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Well then I am entered into Newbury on the 20th September and Reading on 18th October... Bit nervous now, anyone else doing these races?
I quite fancy giving one a go, just to see how I'd get on as I only use my bike for commuting duties so rarely push myself. I had a brief look on the BC website for bike spec rules but couldn't find much (top quality work intranet is bordering dial up speeds), would I get away with risers on a CX bike or are they super strict?
Also anyone in the High Peak area link me to a local race league website??? 😕
I'll be in the NDCXL league again. Hoping to get a top 10 this season too. Just converted some old RS80 wheels to tubeless so I may have some grip this season 😀
I had a brief look on the BC website for bike spec rules but couldn't find much (top quality work intranet is bordering dial up speeds), would I get away with risers on a CX bike or are they super strict?
It's been mentioned before but so long as you aren't riding a National Trophy/National Championship or the Three Peaks, then you can ride anything you like. Some leagues ban bar ends on MTBs and you might get turned away if you try and ride on fixed wheel but beyond that, go for it.
Quite a few Notts and Derby league events are within striking distance of the High Peak, as are some Lincs, North West and Yorkshire races.
Winner cheers!
@cookea - Reading, prospect park in 2011 very wet & muddy. Tricky down long slopes on back of circuit with cantilever non-brakes! Not flat.
Newbury *formally at county showground - open in-field section with changing wind direction bit sapping but solid underwheel, good wooded section fast/switching track.
*Mary Hare is this season's Newbury venue, not ridden here.
Basingstoke - memorial park, good course includes BMX track and banks on outside of in-field.
focus like an xc race, although it's not all rideable, keep high intensity but not cook it in first couple of laps. Good to learn where lines work and where can carry speed etc.
rockfield - MemberPjt201- those mince pies were amazing. I only had 2 which probably explains why I did so badly. Looking forward to the new season and new venues in the western league. Mendip raceway is going to be interesting!
I would have thrown up for sure if I had taken one but it did make me chuckle!
Looking forward to Mendip Raceway (anyone know if it uses part of the track?) I hope to be able to make the first round next Sunday as well.
1st race of the season proper tomorrow! Doesn't look like the file treads will be getting much use this year...
Yup, Sunday for me. Limus ON!! (well maybe I'll just turn up with the griffo's and see how it goes)
As is it seems my Club has now a dedicated training season setup whilst the racing season peters out, should tie in nicely with some long distance CX offroad stuff I have planned.
Already done a stint of sprint to stop, hop off/hop on, sprints for the last few weeks..
8)
Apologies for the weather it'll be my fault as I bought some challenge chicanes last week, anybody that's used them care to comment on how damp it needs to be before these need to come off and the muds go on. I've nothing in-between the 2 options.
It depends on the course. Chicanes don't work so well if it's damp on courses with lots of slow-in, slow-out dead-turn corners as you don't lean enough to engage the side knobs cornering and straight line upright braking and hard accelerating is pants. However, if it is more open and fast, chicanes can work surprisingly well.
Don't be afraid to mix and match treads, I often ride with some form of file tread on the back with a grippier tyre up front.
How technical do CX courses get? Am toying with n+1 on a cross bike, justifying it by entering a race or two....
Not very technical if you are riding a mtb with wide knobby tyres. Very technical if you are pushing your limit aerobically on a cx bike with skinny tyres and no brakes. Even a basic corner can take you out if you aren't paying attention.
(That's not going to help until one day, when you are blowing out of your backside trying to get around a simple switchback without sliding out, you'll remember this. Or not :D. )
Technical is a good question. It's a different kind of technical of off camber banks, steep ups and downs, stupid daft mud. What makes all that doubly technical is the speed you try to take it at. Trying to ride someone off your wheel or force a mistake without blowing or falling off yourself.
Looking nice for Stanmer on Sunday (sorry), Griffo's on, new disc Kite built up - just me to sort out ;o)
One of the good things about cross is the technicality can change during the race as well as year to year, one year you go well at a course go back next year after some rain and the whole thing changes.
Cheers for the tyre advice Leggy, another learning curve with file treads.
dharmstrong I've a nice CX bike for sale in the classifieds if your serious about having a bash at racing.
Thanks all, rich will take a look
Anyone else at Stanmer today? Lovely weather, big field & a great course.
Sounds very much Like Skipton 🙂 Had a great day but v tough and so glad the course wasn't wet!
Novice race at Skipton for me. Easing myself in gently.
I'm not sure which was harder, 11 times up Stanmer today or the hills of Basildon yesterday! My legs are ruined now, that was a serious opening weekend.
Great bit of loamy woodland track at the top of Stamner wasn't it? Got a full on two wheel drift going on one of the faster corners.
I'm not sure which was harder, 11 times up Stanmer today or the hills of Basildon yesterday! My legs are ruined now, that was a serious opening weekend.
Yup, definitely hurt on a singlespeed!
Awe no, didn't go. Suffering with ManFlu brought into work by all the ex holiday/kids crowd. Woke up Friday thinking I'd be fine, Saturdays hour sprints on the bike turned into an afternoon on the sofa, and yesterday despite having the bike in the car I decided to bin it.
Gutted.
Looked like an exceptional day for hard riding, few spills, clicks n kicks.
Highlight of the course?
The super fast downhill right hander into the barriers & the singletrack climb.
The loamy woods section for me. Having to switch mode from max effort to controlled line choice was a real test.
First cross race in 2 or 3 seasons for me today. I survived and wasn't last! Excellent course at Hoghton Tower for the first round of the NWCCA. Great job by the folks at Red Rose Olympic in putting it on 🙂
Just got back from picking up a cheap CX bike, tempted to have a go at a race or two this year, so will keep on eye on this thread
You should durhambiker - very inclusive, everybody welcome.
First ever 'cross race today! Didn't sleep properly last night due to nervous excitement! 🙂
Had my first of the season yesterday at Hardwick Hall, first round of notts and Derby. Was happy with hire I was going until a snapped quick link brought a premature end. Actually fixed it once but the second time was terminal.
Great course, twisty and dampened by the morning rain.
Was brave enough to try the delight that is 20psi in my clinchers.
No need for cross bikes, just a 29er will do. Cross wheels and tubs optional.
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^ That bike always goes as fast as it looks (know I've tried hard if he doesn't manage to lap me).
simond - hope you rode the steps out of the barn rather than all the dismounting mincers - it was surprisingly easy and much faster. Mrs also rode them every lap and said the same.
Spent ages on friday afternoon getting the zigzags laid out just right on the tower lawn, but never got a clear full speed run at them in the race (vets and ladies field is huge and rather congested). Also a really good course for singlespeed.
Well I'm back on it, hard ride Friday, hard ride yesterday, CX sprints this morning. Just a little chest cough to finally get rid of and I'm back, legs feeling great.
Best of luck to all racing this weekend 😀
simond - hope you rode the steps out of the barn rather than all the dismounting mincers - it was surprisingly easy and much faster. Mrs also rode them every lap and said the same.
I did indeed! Not very elegantly but made up / saved places every lap by doing so - I'm rubbish at dismounting / remounting 🙂
Amazing fun at my first race at the welsh league rnd 1, brutal, but fun, luckily the course wasn't technical so my tiredness wasn't a massive factor. Boiling hot sunshine too 🙂
Undergoing massive post-race come-down today! Cannot wait till the next one I can make. Anyone else race yesterday?
I enjoyed the welsh course, as a 'cross novice I was pleased there weren't any hurdles! The hardest bit for me was one tight uphill off camber hairpin just before the finish. Kept trying to ride it, was only the last couple of laps I realized it was faster to take a high line then dismount and spin the bike round the turn.
Hi Ferrals - I was at Welsh League yesterday. Glad you enjoyed yourself.
Really good well thought-out course - I like one where there are no FORCED dismounts but are a real challenge to ride...that bank was a 50/50 for me, so it was a run every lap as the penalty for cocking it up was high. I only found a line I could ride through the sand (and more importantly out the other side) on the final two laps.
Solid but unspectacular lower end of the top 20 for me - mind you I just glad to get round after crashing hard in practice. Hit my head and lower back pretty hard - only realised after the race that I'd cracked my helmet in the process - but managed to get round without seizing up. I'm sore from crashing today in additional to the usual post-race dead legs.
Due to illness I was supporting yesterday at Welsh rnd1.
I was gutted not to be racing but was for the best.
Looked a good course, credit to Jif for arranging it. Shame the Llantarnam course has gone though.
David did you bin it on the off-camber descent just before the kerb and building section? I helped someone there who took an almighty wrong way tumble in practice.
Ferrals, were you with Jon P? If so I met you before and after. Glad you enjoyed it.
One of my club mates bought a bike Thursday eve and raced this as his first race on the Sunday. Jon put a cheeky pass on him in the closing laps. He thoroughly enjoyed it.
Don't know if anyones interested but Raphas Super Cross is planned for 17 & 18th Oct at Shibden Hall nr Halifax and 14th Nov at Kings Cross in London around the University grounds 😀
If you think of it like a local CX meet it is, just a few fast lads turn up and tear the legs off everyone in the Elite Cat!
The rest of the field are normal Guys and Gals digging in hard and enjoying a great supported event in some lovely surroundings.
David did you bin it on the off-camber descent just before the kerb and building section?
Mine was further up the back of the course, after the hairpin nearest the school entrance. Got my bars caught in the tape, which then whipped the bike out from under me at high speed. They moved the tape afterwards to stop any else riding the same line!
Shedbrewed, yes, that was me with Jon, hopefully see you at some of the other rounds. Yeah had a great time, had a good battle with one of the jif riders for a while before he dropped me. Think I could have pushed harder as my legs barely hurt today, but it felt brutal at the time and my legs weren't listening to me!
David - cheers, unlucky about the crash, sounds like a decent result considering! glad to hear on fb that no-one hurt themselves badly in the startline crash either as that looked savage out of the corner of my eye. I was getting through the sand in practise but not out the other side so just ran it.
Any idea when the results are likely to be on-line? I was somewhere mid pack i guess/hope, managed 8 laps in a bit under 55 minutes based on my rudimentary self timing.
One of my club mates bought a bike Thursday eve and raced this as his first race on the Sunday. Jon put a cheeky pass on him in the closing laps.
😆 It was very cheeky! Someone had knocked the tapes down on that corner, and then halfway through the stakes were removed as well, so I'd already decided that a tight quick line was legal.. Your team-mate slowed for a very hesitant backmarker on the wider, original line, so I decided to take the tight line, where the stakes had been. I felt guilty that I didn't shout a warning but was worried that your mate would block my line if he knew what I was doing.
Good race. Same as Ferrals, my legs feel fine today. I only really found some speed on the last lap yesterday - should have gone a bit harder.