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I came off on the corner just before the start line at the end of the first full lap. Crossed the rough road part OK, but obviously overcooked it into the corner. Felt like it took ages to get back on the bike, but the lap times and Strava indicate it was about a minute.
I do remember you passing me - I did your club's 25TT earlier this year so the kit caught my eye.
new tyres with a bit more grip than my Vittoria Cross XMs
More grip? I've just replaced a set of Vittoria XG with these as was hoping theses would be the "more grip" tyre - not yet fitted so not too late to return but was planning on fitting after work! What you do find them lacking on? The tread looks reasonable but admittedly does lack much central sideways facing tread! Any suggestions for a cheap (as possible) mud/high grip tyre?
I was struggling with grip (or lack of) on the side knobs. I could feel them grabbing on the off-camber spiral of doom, but at any significant speed the front was sliding out. In addition to the first crash, the front wheel slid out again on another slippy grass corner.
I've gone for some Schwalbe x-One allrounds
I don't have tubeless wheels though, so I was running the Vittoria's at about 35-40PSI
I have some Vittoria Cross XL Pro's, bloody awful frankly. Loads of corner grip but terrible on anything but corners. I was also drawn in by PlanetX's cheapness for mud tyres. Currently using Donnelly PDX and they're fine so far.
Yep, I'll echo that comment on the XL Pros - I got up muddy banks better on a set of worn landcruisers! I wonder if XL pro front and XM pro rear would be a good combo or if it'll just end up in constant difts.
Donnelly PDX, yikes, looks good but that'll £70 for both! Might chuck up a wanted if the XMs don't sit well with me as I'll only get the price of one tyre back if returning (postage losses). I have tubeless rims and happily run low 30s psi so might see if I can lower that to 25-30psi to see how they cope.
Donnelly/Clement PDX or BOS tubeless ready versions - I have mine at 17/19psi on muddy days, on Crest rims, no problem at all.
You can run lower than that no prob - I start at 25psi tubeless and adjust up or down (and I'm large), so low 20s is quite doable for most. Sub20 can work but is a bit iffy IME as you're risking a belch at those low pressures.
Quite liked the cross XLs - they're an old model now which must be why the Rotherham jakeys are knocking them out. The centre knobs wear down rapidly, though, so if it's seen a bit of use you can soon have a baldy tyre on your hands.
Mud fest race advice needed- what are the essentials and extras I should take that I may not think of? Spare kit, clothes, towels etc
No jet wash 🙁
Second bike- worth taking and using/swapping? Can it be done alone or do you need an extra person for it to be worth it?
Leeds castle tomorrow!
So MK CX in the city was surprisingly dry and the XM pros were incredibly grippy! It took me a lap or two to get used to the grip but when being lapped I was able to keep with the fast guys on tubs through the corners. (Then dropped at an alarming rate when pedaling) I dropped to 26f 28r psi which felt about right. 24psi on the Front started to roll on the high speed sections.
Race felt good, had a bit of a stitch on lap 3-4 but this meant I had to be very careful with being to aggressive to recover was able to finish very strong and get past all the guys I'd been fighting. On the negative side I did break a spoke on my rear wheel so that spent 1/4 of the race annoying me before I stopped to bend it round a neighboring spoke. 77/101 riders so nice to not be in the bottom 5th!
Conditions at Leeds Castle for the London League were brilliant today, considering how wet it's been. Mostly all rideable (even on the SS), but that wall's a bastard. Nice off-camber sections with just enough grip to make it fun.
Much better than I was expecting - hated it the last time I raced there, but loved it today!
Big surprise to me too Mr L. Absolutely tipped down on my way there. Expected trench conditions but no! That wall seemed trickier this year and adding that dip to the lake and climb certainly brought the toughness level up a tad!
Another mud fest for the Welsh league. Out west this week, riding round a couple of sheep fields, but actually a cracking Course. Very muddy, but sloppy mud so no need for more than one bike. I've had a stinking cold the last few days and so wasn't going to race but couldn't resist it knowing the amount of mud that would be on offer. Took it steady and ended up 10th because of the small field (I guess everyone was watching the rugby). Great to be riding round slippery sloppy corners 🙂
We've dropped to 50 minutes rather than an hour this year, personally I wish it was an hour still
Glad you've had some muddy races for once 🙂
Also glad there was no local CX this weekend with the biblical rain in the NW. Minor road floods everywhere fed by water just oozing out of all the fields.
Next weekend is also a break from racing (but will be marshalling most of the time for the Westmorland National Trophy round). Anyone from here going to race?
I can't make it up to Cumbria next weekend, have a wedding on. Hope it goes well for everyone racing.
Do you know if they pull riders out of the v40 race on the 80% rule? Would like to race a trophy event but not if it's significant travel for two laps.
Dunno. Probably. I know they caused outrage the other year when they raced all the women together and started pulling most of the field based on the leading elite time.
Glad you’ve had some muddy races for once 🙂
@mick_r - think I guarenteed it by caving in after two dry seasons and buying filetreads 🙂
Weekend off next weekend for me as no welsh league race - probably to be spent re-cabling my bikes
Do you know if they pull riders out of the v40 race on the 80% rule? Would like to race a trophy event but not if it’s significant travel for two laps.
No they don't, in fact lapped riders in the vets/youths don't get pulled at all (the only exception is if you're just about to get lapped as the leader(s) enter the finish straight, you might get pulled over to allow them to sprint cleanly).
Thks LS, that is good to know. If I get a good bank of racing in over the next two months I'd like to try either the Pembrey or York trophy event.
I'm down for marshalling on Sunday at Westmorland all day. I just hope the weather is an improvement over this weekend!
Leeds Castle was great- my first muddy race, learnt a lot! Last lap was my fastest time so pleased with how I picked it up and picked lines better etc. The wall gave some flashbacks to three peaks though- imagine if it was this weekend like normal- the conditions 😅😅😅
@ferrals I enjoyed the Llandysul course too. Bit of variation. Had a spacky crash halfway through first lap though an otb’d into one of two hawthorn bushes on the course. Lots of scrapes and Mrs T’waife had to dig a half inch thorn out of my arse with a knife and tweezers before I bathed.
Oh and I’ve bought a terreno mix to put on the front for Pembrey. File tread rear for the Bynea course if it’s anything like last year.
I signed up sometime ago for the Lincs league and then promptly forgot about it while I dealt with having a cancer thing chopped out off my back (the not dangerous type, as it turned out thankfully). I've just realised that I've paid up to race the first one this coming weekend at sunny Scunny and haven't a clue what I'm doing, lol.
Other than turning up, falling off and coming last, any tips?
have you raced Scunny before superjohn71? if not its more a wooded single track course which drains very well,
I've never raced anywhere at all, I'm a complete newbie 🙂
seniors? vets? I'm there on Sunday as well (first ever cross race) although i have done the course before during the summer cross series for a couple of years, albeit on a mtb
its nearly 2 miles a lap, virtually flat, apart from a sandy hole you can descend into but have to lift out, bit tight in the woods for passing, but there is a couple of straights, ones 50 seconds ish, the other 30 seconds ish, nature of the course though, the gridding will determine the winner/top 10 as it starts on a double track and has a couple of pinch points in the first half which will mean anyone up front will be long gone as it bunches us behind,
course here
https://www.strava.com/activities/2501656838
I’d like to try either the Pembrey or York trophy event.
Well give me a shout if you're there - I'm lead commissaire on the Saturday and second-in-command on the Sunday.
seniors? vets?
Veteran men. Thanks for the info, do you think I'll be ok on 700c / 35 Smart Sams?
yer, sam's will be fine, like i said its flat, non technical wooded singletrack that drains well, even with the predicted rain in sunday lunchtime you'll be fine, vets is full as well, so get to the start early, the start line on the same double track to the entrance off of the main road (if they keep it the same)
if you need to warm up away from the race area, if you go out the entrance, straight across the road and right into the small car park, you have like a 1 mile straight flat, its in the arse end of nowhere so very few dog walkers unless they've drove to walk the dog (first yellow dotted to the right of the B1207 on my pic)
if you go straight across the road and follow it, its just a gravely road for a couple of miles
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Thanks, that's really great info. Can I ask a newbie question? I'll be on my own, and plan to bring a small amount of tools / spare cables (only what you can fit in a under saddle bag). Am I best keeping that on my bike or in the pits or somewhere, as I won't have a mechanic or any support? Also, do CX racers usually carry water bottles in their cages?
CX racers do not carry water bottles, or cages, on their bikes, no.
Bring tools with you to the event in case you need to change anything after practice, but there's little point doing the race with them. Of course it's no harm to run a saddle bag but what really would be the point of this? Just make sure your bike is in good order the night before, everything moving as it should and all bolts tight. You'll be fine - it's normal to think that stuff might go wrong with your bike but mechanicals are actually rare, and the one's that do happen usually mean race over anyhow.
Nice one, some final bike checking / tinkering tonight and I think I'm ready to embarrass myself then!
@shedbrewed I'll be interested to see how you go wit the mix. I do love how easy vittoria tyres seem to be to put on tubeless, I switch to the terreno dries last night ready for Pembrey and it took 15 minutes to do both wheels, I tihnk I used to be slower than that wen using tubes!
@superjohn71, if using tubes in your tyres, I'd put a bag with tyre leavers, tubes and a track pump in the ptis. otherwise I wouldnt both with anything.
Am living vicariously through this thread at the moment, no racing for me in the near future although hoping I can limp along to spectate Round 2 of the Scottish Series at Callander Park, always a great course. Managed to talk three pals into entering after enthusing about CX to them, so at least I'll have someone to cheer/heckle.
Just out of curiosity, what is everybody's normal warm up drill? I tried various things last season but always ended up having to stop after the first couple of laps until my airways opened up again! Bit of exercise induced asthma I guess. Feels like I need to do some proper balls-out intervals as a warm up to try and get the airways used to the effort and air temps, is that what everybody else is doing?
You might see me at Cally Park then, but its touch and go at the moment as I've got some kind of (toddler related) lurgy at and barely ridden in weeks as a result. At least the conditions are likely to be very similar to the last 2 years, so I know what I'll be missing out on! Still frustrating to miss out on my (joint) favourite race though.
My warm ups are just sprints somewhere as near the start as practical. Usually for around 20mins, purely because that's how long I read Chris Boardman used to warm up for (with no link to CX at all)
I used to have a structued warm up of 5mins easy, 5 mins tempo, a couple of minutes easy, 3 minutes just suprathreshold, a couple of minutes easy anf then 3 all out sprints and recover, followed b more easy spinning.
However...
My understanding of warmup are that they have a threefold purpose.
1) pschologically to remind you what a super high intensity effort feels like
2) To do something to your muscles which accelerates the speed that lactate is moved away from the musles
3) To warm up the body because warm blood transports oxygen more effectively (or maybe can transport greater quantities.
Given that we typically have to stand around for 10-15 minutes shivering to be gridded and I don't have anyone waiting to take my clothes, I think 3 is pretty much negated.
I think I get 1 during my practise laps.
I don't really understnad 2.
So these days I'm pretty ambivalent about warm ups and don't really bother, just spin around a bit to stay loose and do an effort or two if i cna find useful terrain to enable that.
I like to do a couple of laps just to see what's up with the course, then 20 mins (easy with a few big spin ups) on the turbo before the race. I think the turbo is more a mental help than physiological - feels controlled and calming, don't build up nervous energy.
Last race I did, though, I'd done a 25 TT the day before which was new territory for me - legs were sore so I tried a pretty focussed turbo warm up for 30 mins (bloke parked next to me commented that it looked well OTT). Seemed to work well as I was fine in the race - as slow as normal, anyhow.
Learning experience as I know some strongmen like to race Sat and Sun which always sounded way too intense to me, but it's probably a lot more doable than I thought. Bet it sharpens you right up - deletes your weekend, though.
@ferrals I’ll not have a chance to do much practice with the Mix pre-race as I’m on holibobs.
My warm up is to get a good ride of about 90 minutes in the day before. On race day I like to sight the course as late as possible, then get about 5 miles in on mixed surfaces.
Then hang around waiting for the start. It’s mostly psychological.
Also I know when I finish I can have a beer.
Looking forward to a double header weekend with the national trophy on Saturday then a Scottish round on Sunday. Moving the youths to Saturday at NT means its a single day affair in our house now, which is welcome!
For warm-up I go for the BC 20 minute on the rollers, timed to end a few mins before gridding. Limits the fannying-around time and means I don't have to think about what I'm doing. Legs woken up, HR moved up and down, ready to go after that. Same warm-up for everything!
I've been trying to do as structured warm up as possible but last weekend I failed miserably at this - I was enjoying watching the race before too much and ended up realising my race was about to start with 15 mins to go, so grabbed the bike as sprinted to the start line (~300m). Wasn't a great feeling sitting on the start line completely cold and think suffered on the first lap because of it - it did mean though that I was able to finish much stronger than I have in previous races!
So, sat in the turbo room and my just fitted challenge baby limus blew off my carbon rim, so in need of some last minute replacements
Ideas? Not an open tubular
The challenge baby limus was tubeless? how did it blow off on a turbo? Front wheel I assume? so just excessive side to side motion on the turbo?
No open tubular, wasn't on the bike, was just sat newly fitted, i know there is a problem with enve rims (ive had the problem before with enve and strada biancas, didnt know it extended to others
so
x-one all round or Michelin Jet
https://www.wiggle.co.uk/schwalbe-x-one-allround-microskin-folding-tyre/
https://www.wiggle.co.uk/michelin-power-cyclocross-jet-tlr-ts-tyre/
Where are you based? Paul Milnes is in Bradford and Empella bikes is in Derbyshire somewhere if you want to try and get something good from a cross shop short notice. Otherwise prob have to settle for any cross tyre the LBS has in.
Not really understanding the cause of the problem, mind - clincher tyre blown off rim at cx pressures? Is the bead damaged or something that you can't just stick it back on?