Competition MTB (XC)

FuckAllOfYou

FuckAllOfYou

Active member
Yo NS,

As the title states, I'm looking for some comp MTB riders (cross country) here on NS! I'm from MN, and we have a summer series/fall high school league, and I'm wondering how many of y'all also race.

I know there are a few on here, I've met some.

Also, If you don't already MTB you should try it because it's a great summer alternative to skiing and it keeps you in great shape.

I might be vastly underestimating the amount on here, but I'm just curious yknow
 
I raced collegiate cross country and short track this fall at unr. We won the whole western conference as a team. Claim/ I love mtb riding. Best thing to do when I'm not skiing.
 
I wish I could afford to hook myself up with a half deecent xc/am bike. The unemployed life doesn't bode well with mountain bikers.
 
I just bike as a summer outlet and as a way to stay in shape. But I do ride with a race team on Thursday nights at my local inner city trail, and try to stay on pace with them. I just stepped up my bike game from a Norco Kat to a Trek Cobia 29'er and holy shit, what a huge difference. The bike crushes it on the uphills and for a hardtail, floats on the downhills. Having a ton of fun with it and its made it way easier to keep up with the race guys. If I can stay on the riding schedule I'm on now, and finally make the switch to clipless, I may look to go competitive in a few races next year for the challenge. Who knows? For now I'm loving the ride out there.
 
Dang, i was keeping up with you until my wheel fell off 3rd lap. Anyway, oh yeah, what bikes does everyone ride? I ride a 2012 specialized carve expert.
 
I've got a Santa Cruz solo ordered, can't wait it to ship to NZ,

I've done quiet a few xc races for school but I don't really enjoy raceing xc, I would rather just go for a normal ride. I really enjoy the couple of enduro style races I've done but nothing beets a day of shuttles
 
I raced last year in the cat 1/junior x catagory mostly in the wors series but did a couple point to point races. I took this year off though because im on vacation for 2 months. Ill probably train over the winter to hopefully race cat 1 again. I rode a s works stumpy 29er but sold it to help pay for my travels and I can just ep another next spring. Claim?
 
I ride a trek 29er that some dick-hole made me pay 200$ for, what an ass. Lol jk, actually its a really good bike compared to what i used to ride and ive had a really fun time using it this summer. Mountain biking is cool!
 
i rode a lot more when i was around 17-19 or so. havent done too much racing tho, maybe 3-4 times a local race (which is one of biggest in europe tho).

its definitely fun and depending where you live you can experience soo many places and trails

 
That clipless game... What pedals? Everyone local swears by eggbeaters but all I ever seem to read for online reviews is that the needle bearings get beat to shit easily... Opinions? Stick with some shimanos?
 
Shimano. The shop I work at won't even stock Crankbros because of the durability issues. From what I've heard, if you hit the rails hard on a rock, they will bend easily.

I've been on Shimano pedals for a couple years now, and have had basically no problems. I have some play in my old m520s (entry level ones,) but I rode those things pretty hard. I have m770s now (XT, really nice) and they are fantastic. The bearings are super smooth, there is no maintenance, and they're crazy durable. You pretty much cannot break a Shimano pedal.

I would recommend that you look at Shimano m540s. It's a bomb-proof pedal that will perform very well. And as much as you should support your local shop, you can get them for like $45 bucks online.

http://www.nashbar.com/bikes/ProductDisplay?storeId=10053&langId=-1&catalogId=10052&productId=197373&utm_source=Google_Product_Search&utm_medium=pla&utm_campaign=datafeed&cm_mmc=Google_Product_Search-_-PLA-_-Datafeed-_-Shimano%20M540%20Mountain%20Pedals&CAWELAID=1011833608&catargetid=1572651403&cadevice=c&cagpspn=pla
 
Whoops,
1039576_646229578740343_1110290642_o.jpg
 
As tranny_slammer said, shimanos. I had some crankbros candies, and they were nice but they definitely degraded badly. I just got some m520's (i didn't have a ton of cash) and they're great. They are BOMBPROOF.
 
I disagree. I love clipless, and platforms to me impede my performance and i'm pretty serious about biking. I guess whatever floats your boat, try both ways.
 
This. I ride flats cause they allow you to be able to move more and are supposed to be easier on your joints. Plus any time I ride clipless I hurt myself.
 
I have to agree with this. I ride shimano XT's and they are great pedals. If you are riding XC I would highly recommend clipless. They give you much more efficiency when pedaling compared to a platform pedal. They seem to scare some people because at first clipping out might seem difficult, but after a day are two of riding you will be able to get your foot off the pedal just as fast as with platform pedals.
 
Anybody wanna buy some Shimano m770 XT Race pedals for $55? I only used them for a month. They retail for $150 and are on ebay for about $90. I am only trying to sell them because I want to buy the m780s.
 
Eh, DH is a different sport than XC. You don't ski up the mountain, do you?

That being said, I love XC almost as much as I love DH. I so badly wish I didn't have to sell my XC rig to afford my DH bike.
 
I rode high school comps senior year, and entered two last year but I haven't been able to bike yet thanks to my re-torn ACL. I ride a KHS Yuma 29er that's stock except for tubeless tires. I love racing, but I'd recommend road biking as training at least a little bit if you've got the means to do so.
 
So, I was going to go and ride my course and GoPro the track and record audio with some light commentary. But I have a wicked cold so I'd have a super slow time, and would sounds like a turtle... Hopefully I'll get it some time this week. It's a 6.34KM track though. Very technical me it has no flow so it's a tough ride. What's your guys most frequented trail like?
 
About that length, choppy, and pretty technical. It's a long course stuffed into a small forested area. Luckily, there's a new trail being built, which is much flowier. It's pretty fun to help out
 
Once I got used to clipless I couldn't stand flat pedals. You just get so much more power. But I'm a pussy and don't go downhill very fast.

I never had a decent bike until last year and I immediately fell in love with mountain biking. It's a new challenge for me. It's not easy like skiing. I get my ass kicked on every ride. oh and here's my rig.

trek-remedy-7-2009.jpg

 
lol no it's definitely not a strict XC bike so it's a little out of place in this thread but i love it for technical single track
 
It's my first summer in SLC and I'm rehabbing my knee so I actually don't know where's good yet but growing up I rode in Rossland, BC.
 
clipless is the shit going up and da bomb going down. once you're confident going downhill in general and get used to the clipless it feels awesome being clipped in. you literally just feel like one with the bike. with that said, it's scary as shit doing bigger stuff, but in reality, a lot of the time you just gotta go for it and it's nice knowing you're not gonna slip off anyway. any sort of xc stuff they'll make you ride that much better though.

I have crank bros candy's. they have a little more platform than the eggbeaters so they feel a bit more stable and I've had them for almost a year and haven't had any problems. beat em off a few rocks and they're still good. I have the 5.10 hellcat shoes which are sweet cause they convert from flats to clips and are really good for both if you like both. highly recommend both.
 
I have to agree with this. I run Candies too. They have held up fine through two years of riding 3-4x/week, and in the end if I end up nuking the bearings, the replacement cost is quite minimal.

I love feeling of the connection with the bike. I feel the level of control is so far beyond that of flats. I never experienced ANY time when I could not get out of them in a hurry, even on an over-the-bar toss. Your heel naturally goes outwards in these occasions, releasing the cleat. I found there to be no actual learning curve and anything perceived is purely mental.
 
You're completely right, both of you. Clipless is so much fun, and I agree with that "one with the bike" feeling. Then there's the obvious efficiency bonus
 
Yeah, after I order materials for my next 5 skis, and binding inserts for those 5 skis; then I'm going to see where I'm sitting at cash wise, and make the jump on some pedals and shoes. Hopefully I don't kill myself.
 
it's not that bad. you might forget you're clipped in occasionally and take a fall, but that never happened to me (luckily). when you first get clips, sit on your bike, grab onto a railing or wall or something and practice clipping in and out. it takes some getting used to but the muscle memory kicks in pretty quickly.
 
I usually ride clips if im doing serious xc or a race, but anything other than those I prefer flats. Sure, popping out of clips really isn't that hard and people can do it fast, but when im hauling ass downhill and i start to slide out, there is no comparison. Plus if you get nice flats with long/replaceable pins and wear decent shoes it is nearly impossible for your feet to slip off.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top