Understanding the Physiological Requirements of the Mountain Bike Cross-Country Olympic Race Format

Abstract

Objectives: To evaluate the physiological requirements imposed by the current mountain biking Cross-Country Olympic (XCO) format.Methods: Sixteen Cross-Country cyclists competing at national or international level participated in this study. All participants completed a simulated and a real official race on a cycling-accredited race track. Oxygen consumption (O2) and heart rate (HR) values expressed as %O2max and %HRmax, respectively, were divided into three physiological intensity zones. The first zone (Z1) was the physiological region below VT1, the second zone (Z2) corresponded to a region between VT1 and VT2, and the third zone (Z3) was located between VT2 and VO2max. For power output, an additional fourth zone was considered above maximal aerobic power (MAP).Results: When competing in the current XCO format, 37.0 ± 17.9% of the race is performed above the second ventilatory threshold at a mean intensity of 87% O2max and 25% of the race was spent above MAP. This contribution varied between laps, with a very high intensity during the first lap and more aerobic subsequent laps. The durations of most of the periods beyond MAP oscillated between 5 and 30 s. Between these short, repeated bursts, low-intensity periods of exercise were recorded.Conclusion: The current XCO race format is an acyclical and intermittent exercise comparable to high-intensity team sports. Moreover, our results highlight the relevance of O2 values when analyzing XCO performance, they should be combined with commonly used HR and/or power output data.

Energy system contribution during competitive cross-country skiing

“…However, recent data collected in field conditions using advanced wearable sensor technology underline the importance of being able to repeatedly perform at metabolic rates well above V O 2peak in distance skiing as well (Gløersen et al 2018, 2019; Karlsson et al 2018). Hence, similar to XC skiing, a significant part of the race during mountain bike cross-country Olympic format is performed above maximal aerobic power (Hays et al 2018). The nature of these sports is clearly different to other endurance sports such as running or swimming in terms of energy turnover during races.…”

Does changing the bike frame influence pedal force pattern in mountain bike cyclists?

“…In a previous study, it was state than the ventilatory parameters showed similar responses between continuous vs. intermittent protocol on that same bicycle ergometer [30]. The choice of a discontinuous protocol was made to propose an effort as similar as possible to the real XCO practice [1]. After a 5-minute warm-up at 100 Watts, the imposed power was increased by 30 Watts every 2 minutes [9].…”

“…Olympic Cross-Country mountain-biking (XCO) is a sporting discipline that requires extensive physical [1] and technical [2,3] qualities in order to perform at the highest level. It is also a sport in which equipment stands as an important factor and where the concept of optimising the man-machine interaction is essential.…”

Relationships between acute race-induced changes in creatine kinase activity and blood plasma myoglobin concentration and race performance in mountain bike and road cyclists

“…It is The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted May 17, 2021. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.05.17.444439 doi: bioRxiv preprint during uphill climbs is frequently above maximal aerobic power [1,3]. Biochemical analysis during simulated MTB racing showed that blood pH decreases to 7.3 and blood lactate concentration increases to 7.5 mmol/l [4]. Road cycling is of significantly longer duration and performed at a lower intensity.…”

“…The varied static, eccentric and concentric phases of MTB [4] can be compared with the principally concentric muscle action that characterizes road cycling [11].…”