New to racing. Any tips to go faster? I mainly struggle with the flatter sections where I lose momentum.

I’m not a racer but what helps me in the chunk in flatter section where I cannot pedal is pumping and being active on the bike, I try to hop around the slower stuff and be light when I can

More speed in = more speed out. Anticipate the slow sections and get into them as fast as possible and stay on the pedals. Light on the ground, small hops, let the bike float.

Suspension tuning?

You could try staying in a little higher gear then as you’re approaching the part where you slow down, stand up and pump on those pedals to keep moving. That also gets you up and more active on the bike so you should roll over it easier to boot.

Better cardio will let you more quickly recover from that kind of thing and stronger legs wouldn’t hurt either. Like some specific training for each of those things with planned progression and such. Goblet squats at like 20 rep sets hits me as a good fit and maybe starting with a weight you can do for 4-5 sets of 15 reps. When you can do 20 reps across all 5 sets, go up to the next heaviest weight. You can use weight plates, dumbbells’, or even a heavy rock (this was a bit of a thing during COVID when gyms were closed. Pro tip, name your rock-buddy!). Some kind of HIIT program for cardio.

have been racing XC as a hobbyist for 8ish years. I’m not very fit but I usually make up time on other riders in tech and downhill sections. My thinking might be a little different than yours for Enduro or downhill but I did notice some stuff.

I think the first slow section you needed to pick a more efficient line. In this case I would focus on the smoothest, straightest line, and trying to find spots to bunny hop over the worst of it. For rock gardens it’s often really fast to just lip off the first rock and launch yourself over the largest chunk. In this case it was really long so I would stand up and pedal like a maniac 3 seconds before and try for line that will disrupt the tires the least.

Later you slowed for a blind drop, and the loss of momentum from the downhill made you slow in the next flat section like 20 seconds later. In this case I think one could gap that to the dirt and save several seconds. IDK the rules of this race but a pre ride or pre walk will help a lot with confidence and keeping momentum. Whoever won the race definitely just chucked themselves over that at speed. There was another spot a few seconds earlier where you braked into a weird line instead of rolling over a rock drop thing with more speed. Riding bigger and scarier features than you’re going to encounter on race day will also help you feel confident on the course.

And near the end (before the grass) you seem tired and more cautious on the brakes. Maybe the GoPro doesn’t do the chunk justice but it seems like you’re capable of staying off the brakes a little more aggressively. When I’m tired I always find lots of speed from looking further up the trail. It really helps give your exhausted brain an extra second to figure out the fastest braking and turning points.

I am just one dumbass, so grain of salt ofc 🙂

I know Wild turkey when I see it. You look pretty good. Typically I hit the “blind drop” section going pretty fast. Once you get used to that trail coming in you can send down the middle and maintain speed. The top section is a pain. Pedal pedal pedal.