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2015/2016 winter 'cross racing thread
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Munqe-chickFree MemberPosted 8 years ago
Wow only 5 races and you finished 13th in the league that’s an awesome performance. I noticed numbers were down, oddly. Not sure why, people sick of mud and broken bikes this late in the season?? Guessing you aren’t doing the last one at Welwyn Garden? I’m not mainly as it is so far away and there has to be a limit when on my racing for 40 minutes!!
Love Crossed this weekend so looking forward to it!
crashtestmonkeyFree MemberPosted 8 years agoOverall really pleased with my performance in my first season, did 5 races (in central league) and finished 13th in the league
8) Fair play!
I managed 8 rounds in V40 @ Central and am a bit frustrated as my league placing is currently showing lower than people who have raced more rounds (they count the best 9) but had worse finishes (including clubmates who I was battling with!). Still pleased overall, had a brace of top 10s when I’d have been happy with one, I’ve never raced ‘seriously’ before and both MC and I rocked up to the first Central round at Halton as we’d been told it was a great course with a “let’s give this CX racing a try” rather than a plan to race a season. So next year will have a bit of dedicated training and planning behind it, and maybe even a pit bike!
Munqe-chickFree MemberPosted 8 years agoAwesome last CX race of season! Hard, muddy ride which required lap bike changes. Oddly everyone gets seeded and starts together but I barrelled into row 3 of Vets 4 + 50, women and Junior. Had an appalling start and got stuck in traffic with competitive men so had to seriously battle to get through. 2 girls escaped and got 30+ seconds on, I kept my head on and ploughed on trying to remember all my skills (ha ha). Slowly reeled them back in on lap 3 and managed to get past and get a gap. Had awesome team of pit crew (Cardiff JIF) who realised my pit bike was a single speed on big ring and informed me they had a new pit bike with saddle height set for me .. Off I went on Jack’s bike .. jack is 11 years old!! It worked a dream except for the crazy slammed low handlebars! Did the trick though and I pulled away for the win! Well chuffed with that! Hard battling with lots of blokes, I’m used to Women starting 1 min after Vets on our own start!
Had the odd altercation with rude ungrateful men but most were fab when I rode aggressively past then messed up the next corner
Brilliant day out, particularly topped off with pizza and watching the World CHamps! My only disappointment (not a gripe against organisers) is my fab garish winners jersey is a medium and I need an XS LOVE IT and wanted to wear it.
Now to chill after a fun awesome season. I will be back for Love Crossed next year! THanks Tang, Qwerty and all the others for all the effort and hard work that went into it!
IdleJonFull MemberPosted 8 years agoWell done MC. That’s the enthusiasm of a winniner! 🙂
From my end of the field it was an uninspiring limp around a muddy field hoping that my rear mech wouldn’t rip off. As you say, bike changes were absolutely essential. Without them you spent more time clearing mud and crud out of the bike than riding.
Lovely venue, well organised but the course itself wasn’t great – 90% around that muddy field – and it was a great advert for keeping all the categories together. Once the field had thinned out after the first lao I basically didn’t see anyone to race against. The only time I passed people, or others rode away from me, was when clearing mud. Quite different from the manic racing in the Welsh series.
Oh, and my 4yr old fell through the cover of a septic tank/sewage thing into the waste water beneath it. 🙄
ferralsFree MemberPosted 8 years agoI put a few pics up of the seniors in the actual lovecrossed thread.
Agree with you about it being an advert for keeping the fields together in the welsh league, makes for much better racing and much better spectating. I made it for 2/3d of the time with people to race against but then it was a lonely trudge against the mud.
In the two practise laps I did I thought the course was going to be great, but as soon as the field bit got cut up by the vets/women it was just horrible and the rideable lines through the ditches and up that last bit got trampled into oblivion. The results tell the story for me -one of my later laps took me 17 minutes, i just couldn’t clear the bike and my wheels were jamming within minutees. Towards the end, the only bit that became enjoyable to ride was the bit throguh the gravel and the singletrack. I think I had double my bike weight of mud to carry too!
At least its a reminder to practise running. 😆
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