Irvine done – ooft! After the muddy but twisty more technical track last weekend, that was just pure power! Only place I really had much of an advantage was in the sand, but it wasn’t enough to really get involved. Another mid-pack finish (which I imagine will stay standard until the end of time) 44th out of 100 starters in Open Senior

Good work guys….48th at Basingstoke for me. I like cross, it doesn’t seem to like me!!

Congrats on the Nat Trophy placing.

Central League was pan flat, fast and relentless at Leighton Buzzard, a real power circuit with lots of long straights which really isn’t my forte. As is the norm for this year the winner vanished like he was on a motorbike, I managed to get into the front ‘chasing’ group and had a race long battle with frequent position changes (Munqe Chick was so enthralled she sacked her warm-up and watched the whole race). After a brief and obviously futile and energy-burning stint in 2nd (done mainly for my ego 😉 ) , I bagged another (but still surprising) 4th in V40. I’ve no idea where this form came from and I just hope it sticks around 😆

MC had a race-long 2-way fight with a younger roadie who successfully attacked her and held a gap on the last lap, so MC again took the second step of the podium.

This Sunday is Hemel, hillier (usually my thing, but who knows) and the forecast is pretty much dry between now and then, and 17C on the day. Might get to dust off the file treads!

MC – what has been the problem for the vet women? Alison only does the CX National Champs (where they usually get their own race) so haven’t heard about what has been going on at the other National races. I know BC got a lot of hassle and had to backtrack when they weren’t going to recognise the V60 womens MTB cat.

The Youth races also got ignored in the write-up, and they didn’t exactly shout about the mega achievement of Hattie (1st year Junior) getting 2nd overall. All results finally on BC (but not linked to the review).

I’m as happy as anyone to give BC a kicking when they deserve it but the situation on Sunday was down to the chief comm on the day (Belgian UCI comm) implementing 80%, nothing to do with BC.
I’m thoroughly sympathetic as my OH is in the VW race but it’s partly due to the new UCI rule saying that the UCI cats have to have their own separate races, at least when the junior men were in with the EW/VW it made 80%ing impossible. Bringing the rule in in July for immediate effect screws all the races that are already in the calendar as it’s not always possible to make changes and give everyone a completely separate race.
Rds 4,5, and 6 will have a real dilemma on their hands.

Last weekend was a UCI race which was why the Commissaire could call it and apply the 80% rule. I guess the issue is why wasn’t it invoked in the men’s race? Some simple maths (not by me so if wrong don’t shoot me) means any man after 42nd should have been pulled in the Vets race.

4,5,6 struggling to have seperate race however 4 and 6 have indicated that they will run as last year which was WITHOUT 80% rule. This in itself makes it ridiculously complicated and doesn’t encourage women to race. Imagine you’d travelled all the way to Derby to be pulled after 2 laps due to some inequality rule? I wouldn’t bother going back, a very similar reason I won’t race the Welsh Champs again until I’m a Vet.

Now we just need to get the lead female Junior a leaders jersey… as the boys already get. 🙄

OK thanks for the explanation – I’ll report back to the Mrs as we weren’t aware what happened (think would have been OK time wise looking at the people she normally races with). Undecided if we’ll bother with any Nationals this year – I hate the whole jetwash arms race they seem to have become.

Looks like a fair chunk of Juniors & Seniors also got pulled – with a total of 63 riders on the course it really wouldn’t have been an issue to let everyone stay on. I wondered why so many finish times were missing, and as they don’t show laps completed it is impossible to work out who got pulled when. Also unclear if the times for the vet women are taken from when they started or when the first wave set off.

All racing Manchester. Every NW race has been muddy and don’t expect this to be any different…..

Myself and youngest have been off bikes for 3 weeks with colds, so both expecting to get a battering.

Oh wow all the pics I had seen was off muddy welsh buddy CX bikes! Clearly they found all the puddles which you avoided 😉

I was wrong – hardly any mud at Huddersfield! Just a bit greasy on the grass. It can’t last – mud tyres arriving this week.
[url=https://flic.kr/p/YrYLwt]Untitled[/url] by David Collins, on Flickr

Manchester was also amazingly dry and mild. So much grip that Alison peeled a tub on the off-camber grass. It was always a gamble with tape, so time to start the gluing ritual tonight to be ready in time for next weekend.

V40-49 was 122 starters, so rather crowded again but always someone to race for us mortals back in mid-field.

Boys both happy with their races.

I’d better not mention it was Tufo (22mm) she rolled…. Freshly and very carefully applied 3 weeks ago. It is multi thickness and I think the thinner edges allow it to start peeling and then roll (never had an issue with the effetto tape).

In fairness she was running soft Limus tyres which probably generated an awful lot of grip on the steep camber.

I’m now 1 day into the hateful pot of glue ritual….

Tonight is the point of no return – final coat of tacky glue and tyre meets rim……

In hindsight, eldest son’s tubeless Schwalbe bites seem like a better solution.

Interesting to read people just taping tyres, I’m new to tubs (as MC suggests I’ve just spent this week gluing my first) but I spent all last week reading up on it and the consensus seemed to be tape-alone can’t deal with the shear forces that CX tyres create (off cambers etc) compared to road? Heard of the ‘Belgian’ method (tape+glue) but can’t figure out what the tape is bringing to the party, as you’re just introducing something that stops the glue bonding the tyre direct to the rim? Also read of a few tape failures with Tufo, ascribed to it being made of multiple layers, and it basically delaminates?

I picked up a used but spanking pair of LB deep carbon rims on Hope hubs fitted with FMB Supermuds for £250 last year so not a huge outlay for Velcro-like grip. If my re-gluing fails and I DNF with a rolled tub I’m sure MC will post it on here….

I don’t see the benefits of tubs in hard/dry conditions where you’re running higher pressures to avoid sidewall collapse and pinchflats, seems like you’re increasing the risk of rolling it off (higher cornering speeds = more shear forces) without the grip benefits that low pressures provide. MC has got interested enough in the geek element that she’s just bulk bought some Challenge latex tubes her clinchers 😉

Ferrals I spoke to Cyclopaedia in Cardiff (presuming you know them from Welsh league) and they seemed to think that if you aren’t a heavy person or a heavy rider (i.e. who crashes into things) then the best investment is latex tubes instead and you only lose something like 2watts from not running tubs. Im like you keep thinking about it but I’m earning less now. I weight maybe 59kg but am a light rider and so far touch wood in 3 seasons of coming back to CX never had a puncture. So that’s what I’m going to try.. I’m sure crashtestmonkey will post on here if it all goes wrong tomorrow 😉

Phew, great race at SCX Round 3 at Fife College in Dunfermline on Sunday.

I went in just looking to improve slightly on my (disappointing) placing in Round 1, and also to try and sneakily target Legend if he was racing! 😉

Course seemed a little flatter than Round 1, but some really tricky muddy sections, one particularly long, flat and deep muddy bit which basically had to be ran, cue what felt like a mini asthma attack on the third lap!

Felt like I was riding much better this time, and was actually able to race, spent lots of time taking inside lines and using the one hurdle of the race as a sneaky overtaking opportunity, turned out it was quicker to keep running after the hurdle until the next corner, then remounting. Took a couple of places that way 😀

Seems there’s a big psychological element with the overtakes, I know in the first round I wouldn’t bother chasing someone who had passed me, assuming they were just fitter/faster and it wouldn’t be worth the effort. Yesterday’s race saw me struggle to pass a few guys who then just didn’t seem to bother chasing when they could probably have easily re-passed, suited me fine!

So, from 61st in round 1 to 39th in round 3, unfortunately I think the biggest room for improvement is my running, not sure I’m committed enough to work on that, might just continue with 4 minute on and off intervals on the commute.

Well I went and entered my first race of the season, first time I’ve ridden at any kind of effort level since the 3 Peaks & the crash where I had a grade 2 ACJ separation, got the wife to strap my shoulder up just in case and proceeded to bimble round the NWCCA course at Bebbington Oval in V40.

It was rather muddy to say the least, I was rather cuffed that I managed to stay up right and only get lapped by the top 6 riders to come home 67th out of 94 starters. I guess it’s only on wards and upwards as I use the CX racing to regain fitness.Nice one Steve – I raced Bebington too. Quite a hard course, my bike usually wears the mud pretty well but got overwhelmed there. Ground to a halt on the 3rd lap and had to scoop mud off the drivetrain. Seeing other people around me change bikes then leave me for dead, again, think I’ll be getting a second one.

Bad luck with the wheel rotor stern. When was your race? Usually hear 48 hr as optimum time to wait after glueing, 24 hr at the mimimum [unlike a lot of hearsay around tub glueing, it’s a fact that the final bond takes time to strengthen]. So if it was Sat evening the shop is not being serious with you. Sun evening you’d have expected it to be OK, maybe if the tape didn’t come off clean it can cause issues with the rim /tyre for a re-glue.