Yikes, CX got real, have just entered Fife College, Camperdown (Scottish Champs) and Rouken Glen.
After a great summer I had to take two or three weeks 'off' as in very few hours riding etc. Also need to devote a fair amount of time to strength and physio work at the moment. So with those excuses out the way I've got three weeks of maybe 5-6 hours a week to get the engine revving again before Fife College (usually a mud-fest so maybe I should keep my twice weekly run going!).
Am thinking 1 turbo session mid-week, a 'thrashing round a field' CX session on a Friday, and a 3hr gravelly/CX ride on Sunday. Just wondering what best outdoor session might be, should I focus on the 6 x sprint-then-2 minute efforts to replicate starts, or just do multiple laps sprinting out of corners and trying to hold threshold for 10 minutes at a time?
Frustratingly I still haven't found 'muddy-off-camber-gold' for practising my skills on, almost tempted to take the CX bike down some local enduro trails but don't fancy smashing roots with my 33mm tyres!
Well done @geomickb Here’s a pic of me at my first cyclocross race
I just overtook the rider in front of me at the end but we were last across the line.
The next cyclocross outing was nearer home in the Welsh league at Hereford.
Behold the gurn! 😄 Had the pleasure of making @IdleJon and @ferrals acquaintances over the years although I no longer bring a flask of chowder to races for apres threshold consumption (eh Jon 😉 ) Bringing it up to date I raced over in the western league a couple of weeks back down in Frome. Took a shoeing but came 16th in the end. Looking forward to either Welsh or western races hopefully. I love cyclocross. It’s very friendly, fun and gets under your skin.
Anyone at Westmorland National Trophy this weekend? We'll be on marshall / crossing point duty tomorrow. For the first time might actually not be standing in the rain all day....
I'm marshalling as well mick_r - Sunday though.
See there's a race in the calendar at Stonyhurst college - I do not know this seat of learning but a new venue is always good.
"Just wondering what best outdoor session might be, should I focus on the 6 x sprint-then-2 minute efforts to replicate starts, or just do multiple laps sprinting out of corners and trying to hold threshold for 10 minutes at a time?"
Which one are you least good at? 😉
I'm not doing Westmorland as I royally cocked up with my bookings, somewhow managed to book Towneley Park twice instead of Westmorland, no idea how that happened. Anyway we'll be training with the club
on Moor Park tomorrow instead!
Stonyhurst (large private school where some of Harry Potter was filmed) should be good, it's just round the corner from me. Tim Lawson is organising and he's pretty excited about the venue so it should be a welcome change. There's another NWCCA race just round the corner from me for the Longridge Rotary Cross being organised by my club (Red Rose Olympic) although I'm not at liberty to say exactly where it is yet!
Thanks for the tip-off, hadn't seen Stonyhurst. My first thought was it would be Longridge Rotary organising but looks like it is Tim who is fairly local to there. Should be interesting.
Don't yet know where the Longridge one will be - I really enjoyed their Brock riding stables one.
Edit: cross post with Benji. Give us a clue for Longridge 🙂
Which one are you least good at?
Haha. Not to worry, had fun scoping out a lap of the local football pitches taking in all gravel/sand traps, some slidey looking embankments and every square inch of off-camber embankment.
Strava reckons 3 minutes a lap so will do 4 laps hard, rest, repeat etc.
Unless I get spotted and laughed at by dog walkers or god forbid school kids, in which case I'll go find somewhere less conspicuous to plod about 😂
@13thfloormonk - Dirty 30's are as good as anything. Football pitch, Ride 30 secs hard, dismount & 30 secs run, remount & ride 30 secs easy, Repeat 10 times. BC have linked to some CX training on Training Peaks
https://www.trainingpeaks.com/blog/top-cyclocross-workouts-for-fall
Unless I get spotted and laughed at by dog walkers or god forbid school kids, in which case I’ll go find somewhere less conspicuous to plod about 😂
I know the perfect park for cross interval training. Football pitch and gentle banks at one end to do repeated sprints, dismounts, etc, and steep banks up the other end to get used to that unholy feeling of trying to get up a slippery Mt Everest with 30lb of mud-clogged bike on your back.
Unfortunately it’s the park in the area where I grew up. Kids used to congregate there to smoke and drink when I was young - I doubt it’s any better these days. I’m not sure how they’d react to my stumbling past in full Lycra, red faced and panting, bike on shoulder for no apparent reason. Repeat 2 minutes later for an hour or until the kids start shouting abusive words at me and throwing bottles…
Maybe in the dark? Very late?
Had the pleasure of making @IdleJon and @ferrals acquaintances over the years although I no longer bring a flask of chowder to races for apres threshold consumption (eh Jon 😉 )
@shedbrewed - Pretty sure @IdleJon mentioned chowder when I first met you so it obviously made an impression! Welsh league races starting to show up now. Looks like I can only make a couple but looking forward to dragging myself round a race-course for the first time in 18months.
Fun wee session on the football pitches tonight, lots of slippy off cambers and I even got some tunes from the Friday evening Fitba kids on the astroturf.
Slid out quite violently on one embankment and the bike went down driveside, cue bent hanger AGAIN. I don't know if Kinesis just make tgeir hangers from cheese or if it's the super long cage GRX mech.
Could I just fit a short cage 105 mech, smaller cassette and run a wee chain keeper on my narrow wide ring? Added bonus of getting the jockey wheels out of the way of the clart a wee bit...
Marshalling the trophy yesterday was good seeing the top riders in action - very fast course at Milnthorpe. You often don't get a sense of the huge efforts being laid down in cross when it's slow through the mud, but it was like watching a crit where I was standing yesterday.
Nathan Smith (JM) and Amira Mellor (SW) both rode the field of their wheel in their respective races, really dominant displays. Senior mens race looked like a photo-finish - Joseph Blackmore got it (I think) over Toby Barnes with the two of them being out in front all race.
Well I'm actually going to race this weekend in the NWCCA, no self inflicted injuries, no kids parties just hopefully something a lot drier than the last time there was a 'cross running race at Townley Park.
But anyhow, Vittoria Wets have been installed and I've used a nano-ceramic coating cloth to give the bike a super slick finish so less crap will hopefully stick to it.
It's then the first round of the North Welsh the week after, yey!
All 3 of the kids will be racing both too, with the middle and eldest looking for more top league points.
Townley Park in the NWCCA was actually pretty good fun, you could ride it all and there were no swamps, totally different to last time we were there for the North of England Champs!
Son No.1 took the win in the U10 and was 3rd overall in the U12 too, with some pro cornering skills in action!
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Son No.2 took the win in the U8 as well.
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Son No.3 was 13th out of 18 in the U8 too, pretty good considering he only turned 5 at the end of August and is still on a 16" wheeled single speed.
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I did OK in my first CX race for absolutely ages, 14th V40 and 36th overall
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Well raced Steve and family. I was marshalling at top of the rooty climb - saw some good battles.
The course looked great on the day. Memory of the N of E champs loomed large, had forgotten that the year before it had raced pretty well.
Well raced Steve and family. I was marshalling at top of the rooty climb – saw some good battles.
So that was you, Hi!! There were a lot of people who raced the NoE and not especially local who marshalled yesterday, scared for life probably!!
Well raced Steve and family. I was marshalling at top of the rooty climb – saw some good battles.
@garry_lager Sorry I didn't realise it was you either, everyone is so different without a lid on, and when you've got your head down trying to keep up with the tiny bloke in front! Thanks for the encouragement. I think Paul hustled me for a few laps then dropped me for 10 seconds on the last lap! Chuffed with the position and the course was in better condition than previous years. A rgeat mix of everything. Thanks for marshalling 🙂
I’ve used a nano-ceramic coating cloth to give the bike a super slick finish so less crap will hopefully stick to it
How did that work out for you? I'm not bothering with a pit bike this year (not enoguh time to clean and maintain 1 bike, let alone 2!) so anything to minimise cloggage has got to be worth a go!
The conditions for Townley Park finally showed what a fantastic course it is, and was 100% rideable.
Sorry I didn’t realise it was you either, everyone is so different without a lid on, and when you’ve got your head down trying to keep up with the tiny bloke in front!
One of my buddies came to watch last time I raced in Dunfermline. I didn't see him even when I went through the tapes, over his foot and back onto the course, proper blinkers on! 🙄
@benjim - I think Pauls had to up his game just to keep up with Alice 🙂
We didn't enter Townley - combination of sniffles and ptsd from previous visits....
ferrals
How did that work out for you? I’m not bothering with a pit bike this year (not enoguh time to clean and maintain 1 bike, let alone 2!) so anything to minimise cloggage has got to be worth a go!
Well it helps that my new bike (Vitus Energie Evo) has epic levels of clearance, you can easily fit 650x47mm or 700x43mm tyres in there still with clearance, but even with the all the sticky mud & grass it didn't clog at all, the true pleasure was in cleaning it afterwards, just hosed it down, sprayed on some cleaner and gave it a bit of slight sponge action and it was all shiny again and still feels like glass.
I guess it'll work better when it's actually wet and not so tacky. One slight school boy error I made was to not degrease the drivetrain of the factory chain lube 0r whatever they come with, so the jockey wheels clogged a bit, all sorted now with a full degrease and wax lube applied.
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First round of the North Wales league tomorrow... excited and nervous in equal measures ... missed last season so first race in over 50s... First proper cross outing for bike too... can't wait!
How did you go @whytetrash? Great course there today - very mtb-style singletrack through the trees then open field. Mega dry compared to when I last raced there, bike was pretty spotless by the end. Was fretting over an iffy tubeless rear tyre that deflated overnight, but just whacked 30psi in and it was basically fine.
I had a good race with @steve_b77 - round together for most of it, nice to say Hello.
Also got passed by an older guy quite deep into the race, like 45 mins - you don't expect to get dropped there by a guy on your lap, but he distanced me easy. Must have taken him 30 mins to get warmed up.
@Garry_Lager got on great thanks, only downside was my blood sugars were useless as stressing too much! I've got a new vitus too and it's safe to say the mud clearances weren't tested yesterday! Funnily enough my back tyre pressure wasn't holding either but got around ok and pleased with beating a few people I'm usually in the mix with 😉 looking forward to Erias Park... hopefully the dry conditions continue 🙏
Also got passed by an older guy quite deep into the race, like 45 mins – you don’t expect to get dropped there by a guy on your lap, but he distanced me easy. Must have taken him 30 mins to get warmed up.
This sounds like my typical race - good start, blow up, recover, finish strong(ish). Just don't have the nerve to warm up as hard as I should I guess!
First race in 3 years next weekend, Fife College. Probably one of my best races last time I did it but it's gained a reputation for being a bit of a muddy running-fest since then...
Morning All
Just checking in as I am booked in for my first cross race on 6th November in Stadt Moers park (NWCCA).
Been doing a few Vo2 max efforts on the turbo in preparation but after buying a 2nd hand Giant TCX for £500 and taking it out round some trails last weekend I sense that Traineroad will not have prepared me for actually slogging through the mud in real-life for 50mins?!
Hoping to practice some dismounts/mounts next weekend but other than that think I'll just have to show up and see what happens.
Do you guys take on water when racing or just forego it for 50mins?
Once it's below 20 degrees I always managed without a drink. Only ever raced at Stadt Moers once but I don't recall anywhere I'd have really wanted to take my hand off the bars to reach for a bottle in any case!
Showing up and seeing what happens is indeed the best way for your first race. No to the water and take any cages off the bike.
Hard to say how Stadt will be, it used a different area of the park last time and it was very heavy (including a punishing run through a wooded section that had gotten too muddy to ride), but maybe if it's dry it will go fast. If it's raining that week though I'd expect a hard lap.
Cheers both- I'll pray for dry weather in that case!
I'm a decent runner but have neglected this for a while probably to the point of it now being counter-intuitive so will try and get a few short runs in soon.
Looking forward to it....in a way.
Duggan
Free Member
Morning AllJust checking in as I am booked in for my first cross race on 6th November in Stadt Moers park (NWCCA).
Yeah Stadt Moers is great for a run on the flat through mud and dog shit 😀
It was a bloody good race at Alyn Park yesterday in the NWCA, first time the family and I have raced over that side of the border, I agree with Gary's comments, it was certainly a fast almost Mid-Week Madness kind of course, I loved it, as did my boys.
I put the little one in the fun race as there's no point putting him in the 30min U12/U10/U8 combined race as he's only (just) 5, he had a good time and a hot chocolate, so that's all the matters.
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The eldest and middle ones went in the combined race in U10 and U8 respectively, it was their longest CX race ever with the NWCCA being around 15mins max for those age groups.
The eldest absolutely smashed it, just missing out on the overall win (about 10 seconds) to a very strong & much bigger U12 girl (who he beat last weekend in the NWCCA on a much twistier course) she nailed him on the two long straights but he closed the gaps on the techy off camber hairpins and so it went on for 30mins, but he was 1st boy home out of all the categories by over half a lap in the end over the next rider, so he beat all the U12's and 10's as well as the 8's.
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The middle one found it really tough with the length of the race and tech features and had a bit of a OTB and slide down the banking at one point, but he got back on and finished well, don't know where he came as I couldn't figure it out, but the results will be up soon, although he got he chequered flag, so you never know.
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I had what felt like a good race in the over 18 to infinity category with really consistent lap times and as Gary said above we had a decent battle, but he got the better of me in the end. Yeah that older guy breezed past with consomethinge ease, one seriously quick chap, called Jan or something like.
So onwards to the pending double header of the NWCCA at Stadt Moers on the 6th and NWCA at Colwyn Bay on the 7th November.
Sorry, one more question from me!
I mainly ride road these days and have set the saddle height on my CX bike to the same height as I have on my road bike- but wondering if it’s beneficial to drop the saddle just a touch on the CX bike for mounting/dismounting etc?
Or do you guys just run the saddle at the standard height?
after several bone-hard courses so far this season, we've hit 'cross weather in Wessex.
Apparently our course has been shortened today as the guide lap time (before it cuts up) was 16 minutes.
They've also had to send out an email regarding (possibly not) parking on the field
Man, I HATE running
Duggan - I have my saddle a bit lower. Not actually measured it but prob a couple of cm.
Mostly so I can get room for a good cross-up over the scaffold bridges, obvz
but wondering if it’s beneficial to drop the saddle just a touch on the CX bike for mounting/dismounting etc?
Worth checking the stack height of your pedals, if you're running SPDs or similar on your CX bike and road pedals on your road bike then your saddle should probably be 5-7mm lower on the CX bike anyway!
Thanks all, lowered my saddle today and practised some mounts/dismounts in the rain on the local fields. Still rubbish but at least I won’t be totally doing it for the first time in the actual race.
Fell off when the bike disappeared from under me after taking the mud bite tyres onto slimy wet cobbles on the way home 🤦♂️
Koppenbergcross was good yesterday - only caught the men's race, wasn't all that dynamic, but conditions very proper. Tv pictures couldn't do justice to the Koppenberg - six times up it in the rain made for a savage parcours, riders in pieces at the finish.
Anyone catch a beaming young Cameron Mason coming in 9th at the weekend? Linlithgow's finest!
Shouldn't be a surprise, I've yet to find anywhere near as a good a selection of twisting muddy singletrack as I did between Kirkliston and Lithgae, an excellent training ground.
only caught the men’s race
Watch the women's race! It was great.
Women races have been fantastic- just watching Oversidge now
Hopefully will have my first cx race in 18 months tomorrow!
@ferrals I thought I saw you on the sheet at the weekend? You riding Builth this weekend? It was quite wet at Tredegar park. These were some of the drier parts.
@shedbrewed - I was feeling pretty under-the-weather last week but entered on the offchance I would be feeling better since there aren't loads of races, but i was pretty lacking in energy on Sunday so decided racing a muddy cross in torrential rain would probably just make me feel ill again. Will probably race Builth - though all those hills and my current fitness will be a bad combination!
@shedbrewed Were there many racing?
I probably won't be able to do anything until Pembrey, which probably means I'll do just one race. I didn't race any of the season before Covid because I was working away a lot, and since then I've lost a bit of weight, so was looking forward to floating over the mud for the first time in a few years! 😀
Did anyone do the NWCCA race at Stad Moers on Saturday? Went over there and did my first CX race, pretty enjoyable!
Mainly I just wanted to get round without stacking it or pi**ing anybody off which I think I largely achieved. Started at the very back and hung there, then after getting used to riding in the mud picked off a couple of people but finished quite far back. Was pretty nervy but think I'll feel less anxious next time now the first one is out the way.
Not ridden off road for years so took a while to get used to sliding around in the mud. Keen to do a few more I think.
The amount of cleaning required afterwards was something else though- think I probably need to invest in a portable pressure washer?
Yep a few of us on here are NWCCA riders. Had a reasonable race, came in 13th and had a great sprint finish, just didn't quite get back on in time after the hurdles. No broken bike parts, which is always a bonus! That wasn't as bad as the last time we did Stadt Moers!
Nice to see @ferrals again on Sunday up at Builth Wells. It was a very climby course and the cold that’s still hanging around meant I wasn’t relishing the climbs st all.
https://flic.kr/p/2mHmKKd
Quick off the start and by the time the bunch had got to the second climb 4 riders had gone off the front. It wasn’t until the second lap that I managed to gap those behind bar one. He passed me at the top and I couldn’t get back on to him. I ended up 6th v40. Pleased with that but not a huge field (but more than 6!)
https://flic.kr/p/2mHdkDM
There were some slippery off camber traverses, some ruts and slightly technical descents but all in it was a fun course.
Good to see you to @shedbrewed. You were going well by the looks of things.
Really enjoyed racing again after 18 months. I thought the course was really fun though the climbs were brutal. I ended up exactly mid-field after zero training and minimal bike riding of any kind so I was really pleased with that. Felt like i remembered a tiny bit of the technical skills but by the time i started to get in tune with the bike, my body was failing 🙂
Can't wait for the next round - got two week to build some fitness!
Did anyone do the NWCCA race at Stad Moers on Saturday? Went over there and did my first CX race, pretty enjoyable!
Yup my 3 boys and I did our various races, I actually rather enjoyed it despite the fact it was like 'cross on ice at times as the mud seemed to get really slippy, managed to come away with 25th too which is my best result for a long time.
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My youngest (5yrs old) was 15th from 23 starters in the U8, going to try him on the next size up Frog bike this week as his little 16" wheeled one is looking a tad small.
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Middle boy was 3rd in the U8 race, despite a couple of crashes on the tight corners.
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The eldest was also 3rd, this time in the U10, he kind of lost his head a bit and just switched off for some reason, but that's kids for ya!
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Didn't race the planned North Wales round on the Sunday as the eldest spannered himself while messing about in the woods while I was racing and felt a bit worse for wear so we took the day off racing.
Sorry to miss you NW boys - we were stuck at home doing the never ending packing ready for a house move.
Photos look to be the cleanest and warmest Stadt Moers in a long time. The grass:soil ratio is definitely inverted.
Some good photos of a guy in Horwich kit having a lie down in vet40 - anyone know who he is? 🙂
I didn't ride the weekend but plenty did - 93 starters in vet50 and one point on the course where only really one bike could get through at a time!! My mate reckons you could've made a fortune selling cream teas to the mid-pack 🤣
Thought Stadt Moers was excellent on Sat - great course, reasonably similar to last time but with a merciful re-route that skipped a tough running section.
The Geoff Bewley used to be at Otterspool - only raced there a few times when I started the NW league, a great venue imho. Anyone know why it dropped off the calendar? Courses there were a lot of fun but a bit towards the non-UCI end of things. Absolutely massive (in cross terms) run-up on one of them.
Was it no to do with the council wanting to charge for using Otterspool?
@mick_r I'm pretty sure Ellen's wonderfully captured moment of an upside down Horwich rider is @twinklydave, again.
@BenjiM Fame at last 🤦
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51659520056_405fd829d6.jpg [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2mGYxwh ]DSC_4800.jpg" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51659520056_405fd829d6.jpg [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2mGYxwh ]DSC_4800.jpg"/> [/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/100713057@N05/ ]Ellen Isherwood[/url], on Flickr
PS I think it was the charges for using Otterspool that killed it off. Which is a shame I as I vaguely remember racing there all the way back to the early 1990s 😮
Good job he doesn't stay on his wheels or I'd probably get lapped twice 🙂
Scottish Championships at Dundee.
Really good course and some great racing. 👍
Has anyone read "the cyclocross Bible"?
I'm trying to find an up to date training book to help.
Good time at the Welsh league today. They had to redesign the course yesterday cos of tree falls in the strong wind but was a really fun course anyway.
Managed to pull a spoke and nipple out of the rim on practice lap but thankfully the wheel held up ok.
I was enjoying trying to hold onto @shedbrewed ‘s wheel for the first half lap till he punctured.
Ended up inside the top 10 which I was happy with. Looking forward to Welsh champs next weekend now
Can't share but some impressive pics from the Markeaton round today. Especially when an inch of snow fell in the final hour or so.
Was that the northern champs? Saw a bit of vid in the snow on Instagram
Good result @ferrals well done 👍 Yesterday definitely wasn’t my day. Feeling ropey from a hangover wasn’t the best start. After the sighting laps I changed front wheels to give me a larger tyre (48mm) to deal with the rough. As said I punctured the rear halfway if that into the first lap when catching the seniors. I rode as much as possible with the rear flat but lost all the field unsurprisingly. My lap time was 4:40 minutes slower than the rest for that first lap. Wheel changed at the pits and then I set about making up what I could. Was going well until penultimate lap the front tyre rolled and burped on the pump track section and pitched me off the course over the bars. It had lost too much pressure to ride on and with the pits at the other end of the course I ran the final lap, the whole course. My last lap time was twice my quickest lap time. I am not a natural runner! Managed to finish with a result and wasn’t last. Hurt a lot today but whilst I was concerned about a broken rib I think it’s just nasty bruising. Why was finishing so important instead of dnf? Because all points count and even though only 4 of the 5 rounds will decide overall league placings it’s always worth having as many as possible banked. Currently 3rd in the league but expect that to change. See you at Penbrey 👍
@ferrals, Markeaton was the East Mids champs. Started snowing heavily just as the women were starting and carried on right through the S/J men.
We've had a couple recently over in these parts.
Weekend before last was the 3rd round of the North Wales league on a fast but bloody hilly course in Brymbo near Wrexham.
In the kiddies fun race the little one decided to race without his glasses for some reason, so ended up riding into a tree, then the course tape and then smacking his jewels on his saddle and pulling out. The middle and eldest were in the combined U12/10/8 race and it went pretty well, the middle one was 2nd in the U8 and the eldest was 3rd overall and 1st U10 until he launched himself into a big tree - we didn't see it, but it was the kind of crash where several parents were asking if he was ok afterwards, so it must've been bad - still he picked himself up and raced back to 2nd U10 and 5th overall.
I faired pretty well after getting caught up in a first corner crash and under a couple of other bikes to get back to 8th V40 and 20th overall in the open field. Best bit was the bikes didn't need washing, in November!!
Next up was the NWCCA at Betley Court Farm at the weekend, man it was baltic and all the kids froze, there were a lot of tears right through the U8, U10 and U12 races due to numb fingers and faces.
The little on couldn't hack it and pulled out, the middle one in the U8 went really well until the last corner on the last lap where he literally fell off his bike as he couldn't hold the bars anymore, hurt his leg and ran across the line to come 2nd overall and 1st league points. The eldest had a good race again but struggled with cold feet and raced to 2nd overall in the U10, again for great league points.
I was marshalling wrapped up in about 20 layers to keep the bitterly cold wind out, was meant to race but forgot to enter!
@steve_b77 Thanks for marshalling duties on Saturday, it was a bad day to be stood about pointing out directions! My daughter managed third in the U10 girls with no tears and a determined look on her face. It was really tough going not just the wind but the course was just firm but sticky, like plasticine. I had the wrong tyres (X One Bites, t much for that course) (that's what I'm telling myself!) Had a good start but just seemed to drop backwards. My power output for the 40 minutes was the highest I've ever done and set a new FTP, so there were no issues in that department. A great venue though, although didn't get chance to sample the delights of the tearoom, it was in the car and off as soon as the race was over!
@BenjiM yeah she did really well, and you're right about the ground, very sticky indeed.
I reckon they could've made more of the bit in the middle of the kids loop between the start / finish and the pits, a few zig zags and a bit of off camber might've been a nice addition.
I was bloody cold and got worse as the day wore on, the soup & sandwich from the tea room was ace though. Can't say I blame you for scarpering straight away, there was barely anyone there for the Seniors race.
Welsh champs at Pembrey yesterday (no idea why it always seems to be a different date to the other regionals). It was an excellent course in a different area of Pembrey to past races, using the area by the national road racing circuit. Definitely the best couse I've ridden this year (I've only ridden 2 others) and one of the best courses I remember riding in a long time. They managed to fit in sloggy mud, offcamber mud, tarmac, standard Pembrey hairpins on fast flat dry grass, some wooded sections, a decent runup and a few steep but rideable ups and downs. Nothing crazy technical but requiring a lot of concentration.
When I saw the mud sections, I was slightly regretting file tread on the rear but actually was a good choice.
Had a good battle with @shedbrewed for a few laps till a combo of lack of fitness and back pain forced me to slow up. Trying to work out now if I'm going to race any more this season - this was going to be my last but just starting to feel in tune with cross again.
Well our cross season has come to rather abrupt end! Due to the high incidence rate in this part of Germany all races have been canceled. 😞 Shame as I was lying in 4th overall with one race less completed than the others ahead of me. Should have been Bundesliga race yesterday incorporating the state championships. Oh well.
That sucks @RotorStern bummer.
@ferrals kept me honest yesterday along with one of his clubmates. I was also on dry tyres after trying them and intermediates in sighting and finding the grip levels about the same but with the dry tyres flicking up less clag and also being better on the part of the course I expected to be riding not ambling. It was a good course but I’ll be glad not to see the off camber running sections for another year. My chest still hurt after last weeks otb so I was glad to get around and really pleased with 10th.
You've had a good season mate, well done. All those crazy audaxes paying off!
Realised I beat the guy who was one place ahead of me the last two rounds so that's a minor win. I'd have liked to beat my team mate but he was 30s in front of me. Would have been a lot closer if I didnt keep crashing on that one tiny offcamber out of the woods and onto the road!
Shame Rotor Stern, guess it will be increasingly common the way things are going. Makes me think I should do the last welsh race unless races accross the boarder are cancelled in the new year
Yeah who’d have thought that just riding my bike a long way and up loads of hills would help my racing?! 😄 Now if I could just lose 6kg from all the cake and pies… and stop crashing! Be good to see you at MVBP mate. My lad is entered for the under-6 race so if he decides he wants to do it I’ll probably be asleep by the time our race comes around!
Now if I could just lose 6kg from all the cake and pies…
I popped down to Pembrey to watch, but didn't hang around to chat at the end because I had a promise of coffee and cake (and a toboggan ride!) You didn't look 6kg overweight, shedbrewed. It was good to cheer people on for an hour though and the course looked great.
*Puts @IdleJon back on the Christmas card list* 😉
Cheers buddy I thought I heard/saw you and the family at the top of the lumpy run up? I know the areas I need to focus on if I want to get close to a stripy jumper and dropping some weight is part of it. Along with the not crashing bit. How was the coffee, cake and tobogganing?
Coffee was cheap machine crap that cost a small fortune. I decided against cake because I'm munching my way through my daughter's b'day cake. (I am pretty much the only person in the house who eats cake. I don't know why we have to buy a cake at every birthday - just to make me fat? - but this cost £45 and it's not going to waste. 😀 ) Tobogganing was fun. A nice day out.
Oh, just a small point @shedbrewed and @ferrals. We spent a while standing at the end of the course - the cambered bank up the hill with the hairpin back onto the tarmac, at the side of the road circuit.
Somebody had knocked the last stake down at the hairpin, and it was lying where it had fallen. Plenty of people took it to mean that they could cut the corner and step over the fallen tape,cutting the course rather than go around the stake. Worse still, there were people stepping over the tape as they were climbing, off the muddy bank and onto the road, so they were basically walking on the wrong side of the course into oncoming traffic to get better grip on the tarmac. (Difficult to describe in text!)
I reckon that if I'd been a commissaire then I'd have DQ'd at least 20 people because of it. 😀
I know the bit you mean @IdleJon and I made a point each time of going around it. I know a couple of riders didn’t. As for the lower sections, again I know where you mean; I was running those parts and where possible had the bike tyres on the tarmac, or right next to it.
Yeah, likewise I was going all the way up which was a bit frustrating when people directly behind weren't.
It probably needed a double stake at the top for security.
The tape had moved by the later laps so some of the tarmac was on the cambered side of the tape.. not that it made much difference by then as running had changed to trudging and riding was definitely out of the question
Yes yes, I was definitely over-egging it when I said running a few posts back 😄
https://flic.kr/p/2mP9Gs7
@ferrals is the rider just behind me so I’m guessing about 40 minutes in. He was always like a terrier. I’m the ginger bearded rider 😬
Reckon the camera is shortening the distance in that one! Looking at the lap times we were neck and neck till the end of lap 3 and then you put about 20s a lap into me for the last three to finish a minute ahead... next year!