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[font=Times New Roman]I race MTB at an expert level with similar (slightly) less power numbers then you. I consistently in top ten, can get top 5 in 30% of races and occasionally get on podium. In choosing you have to know what the issues are in using that power / racing to success.[/font]
[font=Times New Roman]ISSUE 1 – Expert level racing typically takes a big step up over Sport in distance. Typically it is the same technical course as sport and beginner but more laps (most courses). I moved up (sport to expert) about 5 years ago and it took me a season to adjust to the need for power over the extra distance.[/font]
[font=Times New Roman]ISSUE 2 – Point one is very related to earlier comments about technique. A smooth rider will handle most course obstacles and rock gardens without slowing down or have to “power through” everything. This saves a whole lot of energy. You can often tell racers that have just moved up from Sport as they are working hard in tough sections (watch how much they use their brakes) and easy in smooth section where an expert has the technique to work smooth in the hard sections and keep pressure on you in smooth (this can easily crack a more fit but less technique orientated rider). That being said it means (no science behind this) the worse your technique the more power (NP) you will burn to keep up. You will burn more “matches” in tough spots while a good expert will not. This is OK if your conditioning is better and you can afford to burn the extra power but understand the longer the race (expert vs. sport), the more your conditioning will need to be better the competitors if your technique is just average. All points being made I believe the key difference between sport and expert is technique, not conditioning.[/font]
[font=Times New Roman]ISSUE 3 – How you burn energy / generate power in much different in MTB then road racing and time trial (and even crits). It is like a long time trial with numerous power bursts (and a sprint start, not just finish). Once you move to expert, the competition will never let you “relax” like a road race or even crit (by dropping back in group, relax might be wrong word but recover) and the course will force you into expending power and energy in bursts. One of the things I can tell you that is the difference between Sport and Expert is how racers “attack” and respond to attacks. MTB races tends to break into small groups quickly and in Sport this results in the group attacking at points and settling at points, in Expert, they keep the pressure on all the time. Attacks are countered and pressure kept on once caught. When I was getting good at the Sport level I could attack and make a sport rider give up pretty quickly then settle in for a bit and recover as soon as I got enough out of sight and count on them doing the same, once I went expert they killed me for trying to do this. I would attack and try to settle in and they would swarm me, beat me down, take my lunch and leave me trail side,,,initially it was pretty discouraging.[/font]
[font=Times New Roman]You power numbers look pretty good and are enough to race expert but think Sport is a better answer till you feel good about technique. [/font]
[font=Times New Roman]Just my 2 cents. [/font]
