See you there!

I am predicting that mud tyres will be required this weekend though. Awfully soggy driving through Houghton this evening!

It’ll be muddy in those woods (and on that start loop in the lower field), it always is! Hopefully the main field near the pits will stay rideable.

Mind the cow poo! 🤢

It’ll be muddy in those woods (and on that start loop in the lower field), it always is!

Guess I’ll fit the mud tyres then

Notts and Derby league at Shipley Park for my first race of the season tomorrow. Anyone else ridden there and able to comment on the course? Likely to be muddy after this rain?

I’ve ridden there loads. It can be an absolute mudbath but it won’t be after the amount of rain we’ve had recently. Most likely to be fast running with the odd slippy section. It’s largely smooth grass and there will be one or two serious climbs to contend with depending on how the course has been set out.

I’ll be at Hoghton doing the usual course building this afternoon. Raking the woods clear is usually my job so will report back later (and the loam always turns into a swamp so you know the score anyway…..)

Actually looks dry for this afternoon / tomorrow, so I’d predict slighty less muddy but more sticky than normal.

Mud tyres as always.

I did my first cx race on 25 Aug. Tweedcross. It was probably the hottest day of my summer. I had a bottle in a seattube cage as there wasn’t any portage but I was too on the limit to grab a drink from it. A erm colossal performance of 17th of 68 in the B race. I’d been riding 200,300,400,600km audaxs this year, the exact opposite of training for bouncing into the red for 55 minutes

Actually looks dry for this afternoon / tomorrow, so I’d predict slighty less muddy but more sticky than normal.
Mud tyres as always.

I suppose the forecast reasonable winds might dry it up a bit too?

All ready at Hoghton. Fields medium wet so probably grass and sticky mud (and some cow poop) rather than the sea of slop.

Testament to how wet last year was – this was the first time I’ve found fossilised ruts from the previous year still evident in the woods. I’ve raked us an extra soft new line on the last corner in the woods 🙂 then staying on the grass a bit longer to try and avoid covering the drive in filth.

Nice one Mick. Must admit I don’t normally enjoy Hoghton because it’s usually the first one, so going to try and enjoy the course more tomorrow. Hard with the hill but has a good mixture of stuff. Might risk a bike change with an absent-minded 11yo manning the jetwash.

Yup the grassy drag of doom by the wall is still there, together with all the old favourites like the puncture rock in the bomb hole (claimed 2 people already).

Top field is slightly shorter as it doesn’t go quite as far down the hill. Bottom field slightly different. Enjoy….

Back to the OP. My 19/20 Aims (in order of decreasing likeliness):
– Enjoy all the races
– Qualify for the nationals again (and maybe last more than 30 mins this time, possibly Pidcock dependent)
– Score a top 8 finish (after multiple 9ths last year . . .)

All ready at Hoghton. Fields medium wet so probably grass and sticky mud (and some cow poop) rather than the sea of slop.

Testament to how wet last year was – this was the first time I’ve found fossilised ruts from the previous year still evident in the woods. I’ve raked us an extra soft new line on the last corner in the woods 🙂 then staying on the grass a bit longer to try and avoid covering the drive in filth.

Ace. Hope you had time to polish the cobbles inside the barn too. They were excitingly slippery last year 😂

Weather’s looking very un-cross like again, should be another good day for racing 🙂

Really enjoyed yesterdays course, thanks to all who helped make it possible. Lots of climbing and a dodgy root in the woods on the last corner made for some fun! 15th for me so pretty chuffed with that. Well done Dave on your first place! Small vid here of the seniors start lap.

Apologies for the root – last year we went the other side of the middle tree in your video, but that was much harder packed and didn’t make a micro berm so no fun at all 🙂

Red Rose Colin did all the hard work, especially in the fields, with the new start loop working very well (first time I’ve not had a traffic jam entering the woods).

24th / top third which is about as good as I get. Well done to you fast guys – must have been a good race to watch with first four at 10 second gaps. Had a few chats with voodochris who had a go on an mtb and was already talking about buying faster tyres so hopefully see him again.

Marshalled the morning session of the NDCXL at Shipley Park yesterday, so just saw the kids races and Vets before we had to go. Was mostly dry and grassy apart from the damp rooty section through the trees. Lovely start to the season, whole range of riders from national level race whippets to pootlers in baggies on skinny tyred 26″ MTBs. Also the first ever womens only race, which had a decent field across all the age categories, great to see.

[strong]mick_r[/strong] wrote:

Red Rose Colin did all the hard work, especially in the fields, with the new start loop working very well (first time I’ve not had a traffic jam entering the woods).

Yeah it worked really well and helped the flow a lot better than last year.

Pah Hoghton Tower, bleurgh, poo, rocks, and did rubbish.

The boy won U8 again though after binning it right in front of Mrs Mick_r as she marshalled, fought back and took the win.

So I took part in my first ever CX race at Hoghton Tower at the weekend. I manage to actually finish and didn’t come last which was pretty much the only positive. Can’t quite believe how fast the top guys are – I’m pretty sure I was lapped 3 times by the top 4 Seniors at least!

Wasn’t able to change gear at the start which left me playing catch-up from the very beginning. Went into the red zone way too early trying to make up ground on back markers and paid for it for the rest of the race. Plenty of lessons to be learned though.

Went into the red zone way too early trying to make up ground on back markers and paid for it for the rest of the race.

You’re supposed to be in the red the entire time, there is no let up! Yesterdays heart rate chart, the threshold i think is on the downhill bits!

https://www.strava.com/activities/2687513388/heartrate

Lucky circumstances of the 2nd return flight from Armenia being 30 minutes early into LHR along with being straight through security and car pick up meant I was actually able to race the first round of the Welsh League. My wife was heading to spectate anyway so I asked her to bring my kit and tub wheels along then I met her there and rebuilt the bike from bike-packing mode to cx-race mode in the car park. Made sign-on by 20 minutes but doing on the day meant no gridding. Being honest, after 15 hours of travelling and 3 hours sleep I wasn’t going to be at my best anyway. Had a reasonable race/ride around but nothing in the tank to be having a proper go.
The course was a new one at Tredegar Park and it was brutally hard and bumpy in places. A bit of rain and it would’ve been superb. Really nice to be racing again and to see the familiar race faces.

Maybe this will work

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Thanks to @lloydyno1 @richie21007 @andydryburgh for the photos #gatewayracing #welshleague #cyclocross #hot #pooped #trekboone

A post shared by Thom (@thomthebike) on Sep 9, 2019 at 12:57am PDT

I did my first cx race (East Kent) at the weekend and really enjoyed it.

I currently have 35mm WTB Crossboss tubeless on my Stans grail rims, but they seem really wide compared to everyone else.

I suspect I probably need narrower tyres for when it gets muddy – any recommendations for good value tubeless tyres?

I suspect I probably need narrower tyres for when it gets muddy – any recommendations for good value tubeless tyres?

I find the Vittoria range (XG, XM, XL etc, Non TNT) great for tubeless and happily run ~25psi.

I did the 2nd round of the Western CX league last weekend – bloody hell they’re a fast crowd, by the 4 corner it was me and a couple of others trailing behind and by the end of the first 1/2 lap I was on my own for the whole race! I think I came 22/25 so not last which made my day, but still not great!

Entered in the Wessex CX race at Newbury this Sunday and hoping there’s more of a spread of speeds so I have someone to race against! Not a massive fan of the fast dry courses so been doing rain dances although it appears to be staying dry on the current forecast!

Someone else poseted this previously…
https://www.mantel.com/uk/challenge-cross-limus-tlr-tyre?r=L3VrL2N5Y2xvY3Jvc3MtdHlyZXM/Z2NsaWQ9Q2p3S0NBand0dUxyQlJBbEVpd0FQVmNaQm9tQVRyRVJiSjEtcWdSbG5KTmMtTVBSTHhsLURKbjFpcER0SzRhdm9rM3g1V09LZFV1U1BSb0NrQTRRQXZEX0J3RSNzdGFydDE0

Limus are one of the default mud tyres..

First round of Supermarine evening/night cross entered.  I have an ambition to not get lapped this year…however Katie Scott has entered (yeah, that’s Katie with 199 national ranking points and 65 UCI points)…

There goes my ambition then!

I did the 2nd round of the Western CX league last weekend – bloody hell they’re a fast crowd, by the 4 corner it was me and a couple of others trailing behind and by the end of the first 1/2 lap I was on my own for the whole race! I think I came 22/25 so not last which made my day, but still not great!

I’m guessing I was one of the riders with you for the first half lap as I finished a couple of places ahead. There tends to be a bit more depth to the field in Western League in the races in and around Bristol.

I’m toying with the idea of trying a few West Midlands events as they look to have bigger fields. Anyone know if the course limits are often reached and non-league riders turned away?

I’m guessing I was one of the riders with you for the first half lap as I finished a couple of places ahead. There tends to be a bit more depth to the field in Western League in the races in and around Bristol.

Probably! Can’t really make it down to Bristol as that’ll make it a very long day!

I’m toying with the idea of trying a few West Midlands events as they look to have bigger fields. Anyone know if the course limits are often reached and non-league riders turned away?

I had the same thought, plus my Fiancee is studying in Birmingham so during uni term time it makes sense to race that direction. I messaged the league Facebook page and apparently they’ve not had to cap numbers in the past but league riders would get first priority if they did. bit annoying as I was sure I’d registered for all the localish leagues but seem to have missed that one!

First night cross in Supermarine wasn’t too bad.  Dry, dusty course meant it was fast in places, but sketchy grip in the corners (compounded by pine cones).  After fumbling the first lap, I managed to get a flow in all the sections including the off camber spiral of doom.

My ambition was to not get lapped, didn’t quite achieve that as I was lapped by the top 6, but that’s a big improvement from previous years.  Also managed to PR the strava segment for the course by a good amount.  Even my slowest lap was only just slower than last years fastest lap.

Time to break out the big lights for next week – 300 lumens wasn’t enough.  Forgotten how good racing in the dark is – serenaded by owls in one section of the course 🙂

Aimming to do all 5 races this year, may even supplement it with a arse-kicking in the western league if timings work out.

Good luck everyone racing today…

Question for organisers… how do you construct the more durable netted barriers? Thinking about our course design and there is one section as I have it planned at the moment where riders come down a fast descent, there’s a sharp turn, and just the other side of the turn is another section of track. I ca imagine riders sliding through the tape into oncoming traffic if they get it wrong so having a short section of catch netting type barrier might be prudent!

Awesome race yesterday at the Wessex league! I came in 55 out of 62 finishers (66 starters) which wasn’t too bad – spent the almost the whole race fighting with the 50-54th place guys but they were just a bit too quick and I blew up on the final lap – great fun though to actually race people!

I raced Wessex yesterday as well. I do actually intend to do a few this season just to mix things up a bit in my training over winter. I ‘just’ managed to pull myself out of the bottom 1/3, which for my first race from my usual DH/Enduro background isn’t so bad I guess. I will probably enjoy it more when its wet and muddy later in the year & I’m a bit fitter. It’s very different to what I’m used to.

I think I may have also given myself heatstroke too. I guess if I can survive a flat and boring course in that much heat, maybe I can survive a few more 😆

Welsh league at Builth for me. Cracking course, a real mix, tarmac, grass, gravel, wooded semi singletrack. A couple of challenging offcambers and some steep drops, stairs and hurdles. Pretty hilly and very brutal. Just a shame there was no mud! My first race of the season, and having not really raced anything over the spring/summer it was a shock to the system. Position-wise it was a case of business as usual from last season, just outside the top 10, but it was a very small field (25 starters) and my lap times were not good compared to those ahead of me. Had great fun thougb as always.

how do you construct the more durable netted barriers?

Wooden posts every 2 or 3 metres with rope running tightly between them, then run the catch netting (max 1x1cm holes) along the lot and use tie wraps to attach it to both the ropes and posts.
Once you’re done you can then just roll the whole lot up and re-use it next time.

Thanks @LS – for the catch netting do you just use the sort of scaff debris netting you can get on ebay/amazon (says 1mm holes)

Basically yes, the hole size doesn’t matter so much as long as it’s less than 1x1cm. That’s the UCI spec and what you’ll see at Trophies etc – stops handlebars poking through from one side to the other in case of crashes.

great, thanks. Makes sense re. hole size, also removes the chance of fingers getting stuck in and broken. Now just need to suggest it to our club and see what they say – looks like you culd make up a hundredd metres or so quite cheaply which is all that would be needed for the key risky areas.

Wessex yesterday for me too. I’d forgotten how draggy the grass is at that place. Felt sorry for my 4yo really struggling to keep his 16″ wheels with extra knobbly tyres turning. I’ve promised him that Reading will be faster!

All the usual STW vet40 faces at Bolton today – especially that twinklydave and his evil muddy off-camber heckling whilst we all minced and slithered past like bambi 🙂

Struggled yesterday at Foxley in The Welsh League. Lack of any meaningful threshold training coupled with not a lot of sleep meant I popped after lap 3 I think and went backwards a lot of places. Hey ho.
Will see how this weekend at a new course out West goes.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B2uUCwkFerN/?igshid=adasxns7l3yd