As many of you that ride in the NBL racing sanction already know, the NBL has adopted a random gate cadence to put an end to slingshoting. It places a random pause between "watch the gate" and the beeps. I didn't think it would affect us non-slingshoters but I found out quickly that there was some major adapting to do.

There was a great article in one of the recent issues of BMX Today, the magazine that the NBL puts out.
In the article it states that we are now having to "react instead of anticipate". The old cadense was engrained in our brains and it was just second nature.

The article had a few tips on how to overcome this. I have misplaced the article so I am going off of memory here. These are the two tips that stuck out to me.

One is to lower your starting crank by a click or so. This helps you to get on top of your crank quicker to make up for having to react. I personally have been using this method and it has helped my gates greatly.

The second tip is to position your body a little further forward than before. This helps you to react quicker.

This is just what I got out of the article. If you race NBL and are having issues adapting to the new system, I would suggest digging out your last issue of BMX Today and find the Coaches Corner section.