Originally Posted by
tpower
Take care of your bike.
Brake less.
Actually practice CX skills during the week (and at race pace).
The fastest way around the course varies from rider to rider based on their fitness, skillset and equipment.
Have fun.
The bolded bits there are pretty much my gameplan for cross once September starts, which will be about 3 weeks before the beginning of the local series races.
I'm a 10minute ride from forest preserve park that get used annually for one of the races. I'm going to try and get a weekly hour long workout in there practicing cornering, and powering up the short hill.