Last time in Latvia? Carnikava XCO Race Analysis

First XCO race of the season shuffled the cards even before the start whistle.

Warm up lap showed that chicken lines gonna cost a lot of time, thus some courage was also required to step over myself.

Nonetheless, about everything from Latvia’s first XCO cup in Carnikava – in race analysis here.

#tom10crafted #xco #raceanalysis #ucijokes

@IG: https://www.instagram.com/tom10crafted/
@Strava: https://www.strava.com/athletes/30245571

2024 MTB Races Analysis:

2023 MTB Races Analysis:

2024 Season MTB Races Full Onboards:

2023 Season MTB Races Full Onboards:

Insights about the bike & gear:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL67TKb1Z1m827efgu30bedNZ78xHLRGyF

After Stats:
https://www.youtube.com/@afterstats
https://www.instagram.com/afterstats/

Information about the gear used:
Footage captured: GoPro Hero 12 + Max Lens 2.0
Tracking device: Garmin Edge 1040
Power meters: Stages Cycling XTR
Bike: Scott Spark RC Pro 2022 Custom

hello everyone today we are at carnikava XO Latvia’s first event of XO Championship luu Laban and I will be participating in open groups seven laps initially it was six laps but they decided that conditions are good WEA is great the speed will be a bit up so we will be going for seven laps each lap 4 kilomet and a bit so in total we will have our around 30 km and it’s going to be fun race to do at The Starting Line work we were also quite a few lithuanians also Yas poas who just came back from Poland where he took uh first UCI points in his career so congratulations for that youas and the team of them so imagine they yesterday came from Poland and today they’re also at the starting line in lvia whether it was worth it or not we’ll see later down the road the start was given we went at the uphill which had to come into a single track but unfortunately they changed the beginning of the course and we went into different type of uphill then we’ be doing warm up lap where was still lines there but you probably wonder where is the footage because I’m already talking about the race and there’s no footage yet so there’s not going to be any because official of the race decided that they are very strict under UCI rules and they are not going to allow uh recording the race on the chesty for sure which in the past was not the problem in latia but I can agree with that there are a lot of jumps Etc so yeah they decided that mounting the camera on the bike is not allowed as well I don’t even have words to describe it I had quite a few discussions with official as well as organizers which were completely fine about using the cameras but official was strict and um it is as it is what’s my opinion about that I will cover that later but I will just uh share a few bits about the race course and how it happened in general so there were seven laps in the beginning as usual everyone was pushing really hard and because the short Loop was changed in the first lap we were quite fast up to the first drop which I decided not to risk doing it because for me it looked like ah it’s a bit problematic I went chicken line the first lap and I noticed that the time lost on that Loop is just enormous complete uh compared to our Riders who were just close and after that chicken line and they took the drop it was like gap opening up so I learned that on the first lap as well as on the second where on the third I decided what why to give that time away and I made those jumps and it wasn’t that bad and nothing to be worried about so that one was cleared and I was proud of myself for doing that but in general probably I was pushing not hard enough in the first few laps and then stuck a few times in the single tracks the guys from the front were going significantly faster like 1 minute probably even might be a bit more 1 minute and a half faster bare lap so I’ve been in my position going at the space I could do it and that was basically just racing against myself for seven laps but the course was nice it was quite fast uh few places were not too comfy to do especially that one in the sandbox but uh Before the Race I did one warmup lap and there were photographer there who said that hey it’s just looking uh more difficult than it actually is so I went back tried it no problems all went fine uh thanks for my wife who captured quite a lot of shots which I am going to incorporate in this video as well so that way I’ve been doing one lap after another and in such races usually I participate in XO quite rare um it’s a bit of a bummer if someone overtakes You by one lap that means your racing distance is reduced so for that reason I just kept looking through my shoulder if no one is coming I don’t know yet the results but they will be somewhere here or there uh but uh the guys who finished the race in the first place were probably a bit more behind it was my second time in lvia 6o champ first time I’ve been in dois sorry DOA pills two years ago so it was a nice experience compared to how it felt back then and what was the difference here talking more about the course I also have preview video of the whole app so you could have a better understanding what it was and in general what was to be expected as far as I know this is one of the easiest EXO courses in ltia so as I can agree it’s not complex at all also it’s worth mentioning that every feature had some sort of chicken line so basically the course was suitable for any Rider and talk about the general public interest to EXO races usually people are a bit afraid and a bit precautious about participating in such races because they think that it’s too demanding it’s dangerous like then you see videos from from uh World Cup EXO uh Races they are doing jumps all sorts of features Etc so yeah partially depending on the area where you are going to attend such race it might be the case in in your area but looking into baltics we definitely don’t have that much of advanced skills needed yes there are some but the reason why think uh capturing such races is crucial is you share the complexity of the course and that way those newcomers could have just easier understanding that hey you not going to be killed you are going to be perfectly fine to participate such race as you might see I a bit pissed off about this situation and the reason being is that yes racing is important but at the same time capturing the races is what I do and that’s the reason why sometimes I choose to go 300 kilometers just to do that race and taking that away from me has some sort of uh negative effect overall experience it also makes me to reink participating in such races which are under UCI rules and which are strict to following them blindly this year is the second time I was not allowed to record the race in UCI race and I pretty well described that thing in the past so you can check that video as well if you are interested about so basically the rule of fum is very simple you ask organizers whether they allow to capture the race due to commercial licenses Etc because you are showing off their brand their um sponsors so that’s the reason why they might allow you or cancel that idea and then if organizer allows you USI official just checks the cameras and they approves it or declines it if they are causing any safety issues if you mount a camera at the bike they allow to do it and only in such occasions it happens to be otherwise talking more about the race itself I was quite happy about the outcomes maybe not about the result in general but the fact that all lap times were more or less similar time uh maybe the last one was uh a bit slower the times were quite uh who who who nonetheless the times were quite similar and uh yeah that was a good effort in general no one managed to catch me by one lap if that’s the goal that’s a bit sad but that was just how it was today hopefully no one hurt thems badly after the drop jumps unsuccessful drop jumps so yeah you always have to measure uh the potential dangers and if you don’t feel confident about that you can always go the chicken line like I did first few laps and actually one funny thing is that once you go from chicken line into the uh a line which is the drop you also have to allow others to go pass through who took the jump so it just even additional time waste I had a company on the race course most of the time maybe except the last lap but there was one guy I don’t know his name nor number but he was going pretty similar speed than I did maybe even a bit stronger but he took zero jumps he always went in the chicken line and I always catched him back even though he was in front so maybe going at least on small gems would be beneficial instead of going in the chicken line anyways everyone do what they want to do and that’s fine so that’s what EXO should be about you take the line which you feel the most comfortable you lose some time but you can gain the same time on the climent for example and that will be perfectly find that said that’s definitely not the race analysis which you’ve been expecting to see nor the full on board which I wanted to provide but that just life happens or let’s say officials happens but nonetheless he was a nice guy just the different opinion than mine and that’s how it is I wonder what do you think about this type of decisions uh do you think that it’s right maybe you have some experience in different country and you maybe you have some solutions how to deal with them so let me know in the comments because now I’m a bit biased because I record them I want to record them and I feel unhappy then that doesn’t happens but maybe there is a way so yeah let me know in the comments what do you think about that how much if you’ve been in this race let us know in the comments how it went and we can discuss the things how it unveiled for you as well also ours will know how the race was from different perspective actually last one thing on one day before the race I rode with Aran pra so thanks for the company man and we had very nice single tracks rides just for you to have a look how beautiful surroundings nearby Ria is and it’s Coastline single tracks very nice one and we also discussed with arman’s possibility that he would carry the camera so we would have on board with two cameras switching from one to another so it’s like super cool stuff exactly like I did in Wy Biz MTB which if you haven’t seen yet you still have a chance to uh do that because well race on boards from carnikava is not available so what should we do race on boards are really nice for indoor training sessions keep that in mind that you can do your indoor training tring sessions while watching race on boards from the races and maybe just maybe next year you decide that yeah I’m going to costablanca bike race because that’s amazing and that’s what I said this year after the race un wailed so there are a lot of things a lot of them my wife has some questions which I don’t know yet so she can try to do that three things uh which you like the most on R race three things I like the fact that I managed to do a drop jump which I was afraid to I also overtook Arman pra shout out man but he had a crash so that’s nothing to be happy about that hopefully everything went fine for him so let let’s just scratch this uh out and count as an example free thingss is huge number for me to find good things and something is really complicated most often I would say that uh having similar lap times throughout the whole race was something to cherish as well because that means I was good enough at my pacing and at least for now didn’t completely got myself busted towards the end of the race so you live and you learn maybe and the third thing is that I always love to have discussions with Lan guys after the race or before the race so it’s just great community and I enjoy it a lot will there be any more questions today what could be better three things as well be better for my performance be better for the race itself please please clarify the question uh on the race day in the track um in my opinion when the race has a and b lines to choose from it’s beneficial because someone can choose uh whether he wants to try different line or not in this race A and B lines were only on the technical features which were jumps or drops so in my opinion having a or b lines not necessarily on the technical features is beneficial second thing for sure is I would enjoy a much more comparation from uh race officials that they would land themselves down that we are in the local race it’s not International worldwide blah blah blah blah and exposure is the good thing also what could be always better is more participants so the more participants comes to the race the more interest it adds to the overall performance and feeling so yeah more participants is always a good thing what you can recommend for Riders who want to try Exel for for XO you definitely don’t have to be afraid of trying it first thing if you are not exactly sure where XO is for you you can always come to the race after it happened just check the race course see how the climbs are for you Etc so that would be the simplest way to get your feet wet so you are not registering you are not paying anything you’re just checking the course and seeing the taste of it but keep in mind that during the race your capabilities usually gross and that’s where the personal growth always comes from so if you can do a bit more up to your uh skills uh before the race day on the race day that means you are getting better so getting better in general in everything we do is probably the ultimate goal we should Chase and that’s what I recommend for you to think about then you’re considering entering these type of races so don’t be afraid and just dive into it describe in one sentence how how was for you this race but only one sentence for me this race was challenging but at the same time it was fun despite the fact of all the triggers which were before the race start next EXO race is going to be in dog of pills and it’s quite similar to this one maybe it has even more uh jumps and drops but not as technical I would say but the race course is a bit longer they also have actual real Garden Rock Garden if you are from ltia which ex course for you is the most demanding and the most challenging from what I heard it’s probably orre I haven’t been there but I saw how huge jumps and burns and all that stuff is there I also believe salus is quite steep in terms of the climbs maybe it’s not as technical demanding but it’s still hard anything else seula that’s probably all I know oh I actually know one other it’s lizum XO where Ivar DX is the main host there who do all the amazing jumps and stuff there so is it is it hard is it not let me know in the comments and maybe we’ll meet there who knows I wonder where the Lans became so good in EXO they are flying like crazy they are going like crazy they are afraid of nothing we go into a single tracks without any breaks at all where the hell you learn those skills guys let me know in the comments as well because that’s something to chase for I guess that’s it [Music] l how this