A camelback is not really necessary, it's more a personal choice depending on the course... I never use one (even in Maui). Things you need to do differently are: train off road (especialy practice your mountain biking skills & learn how to climb efficiently), get trail running shoes, be prepared for anything!
Xterra is awesome and Xterra racers are the coolest triathletes around!
Where are you located?

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my support:

Pacific Multisport

xterra is a lot of fun. For the swim, nothing different than a normal tri. For the bike, obviously the mountain bike. I always carry a camelback, much easier to grab a drink, than try to reach down in a few seconds, find your bottle, drink, replace it, when on many trails you may only have a few seconds that you hand can be free, camelback, takes a second to get the bite valve in your mouth then just spit it out when you are finished. Plus you can use the camelback to carry extra items (ie,tools). Run, same as road tri, some trails might be suited for trail shoes, but most of the time you can run in road shoes/flats.
Just go out and try one. Have fun. The only thing I tell people for their first one, is if you are a novice mountain bike rider and a very good swimmer, prepare to be passed a lot by fast bike riders. It may be intimidating, just give them room to pass as quickly as you can find a safe place to move over a bit and let them make the pass. Don't put yourself in a position that you will crash letting someone pass, if they are going to pass you, they are probably a much better technical bike rider, and will be able to get around you.

I just got back from Maui. The main reason we went was to watch Xterra. I went with a 'maybe i'll try one next year" i left thinking...HELL NO!

What a brutal race.

But here's some ofwhat I learned.

Trail running isn't really that fun. You have to think the entire time. I did the Xterra Scramble 10K the day before (which was actually closer to 12K, something they told us at the start line). You have to carefully consider where to place your foot. Twice I twisted my ankle (once enough to cause me to have to stop and consider if I was going to continue). I did not wear trail shoes, but should have. Trail shoes have a wider bottom and might have helped. A lot of people wore socks for both the bike and run.

There were trees I had to decide if I wanted to go over or under, and I really looked hard for a way around them. You should hurdle most trees. Not stop, climb up then climb down (saw the fast guys doing the hurdle thing in the video).

While I know nothing about mountain biking, I've figured this out. You can't cruise going downhill. There is no rest on the bike. A lot of age groupers wore camel backs, including most of my friends. Some of the aid stations ran out of water for the slower folks.

The XTERRA athletes (as a group) tend to party more and be more laid back than Ironman athletes. The awards ceremony was better, and the food was way better than Kona. There was not free beer at the awards ceremony.

The race starts at 9AM (I like late races), but the women pros take 3 hours. It was hotter than kona, and NO wind yesterday.

You have to be prepared to see blood on other racers, and you. I saw a lot of bloody bodies coming off the mountain bike. And a few from the run too.

I gotta imagine the Maui course is harder than most other courses, but I have no desire to do a trail run like that again.

I did a few seasons of Xterra, it's the most brutal race I've ever done, and very humbling. I'm not the fastest out there on road tris, but I'm not the slowest either, but on Xterra, I was slow compared to the rest (this was 4 years ago).

Swim is the same, awesome in Maui, visibility is incredible! Mountain bike, I wear a camelbak of water, and a bottle of endurance drink on the bike. It's just easier for me to drink on the bike with a camelbak. I also wore gloves for the bike, and some people wear gloves for the run as well because you might end up climbing up steep walls that have ropes. I wear socks too, no way would I do that race without socks. The run is hard, you have to decide if some places are harder to run than walk.

My first Xterra was supposed to be in Temecula, and month before the race it got changed to Big Bear, so it went from a non altitude race, to racing in altitude and 50 degree water. Everything was two laps in Big Bear, and the run was so incredibly steep that the pros were even walking up it (I'm not exaggerating). Then the downhill was so steep I was holding onto trees to get down.

You definitely have to get used to blood, I can't think of one Xterra that I finished that I wasn't bleeding. I think I've crashed on every bike course, but my mountain bike crashes aren't as bad as road crashes. I went over my handlebars in Maui and found the lava rock with my nose, I spent the week after the race on vacation with no skin on my nose/face and got some great looks!

One other thing you have to really get used to is being at threshold the entire race (I think this was my problem, I tried to be below). Mountain biking you have to learn how to red line and recover over and over again.

But it's definitely a race you love, and hate all at the same time. I haven't done it in a few years, but I'm thinking about trying it again. Although, I'm training for my first IM this year, and I feel I finally might have the base fitness to do the Xterra.

I forget what the Kahuna Dave's exact words are, but something like, with Xterra, expect the unexpected and you'll be fine. Anything can change at anytime.

It's fun though, go do it!

I am in Canada, across from Detroit, MI. I know they have some Xterra races in MI. So i'm trying to swing one for next year. Thanks for the tips!

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http://www.konashelley.blogspot.com

Thanks for all the insight into the world of Xterra. Maybe I'll try one someday! They sound fun, but I also know a number of people who have gotten hurt on the mountain bike. I despise injuries!