I enjoyed the Abergavenny course, but due to little sleep, a head cold and not really focussing I ended up rolling a front tub halfway through the sighting lap; I landed on a tarmac bend with the front wheel already turned which was all the tub needed to pull off. Down I went like the proverbial. It did deal with one of the demons I’ve had since breaking my back in May in that it was the first crash I’ve had since then. Was good to deal with that.
Mediocre race from me but yes, great course and good to see so many there.

Because the grip on the corners is measurably better and the ride is smoother thus conserving energy, plus you can bang them over roots, hitting the rim and usually get away with it.
You do have to glue them up properly, set the pressure correctly for the cornering forces expected and nurse them through certain sections.
Couple of races ago I was losing 2 seconds per lap to the leader. Think about how everything has to be optimum when you’re working to margins of 0.3 sec per minute on a course with 10 corners per minute.
That’s why we run them.

I do run tubeless on my training bike, but on race day I use Challenge tubulars.

If I’d been on tubeless it would have rolled and burped too; it was sloppy riding due to tiredness.

From an outside perspective, why do you guys even run them? I can count 4-5 instances of problems with gluing, rolling, whatever in the last 2 pages. Why not just run some fast narrow rubber tubeless? Tubs are the boss, as said, and set up right they’re reliable. Like anything good that’s a bit complicated on a bike, though, you can’t be a fanny about it when it goes wrong, you need a bit of perseverence.
Personally I’ve rolled a tub twice – once when I glued them up after six pints, and then ground up a steep hill on really dry grass, and second at the weekend when I tried taping one onto a rim that’s a smidge too narrow and concave. Just see it as a learning experience.

Tubeless is good, though, no doubt – I’m looking at getting a second cross bike which will defo be setup tubeless for training, and I’ll be trying them out in a race. Tubs do have obvious drawbacks – I actually enjoy glueing, find it quite meditative, but I don’t enjoy shelling out 60 quid for a new tub. Another major ballache is if you remove them from the rim [I do after the season to use the wheels on the road} then the base tape can be in a bit of a state and it’s not something that you can just re-glue time after time no problem.

Interesting info… Thanks to all.

@Thomthumb ha ha yes there should be a lap counter board out every lap, normally after leaders have completed 2 laps it will go up. It will tell you how many left. Normally one side where Commies are standing doing number counting.

Crosstober looked like a good course watching in on S4C last night, shame I didn’t make it home but Dai and his team did a flipping brilliant job by the looks of things!

Well since we’re doing photos 😉 (that’s me labouring away in the green and black, not the one who looks like he knows what he’s doing in red and white…)

Fife College Dunfermline. The running sections of the course were in deep, gloopy mud, and I struggled badly. Elsewhere on the course I was having a great time including some crafty overtakes (if I do say so myself) but of course there are never any photographers there when you actually look good on the bike are there?

Edit: actually here’s one of the few overtakes I made at the previous round in Callendar Park, Falkirk. Don’t think the guy behind realised I was sneaking up on him 😀

Just Lochore, might sneak Strathclyde Park in next year (the postponed round 3).

The switchback wasn’t the worst bit, it was the run up from the finish straight to starting straight (if that makes sense). It was mostly flat but real deep sticky mud, I was pretty much walking it for the last two or three laps.

Was looking out for your name on the Fife College start list, think I had guessed your initials might be MP?

Yup thats me. I know exactly who you are and obviously disappointed to see suspension on that bike 😉

Didn’t have a bike for Fife so had to give it a miss – it looked like proper hard work! Could’ve probably borrowed a ride, but still have the guilt from taking someone else’s bike to Callendar!

Think I might be able to do Lochore, Plean, Strathclyde Park and have a go at getting into the Super Quaich madness 🙂

Not a bad day on the Koppenberg so far for our lot 😀

Re: 1x ratios.

I’m on a 40t narrow wide superstar chainring, 105 11-32 cassette and 105 rear mech all of which seems about right for me.

I did think I should go 38 on the front as I’m usually more of a spinner than grinder but haven’t yet been out of gears apart from a very muddy/grassy day where I lost the top three sprockets due to muck buildup, as a result I had to run an uphill and turned out to be about as quick as when I was riding it.

I reckon for CX have a bigger gear to ‘push’ seems to work well for me and I’ll stick with it.

Also worth noting that I’ve only dropped the chain twice, both on VERY bumpy sections when not pedaling despite the theory I should have a more hardcore rear mech.

Anyone riding southampton at the weekend?

I’m entered. If it’s dry i might ride out; my wife needs my car and i don’t know if i can be bothered to squeeze my muddy bike in her car & then clean the inside!

I’ll need to leaving spares at home & lights for the return journey though…

same as last time – green bike/ green Push the cranks kit. say hello – i’ll be near the back 😉

Aims. Improve my placings (85% at Sparsholt), chase overtakers more, no chain dropping, win the sprint for the line

Good luck Thomthumb! I’m not going although I ought to do a few more to justify my tyres 😆

I really could do with lower gearing if I race again- might help my cadence. I think it’s 38/46 on the front and 32-12 on the back but I used to really utilise my granny gear when racing my MTB on an XT triple.

Bang on midfield at Ulverston Vet40-50 (36 of 72). Just realised 11 places ahead of steve_b77 🙂 Will try and say hi next week (I’m on the Unimog orange weird home made frame).

Good brutal / techy course and for the second time hit the goal of not getting lapped. Starting to realise most of my racing benchmarks are where I place amongst the other dads…… Lost a couple of places during lap 4 but tried hard to fight back and swapped back and forth right to the end which was good but futile fun.

No Central League for us this week as the venue owners got cold feet so it had to be cancelled, made up for it with a rare day of mtb playing around at Area 51. Managed another 7th at the previous week’s Central round at the gorgeous Shuttleworth college. Last year I was fighting to stay in the back of the second group, this year I’m getting dropped by the first group but staying ahead of the second, still not figured out where my extra fitness has come from but it’s highlighted limitations in my technique (I rode like a spanner at Shuttleworth, eventually falling off and twisting my bars which cost me a place).

I’ve done just that riding back to the car park from the finish line, got about 20 metres 🙄 (but better 20m after than 20m before I guess).

This coming weekend is RAF Halton, winner of course and venue of the year last 2 years running; loads of singletrack so a mountain biker’s course, and the RAF put on a marching band, Belgian frite van and there’s a rumour they’re adding a sand pit this year 😀

IIRC Mark Harvey put 10 tons of sand in at Dalton Barracks, but had the luxury of leaving it there so it’s a permanent feature of any races he organises (he runs a summer series, a Wessex round, recently put on a 3hr night race, and has just committed to the Central Regional champs).

Possibly put tarps down so you can lift the sand after use?

Wessex CX – used an abandoned golf course; complete with bunker. It was ace – i’m not sure they’ve been back for a couple of years which is real shame.

It was my first CX race and i rode SS commuter with a massive gear. I’d love to have another crack with a proper bike/ my miniscule amount of knowledge.

No eastleigh golf course/ fleming park. I think it was a sotonia event.

google suggests they ran it 2012,13 & 14.

An integral part of CX racing and happens at every race and in every part of the grid, it’s not just a newbie mistake but it is a fine balance. You don’t want to get baulked at the first pinch point and lose a stack of time, but you’ll lose more if you blow up and go backwards. I’m in my third season and still consider myself a novice – I’m racing against guys who’ve raced CX and road for 10, 20 years so still learning stuff like pacing, tactics, and even basics like the best lines (which is one of the reasons I watch the pro races on YouTube/Eurosport).