[Closed] How do I go faster?

IT seems to me the answer is, race more, train like you're racing...

The guys at the pointy ends are guys who ride day in day out, mile after mile, be it commuting, fun or just road... they ride lots... they ride hard... the more they ride, the faster they get, the faster they get the harder they push....

Abit of loopiness. Think about driving - drive faster, when everyone else is braking, brake far far later, carry more speed, take more risk?

Hit a section flat out, whereas you are on the brakes thinking about it...thinking. Alot of the top racers- don't think. They just do it. You think about it.

So no matter how fit you get, if you don't have that edge where you don't even think about injury, pain, loss of earnings etc then you'll be slower.

hora - Member

Abit of loopiness. Think about driving - drive faster, when everyone else is braking, brake far far later, carry more speed, take more risk?

Hit a section flat out, whereas you are on the brakes thinking about it...thinking. Alot of the top racers- don't think. They just do it. You think about it.

So no matter how fit you get, if you don't have that edge where you don't even think about injury, pain, loss of earnings etc then you'll be slower.

Riding with faster rides will do this. You'll try harder than you otherwise would, trying to keep up.

Apart from that, train and race more I would say.

Balls, big, big balls. Think about how late and little you can brake - Learn to carry the speed through sections and pedal like hell when you need to get the speed back up. Use the bike to its potential and learn how to maximise the travel to maintain speed through twisty sections and pick lines that encourage the bike to flow rather than stop / start.
Fitness will play a big part, but this should get better the more you ride.
I find that sessioning sections on my local trails (and trying to avoid using the brakes) has added so much to my riding skills. I'm looking forward to training for next season now!

I've ridden with way faster riders. They leave me dead (either that or I keep up and come off).

Just face it- no matter how good we think we (or are friends) are- there are always those who are on a massive other level.

Early mid-life crisis OP? 😉

for me, based on sundays experience on the enduro1 in the quantocks, being fitter would have helped massively as I would have got to the top of the stages with enough time to recover rather than riding straight into stages knackered. As a result I was coasting where I should have been pedalling and and not really letting it go through the tech sections as I was knackered.

I was at the UKGE Dyfi round this year, I noticed a few things:

1) the top guys donoghue, atherton etc were all spending a lot of time walking the stages, then riding sections over and over then pushing back up.

2) They're a load better on a bike than anyone i'd ever seen before, there didn't appear to be any 'thinking time' between seeing a new obstacle that wasn't there before (in this instance, me, sprawled in a heap) and just whipping the bike round in a muddy root fest at 20mph.

Oh and they're all insanely fit, nach

I'd go for fitter first. You spend a lot more time going up.When group riding you spend a lot more time waiting at the top of the hill than the bottom. That and ride more, everything will improve if you ride more.

Kind of half agree with hora.

But it has to be fun. Push yourself to go into corners and off drops faster/without braking/with extra pedal strokes on the way in. Make this a gradual process so you can give yourself scares rather than big crashes. I've been doing this on my local trails. No idea how I'd be in a race, but it's great fun and a great feeling progressing from daring to do a drop to daring not to brake to putting in as many pedal strokes as you can fit into the run up... You want your friends to think you're mental but to believe you are in total control in your head

Even if you have to shout quite hard at your inner coward, do this because you logically know you can go faster, not cos you know logically you are taking a massive risk. It stops being fun if you're too scared or if you injure yourself.

WRT tyres, unless you are prepared to take 3 sets and be prepared to change them depending upon the conditions on the day, stick with one set. I don't think thinner sidewalls would necessarily be the way to go. IMO you want to be fully committed, with as little fear as possible. Nursing thin tyres around the course will not help this!

Ride more often to get fitter. If 3 min sprints are whats killing you keep doing it, it's better to be in pain while training, it will make the stage that bit easier. Nothings worse than having a sprint and feeling f****d going into a technical section.

Ride with faster people and compare cornering technique, lines etc.

Don't worry too much about the bike, the biggest improvements will be made through training and getting better technically.

As per my question, I'm well aware I'm not going to be at the top but making up a minute or so over 5 stages I think would be achievable for me.

As daft as it sounds I may need new brakes. I think the last time I had confidence in brakes was about 13 years ago when I had some Hope DH4s on my Bullit. I know its quicker to just stay off the brakes but I reckon I'd be happier doing that if they actually stopped me when I needed them to.

Yes hora, its all just an excuse to buy some yellow wheels really...

Riding with faster riders is a great suggestion if you can do it.

Just seeing what is possible in terms or line choice and speed that you can carry through corners, obstacles etc. Try to hang onto their back wheel as much as you can, you'll soon find your self riding quicker.

Theres no alternative for just getting fitter, power is my weakness so when out on the bike (road or mtb) try to force my self to sprint sections and generally keep the pace up.

That being said if you watch the quick guys, they're generally the ones who look relaxed and not giving it 110%, try carrying speed where you can, using the terrain to generate more speed and only pedalling where necessary, no point sprinting out of one corner just to brake into the next one.

Oh, and deffo get some more yellow. Like red cars, it's just faster.

what brakes/pads do you have ? what rotor sizes ?

Practise is something I need. I usually have one run down a section and thats it. Come race time its about trying to remember whats next let alone thinking about lines and stuff. Need to get out of the mentality of just getting down a stage being a success to getting down a stage much quicker being a success...

Brakes - SLXs (old style ones) with 200/180mm rotors. Pads I go through all sorts but it may be time to just get them into a LBS and get them to try and set them up properly...

Hora is spot on in his last statement, ...its the edge that is most difficult. Self preservation is a bitch.

The eternal question...

If (and it's a big if at times) I manage to stay on my bike racing enduro's I hover around the top 10-15% of my category, however like you, would like to go faster.

I can put it down to a few factors. First, don't worry about the bike. It's plenty good enough to ride up at the top end. Don't over analyse whether changing X will improve your riding etc.

The biggest single difference you can make IMO is fitness. I rode a lot last year, albeit with little or no structure and it really brought my riding on. You need a good, solid base fitness so 5-6-7 hours on the bike at a reasonable pace doesn't wreck you. You can spend the next few months working on that, time is just the issue there (and trying to ride slowly).

Get practicing your sprints. You have already highlighted its a weak point. So work on it. Intervals, intervals & more intervals. Pyramids. Go & download some Sufferfests & try to turn yourself inside out on the turbo. These are massively important - your ability to put in pedal strokes (and meaningful ones) where others are still trying not to have a heart attack is a huge advantage.

Being able to go consistently hard, every stage is vital to doing well. Basically, you won't be able to do enough of this, no matter how much you try - so get used to it.

It's also worth doing some strength work on your core & general other bits, last thing you want is flopping around on top of the bike at the end of the day if you haven't got the strength to hang on properly.

Riding. Go and race some DH on your trail bike. I race a fair few local regional bits, it puts your head in a place to ride flat out, and get wild on a little bike, which is where you want to be. Plus its fun p*ssing off all the riders on DH bikes you can smoke, because you can pedal. Do this lots.

Go and ride your bike too, get your base miles in now, try and ride trails differently, take different lines, see how it feels, do some crashing by taking stuff too quick, try gaping sections of trail, try riding sections off the brakes & see what happens.

Try riding sections as hard as you can - and then go & do the same in spring, it can give you a good basis for comparison.

Oh, and try to have some fun - we're not pro's, nor are we going to win the EWS!

For sure, get some bright clothing too, that's sure to help.

In 6 months, you will be an Enduro Wizard 🙂

One run should be enough, just stop and look at any technical bits or areas you feel line choice could be key. Watch some riders come through any section you're not 100% on.

I don't think anyone is going to be able to remember every inch of every stage (some series have blind stages too) but try to remember the important bits where getting the line/braking/gearchoice right will make as big a difference as possible.

take your brakes off.

Some folks are just naturals and have been doing since they were 2. Others have no sense. Most ride way more than us weekend warriors. I bet most of the dudes above you either young lads of serious racers. When you're 17 you can go 50% quicker just from stupidity alone.

I know it's completely not the same thing, but I did a few club races on a 125 this year and the first round in March was on a track I'd never been to so most of the time I was learning the line (and a new-to-me bike) and got spanked. I went back to the track in May and knocked ten seconds off my lap time, then when we went back last month I knocked another three seconds off my times, just by going round in circles and getting the line and braking points right(er)*. I'm still propping up the back of the pack, but now it's from less of a distance away. It's amazing how much you can get away with as well- you think the limit is >here< whereas in fact it's waaaaaaaaay over there >> but you [i]can[/i] get to it.

Racing in itself makes you faster, and makes you want to go faster. Progression, I think it's called 🙂

* still not right, as such, more less wrong than I was.

I did one of the Empire Enduro's in Llantryd as a bit of light relief from racing xc all year.
Practice and 2 stages saturday and was feeling pretty comfortable and quite quick.Ended up 10 seconds back on each one (3-4 minutes long).Not overly happy I decided to go for it on the sunday.Rode first stage flat out/scary/uncomfortably (xc lid-no armour) and was only 1 second back off the fastest time.IT WAS NOT FUN IN THE SLIGHTEST!I suspect with more practice (I don't ride the 'big' bike much) I'd get more comfortable with riding that close to the ragged edge but (at 41) it's not what I class as enjoyable.So I went back to riding at 90%,coming mid table and having a giggle.
There are always close battles throughout the field.Focus on racing them,not the boys at the pointy end and you'll enjoy yourself a lot more.

Had this same conversation with myself last week and have decided to work on my fitness over winter, mainly being able to lay down 100% for a minute or two and not then need to take a break.

Soooo, on last nights road ride every time we spotted a village sign/speed limit sign we sprinted to it. Was blooming knackering and felt like my lungs were going to burst. If I keep that up over winter reckon it will put me in good stead.

I'll also be working on my cornering speed. I drag my breaks waaay too much and need to work on getting my speed right as I go into corners and staying off the breaks. Easier said than down.

Good brakes definitely let me ride faster, they just remove an unnecessary layer of anxiety from the whole situation. Shimano Zee are really good for control and very powerful.

I'd be wary of going lighter than those tyres, especially if you wanna ride faster. Maybe swap the rear to an Ardent Exo? Still a risk of holing it but usually OK for me.

Have you got a road bike? Doing lots of short to mid sized hills and flat sections of about five minutes might be beneficial? I'm similar place in the pack to you but have improved my fitness a lot for enduro-style efforts by that means (though unfortuantely didn't get to any races this year to test myself).

The Raffertys race at elite level and offer training via Pro Ride Guides, not used them but I like their approach in their magazine articles.

Random leftfield (and possibly stoopid) suggestion - do you have a BMX and a BMX track near you? Sessioning a BMX track leaves you blowing out your arse, increases sprinting duration, stamina, leg strength, bike control, makes you pump every bit of 'free' speed out of the bumps and corners and is amazing fun. Also its something different so will feel fresh and it will have an impact mentally. Worked for me, getting a BMX has made a massive impact to my MTB speed and fitness.

hora - Member

I've ridden with way faster riders. They leave me dead (either that or I keep up and come off).

And that's just how you learn. If you're crashing trying to keep up then you're probably pushing your limits. You generally won't arrive at them on your own. Or you can give up.

Just face it- no matter how good we think we (or are friends) are- there are always those who are on a massive other level.

Regardless of the level, very few riders just emerge from a bubble a fully fledged racing machine. Most guys have someone to push them, or someone older and wiser to guide them. It's pretty hard to compete with yourself.

So I'd re-iterate my point and say, riding with faster riders is one of the best ways to get faster.

It's a real eye-opener when you follow someone fast. Even more of an eye-opener when you realise the person you thought was untouchable is top-30 Enduro, rather than top-10.
I found I can keep up on straights/roots/rocks, but corners are just a mystery to me. I think I'd benefit most from practising cutties/slashes/skids endlessly - the kind of thing kids are doing in the woods every day over summer.
YMMV - fitness and strength are always going to help though.

Or you could just repeat this daily:
“Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way around or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves.

Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.”
? Bruce Lee

As others have said, do what it takes to sort your brakes out, not having reliable brakes will play on your mind.

Identify and work on your week points.

Practise is something I need. I usually have one run down a section and thats it. Come race time its about trying to remember whats next let alone thinking about lines and stuff. Need to get out of the mentality of just getting down a stage being a success to getting down a stage much quicker being a success...

If I can be a bit more Zen... Not only do you need to practice more. You need to practice practising.

Identify and work on your week points.

Tuesdays, for me

Monday>Friday are my week points.

My weak points though I think I've identified.

Cheers Guru Brant 😉

Right then - brakes sorted first. Need some knee pads as well. Very few people without them when racing so it'd be nice not to have to think about my lovely knees getting hurt.

Then increase yellow levels and practice loads more.

You can get serious power improvements with regular, relatively short, but very intense intervals - google 'Tabata' - it won't be the whole answer, but it's a quick and painful way of getting physically faster very efficiently. Just 'riding more' per se isn't efficient, you can end up just churning out junk miles with minimal benefit.

It's a real eye-opener when you follow someone fast

This, very much this, ride with people better than you as much as you can, try to follow them, [i]watch [/i]what they do, learn from them.

You'll be surprised how much time they spend:

a> not touching the ground/obstacles
b> coasting where you are pedalling
c> pedalling where you are coasting
d> not braking where you brake

^ thats where the seconds are made up, and a few seconds here, a few seconds there, suddenly its 20-30 seconds a stage.

Oh, and get fitter as well 😉

To be fast you need to be efficient as well as powerful.

So I'd re-iterate my point and say, riding with faster riders is one of the best ways to get faster.

While i agree with you JJ and know you ride with some blistering quick guys, blindly following someone faster wont teach you how to read a trail and spot the fastest lines. And that's arguable more important in a race situation where you don't have the luxury of following a faster rider or are on an unknown trail.

From my own perspective, if your skills are competent then fitness will make the biggest difference. Tiredness makes riding a chore, leads to mistakes and and there's no bigger fun vacuum. Braking later isn't always the answer. Braking less and somewhere that doesn't upset the bike too much makes it easier to go faster through corners.

Lastly work on you pumping and jumping skills. Rough trails are so much faster if you're not touching the ground.

Please note: I don't race mountain bikes, i just ride for fun.

Need some knee pads as well. Very few people without them when racing so it'd be nice not to have to think about my lovely knees getting hurt.

Then increase yellow levels and practice loads more

You a big lad ? I've got some older 661's you can have FoC mate, they're a bit loose on me at 15st. Although if you have rake like legs you may be able to double loop.

Yours if you want them, email in profile.

A couple of the main things I've noticed from riding with and watching fast people are they pedal at every opportunity, and they are airborne for a lot of the time, sections where I slow down to get through rocks or roots they accelerate into and hop over them. I don't have the kahunas to do it though. They also take lines I'd never have even seen

10.5 stone I'm afraid otherwise I'd have had those in exchange for some beer tokens.

Looking at options now - big range of pads... Need to go and try some on.

I recently bought Dainese Trailskins.... Very nice.

10.5st ! you have no excuses LOL carry a 15kg rucksack too next time out !

kayla1 - Member

I know it's completely not the same thing, but I did a few club races on a 125 this year and the first round in March was on a track I'd never been to so most of the time I was learning the line (and a new-to-me bike) and got spanked.

After only 24 hrs of being on here you are gonna fit right in.

Euro -

While i agree with you JJ and know you ride with some blistering quick guys, blindly following someone faster wont teach you how to read a trail and spot the fastest lines. And that's arguable more important in a race situation where you don't have the luxury of following a faster rider or are on an unknown trail.

I agree. I wasn't saying to blindly follow though, if you're chasing or being chased by quicker riders you'll get to see some lines that may not have occurred to you, or you might get to observe their body language on the bike. And then you might want to try them next time out.

I was on a steep, tricky trail that's pretty new two me two weeks ago, and I'd been struggling with it as it has lots of tight drops onto corners with off camber landings...just generally tricky. I was able to follow some down and because I could see his set up, body language, weight shift etc on the trickier bits I was able to decipher it and go a good bit quicker than I had previously.

I consider myself very average but i did reasonably well at the FoD Mini Downhill a few winters ago, i got 20-something out of about 80 in my class and was riding a 140mm FS as opposed to some of the 160-200 Enduro and DH bikes that were present.

Hard to explain, the atmosphere of a race makes me go faster than i would if i was riding for fun and pulling on a full face always gives me a false sense of security and the confidence to push harder....i did an Enduro in the inaugural year of Steve Parr's UKGE series and was rubbish....to be fair i was on a short travel hardtail and had just come back to mountain biking after years away....it is definitely a confidence thing.

Obviously strength, fitness, equipment etc all help but a timid rider will always finish behind the guy with the guts to push harder and faster....if i did another Enduro i'd definitely wear a full face for no other reason than it makes me feel invincible and allows me to ride faster....i should imagine knee/elbow pads etc would contribute to that feeling and probably allow me to push harder still.

I wasn't saying to blindly follow though

Would that new to you steep, tricky trail be in Tolly perchance?

Dave,comparing our times from Sunday I think you were faster than me on every stage bar stage 5.
So I'd say get some practice steep, muddy chutes, preferable with spectators heckling 😉

I think the real skill is being able to read the trail and still ride it at the limit. Everyone can be quick on trails they ride reguarly, but to be quick on trails that are new to you or you have had very little time on is a different skil. I notice that the pros do the practice runs with a camera so they can watch them repeatedly to learn the trial before they race.

Good, trustworthy brakes, moved far enough inboard so you can [b]only [/b]ever use them with 1 finger is what has done it for me. Previously I had pretty average brakes and was always using 2 fingers on them. You don't realise how much this compromises your ability to steer and move the bike around until you effectively ride with 6 fingers on the bars instead of 4. Not only will you brake better with good brakes, you will find you need to brake less as you have far better control and can avoid obstacles and change line quicker & easier.

Worked for me

EDIT: Though I am still at the back of the field, just not quite so far back 🙂

Fair point about not wanting to ride a trail blindly behind someone.

What about riding a trail you already know well with a faster rider, if possible get them to ride it slightly off their usual pace or even walk it with you 1st an point out what they're doing, line choice etc ride it together gradually winding up the speed.

If you can ride the same track or even section of track for an afternoon you'll quickly learn where time can be gained.

Euro
Would that new to you steep, tricky trail be in Tolly perchance?

Indeed!

Riding with faster people is GREAT... however if your technique is fundamentally wrong, you're never going to do anything more than end up in a pile of bloody mess on the side of the trail trying to match their speed.

Having their level of fitness will help... but at the end of the day, if their positioning, technique etc is right and yours is wrong, you'll never make it.

re: riding with faster people

I should probably have clarified...

I'm saying go riding [i]with[/i] faster people, not simply to follow them, ie: talk to them about the trails, talk to them about their technique, talk to them about your technique, watch them, get them to watch you, follow them, get them to follow you, learn from them as much as you can.

Just following someone blindly will not get you very far, but going riding with faster riders can be a massive educational experience, but it is a two way thing for sure.

Don't let yourself pedal on the downs, ride as if your chain is off. Makes you smoother and more fluid.

Pedalling really does make you slower.

Make sure you're happy with the bike in every way then work on your skills in technical sections and corners?

A more skillful rider can overcome the lack of fitness. A fit rider won't necessarily make it around that next corner 🙂

Indeed!

[img] [/img][/url][url= https://imgflip.com/memegenerator ]via Imgflip Meme Maker[/url][/img]

Sauce knocked himself out cold the first time we rode it on the section that has the three bent, closely spaced trees. Crazy fool thought he could launch off the first drop, bypass the second and land between the last two trees. Might have worked if there wasn't a rider taking a normal line in front of him 😀

Jimjam disagree. Good riders who are naturally good tend to show their talent from a young age. I.e Bryceland. You can practice till your blue in the face. You'll only be good in your own sphere/bubble.

Im content in my shitbucket. £200 lessons to me are better off on the beer tab..

Neil Donohue does skills training, or at least he did a couple of years ago.

Me and 2 friends attended one of his days at llandegla, it was ok, but showed that theres absolutely no chance for even a decent mountain biker to be as smooth as he is. The pro's are a different level to us amateurs - especially 41 year old amateurs like me.

I think part of it is that very few people actually do "proper training", they go out and "just ride". That's great for building a base but nigh on useless for actually working on skills.

The last MTB Skills Day I did, the tutors had a great little circuit - only about 300m but it included a short climb, short descent, bit of singletrack and some corners. That way they could assess everyone and work out weak points without knackering everyone on a long ride.

Then it's just a case of pushing harder and harder through a corner or over a drop until it's nailed. The idea of BMX tracks mentioned above is a good one. Trail centres work well for that too where you can just session short loops in a relatively controlled environment.

I need to sort that this winter - done very little MTBing the last few years (mostly road, track and CX) so my off-road skills are sorely lacking at the moment. 🙁

Go see Andy Barlow at Dirt School in Glentress.

He rides hard, fast, finishes well in Enduro races too. Plus he's an incredible coach.

You won't know what you're doing wrong, you need someone to watch you and point out where you can improve.

Andy's also a master of spotting lined you didn't think existed.

The Bruce Lee quote said by a previous poster is very true, as in flow with your bike and the trail. Let the bike move underneath you, any little rises don't let your arms and legs become rigid, the best suspension you've got are your limbs. Use any little dip or drop off to pump and gain/keep momentum. Obviously when you can peddle, peddle hard but don't be to savage on the brakes either. There's no point in peddling like a madman only to brake like crazy coming into a corner and losing all momentum on the exit. I was lucky enough to tag along with some quick riders at last weekends final round of the pmba gravity enduro and to see those guys practice on the Saturday (and race the day after) was certainly impressive, so quick, smooth but never looking out of control.

Just cut the tape 😈

Serious lack of big hitters on this thread.

Doesn't need 'Big Hitters'. To get faster, do one or more of these things:

- Session, don't ride
- Ride new trails
- Ride different trails
- Hit the uplift at a DH course
- Go to a skills course
- Ride with faster people
- Ride with people just a bit faster than you, follow their lines
- Do enduro races
- Ride your bike a lot
- Get better genes
- Start riding at age 2
- Practice riding 10 minute descents without stopping

Most people pedal too much, pump more, pedal less. Going faster is about eeking out the extra milliseconds through each corner and section, keeping your energy up. Eventually it all comes together and you start knocking off seconds from a run.

Do 2 weeks in Whstler BP on a 160mm.

Listening to specifics on a forum isn't going to help. See all the generic things I've written above.

For the fitness side of things read Faster by Michae Hutchinson. Love that book.

It's also just basic psychology mixed with natural talent, I never raced DH much, just went along for fun sometimes where as my brother raced and was fast. He spent a year off the bike up until several months ago when I rode the DH section at Cannock Chase, despite being off the bike for ages, he had no second thought at hitting everything there at near to his old race speed on a bike that he was totally unfamiliar with. He had plenty of people watching him ride that day. A few years before that he didn't think twice about dropping off the big drop at chicksands on a brakeless, rigid, 24 inch dirt jump bike....without a helmet on.

I'm a mild thrill seeker but the gulf between him and me is massive. Combined with the thrill seeking, he has an all or nothing personality and shows innate ability to either turn fear off or compartmentalize it to an extreme degree. He works 18 hour shifts in Michelin star restaurants now, something again that I consider to be thrill seeking and he's had a history of fighting and getting into trouble for it. He didn't fight because he got angry, he used to end up in them because he found it entertaining. He's bright at the same time, so when all this is mixed together....the right psychology combined with a hard working attitude, intelligence, physical strength and good spatial awareness then you end up with a fast rider.

Most of us will never be that, he's a genuine crazy person who has that mad Guy Martin glint to his eyes.

sounds like you're quite a lot better than me, so this may not apply:

I need practice, to lose 25 years and I'm short of fitness but I also need better psychology. Every now & then, mostly when I've been in the alps riding behind faster riders, I suddenly find that I've gone a few hundred metres MUCH faster than I would have if I'd thought about the terrain. It's a real thing; a guy who was about my standard all week in Les Arcs got "dropped" by me in the space of a couple of bends and asked me afterwards WTF happened there.

I've had the same thing when I've been skiing a few times too and I bet most people have. Shows you what you can do (and what pretty much any passable equipment is capable of)

This is how I got faster:

- raced more. enduros, xc marathons, 16 in total this year
- bought a 29er, ibis ripley, on which I've done all of the above.
- 'holiday' for 2 weeks in the alps. Puts stuff in the UK into perspective a bit!!

I'm 43 and riding faster than I ever have in my 25+ years of biking (feels like it anyways)

Ride slower - sit in a group and stay off the pedals, learn to carry speed. Then after a bit of practice you will be sat behind someone pedaling like mad and you are keeping up with no power.
Avoid anything that is going to slow you down, hop it jump it find the smoother line.
Do longer more strenuous descents (both physically and mentally), no matter how good you are you can't ride well when your hanging.
Focus the fitness - When I'm at my strongest I'm doing more specific solo riding more, last summer was 1hr - 1.5hr blasts round the local singletrack no stops no breaks no taking it easy. Hammering down then heading back up. I was focusing on a multi day event with stages that long.
Stay fit and healthy.

Finally consider the equipment you are using, are you lugging round coil shocks and dual ply rubber because people said you needed it?

This is how I got faster:

- raced more. enduros, xc marathons, 16 in total this year
- bought a 29er, ibis ripley, on which I've done all of the above.
- 'holiday' for 2 weeks in the alps. Puts stuff in the UK into perspective a bit!!

I'm 43 and riding faster than I ever have in my 25+ years of biking (feels like it anyways)

This guys got it spot on.

This has been a really good thread, interesting to read everyone's take on the subject and has reminded me that I need to do more sessioning on certain technique things.

So I'd disagree with this...

Listening to specifics on a forum isn't going to help.

I suspect the OP is familiar enough with STW and its inhabitants to work out who's on the same wavelength as him and filter out the irrelevant bits.