Well done MC & Tired, great results.

I raced in the seniors, was gridden on the front and 2nd called up, didn’t have the best start, but settled into it and had a good few battles for two laps when I was 4th, only to seriously struggle with clogging up and only having one bike, I stopped maybe 3/4 times, that cost me two places. Then on the final lap I snapped my derailleur, ran for half a lap, picked up a teammates bike and finished 10th. Worst result of the season also, but still, not too bad I guess.

Ha ha Will funny is it! At start of season I’d have been over the moon with 6th! Onto 28th Dec . . Wonder what turn out will be like!

Regarding ultra-muddy courses….

Only to be expected after this much rain but I’ve read a few comments (on the Welsh FB page) saying that it’s part of CX and if the pros do it in Belgium then we should expect to do it.

What do people think about the current crop of courses which seem to be muddy, grassy fields with no places for mud to clear? Is this what people want from a course – a war of attrition against the course – or more mixed terrain where you can concentrate on actual racing, not surviving?

(Thankfully it’s sandy, well drained Pembrey this week. 😀 )

What do people think about the current crop of courses which seem to be muddy, grassy fields with no places for mud to clear? Is this what people want from a course – a war of attrition against the course – or more mixed terrain where you can concentrate on actual racing, not surviving?It’s part of CX, but then the pros change bikes every lap when the mud is up.

If you need a second bike to finish the race then I can’t really be arsed with that at this point in time. Seems excessive if you’re middle of the pack. Maybe it’s a normal expectation if you’re good, but I’ll cross that bridge if and when I come to it.
Don’t actually have a second CX bike in any case, although I could always pitch up with the anthem I suppose. Do people do that, bring an emergency MTB? Think I’d be stressed about someone riding off with it from the pits.

Plenty of people using mtbs as 2nd bikes in the London League. I keep meaning to rebuild my old Kite, but the new disc proto has been good so far (although I did lose the chain in the last 200m on Sunday & had to sprint!)

Yarp plenty having 2 bikes in Central league. I am one, although last weekend I had a spare pit bike (which isn’t great) but no pit crew to clean so didn’t swap, as I didn’t want to ride my old heavy canti bike v expensive carbon Focus! Pits are genera safe as in the middle of the course and usually lots of people around.

Racing the Nationals and hoping to borrow a better pit bike off a mate.

Caerphilly I think is always like that! I did it last year and a lot of it was running but that’s the joy of CX racing. Just look at some of the Belgian races Kokslidje or Spa last week, long sections of running with the bike!

Do you on my have 7 rounds in Welsh league? Central has 14 and 9 count. I have managed to race 10 or will do by end of season.

Michael Tarling mentioned it in the FB thread about Pembrey v1 being cancelled but nobody confirmed it. (I don’t pay much attention to the actual website because nobody ever updates it.)

Thats me stuffed then.

A few of my team mates have run tubeless all season, but they tend to run more than 25 psi.

Keep your eye out for some cheap second hand wheels with tubs…?

Clement PDX on Crests. Went on easy, feel great and stupidly light. Intention was to have them as pit wheels, but they give better grip than my current tubs over the past few courses that I’ve just used them. Use them at 35psi, could go a good bit lower.

Flatted one last weekend, think it was whacking a hidden rock, no sealant in it when I took it off, might have been why.

@ferrals I remembered to take my pressure gauge yesterday so was able to set the pressures to what I wanted rather than by thumb feel. 20psi front and 24psi rear, but I’m 84kg kitted up. That was on file treads and it was clanking the rim in a few places but ok otherwise. I’ve raced courses where it was better to run a higher pressure purely to avoid punctures and it’s paid off. I’ve a set of mud tubs that have been used all year apart from the couple of races where the spare wheels with file tread tubs have been used. I raced Gorseinon on a file tread rear after shedding a mud tub in practice. Better than not racing at all.
I can see the benefit of having a spare bike; I had the singlespeed MTB at Caerphilly purely to try and avoid tearing a rear derailleur off from mud and grass. It wouldn’t have been any good at Pembrey, gearing would’ve been well off. Spare bike doesn’t have to be another CX bike.

Oh you poor Welsh league souls it is all over! I still have another 4 rounds here (Although I can only do 3) keeps going until 23rd Jan!

Come up and do Milton Keynes on 16th?? Central league followed by National Trophy on the Sunday?

OR 24th Jan Abingdon at Dalton Barracks, depending on where in Wales you live!

28th is next one for me! At the moment I’m on clinchers but crashtestmonkey is building me up some tubeless for Christmas pressie I believe! I ask him about tyre pressure and he sorts it for me 😉

LOL @ Idle John . .crashtestmonkey had the same gripe! What annoyed me waste I entered remaining 3 central leagues, National champs and love crossed it charged me £1 admin fee PER event. I mean WTF!!!!! Hey it’ll be a blast either getting to watch World Champs with some like minded people afterwards!!

The problem was that there were sections where slower riders would stall unexpectedly or switch sides, often completely unintentionally.

I got stuck behind plenty of people and I’m slow – it must have been frustrating for the faster guys. However they don’t always help themselves – I stalled one V40 unintentionally when he came up fast behind me. (A bit of swearing, with me shouting that if he had told me he was there I would have stayed on one side. All four riders behind him politely told me they were passing! 🙂 V40 and I apologised at the finish.) And having someone shout ‘rider’ or ‘rider up’ is no use at all. Basically it’s impossible to keep looking over your shoulder for the whole race. But other than splitting races, or pulling riders out when they are lapped, that’s what we’ve got and everyone needs to deal with it.

According to the rules it is the slower, lapped rider who must give way. Not something I knew before last season! And not a rule that most adhere to, preferring to pass responsibly when there is space.

Thinking a little more about that, maybe I should only give way when being lapped by someone in my own V40 race, so the Seniors can wait! 😆

Well Christmas is here, which means tomorrow is boxing day and the cross at Kenilworth, anyone else riding?

It was tricky out there today at Kenilworth, was pleased when the bell rang, it had been plenty hilly enough on a singlespeed. Managed to not drop it, but had a few close encounters with bushes.