’t take it easy on myself, and I’m pretty hard on myself when I do ride.

I just recently did a race called the Johnson Mill XC and it is an old school woods race. Beginner 25 miles and intermediate and up is 50 miles. I like to think of it as bark busting half cleared singletrack for good idea of what it is like. It took me about 3:34 to clear 25 miles and that’s when they called it at 1 lap for me.

How does one get good at this kind of stuff? Did I start too late in life (I’m 33)? Do people live on their bike to stay conditioned at this stuff? Or am I just not ballsy enough yet? I feel like I ride enough to be decent I’d think and I already feel like it’s an obsession to those around me 😅. Riding about 5-6 years now.

I felt like I could hold a good pace for about 15ish minutes with everyone else until I started feeling really fatigued and then I felt like I slowed it down to a pace I know I could still push but keep moving.

One day I’d like to not be last in all these races so Does anyone have any pointers? I try to ride 1-2x per week, it’s all I have time for. Usually off-road, mountain singletrack type of stuff and some endurance practice where I try to stay on the bike as long as possible. Usually in my riding groups of people, I am most advanced and willing to push it harder than most, so I’m not a complete noob at this stuff.

Thanks!