How to Train for Trail Racing

We all want to get faster. There is no better feeling like pushing yourself to your limit and just flowing with the trail, noticing every dip, bump, and quarry before you hit it, and navigating them with ease. Then crossing the finish line, just knowing you had placed a top 10 time.

I had a great first racing season, with only starting riding trails right before the season started, placing 13th at Dirtsurferz, 9th at Let it Ride in Vegas, and 9th at Wheelscorcher.

Getting into the top 10 in a Onewheel race is no joke. This means you are pushing yourself, and your board to the limit. Meaning if you come off, you are likely diving off the side of the trail, or into some bushes. Lord knows I have already been there. I got lucky to have some hardcore trail riders around me when I was learning, so I got through the pain period quickly, and got all my main tumbles out of the way.

With the next racing season coming in a few months, I figured no better time than ever to talk about what got me faster, so maybe you can add a thing or two to your arsenal. Disclaimer This is not a "how to ride trails post" I would assume you are already there, although I am not opposed to making one!

__1. Learn to ride your board on the redline / Find Your Stance. __

This is probably the single biggest thing that caused the "click" that made me go from being "pretty fast", to being a competitor. This means exactly how it sounds. Riding the board past pushback, but in control.

This one just takes practice, and fine tuning your stance. Here is a great video to learn about stances. I am in between Jeff and Bodhi's stance. I accelerate with my hips, but i manage my weight with my arms to give me that last little bit of top end. This lets me be able to snap back a nosedive. The biggest thing here is to ride in a stance that gives you control when the board starts to nosedive, so you are no longer at the mercy of the board, but you are one with it.

I found a gravel trail right near my house where pretty much daily, I slowly worked on top speed. Starting at around 18pmh to 21mph where i was able to hold it in control, then occasionally started to learn the "snap back" when the board starts to surge and drop the nose, you can quickly snap it back up if you are properly balanced on your board! Hope that made sense!

This one will take time and practice, make sure to wear gear! I liked to practice on a flat, easy trail, then performed on straightaways in the advanced trails.

2. Build Up Your Trail Legs

Stamina and endurance is key here. Endurance will make sure you don't tire out while on a long segment and get jello legs. (Wheelscorchers Qualifier was about 10-15 mintues long depending on your speed) While stamina will be key for how many attempts overall you can give the trail to learn it on the trail learning days. Sometimes in Enduro's like Dirtsurferz you have 5 trails you have to learn. The more attempts on them the more confident you will be going full speed. Although if you aren't trained on Stamina, you'll be torched for race day.

For building endurance, think low amount of rest between trails, while doing 4-5 reps on the trail, depending on length. Our trails out here in Florida are not very long, so for my 3 minute trails, I run them 5 times, with about 1 minute rest in between, with maximum effort attempts but in control. This trains your legs to not get much rest and continue to output hard efforts. If you do this right you will also be building your lactic acid threshold. I'm no scientist but I used to run. So for a 10 minute trail, maybe just run it 2-3 times, with your rest being your ride back to the top. Remembering to go 80 - 90% on your way down.

Now Stamina is a different beast. Think volume here. Try to build more and more overall trails into your day with at least 80% effort. As riding them chill won't tax your legs enough. This doesn't mean you have to ride all day, just that you maybe plan to put 8 hard efforts in with full 5 minute breaks between each.

After a month or two of this, your legs will be beastly!

3. Read and plan those trails!

This is one that I see people skip over time and time again. Its relatively simple, but hard to commit to when you are super siked, and around buddies.

Come back to the spot that you fell on. Don't just keep going. Oh and just one more try isn't enough.

Go back to that spot, and try it 3-5 times. Dial that crap in, do it in your head. You wan't to be so confident that you don't even have to think about it. This is what makes you those few seconds that adds up to a few placements. Try it multiple different ways, then try it at race pace. Another thing people don't do is try their line at race pace, because it'll be much, much different.

Often times the line you chose going a chill pace, won't be the one that works at full speed. So experiment and get dialed!

I hope this helps you get sendy! There is so much more I can expand on, but maybe I will leave it for another post. Have a great week and float on my friends :)