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agree with the above, wessex didcot today was a fantastic course, could have been a total nightmare if wet but held up well.
I'm really chuffed with my best place so far, 24th in senior! results are up.
arrived 10 mins before the race trying to find the sign on desk, but the kind lady called the start line to say i was on my way 🙂 the off cambre twisty clay hills were interesting but had no problems but seem to mess up the same 2 climbs every lap.
cake and tea went down well too 🙂
sefton - Memberno one yet - thinking Horwich though
Sefton , should come and do the Horwich CC skills sessions at the Reebok on Thursday nights- bout 15/20 turn up -2 hours. v good
Dobo, someone asked me where to sign near the start/ finish line. Wasn't you was it?
yea i did ask for directions so quite possibly you if it was about 10 to 2pm, haha what are the chances of that..directions were spot on, thanks
Sefton, I can recommend Horwich. As mentioned above, try their Thursday night cross session, or say hi to one of them at the race - they're all a friendly bunch.
MuddyHell CX from Saturday night. Bit under dressed for the weather as it was bloomin freezing. Crazy event but well worth the 450mile round trip. Will be there next year...
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I live 5 minutes walk from that Reading course but unfortunately couldn't make it.
Did my first ever CX race yesterday, though: Rode Seniors in the Rapha Cross at Alexandra Palace. Crashed and dislodged a brake lever on the 2nd lap, which took ages to sort (and I really had to sort it, I was singlespeeding so having nothing to hoik on wouldn't have been good) so ended up finishing last of the finishers, 4 laps behind some bloke called Nick Craig.
Crashed and dislodged a brake lever on the 2nd lap
Were you on an All City Nature Boy? If so then you were going well, up to that point.
I'm pretty sure that no-one got round that course without at least one comedy dismount. I rode like a mincer, was congratulating myself for getting through it unscathed, then promptly ate tarmac at the last corner.
Western league yesterday @ Warmley bristol. 14 retirements due to mech or mech hanger issues
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This happened to me on the last lap (snapped mech hanger luckily) This was my mates bike after the race
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Were you on an All City Nature Boy? If so then you were going well, up to that point.
No, I was on a Crossed-up Karate Monkey.
I rode like a mincer, was congratulating myself for getting through it unscathed, then promptly ate tarmac at the last corner.
Hah! Funny you should mention that. My *other* comedy dismount was in exactly the same spot, down out of the woods, thought I'd turn tight onto the tarmac, and washed both wheels out. Close enough to the line to hear the commentator say "oooh, that's got to hurt on the last corner of the last lap"
Apparently every other rider was binning it there. The bloke behind me went down in exactly the same way. My team-mate also crashed there, on his practice lap.
The Corner of Doom in the lower field seemed to be the most common crash spot. That's the one that got me and my brake lever.
So I'm doing Oxford at the weekend, for my second ever 'cross race. Anyone ridden at the Oxford Brookes University course?
If it is the same place as last year then very flat and very open to the wind. Not technical at all. Have fun.
Not technical at all. Have fun.
Another way of saying that you'll be vomming your lungs up after 10 minutes because of the pace!
Is there any mud? Was hoping for a technical muddy course to try out my new tubs for the first time. 🙁
Still, I tend to go quite well on these type of tracks so here's hoping for a good result. 🙂
Oxford today. Great fun... Very muddy indeed but it was largely very wet mud rather than chilternsy soul-sucking clag. Got utterly head to toe filthy and finished 37 out of 47 finisher in seniors. And fastest of the two singlespeeds 🙂
Brighton today, rain stopped & the sun came out.
No full results yet, but I'm confident I was the 1st singlespeeder 😉
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things got muddy at Beacon Park!
is it me or do u guys go throu a seriose amount of mech hangers?
having now packed in my weekend job hopefully i can get to some events
I don't, I just get through a lot of meniscuses
Good effort ormondroyd. Saw you racing and thought fair play. It was hard enough with gears.
Loved the conditions and it made for a great race. Had a good battle all the way through the race but lost a place on the last lap but still chuffed with 6th. 🙂
Couldn't feel my feet or hands at the end but I think that was the same with everyone.
Edit; First race on tubs too and boy are they good! No wheel spin at all and the grip was immense.
Pretty horrendous in Oxford today. Mulletus' face tells the story 🙂
[img][url= http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7274/8155659823_5ff8872328.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/bikes_and_stuff/8155659823/ ]IMAG1522[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/bikes_and_stuff/ ]bmclynskey1[/url], on Flickr[/img][img][url= http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8479/8155660229_d44fb158f6.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/bikes_and_stuff/8155660229/ ]IMAG1521[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/bikes_and_stuff/ ]bmclynskey1[/url], on Flickr[/img][img][url= http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8487/8155657713_619251abd0.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/bikes_and_stuff/8155657713/ ]IMAG1528[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/bikes_and_stuff/ ]bmclynskey1[/url], on Flickr[/img][img][url= http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7264/8155687994_4688f40bfc.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/bikes_and_stuff/8155687994/ ]IMAG1529[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/bikes_and_stuff/ ]bmclynskey1[/url], on Flickr[/img][img][url= http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8490/8155655953_6986e19f2c.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/bikes_and_stuff/8155655953/ ]IMAG1531[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/bikes_and_stuff/ ]bmclynskey1[/url], on Flickr[/img][img][url= http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8065/8155684688_c84ce24428.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/bikes_and_stuff/8155684688/ ]IMAG1534[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/bikes_and_stuff/ ]bmclynskey1[/url], on Flickr[/img]
Round 4 of the Ulster league yesterday for me.
Course is reknowned for being the claggiest mulch fest of them all.
Managed 7 of the 9 laps before throwing the towel in. The 7th lap was off the scale on unenjoyable levels where as the first 6 were superb. Lost my back brake on lap 2, gears on lap 5 and everything ground to a half on lap 7, cue exit through the tape back to the car park!
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[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/51733246@N04/8154936193/ ]DSC04712[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/51733246@N04/ ]stewart_mairead[/url], on Flickr
Give me wet gloop any day over this crap
Good effort ormondroyd. Saw you racing and thought fair play. It was hard enough with gears.
Haha, was that you who called me barmy? Fair enough if so! 😀
Here I am on about lap 2, so still relatively clean: [url= http://www.grahamrobins.net/photos/Beeline%20Cycles%20%28Oxford%29%20Cross%202012/272.JP G" target="_blank">
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Mid race, and loving it! 😀
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Tubs held then Mulletus Maximus? Nice glueing!
The held perfectly. The levels in grip compared to my clinchers were worlds apart. Thought I would be concious of rolling them but it was the exact opposite. With the grip I hard I could really through the bike into the corners, even in those conditions. I guess the real test will be when it's dryer. Just wish I had made the change sooner.
What method did you use for gluing? I'm picking up 2 tub tyres this week
Glad to hear it!
Tricky, stretch the tires on some old rims for a few days at 3 bar or so, glue then re-glue both the rims and the tires, leaving around half a day between glueing so they dry, then apply final glue and fight to get the bugger on. Add Aquaseal if using Dugast's
I found using an old toothbrush really useful.
That Oxford course is a lot of fun. We use the same place in the Central league, they stick to the UCI rules though and don't take it through the woods like they do for Wessex, the woods is where all the fun is.
rp16v - 4 mech hangers in the last 2 seasons. On 2 occasions it also meant a new rear mech as they'd twisted.
What method did you use for gluing? I'm picking up 2 tub tyres this week
This is the method I used.
Day 1 - If they are new tyres then you need to stretch the tyre, this is very important as you'll never get the tyre on. I stretched mine for 24hrs on a clincher wheel at 50psi before I started.
Day 2 - I lightly sanded the surface of the rim and cleaned with acetone (nail varnish remover) and applied one layer to the rim and tyre base tap. (I used 1/2" Acid Flux brushes for wpreading the glue) Layer to base tape was thick as it soaks in. I then let the glue cure on the tyre for about 30 minutes then returned to the rim and pumped up to 50 psi. The tyre sticks a little to the rim but is easy to remove.
Day 3 - Repeat day 2. You don't need as much glue to the tyre at this stage, just a thin layer.
Day 4 - Glue to tyre then glue to rim then immediately mounted the tyre to the rim. I put about 15/20psi into the tyre to give it a bit of shape. Pumped it up to 40psi and centred the tyre and rolled it around the rim and left to dry for 24hrs.
Day 5 - Aquasure on the side walls and dry for 16 hours.
Maybe over cautious but I wanted to be sure they stuck as it was my first attempt.
A couple of vids that I used to help me.
A couple of weeks ago London League in Deal. This season is soooo much muddier than last.... Young Josh in the Under 14's
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Is the Fowlmead mud full of coal dust or has the site been cleaned up?
I think the mud is mainly coal dust. I think it was an open cast mine that was bulldozed flat ready to be made into a nature reserve. It gets very dusty at times in the summer and I do wondered what we're breathing in exactly when racing there! Heavy metals?
It was the spoil heap for a deep mine that shut in 1989. The mine was just the other side of the Deal to Sandwich road.. I grew up in Deal, was an interesting and sometimes sad time
National cup, rounds 8 and 9 this weekend. Placed 7, and 10th on a super hard course just outside Stockholm.
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Yes that is a ski lift in the background, made for a grinding climb and fast descent on the first day and then a lovely muddy run up the second
Dirtwheels Cross in Otley
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My second ever race and achieved a good solid last place.
Travelled down to the Fixx supercross series outside Dublin for a pick me up after the previous weeks disaster.
The field was very strong, started at the back and managed to claw my way up to 13th and avoided getting lapped by the top guys, very pleased.
No pictures this week, but sure who needs pictures when you have video!
Thats me in the blue and white kit...
nice little vid.
argh just realised theres only really 2 more cx races i can attend, basingstoke and thruxton 🙁 and i might not do thruxton due to brass monkeys 🙂
theres not enough cx down south
Was having a good day until 51 minutes in I got a front wheel puncture. The last lap and a half wan't much fun with no front wheel. Think I finished last 😥
Although I started off thinking that the Central league race was a pure power course, I realised after the second lap that although ther's some very powerful riders an amazing number can't go round corners. I kinda enjoyed it, unfortunately because of other commitments I'm going to race myself into what I consider to be fitness in mid January.
You looked very smooth yesterday.
3rd race this year in the western league at Gloucester boating lake (got moved after Bristol crossgate)
[url= http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/cyclocross/article/cyx20121118-cycle-cross-Cross--Whittington-wins-in-Western-League-0 ]I came 7th[/url] Well chuffed with that :). Wish i'd realised I was in top 10 when i was racing I might have tried a lot harder 🙂
3rd round of the National Trophy for me.
Finshed in the 20's I think so really pleased with that considering the class of field.
Well done Gav. 🙂 I'm like that after every race too wishing I tried a little harder, but in reality I don't think I could have.