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Vet 40 at Ardingly for me too. Cracking course with some proper tech to deal with. Managed 36th.
I pitted for my V60 dad on the Saturday at Ardingly and raced the seniors on Sunday. What a difference a night of rain and a few hundred more riders churning up the course made! My race was brutal with so much running. I can't run to save my life so hit the redline early on and couldn't recover. I was sitting around mid-field (40th) after a few laps when my handlebars rotated in the first bombhole and I took it as a sign to pull out and watch the suffering instead!
Hope you came and had a beer and some fries with us!
Think the most impressive racing for me was the Junior/U18s - proper skillz and fast.
more of a power course than technical? I looked on strava and the summer cx lap doesnt look to have many corners?
I would say it's more of a power course. There's a short bit of single track/woods, a very rutted/rooty climb that I don't think I've seen anyone ride and a ditch, but the rest is slow turns around trees.
I haven't ridden it in the summer, but I think they have used a different course some of the time. The last couple of winter rounds have been something along the lines of https://www.strava.com/segments/13600733
Out of the CXNE races that are left 12 and 13 should be good. Gypsies Green is an old Velodrome and there is sure to be some running up the steps. Not sure what they use for Gallagher park but there is some good wooded sections in there. The other two might be good but it is ages since I've done them. My memory of Herrington is a fast flat grass crit.
There is another league, NECCL. Not bound by the same rules as BC events as it is run under the TLI saturdays had a deep mud descent, water splash, singletrack through trees and a very long run up some stairs. Next round is Hardwick which is normally grassy with one testing hill. Gypsies Green being run by my team (Reifen Racing) will be hosting in December. Much the same as CXNE as space is so limited. Hetton, the final round of the season will mostly be wooded single and double track. Probably hilly.
NECCL tends to be more old school and a lot less formal (gridded by reputation, not fully taped, most people on one bike etc.). CXNE is proper cross racing if you want to get the true experience. I've missed most of the CXNE but did marshal one, hopefully will make it to round 10! Done the NECCL as I have the dubious honour of being the league secretary.
Has anyone seen a challenge tubeless ready tyre in the wild? I believe they have released a TLR range this year but I can't see anywhere to buy them in the UK - limus tubeless would have to be tried.
I had a look for these too. They are on Upgrade bikes as back order with no delivery date.
I think they are pretty pricy (£54) so would be good to read some reviews of them before buying!
I'm a proud Crawley Wheeler, the club that helped organise the NT at Ardingly. It seems it all went down rather well! I raced in the v50s on Saturday and I think we had the best conditions tbh. Loved it. Came back the next day to marshal and clear up and we were all buzzing from the experience. John_l, I hope you had the amount of business we were hoping for you! I think it might have helped if there were some signs directing spectators to the 'Bombhole and Beer' but there did seems to be plenty of people there when I was climbing the north face each lap in my race.
Re ne Cx courses: they ebb and flow depending on what we get chucked off. Flusco and the trophy course at Durham were favourites of mine now gone. Herrington and Darlington I like but maybe too similar to boro for your taste. Gypsies green velodrome is good. As it’s next to the beach it’s sandy even in Jan. Ponteland Is getting better and better but Hetton probably the best. Held the nationals last year which was well received. Recent lindtz farm neccl round was very different. Hopefully we get to keep it.
Jonba and Eddie - thanks for the info. Interested in the race at Hardwick, it's localish and date is good. Gypsies Green sounds interesting, as does Hetton.
@ferrals I'm not sold on tubeless over tubular for cross racing. The sidewalls are still too stiff compared to a tubular for those conditions where you want lower pressure for more grip and tyre flexibility. Fine if it's a fast and firm course and you can rely on the tread to bite but otherwise I think there's still development needed. I fear that to make a supple cross tyre that would replicate a tubular at lower pressures would necessitate a bead so tight it would be an absolute nightmare to fit.
Good luck if you go over the water Sunday.
Pembrey Sunday was fun but hard. Tom D road very well. If he can improve his starts he's going to be superb
I spent the whole race being chased by my old club with each person taking turns to attack. Certainly made it into a good race.
Tom's been training too hard this season! I used to have good races against him and Chris D and looking at the results they are both smashing it!
Sounds a fun race. I was gutted to have missed Pembrey - love all the sandy singletrack even if it does make passing a pain. On sat eve I felt fine and was convinced I'd be racing, woke up sunday and didnt even consider it. Ah well, at least I'll be fresh and frothing for the end of the season 🙂
You any idea what the Gilestone Farm course will be like? Figure you should have insider info now!
I just can't bring myself to make the switch to tubular, the cost outlay is too much. I read the islabikes tubeless tyre is much more supple than others.
Afraid I've no info on Gilestone. I'm going to guess it'll be like the champs course last year in style and conditions but that's only a guess.
Good day out yesterday at the Western League event in Lockleaze in blazing sun. Nice low key, relaxed race. Really enjoyed the course, flat and fast but with a couple of slippery turns to make you think and a nice short wooded section. First time at a western league event aside from Lovecrossed a few years ago and think I'll be doing a few more.
Good way to get back into racing having not raced since early October, without having the pressure of knowing where I 'should' be in the field. A couple of other welsh interlopers so to start with I tried to chase them but getting stuck the wrong side of a crash meant that boat sailed. Probably a good thing having only recovered from three weeks of virus, so without the carrot I toned it down to not quite race pace, used it as a training excersize and actually enjoyed myself trying to get the lines right round the tighter corners rather than just using them as gasps of recovery.
Position-wise not a good result for me (unsurprisingly), always disappointing to be a lap down on a fair few riders. However my time gap back to one of the other welsh guys wasnt as bad as I'd expected so pretty happy and looking forward to getting back into the racing from now on.
Tough course yesterday at Gilestone farm for round 10 of Welsh league. I managed a good start, in fact my starts have improved through the year which is a positive, then commenced racing. There were a couple of bottleneck sections but only on the first lap then the field spread out. The course was quite sappy ground with some steep off camber turns and a couple of sharp lips and drops. I came a cropper on the latter when my front washed out which lost me two places as I picked myself back up. Also lost a shoe when a corner stake popped the BOA releases undone on the shoe. Try as I might to tighten it back up whilst riding I couldn't get it done and then the shoe came off on another bend so I had to stop, losing another 3 places.
Disappointed to be 17th as I had the power to counter any attacks from the bunch I was in and before the incidents I'd been pleased with how I was riding. Had some nice tussles with a few boys through the first 45 minutes before the issues. Shame to see @ferrals not have a good race.
Champs and league finals and then that's my last year as a senior done.
I had entered the race yesterday but caught the most virulent, waterfall-snot, chesty bug off my kids and spent the whole weekend (and today) complaining about dying. So that’s a fourth weekend kiboshed because of illness. (Three weeks of sinusitis in September/October.) This is also the reason that I really don’t like pre-entering cx races. £14 down the drain. There’s no point me entering the last round now as I can’t do enough races to qualify for the league. I might just ride down to Pembrey.
Also how are people finding the terreno wets as the season progresses
Oooooh, I have one of those on the back (now, after ditching the crossboss pair). Was pretty good on a fairly dry but with some odd, dampish, and very off-camber turns across a hillside in my second race*. Not really any sliding to be felt on what was a section that everyone around me was very wary of and caused a few tumbles. I obvz wasn't pushing hard enough.
Schwalbe x1-bitey thing on the front, that seemed OK too. Does anyone know much about them ?
*Beat 5 riders who beat me the first time around and nobody managed to do that to me, so good enough 🙂 . I think I've one or two more lined up for this year but likely a full season next year
Shame to hear that Jon, I've been the same. Still worth racing Pembrey though, I've only got three finished races too so far so won't get a league position but will still race. Also planning on the western league at Odda's chapel and the one in the stately home (not love crossed, a new venue). Think they are doing a race/worlds showing too in Bristol.
i thought Gilestone was a cracking course. Like a micro koppenbergcross with the steep double track up to the finish (albeit only about 10m uphill) and then the bumpy offcamber pasture return. The pinchpoint so soon after the start wasn't ideal but I reckon if they use it again it wouldn't take more than an hour with a scythe and a shovel to widen it.
As shedbrewed said I had a dire race. Came into it over-tired and over-stressed, but determined to race so I could get five races. 10 minutes before the start I snapped my chain on my good bike; grabbed my pit bike which I'd Switched from turbo duties the night before, went to do a practise lap and found the brakes were rubbing, the gears were skipping and it's geo is so different it felt bizarre. Head fully in the shed before the start. Whistle went, tried to sprint but my legs said no. Ended up near the back, managed to put a bit of power into the first lap to get within sight of shedbreweds group but then my body just shut the power off. By the third lap I was down to z2, then went over the handlebars getting tangled on a straight, tried to push on but I was thinking about everything apart from riding my bike so called it a day. Frustrating as if I'd been on form I'd have loved to race that course. Had this stress-induced leg blocking before in an xc race and it's a bizarre feeling. On the plus side a few nights decent sleep and de-stressing should fix it. Thankfully was out of the office all day today so already feeling more relaxed 😂
<span style="display: inline !important; float: none; background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"> Look forward to racing you next year too.</span>
I'm in the V50s so always a different race! 🙂
That will be the good thing about the non-league race at Llandysul on the 9th, everyone's going off at once - while I think separate races are better, in some ways i preferred it when we all used to go off en masse - more carnage rather than actual racing 😂
Really struggling to get motivated for round 4 of the Scottish series. It's Fife College which was a really enjoyable, compact course last year, although with a horrible muddy run at the top which was pretty much a walk for me (or even an opportunity to stop and declag the bike).
This year, if I've learnt anything from the last two rounds, my fitness is well down on last year, and my attempts to squeeze in some extra turbo time between the last round and this weekend have just left me with a couple of niggling over-use injuries. Not really the form I want to be in before what promises to be an extra claggy muddy affair this time round (extra running, yay!...).
Far more tempted to take an easy spin up to a local RSPB reserve to see the early morning goose migration, then coffee and cake, then spin back.
...but then I go into the garage and see the bike hanging there all race prepped and looking fast and ready, seems a shame not to at least get it dirty. Is it possible to 'take it easy' in a cross race (especially one which is also the Scottish Champs?)...
…but then I go into the garage and see the bike hanging there all race prepped and looking fast and ready, seems a shame not to at least get it dirty. Is it possible to ‘take it easy’ in a cross race (especially one which is also the Scottish Champs?)…
I'd say yes to a degree - steady start, ride into it and see how it goes, you may feel great, you might not and it can just be a training session, work on race technique etc. CX racing is so absorbing, you nearly always take something away from an event.
I'll be pretty much doing this on Sun at the Northern champs at Bradford - different league, not raced or ridden much for 3 weeks, so don't feel that sharp. Good chance to race Peel park and get some race legs back under me for the NW series. Plus my daughter races U8s so there's more going on in the day.
I guess it helps if it's part of some bigger picture, though, like you've got your eye on the next events - CX is a big commitment on a weekend (as we all know) so just swanning round the course is expensive in terms of time, travel, bike cleaning, missed opportunity to do something else etc etc.
It’s really normal to feel like this mid season so don’t beat yourself up about it. There’s a great saying that there is no such thing as ‘should’ in amateur racing.
i felt the same last weekend, and also had a bit of a cold for an excuse so instead of racing I spent the whole day heckling. Had many laughs with other spectators and it was really informative and inspirational to watch my peers race (and nice to give them a cheer). Came home super motivated.
i felt the same last weekend, and also had a bit of a cold for an excuse so instead of racing I spent the whole day heckling.
Yeah, thanks for that! Presume you were at the top of the "wall"?
It's a bloody long season, isn't it? We're 8 rounds in down here, with the Regionals this weekend at Cyclopark, on the same course that the Nationals will be run on, so looking forward to that.
Hi John_l I'm doing the Nationals with no chance to check out the course before hand. Could you report back here what it was like?
Of course. Cyclopark's usually got a bit of everything and I suspect that it's going to be muddy this weekend. There's a flyover too!
I’ll be pretty much doing this on Sun at the Northern champs at Bradford – different league, not raced or ridden much for 3 weeks, so don’t feel that sharp. Good chance to race Peel park and get some race legs back under me for the NW series. Plus my daughter races U8s so there’s more going on in the day.
We'll see you there then, I'm not racing but my eldest is in the U8, see what these Yorkies are like 😉
@shedbrewed, it's on BC as spencer sport Cyclocross. According to Facebook, The idea is just a low key test event to see if it's a good venue for future races. No chip timing, entry on the day etc.
@13thfloormonk unless you are pre-entered I'd be tempted to not bother and do something else. Racing cx -90% race pace can be fun but taking it easy isn't really viable, and it pretty demoralising. Better do something else no fuel the fire for your next event.
Good luck everyone in all the regional champs. My fitness is way way down and lack of races this year means I'll be gridded at the back but I'm pretty excited
Looks like we are finally going to have a muddy race, wonder if it's coincidence I seem to have found a little bit of motivation 😂
Bottled SCX Rd 4 and went for a road bike spin instead, been too stressed the last few weeks as well as overdoing it on the turbo, just needed to decompress.
Funnily enough actually felt really good on the climbs so all that turbo has probably paid off, and figured out what was making my knee sore to boot, so a double bonus!
Took a diversion onto a lochside nature trail for 10km or so, ended up getting it sideways around a few muddy/gravelly corners, then spent the ride home in the dark bunnyhopping up and down kerbs to get out of the way of traffic (dark + peeing rain, felt very underlit for the conditions). So all in all some pretty good practice for the next CX rounds in January 😀
Sounds like a good ride 13thfloor - sharpen the saw. Looks like a decent number of events in the New Year in Scotland.
Bradford was a bit of a beast today - easy one of the most challenging courses I've done. You know how most times you get on top of a course early on and can then figure out how best to exploit it in the race? Felt like Peel park was on top of me every lap, battling the course as much as the other riders. Thks to the organisers for a class event -. Finished way down but was some righteous racing.
Had my first tubeless failure - heavy mud so ran them soft, swapped onto them lap3 and first off-camber climb the rear burped itself nearly flat. Felt a bit despondent at the idea of running round the course, but surprisingly I rode it like that for two laps and it didn't even feel that bad (guess that tells you what the conditions were like) - was lapping around 8 mins and dropped about 25 seconds each time.
Sounds like you made the right choice @13thfloormonk
sounds good @Garry_Lager
welsh champs were at Abergavenny on a cracking course, lots of slippery off-cambers and tyre clagging mud but little in the way of sapping mud. My season to forget continues - before the start inrealised there was a big gash in my sidewall that had sealed but looked ropey, then within a quarter of a lap in the first lap argie-Bargie someone kicked my left shoe breaking off the boa dial so the plastic lacing was loose and my shoe was only held on by the Velcro toe strap. Having said that, it was only the last 1.5 laps that it became ridiculously loose and despite the lack of control or ability to generate power, I had some of the most fun I've had racing in yonks - first proper cross conditions I've raced in all season and a course that made you think about lines and when to run. Awful result but the shoe malfunction gives me a useful excuse 😂 and physically and mentally I felt good. Plus I had the ego boost of hitting one rutted corner right and hearing some kid say 'that's the way to do it' 😂 😂
Well done Garry. We didn't bother entering the Northern champs - and after listening to the battering rain all night quite glad we made that choice 🙂
I had a weekend that gave some good perspective on racing.
My club hosted round 8 of the NECCL. Gypsies Green, an old velodrome, an event I helped set up many years ago. I won, but events on the last lap meant nobody noticed. In fact most people abandonned.
As I crossed the line a friend about half a lap down collapsed. Stopped breathing, no pulse. Our marshals started CPR. This is mid track, mid race, muddy grass in pissing rain. There was an AED in the building we used for signon. Some one bought it over. We ripped off his skinsuit, stuck the pads on him and it shocked several times between continuing CPR. Eventually (eternity/under 10 minutes) an ambulance arrived and they set to work.
It wasn't until later that evening that most of us found out he was conscious and going in for surgery. Sunday evening we got a photo of him sitting in a hospital bed giving the thumbs up.
This guy is a V40 rider, fit, he's consistently a top ten. Apparently it was a case of when not if so it was extremely lucky that he was actually somewhere with equipment and people primed to help. Stay safe, look out for your fellow racers and remember why you are racing and have fun. If you've never done one, go on a first aid course. Even a basic thing could make all the difference to someone.
Oh wow, that's horrific. Really good to hear he's ok and as you say, was in a place where the right first aid could be applied.
SE Regionals at Cyclopark were really good. It's a great venue, with good facilities and the course was a cracker with plenty of off-camber traverses and descents that could mostly be ridden but were often quicker to run in places. Even had a mini sand-pit and a flyover and despite all of the rain in the preceding days, it held off during yesterday and I got away with intermediates, which I kept letting a bit more air out of during practice and ended up running around 15psi (according to my digital SKS gauge) - made the transition onto the tarmac straight quite bouncy!
Finished a good 20 places higher than my gridding, so reasonably happy and even considering coming back for the Nationals in Jan.
If @ferrals has had a season to forget then my first lap at the Welsh Champs was one to forget too. In fact I can't remember much of it apart from some crashes and looking around 2/3 through the first lap and realising I'd gone from mid-grid to penultimate rider. Had my mum not come over to support I'd have ridden off the course at the end of the lap and DNF'd.
As the race went on I got my head and pace in and managed to ride and run back through the riders and in the end finished 18th. Highest placed rider from the shop team I've ridden for this year and enough to get us silver in the team medals. A nice way to finish my last senior season.
I definitely need to work on my running for next year and try and get a bit more weight off.
I'll miss racing with some of the riders I've been dicing with over the last few years but might still drop in after the vet races to get my arse kicked.
@jonba glad to hear action was taken and the rider is doing ok. I did the week long first aid at work and defib course this year. Not had to use it at work but had to put it to use on a club run when a chap broke his collarbone and at home when my elderly neighbour had a heart attack and fall.
I'd recommend it to anyone.
1st round of the Super Quaich series yesterday on a really good, but claggy, course. Plenty of up, more down than expected, off-camber and singletrack to keep things interesting. Nearly missed the start though as I didn't realise where everyone was forming up 🙂 Always good to have to line up near the back for that extra challenge (you only get gridded up here if you're top 10 or so)!
2 things that have come out of the race....
- Crank Bros pedals aren't the revelation i thought theyd be for cross. Grass seems to get wrapped around them more than SPDs and they will actually really pack up with mud on a day like yesterday. Obviously one of them already has play in a bearing, but then you'd expect that for CB.
- I'm definitely wearing a hole in my chainstay. Anyone else got this problem? It's mud sticking to the chainring thats causing the problem, getting an increasingly large patch of shiny metal there now
NW series returns this weekend after a month's hiatus - heading out to bandit country, Towneley Park in Burnley. The weather forecast is a belter, freezing sleet all morning, so should produce some racing. I've been on the ale all week with various Christmas functions, so looking forward to blowing off some cobwebs.
With respect to jonba's post upthread about the racer who collapsed - I had a stress echo test on an exercise bike in a hospital yesterday in connection with some minor chest pain I've had. I appear to be in the clear as far as the heart goes [it doesn't rule absolutely everything out, but it establishes the heart is properly oxygenated via ultrasound imaging, rules out angina-like conditions], so it's likely something else in my case. But I just wanted to say the process was very efficient and salute the NHS for their service. Don't hesitate to get checked out if you have chest pains - I felt like a bit of an imposter going through this when I'm fit and healthy, like you're taking their time up when they have properly ill people to look after. But the preventative benefits are enormous if a heart condition can be identified early.
@jonba - sounds pretty horrific but glad to hear the rider recovered.
@shedbrewed, that first lap in the champs was properly chaotic, riders trampling all over each other.
Had a fantastic race last weekend at a trial event for a potential welsh league venue over at llandysul.Great venue, but a very small field, guess there was a dozen to 15 in the combined senior/vet category. Finally had a race in the kind of mud I like best, really fluid and slippery on the corners and sapping on the straights. With so much rain it was causing a bit of clogging in the mech but not sticking to tyres so everyone was fine on one bike. A really well though out course, with a run up and steep descent, lots of slightly offcamber turns, ups and down, some flat saturated sapping stuff, a deep and steep ditch crossing and enough gravel fireroad to recover.
Good start, was second for a bit. Towards the end of the first lap i went wide to cut in around a corner and someone behind me decided to go for a tighter line but instead just rode straight into my side and knocked me flying sideways, whacked my head pretty bad but as I've not raced much I couldnt face pulling, and it riled me enough that we had a good battle for a few laps alternating lead and gaps on differnet parts of the course before he got away and given a throbbing side of my head I decided to cruise the last lap and a half as we had a bit of a gap.
Shame it wasnt better attended as the organisers had gone to the trouble of making tropies for the differnet categories. On the plus side it meant I got 2nd senior and a trophy which in the normal scheme of things would never happen!
Last welsh league of the season this sunday, like @Garry_Lager I'm well into the christmas overindulgence already so the idea of a hard race fills me with dread!
Good to hear you're OK Garry - was wondering what the outcome of the chest pains was. See you on the startline - what bike / kit am I looking for? I'm on the weird orange thing unless I dust off the radiator bike (maybe save that for the week after).
Good to hear you’re OK Garry – was wondering what the outcome of the chest pains was. See you on the startline – what bike / kit am I looking for? I’m on the weird orange thing unless I dust off the radiator bike (maybe save that for the week after).
Thks Mick, I'll say Hello tomorrow - Stockport Clarion kit here, Belgian colours. Do you ride a handmade bike as your main cross bike then? I remember the rad bike from last year - I am on a more generic CAADX.
Sounds like you had a good result Ferrals, can't argue with taking home a trophy.
haha cheers, the truth of the matter is I was lapped by the senior leader and I lapped senior third place. Good race against some of the vets and junior though. Didnt get as far as reading all your previous post yesterday, but good to hear the docs say you are ok
Hi, thinking about entering some CX races, based in Surrey (Guildford) there doesn't seem to be anything very local. Have looked at the Wessex League and London CX league.
Are there any other race series that might be a bit nearer that I should look at?
cheers.