[Closed] 2016-17 CX racing thread

From the BC Technical Regulations:

10.4 The use in competition of cameras attached to riders, cycles or helmets is prohibited, unless previously authorised in writing by the BC Board. Unless prohibited by the regulations of individual disciplines, onboard cameras are permitted during practice or designated training sessions, but the use of such cameras is authorised solely when the camera is attached to the bicycle. The rider is solely responsible for securing the fixation of the camera in order to avoid any danger or distraction.

The Welsh league headed to Pembrey today with good weather and a big turnout in all categories. The chat before had been that it was the crit course of the season, while it was pan flat, hardpack or short grass and very fast there were enough wiggles to keep it interesting and make for good racing.

I had a pretty bad race, was actually gridded on the front row but missed my pedal, got swamped off the line and then, not being used to riding that fast in a bunch got scared 😳 let off the gas and settled in for an easy first lap, sped up and had a had a good race with shedbrewed and a few others for hte middle portion but blew spectacularly with two laps to go. Just didn't have the fitness to keep the power down constantly for an hour.

Pretty gutted to end my season in the Welsh league with two poor races on the trot after a good start of hte season but looking at my strava log, apart from this week, the last time I managed a proper training week was mid-October so it's hardly surprising. One last race at the Welsh champs next week, hoping today's beasting will have kicked a bit of shape into my legs for that!

Good fast open course at Pembrey. My summer fitness, and lack of riding last few weeks really taking its toll now. Managed 8th position ... so hopefully it'll last a bit longer till end of season.

Yesterday was the German State chanpionships. I decided to race in the neighbouring state as I had been told the course is better. Lovely technical course with sandy soil so drains very well. Unfortunately in the test lap just before the start I got a flat in my front tyre (tub) with no spare wheel and no one with a suitable wheel I could borrow. Decided to race anyway and leave a track pump at the pits. Pumped up the tyre to 70psi and started but this time the tyre held for the entire race (had some sealant in there from a previous puncture) which shook me to death! Rode most of the course jostling for 3rd/4th position .. I was quicker in the second part of the lap and he the first. In the last lap I was in front as we approached a tight chicane which you could steam through if you got the angle right. There was a rider ahead we were about to lap. I tried to time it so I would pass him just after the chicane but the rider behind attacked and shoved the lapped rider out of the way who panicked and braked hard bringing me to a complete stop giving the attacking rider a 30m gap which I wasn't able to close. So 4th place for me. A lesson learned.

Not really sure what worked yesterday but clearly something did. I'd only done a couple of rides in the week, had to use a spare rear wheel with file tread (which I was thinking of using anyway) and had spent the day preceding sawing and splitting wood. I don't think there were many places to brake at all on the course. It was definitely a quick one. 16 miles we raced for. I had probably my best start ever and just managed to keep going. There were plenty of places to ride tactically, so I did. That said, looking at my hr and I was firmly in threshold for the whole race. With the exception of the first lap moves by the very fast boys I tried to jump on every attack.
Good swapping places with ferrals more times than I can recall, along with another lad, Keelan, who's been strong this year. I managed to snap my chain on the final sprint to the line but made enough gap on the following rider to coast and not lose a place.
I hurt today

gridded on the front row but missed my pedal

I was first to react to the whistle and led the race for about the first ten metres 🙂 I then rapidly found out that while my reaction time might have been better than Matt Fratesi and Jake Phelps, they accelerate through the gears an awful lot quicker than me 😳 Hung on to 3rd into the first corner and therefore spent the first lap going backwards - barreled into a few corners way too hot trying to defend places, which obviously ended up having the opposite effect.

Then just full gas for another 60 minutes. Never really had anyone to work with on a course fast enough for drafting, so just rode in my own little pain bubble.

I was quite intimidated being sandwiched between Jacob Phelps and Gruff Lewis 😳 😆

Funny thing was Gruff was just sat on his top tube when the whistle went, made a surprised grunt and still got going quick and flew off at warp speed.

Good swapping places with ferrals more times than I can recall, along with another lad, Keelan,

I was jsut relieved Matt came along and dragged me back to you guys when i was flagging initially otherwise you'ld have been well away. gutted i couldnt stick there till the end. I'm digin deep into the excusing bank and blaming it on not bothering with changing to file treads and wearing a base layer so i overheated.. too cold last week, too hot this week.. hopefully I'll be like goldilocks and next week will be [i]just right[/i] 😆

I then rapidly found out that while my reaction time might have been better than Matt Fratesi

Ah, which league is this in? He Local league used to be the Western leaguein Bristol. Proper rapid..think he beat Simon richardson in 1 race.

I'm guessing he's gone to uni now

Welsh league, think he's Swansea Uni Race team at the mo

You not racing Welsh Champs this weekend? Me and crashtestmonkey are coming back for some fun and games!

Yeah doing Welsh Champs but no more of the league races.

We've put in hours of effort riding round Singleton planning out course options but think we've got a champ-worthy one planned. Are you on the WCX facebook group? course map is up, plenty of hair-pins and offcamber, a solid (well for cx, about 30s) climb, a few short punchy climbs. its a real mix.

The Xmas-x at Caerphilly not motivating many this year. Fingers crossed it not rain between now & then ... it may not be too muddy then!!

I'd like to but despite my best negotiations, requests for yet another sunday cycling fell on deaf ears- though to be fair to my wife, with it being exactly two weeks befor the due date of our first child she may have a point 😳 😆

The Xmas-x at Caerphilly [s]not [/s]motivating many this year. Fingers crossed it [s]not rain[/s][b]buckets down[/b] between now and then ... it may not be too [s]muddy [/s][b]dry[/b] then!!

Come on Ant, it's 'cross, mud is all part of it and we've had an exceptionally dry series of races relative to a normal season. And as somebody who goes best when ploughing through the slop I've been at a disadvantage all season!

Mtn View Ranch is a great venue too, lots of course-side hard standing and a nice warm cafe to hide in after.

YEs I'm on the welsh CX page (Franalina) so had a sneaky peak. Do you just gain entry to the park from the boating lake down on the front?

Surely 2 weeks before your first child is born is the perfect time to be racing your last cx race as you won't be racing every again 😉

And as somebody who goes best when ploughing through the slop I've been at a disadvantage all season

Me too, not had to dismantle my mech once 😥

Munqe-chick - Member

YEs I'm on the welsh CX page (Franalina) so had a sneaky peak. Do you just gain entry to the park from the boating lake down on the front?

Park in the recreation ground car park on St Helens and head up through gates on the other side of the side-road park is what we're recommending. Probably a 3 minute ride.

Surely 2 weeks before your first child is born is the perfect time to be racing your last cx race as you won't be racing every again

I thought it was impeccibly timed to have maximum oppurtunity to get used to sleeplessness before next season!

Terrible race in the London League for me at Leeds Castle this week. Had hardly ridden in the week & was totally knackered & head in completely the wrong place. Gridded on 2nd row & got a reasonable start but then just started going backwards, even stopped a couple of times to quit but sorted myself out to MTFU & finish!

Really missing the mud this season! Next round in a couple of weeks & then there's over a month off!

david jey - Member

Come on Ant, it's 'cross, mud is all part of it and we've had an exceptionally dry series of races relative to a normal season. And as somebody who goes best when ploughing through the slop I've been at a disadvantage all season!

Mtn View Ranch is a great venue too, lots of course-side hard standing and a nice warm cafe to hide in after.

I raced it year before last - I did 2 laps, and quit. It just didnt feel like a race ... though to be fair, last years course had one or two little changes that looked a bit better (although still had all the bad bits too).

Even Ross the Boss is thinking of giving it a miss. And he like a pig in mud.

Looks like it is going to be a cold one with hard ground on Sunday!

Yep. As I posted on Welsh CX fb page it was frozen with a white icey topping at 2pm yesterday. Even the beach sand is frozen right now! I had a good walk around the course and while in places there was a bit of moisture trapped under the forzen topping much was bone dry. Shouldnt need to clean bike much! I've hedged my bets, MXP on the rear, PDX on the front, nothing like indecision!

Looking forward to it. Had a look at the start list - oh boy, I reckon if I have the race of my life I could just about scrape into 10th place 😕

You'll go well david, its a hard course, a lot of elevation changes will need a lot of stamina. Even if I try and spin round it gently my HR goes above 160.

Strava segment here: [url= https://www.strava.com/segments/13729340?filter=overall ]Welsh Champs course[/url]

john_l - Member
Next round in a couple of weeks & then there's over a month off!

Hello Ferrals,

That strava profile of the course is great. Cheers for that. Any other info about the course? It must still be riding pretty firm down there. Likely to cut up for the seniors but vets should be ok, what do you reckon?

Cheers,

Matt

See you at Frylands Wood. L and I are Comms again, so it'll rain.....

Good 🙂

Alright Matt, someone rode it today and said bits were frozen solid and other bits were very muddy. Warmer now and not forecast to freeze again so guess it will have thawed out by race day. Should be quite variable terrain. We're using two main fields. The first one (right hand field) is grass that is constantly kept short and seems to hold a lot of water. This will cut up quickly I think, probably prior to the vets race, especially as all races are using it. The second field drains better and and the grass is only cut a couple of times a year (was cut earlier in autumn), I think this may stay as grass for everyone.

There's a fair bit of offcamber but nothing tricky apart from one hairpin I've nicknamed calamity camber which will hopefully get a few people's arses muddy. Another sweeping offcamber turn will reward people with the skills to ride it fast but won't cause any problems to anyone. Couple of bits of tarmac, tiny bit of wooded stuff but primarily grass. Really really looking forward to it, can't wait to see what everyone thinks of the course 😀

Cheers Ferrals, sounds great and thanks for the info! See you Sunday.

Matt

So how did people's Welsh champs go?

Had a great day. We spray painted out the course yesterday so being a slacker left the taping to the others and had a nice lazy morning before heading down to watch the u16/u14 race, do a practise lap and watch the vets and women.
Happy with my race, some good battles: first couple of laps was riding with a guy I don't normally keep up with till I messed up the ruts and he got a gap, then had another good battle with a guy I'd not raced with before, I'd gap him through the offcamber and switchbacks, he'd get me on th planks and being able to bunny hop the log. Started to fade and he dropped me but still happy - 16th in the seniors race, or 7th if there was a masters cat. Pleased to finish my season on a good note after a couple of really poor races. Nice buzz about the day too.

What did you think of the course Fran? We got some really good feedback which I was chuffed with as we put a lot of effort into the design, I'm a bit gutted it was so dry as it negated the technicality of the offcambers but I think it was just as well as Swansea council will be happy the parks not trashed and we might be allowed back!

Bloody hard course! Good though. Those hurdles and the 'drag' up the log were hard going. Great course and the corners flowed really well. Really enjoyed it. Cheers!

Matt Lewis

Blame Martyn for the uphill hurdles!

Those hurdles killed me every lap. Really chuffed to have been 3rd man home and for our club to get the team prize.
Thought the course was good, nicer to ride than Builth a couple of years back. Maybe not as smooth as Abergavenny but still good. Great results Iain, Matt and David.

Frustrating day for me; legs just wouldn't wake up.
Had some good battles. Great atmosphere and well organised.

Congrats to all medal winners.

Great day out yesterday - it would be good if Singleton became a regular Welsh League venue.

Really like the course (railing round 'smiley face' at high speed was the best bit) but god it was hard. I got my top ten, just, but crossed the line completely in bits. Went to get my jacket from the sign on tent and pretty much collapsed. Took a good five minutes and some help from a few folks to get me back on my feet.

Fran, I only realised when I saw the results that it was you who had the epic race-long scrap with my team mate Clare! I think I enjoyed watching that more than I enjoyed racing. I was the AJAX bloke who came up and spoke to you both after you crossed the line.

Great going Thom!

Bit of footage from one of the Bynea guys:

The number of people who came off on the 180 off camber left hander not long after the finish straight might disagree, ferrals!

I raced Welsh V40 as a non-native interloper. Hard but fun course at race pace. Drove all that way and ended up having a race long wheel to wheel with another Central League guy who'd made the trip. Interesting to race against other people in different Leagues rather than assuming your usual group position, went into it really tired but enjoyed it so happy enough with 16th.

File treads in Wales in December, madness.

@DJ, you must have been posting same time as i was so didnt see your post - great result, well done. Everyone seemed to like the smiley face 😀

@CTM - I only saw one person crash but the photographic evidence shows otherwise, it was the point of the turn though! Glad you enjoyed

re. the toughness of the course, its actually quite lucky the course-setter-uppers ran out of tape as there was meant to be two more steep down, tight turn and back up sections either side of the planked one, which based on post-race feedback might have been a bit too much climbing!

there was meant to be two more steep down, tight turn and back up sections either side of the planked one

😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯

Hi David! Yes that was me in the Ale skin suit cracking battle with Clare probably one of the best I've had all season.. she crashed on the off camber bit and I snuck around her but she managed to claw me back! I'm so glad there wasn't another lap all I had in my head was where am I going to attack? I have one attack in the legs and it has to be do or die.. alas I didn't need it!

3rd Senior woman but no medal as not enough Juniors in the race. I don't mind getting beaten by the James' sisters phenomenal talent and depth in CX!

Funnily enough when I did my recce lap I was a bit "meh" .. ha ha oh how that changed at race pace! some of those winding long off cambers corners were so fast it was all about confidence in your tyres.. I didn't crash 🙂

Great day out thanks! Hopefully I will be back for the New Years Eve CX race!

@CTM - I only saw one person crash but the photographic evidence shows otherwise, it was the point of the turn though! Glad you enjoyed

I saw several, there's a cracking pic of a Jif racer doing the full Michael Jackson pose coming off the bike-that's me trying to avoid his stricken bike with the other Central guy right behind.

I personally like climby courses (I don't have much power, but that's offset by not much weight either 😉 ). It reminded me (in a good way) of one of the Central rounds at Hemel which also wound it's way up and down a hill - on a slow recce it also appeared uninspiring but at race pace was a whole different and more challenging and involving experience. Which is just as well as I think I was the last V40 not to get passed by the winner so had the 'privilege' of doing an extra lap over some of the guys I'd been dicing with.

Raced our central league V40-49 race today at Hillingdon. First race since the last one we staged a year ago. Got a fine start and managed eighth after the tarmac sprint ( I rode up that slope 52 times yesterday!) Backwards from there. No substitute for skill! Pulled a few places back to finish 17/44. First ever race on drop bars, gears and cantilever brakes.

If you came with kids, I was scoring the early races in the gazebo.

sadly missed the Hillingdon round due to a mixture of other planned commitments and a visit to the fracture clinic. Frustrating as quite a few of the big hitters in my cat were at the national series round, so everyone finished a good few positions higher than they usually do and banked some nice points (including the people I'm battling with in the league, who all scored season-best positions 🙄 )

Heard it was a good course and running nicely.

I rode the Western Leauges round 12 @ Oldbury Court yesterday, finished mid field which seems to be my spot in CX racing 🙂 Had a few sections of real clag, that my WTB Trail Boss 35c collected on the sidewalls adding a chunk of weight!!! I'd like some Clement PDX - but thats not gonna happen with Christmas looming... 🙁 (anyone know of any tubeless stock?).

[img][url= https://c6.staticflickr.com/6/5591/31457164261_4cbd6cae37_o.jp g" target="_blank">https://c6.staticflickr.com/6/5591/31457164261_4cbd6cae37_o.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/PVLbZ4 ]Oldbury Court CX race.[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/martinddd/ ]martinddd[/url], on Flickr[/img]

[img][url= https://c4.staticflickr.com/1/108/30763440603_b49ea94eca_o.jp g" target="_blank">https://c4.staticflickr.com/1/108/30763440603_b49ea94eca_o.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/NSsF7k ]Oldbury Court CX race stream crossing[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/martinddd/ ]martinddd[/url], on Flickr[/img]

[img][url= https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/334/31446859512_5c93fd0605_o.jp g" target="_blank">https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/334/31446859512_5c93fd0605_o.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/PURnJY ]Clag[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/martinddd/ ]martinddd[/url], on Flickr[/img]

Pretty sure i got dropped by a 60 year old on file treads!!!

Heard it was a good course and running nicely.