Originally Posted by gonesh9
Different races are totally different for every person. I myself have finished well in endurance mountain bike races and road races with lots of sustained climbing. I found Mt. Tabor to be really hard, since it's all about holding a very high output for ~30minutes, with short but fast uphills. I can do 80% effort for 5 hours, but can't seem to do 90% effort for 30 minutes.
PIR is completely different, to me the laps are nothing to hang with the bunch, all foreplay for the prime sprints and the finish sprint. But what Fishmel said is right, it's good for playing with technique and training. The hardest part is dealing with all the guys that can't handle their bikes, and trying to avoid crash situations.
Sounds like you are improving anyhow, so definitely try out a different type of race as they are all different.
Hey Gonesh,
It sounds like you are a strong rider and you should be able to stay with the pack at Tabor 4/5. It is fast and hard but I found the most important part of the race to be at the top of the hill. There, I don t know how the F they do it but it seems that they sprint a bit and if you don t catch up to that, it will be VERY hard to stay in the race.
Anyways, I appreciate your insight and look forward to race something 'easier'