It started a few months ago.
I started doing a lot more trail running and have been looking at bikes. The whole off road thing just looks so rad.
What can anyone tell me about xterra ?
XTerra is awesome! Challenging but way more laid back. Raced XTerra Fruita last September and it was one of my favorite races in over 30 years of racing tris.
Depending on the course, the swim is critical. Get out of the water behind a lot of people and it can be challenging passing on the bike if there a lot of single track.
More chill vibe. More fun equipment to obsess over. No two courses are the same. New skill to learn. No fear of cars while training.
Yeah! Do it. Mountain biking is tons of fun!
BecRefull. You won’t be touching your road gear again until you are too old and beat up to mountain bike!
I did my first Xterra this summer and it was a blast. It was a smaller race but really well organized. There were plenty of legit athletes there who came to race, but somehow the overall vibe was much more laid back than most road tri’s I’ve done. I’m not giving up road racing but I’ll definitely do it again next year.
Go for it! Most fun you can have with (minimal) clothing on.
Do it!!! Love Xterra. Been the “main” focus of my racing for almost 20 years. It’s what got me really hooked into triathlon to begin with!!!
Way more chill then other triathlons and the trail running is awesome.
Did my first one at Xterra Victoria over a month ago found it extremely difficult (When Brent McMahon laps you and unclips and touches down to take a corner, you probably should too, haha) but way more fun. If you’re new to mountain biking, be prepared to place MUCH farther back than you normally would in a road triathlon. Bike handling skills are a obviously a huge part to this and trying to “pace” on the bike and run is very hard in my opinion.
My next one is a week today in Penticton as part of their ITU Multisport weekend (next year they host Worlds). Good luck to any of you racing there!
Finally just did my first. It’s a blast, harder than flat road tris by far. Awesome challenge! But way laid back scene. The effort for the 3:30 race was almost like a 70.3! But more intense at times due to the hills & technical nature.
I now have much more respect for the best few Xterra guys & women than a second-tier “pro” you can go close to 4 hours in a flat 70.3.
MTB takes much more dexterity & some balls on the descents.
The local race was on a harder course (Brand new course). A couple guys who I am very close to in sprint & olympic tris killed me by 30 minutes, all because they know how to mountain bike. The best guys took 3x30 minutes to do the 3x5 mile, 1k elevation loop for 90 min bike splits. Their uphill bike times were not far off what I can run that same loop! I took closer to 40 min per loop because my bike skills suck. MTB is tough!
The 10k run was also 1000 feet up & 1000 feet down. I ran 39 flat in a road 10k 3 weeks ago & did 52 in the Xterra!
Alas, I feel Xterra are dying out. For example one at Big Sky Montana and another at Sand point came and went in the mid 2000s.
Go for it while you still can!
Like everyone has said they are fun and challenging. The problem is the bike. On a typical road course, anyone can ride it, and those who are good just ride faster. In an Xterra, the difficulty of the race is determined by the bike course, and those who are good want a tougher coarse. This intimidates a majority of others who are potential participants. I enjoyed the Xterra races, but thought on the easy courses, the experienced mtb riders were reckless, and stopped doing them due to personal safety concerns.