This weekend signals the first of the big 24-hour mountain bike races this summer, kicking off with the 12/24 Hours of Exposure.

We know there’ll be a lot of nervous people preparing for this weekend, and there will also be many more entering events like Mountain Mayhem, Twentyfour12 and Sleepless in the Saddle.

To put your minds at rest, we’ve compiled some of the best advice from a few of theUK’s fastest 24-hour racers. Now we’re not suggesting to you to ride as fast as they do, they’re plain mad, but there’s a lot we can all learn from them and apply to our own battle with racing around the clock, whether solo or part of a team.

Asked on how best to prepare for a 24-hour race, he gave these answers, young Josh Ibbett gave us these tips.

Ant White is a regular on many 24-hour race podiums, so we asked him for his top tips.  Here’s his answers.

Winner of the first two 24 Hours of Exposure events and countless other events, you can count on Matt Page to be a source of some good advice.

Finally, big man Rob Dean knows what it takes to battle through a 24-hour race. 

Naturally, a large part of a 24-hour race falls at night. Having some high quality lights is a wise investment, and we’ve got some useful lighting advice for you here.