[Closed] 2016-17 CX racing thread

Ah Will you're the beardy one I saw you battling it out! That dude that won Senior was insanely fast!

Cracking course (although I'm telling crashtestmonkey it was rubbish) I mean who wants sandpits, muddy off camber, slick muddy corners you have to run and some power climbs? Great day out, 3rd for me although a wee bit disappointed as I was 2nd for the first few laps but when she got past I couldn't stay with her on the grass flat bits 🙁 although I was way better on the technical bits! need more technical courses.

Although racing absolutely wipes me out! Anyone else completely shattered today? I feel like I could spend all day in bed!

Finally got some muddy off-camber at East Kent CX. Was such a joy to need skill as well as power, although when it comes to getting up slippery off-camber banks, more power is usually the skill you need. 😀

@David Jey, yup I was there, had an ok race until I came off in said bog. I am awaiting the many photographs to appear as all I could hear as I wallowed here were camera shutters.
Enjoyed the course. My fitness let me down and I lost 4 places in the last 2 laps. Roll on Bryn Bach..

Finally managed a podium (3rd) at the Central League yesterday

Ha. Saw on Strava you were a member of the STW group. Wondered what your handle here was.

Congrats... Again. 🙂

Ah Will you're the beardy one I saw you battling it out!

No. Will was the Phoenix rider. Neil Phillips is the beardy one.

Correct, couldn't grow a beard if I tried 🙄 Was a great battle with Neil though, I knew that if he got in front on the final twisty sections he'd probably have me as he was quicker though these. Annoying.

Joe (the winner) is on a flyer this season!

Well done MC, a great result in a pretty big field!

Anybody at Kettering? It's a good course, stony/sandy in sections, ankle deep mud in others, and if it's muddy, very hard work!

We're racing Kettering. Snapped my rear mech 6 feet after crossing the finish line last year 🙄

Just a reminder for anyone planning on the Welsh CX Champs that hasnt registered yet, deadline is this Sunday (20th) on BC
[url= https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/events/details/150279/Welsh-Cyclo-Cross-Championships-2016#ti4WGFZUDkF13Qy1.01 ]BC web link[/url]

The guys were finalising the course yesterday and its running nicely 😀

[img] [/img]

ooo yes Welsh champs I want that stripey jersey ..... not sure I will but will give it my best shot!

Will I remember Kettering from last year lots of running but hopefully with the dry weather we've had this year there won't be many rear mechs getting eaten but it'll be technical and fun!

From what I hear of some guys should used to race Bryn Bach a few years back; it used to be a pretty 'old-school' type course, which I think means a mix of everything ... and rough. Sorry if that's just as vague!

Llanchaeron wasn't good for me, worse race of season. Really good course, the organisers really put in a lot of work taping off course etc.
But I had customary slow start, and washed out on practically every bend. My own fault for putting too pressure in and wearing tyres that clogged up within 2-3 laps.

Hopefully Bryn Bach will be grippy & fast.

Weather forecast is for snow and minus temps so I'm not sure grip will be fantastic! At least all the youth and vets etc should thaw out any ice by the senior race 😆

Completely vague description, but I like it!

had an ok race until I came off in said bog. I am awaiting the many photographs to appear as all I could hear as I wallowed here were camera shutters.

Just see a fantastic picture of you having a mid race mud bath on the Welsh cx facebook page! Bonus points for the pic of you bunnyhopping the log though!

Hopefully Bryn Bach will be grippy & fast

ROFL. Keep hoping, and don't look at the forecast or it will shatter your dreams.

Unless of course we're just racing on the BMX track 😀

Doing Otterspool on Sat, and have no spare bike - Is it ever worth bringing a jetspray to clean your own bike in the pits, or is that a silly idea?
Just thinking if it's a proper mudocalypse then a minute in the pits blasting it clean sounds like a decent back-up plan if the bike is overwhelmed with mud.

According to Parc Bryn Bach there's also an Antiques and Collectors Fair which should make parking "interesting". I don't remember much parking when the total entry for the senior and vets race was about 70. My memory of racing at Bryn Bach was rain, mud and a large drainage culvert. And some scalpings to ruin any nice tubs.

Is it ever worth bringing a jetspray to clean your own bike in the pits

Not convinced it would be. Anyway, after barely touching a bike all summer / autumn due to illness & injury I will be having a go at Otterspool on Sat. At least it'll make it easier for someone not to be last 🙂

stanwell - Member

According to Parc Bryn Bach there's also an Antiques and Collectors Fair which should make parking "interesting". I don't remember much parking when the total entry for the senior and vets race was about 70. My memory of racing at Bryn Bach was rain, mud and a large drainage culvert. And some scalpings to ruin any nice tubs.

Which bit of the park did they use? looks like loads of parking near gol course.

Excellent NWCCA race at Otterspool today. Properly fun, tough course. Barely riding a bike this year made it pretty tough going but had some good battles towards the rear of the field 🙂

Was a tad muddy 🙂

[img] [/img]

Also at Otterspool today. Beaten by the Mrs who also managed to avoid being lapped by the lead men 🙂

Family of 4 all racing is one hell of a cleanup - a task that has finally killed the washing machine tonight. Luckily just the heating element I think, so can at least cold wash most of the filth out until I get a spare.

I raced today in a one off event here in Leipzig organised by a former pro road rider Robert Förster. It was advertised as Germany's first night cross race but our race was in the day. It is the first track that I would say is in the Belgian style...the venue was at the side of an old open cast mine now converted into a massive lake (there are loads of them around here) and so the ground is pretty sandy. The entire course was 2m wide (the local race series courses have a lot of singletrack sections) which suited me down to the ground as my usual slow start didn't affect me quite so badly as I could overtake people when I wanted. To cut a long story short I got my first podium in cross! 3rd place 🙂

Congratulations!

Nice one RS. I much prefer courses which are wide and use run-ups, hairpins and offcamber to add in technicality makes better racing IMO.

Simondbarnes. Have a feeling my bike will look like that tomorrow, if it's not frozen!

This basically sums up the seniors race at Otterspool today. I have the distinct feeling I did badly, just couldn't get going in the slop.

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Oooh! The nightcross race even made the regional news!
[url= http://www.mdr.de/mediathek/mdr-videos/a/video-62768.html ]news report[/url]

Looking very wet for Harwell today... Not sure i will bother dragging my lad over... Not sure i'd actually be able to persuade him !

Snow overnight up at Parc Bryn Bach. Let's be honest it was going to be there if anywhere. See you Welshies up there

steve_b77 - Member
This basically sums up the seniors race at Otterspool today. I have the distinct feeling I did badly, just couldn't get going in the slop.

It's quite satisfying that the fit lads have to race after 150 ale tanks have rolled over the course

Hey, I resemble that remark 🙂
I somehow managed to beat 26 people in my first race for a year. That'll do.

So, Western Leagues Forest of Dean round today, a stark contrast from last weeks Keynsham, a night of constant rain set us up for a day of cold, muddy, rooty & a lengthy run which made for a brutal course - i loved it 🙂 it worked well that after i'd collected a load of mud on my tyres after the start section i managed to fling it all off on the fire road descent. Excellent.

[img][url= https://c3.staticflickr.com/6/5621/30989708202_6d1d7de935_o.jp g" target="_blank">https://c3.staticflickr.com/6/5621/30989708202_6d1d7de935_o.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/PdsmzQ ]Forest of Dean cyclocross[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/martinddd/ ]martinddd[/url], on Flickr[/img]

[img][url= https://c5.staticflickr.com/6/5446/30316289364_b25b52b8f7_o.jp g" target="_blank">https://c5.staticflickr.com/6/5446/30316289364_b25b52b8f7_o.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/NbWUCd ]2016-11-20_05-53-01[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/martinddd/ ]martinddd[/url], on Flickr[/img]

Weeksy, Harwell was a blast. Slippy and slidey, not mech-chewing sticky mud. Went all the way up the mound then back down 'The chute of doom' which was a spectator paradise, you could hear them all across the course. Raced V40 on tired legs from racing Central CX day before, as an interloper I was unceded so at the back of a field of 80, so happy with 21st.

Bryn Bach report - it was grippy and fast after all; but it was also very wet, and bitterly cold.

Fantastic course, with a bit of everything except off camber ... or claggy mud.

I got off to an unusually good start, managed to get towards the front guys and not get swamped by the following herd. Made the mistake of sitting on somebody`s wheel all the way before going into the single track sections, this had me soaking wet (and muddy)straight away. From then onwards I just got colder and colder ... half way around 2nd lap my fingers were so cold I couldnt change gear or brake properly.
I started losing sight of the front guys and dropping positions ... then guy in front decided to take short cut to miss section of course ... which had me falling off to avoid him as he detoured; dropped more positions and got wetter as a result.

Managed to take back a couple positions, but finished a couple positions off the guys I usually in front of.
Great course - sending off for winter warm/waterproof gloves ready for the Caerphilly course which is likely to be similar ... but muddier!

Just got my entry into the northern champs before today's cut off.what's York race course like then?

Think Bryn Bach was a course that split opinion! I had a pretty awful race, the only bit I really enjoyed was the muddy section at hte far end. Love sloppy mud like that. My heart wasn't in it so after burping a load of air out on a rock, didn't push it, just road conservatively to make sure I finished as needed it as one to get my six for hte league.

Need to get my fitness back!

The signing on room was kinda funny.
As I signed on 2-3 little kids were hogging the radiator, and crying to their mam to go home; then at end of our race as I collected licence, some old fellas were hogging radiator, and looking ready to cry ... as the medic there checked them over.

When I arrived all I could see was crying kids, felt so sorry for them having to go off in hte coldest bit of the day!

London X-League at Ardingly today.

Nice mud for the Juniors and Vets - still wet enough to be slippery but not too sticky. I hear the seniors had it a bit more claggy. Oh well, serves them right for being younger than me.

Thought I had 3rd sown up when halfway through the last lap a rider appears from nowhere and whooshes past. I hadn't spotted him as he's not one of the regulars so I'd assumed he was a back marker. What a bugger!
😀

Cold got to me pre-race I think. I just could not get going off the start. Yet again out in a no-mans land of late mid-pack. Did mean my face was a lot cleaner than others though! Only had one small mud wallow this week, and after going a bit too quick over the kickers the first or second lap, I didn't fully commit the next time around and ended up in a tree.
Anyway I think purely by small field I got a better position than some earlier efforts. Oh and my bloody cleats came loose.
My kit is in for it's third wash...
Ant, you looked to be riding well today mate. Good work. Iain, good to see you again. Thought something must have been up when I saw you at the finish.

Good to see you to Thom. Cold definately wasn't a treat. It didn't help my motivation when I spoke to one of the guys in our club just before hte start and he started rattling off about half a dozen bad injuries in hte previous races! Had a feeling my wife would not be best pleased if I came back with a broken collarbone in her current condition! Just making excuses really though 😆

Looking forward to Pembrey, finally seem to have kicked my virus so back doing some training this week 🙂

I think it will be my worse finish position of the season this week Thom. Even though it was the course that suited me the best.

Thats CX!

Pembrey should be good. Sees you there.

Glad you "enjoyed" our FoD race. There was a young lady taking hundreds of pics. Apparently they get posted on here FB page wherever that may be.
I was buggered at the end of the Vets and was embarrassingly beaten by Henry, our 71 year of whippet. (actually he beats many people at lots of things)

When I arrived all I could see was crying kids

When I parked up yesterday I spent the first few minutes helping parents parked either side of me thaw their cold and tearful kids out - my down jacket went round one of them while the other drank some hot drink out of my flask.

Fairly decent race for me, although I was much stronger in the later stages than early on, not helped by a a freewheel that didn't like the cold and was slow to engage - changed bikes after two laps and went better after that as I also got the hang of the course. Finished 6th, which is a season's best in Welsh League.

Some of the toughest conditions, if not the toughest, conditions I've experienced in 10 seasons of 'cross. I think only the races at Parc cwm Darran a few years back come close.

My First cross race in some time and first time taking my steel commuter off road didn't set the world alight but had a good giggle trying! My first couple of laps before battery died on GoPro:

Well done on having a go - but just so you know gopros are banned from all BC races. If spotted using one you'll get a slapped wrist or a DQ depending what mood the commissaire is in.

Where does it actually say that? I did have a good search on BC's rules and no-one really knew on sign on.

There is a UCI directive which is included in the BC rule book. If you ride at a Central or London / South East League race you won't be allowed to do so if you have a camera mounted either on you or the bike.
I'll dig out the directive that we've been given later.

Think you can record your practise lap though but definately not the actual race. I believe its a liability issue.

Looks like a really fun course. Round the manicured playing field with lots of banking is my favourite type, especially when there's a bit of mud involved! Only had a chance to race one palying field race this year which is a shame.