My first race – What is involved?
Your first race is always going to be an exciting time. You will be nervous about what you have to do, if you are up to the task and who your competition is. The best way of allaying these things is race more often. The more races you do the more comfortable you will be and the more you will know what to expect. However there are some things that you should always do to ensure that you have the best experience possible: Prepare. The night before set out your MTBA membership card and money, clothes, helmet, shoes, gloves and eye-wear. Prepare your drinks and food for the race. Place all these in the one place so that you are not hunting around madly trying to assemble all this at the last minute. Prepare your tools to take and make sure that your bike is lubricated and working correctly. The night before is not the time to change anything significant on your bike – like a new seat or gears – to do that will only add to the worry next day. Practice. For XCO the first lap of the race is n
