Hurrah! it’s time for the 2018/19 CX racing thread!

SCX 1 on the Isle of Bute tomorrow. Small senior field though so not sure if I’m looking forward to it or not….. Main issue though is that it’s not starting until half 5 – how the hell so I full for that without accidentally visiting McDonalds on the way to the ferry, or hitting the pizza van when I’m there??

Amazing how difficult it is to find flat muddy terrain when you want it…

Ive always found that, as well. Almost 25 years since my first CX race, I still live in the same area as them, and I’m still no closer to finding a decent loop to train on. (The local park after dark is almost ok!)

Doing Llanishen on Sunday. Looking forward to catching up with ferrals and shedbrewed and others. I’ve had a reasonable year on the bike but have had a very weird week where I’ve been utterly shattered. No riding since last Thursday and got home from work last night and fell asleep almost instantly. Hopefully I’ll be ok for Sunday.

Really? I think we are quite lucky.. though I’m happy just doing intervals up and down 100m of grass. While we don’t have loads of mud I think dry sand is a good proxy.

Be good to see you on Sunday. Llanishen is my favouroite course – can’t rember if its three or four years since I did my first cx race there!

I’m suffering from the classic ‘not fit enough’ fear (its probably valid this year), especially seeing what some of the other seniors I used to have close races with have been doing on Strava.

I also need to aquire some new pedals before sunday as mine were a bit wobbly so decided so service them – one was properly wrecked with corroded bearings and i managed to wreck the other with my cack-handednesss.

Really? I think we are quite lucky.. though I’m happy just doing intervals up and down 100m of grass

Youre on the posh side of town – I’m not! 😁  I tend to look for a 5 min loop with a variety of surfaces and a couple of real sections to dismount/ mount (rather than just jumping over an imaginary hurdle.) Singleton is ideal other than me getting self-conscious about zig-zagging through the students and dog walkers. 😀

I occasionally use the old Welsh Champs ’course’ behind B&Q in Morfa but it sometimes gets occupied by tramps and chav druggies.

Haha, plus I also worry at Singelton that I’ll mow down some old dear’s cockerpoo and the council will decide to refuse us the right to hold a race there!

some old dear’s

Is that what you call them? My name for them starts with F. 😂

Is there a Roots and Rain style map for a unified list of CX events across the country? Google not helping me.

Not yet, but there’s a good chance that they’ll start appearing on R&R at some point

Always thought it would work well on a roots and rain type site- maybe a sister site ruts and rain 😀

Be good to catch up with people, look forward to seeing you, Jon. And you too Iain, probably as you lap me :-)

I went from feeling tired and a bit off form a month ago to having chicken pox for the second time, so have only managed two rides in the last two weeks. Not going to be at my finest tomorrow at Llanishen at all.

On the positive side, the burgers afterwards are quite nice. Already booked the burgers for after Foxley!

Oh dear, first attempt at some training drills. Cornering on wet grass felt good, but legs and lungs did not! Should stop kidding myself, I have NOT kept my fitness on the turbo whilst the collarbone healed, first race of the season could be an eye-opener…

Just about to head of to the Horwich Humdinger and it’s a bit soggy outside, should be, er fun!

We got to race at Crystal Palace today at London league, including running up a flight of stone steps. Proper CX racing, massive festival atmosphere with 100’s of kids getting stuck into their races and the general bonhomie that comes with the off road scene.

Very good day.

SCX 1 yesterday, felt terrible throughout the race but just figured I was being slightly shitter than usual – especially as it was a proper power course and I don’t have any. However, I’ve not been able to eat a single thing since the race, so starting to think that all may not be so well!

Is there a Roots and Rain style map for a unified list of CX events across the country? Google not helping me.

This is a listing of what’s happening event wise, and has some mapping functions, can split by leagues etc.

http://www.ukcyclocrossevents.co.uk

Had a bit of an uneventful race at Horwich today, open course that had me breathing out ma ringpiece but got round pretty smooth all in all.

First cx race of the year under the belt. Great course at Llanishen in Cardiff for the Welsh league. Wet so slippery grass but not muddy. Flat and fast, with a couple of passes though a sand pit. Good to catch up with everyone. Really enjoyed it and ended up doing better than I expected despite a poor start. There was the added interest of Evie Richards turning up to race in our race, apparently she was flying, though didn’t win – I was too far back to see and just quite pleased I didn’t get lapped.

I can corroborate rollindoughnut’s claims about the CRYSTAL Palace race: it was brilliant.

Having not done much last year I ended up 40th on the senior grid, so absolutely minced myself trying to move up. Made it to second by the penultimate lap before a dropped chain put me back in third. This was all pretty surprising tbh, I spend the whole race convinced I was about to blow up and have to limp around but it never quite happened.

Quite into the idea of doing all the rest of the London/SE league now.

Mini ‘cross racer update from the NWCCA U8 League.

Last week up at Hoghton Tower it pretty poor conditions with a sketchy tarmac descent thrown in for good measure, No.1 (6 yr old)  got a cracking start up the tarmac drag, but took a wrong turn and missed the course, dropping to 5th where he stayed for the duration, he was pretty chuffed. No. 2 (4 yr old) completed 2 laps in his first ever race and was over the moon, loving every minute.

This weekend it was the Horwich Humdinger at Levehulme Park in Bolton, a totally different course, all on grass with steep little banks, off camber corners and roots to deal with. It has also been a bit damp so the top layer of the grassy surface was slick to say the least.

They lined up with No.1 gridded on the front row & No.2 a few rows back, again No.1 got an awesome start up the grassy bank and at the end of the first lap was sat in 2nd place, over the course of the race he pulled a bit back on the lad in 1st and extended his lead over 3rd, while No.2 pedaled and pushed his way round smiling all the way. In the end No.1 finished an awesome 2nd less than 30 seconds behind the winner (who lapped him last week) and well in front of 3rd for his first cyclocross podium.

Fantastic :) I love it !

Anyone done any of the NE CX events? What are they like in terms of turnout and general enjoyment?

Thinking of entering the Middlesbrough race in November. Not done a CX race for a few years, fitness currently appalling but this would give me something to work for.

My greatest fear would be that it has a senior field of 20 race whippets and me. If it’s a decent size field I’m sure I’ll find a group to battle with for 53rd place.

Wessex League kick off yesterday for me. Haven’t had much serious bike time this year (had a nasty road bike off in Feb and couldn’t ride for a couple of months, then just stuff in the way) so wasn’t expecting an easy time but my oh my I’d forgotten how intense it is. Bit wobbly as I got off!

MiniMe did considerably better, stepping up to U12 despite only turning 10 in August – just off the top half of the field, and wants to find a club now – he’s convinced an E Z Up and club shirt are the route to success rather than battering around our par for a couple of evenings a week :-D

Round 3 of the Yorkshire Cyclocross season yesterday (they start a bit earlier than other leagues!) held in Bedale, in North Yorkshire. Was there with my son who has just moved up to U12 and as a 9yo is finding the competition pretty tough! Course was flat, straight and fast, especially compared to the previous week’s race at Wyke which was a very windy course indeed.

He’s a relatively new convert to cross, switching from MTB last year because the races were too far away for us, but it’s rapidly become his favourite form of cycling and he loves everything about it. The Yorkshire U12 races are very social affairs and he has a circle of “Sunday Friends” that he loves spending time with when he’s not racing.

He had a great race yesterday and came 9th from a field of 36 riders – I’m very pleased for him as he worked hard for the result.

(Pic is from the previous week at Wyke, mostly because the pics from yesterday had other people’s kids in them so I didn’t want to share in public)

TomD

I do the senior CXNE.

the race at the weekend in Darlington seemed to have a good spread from the silly quick Thomas Mein right through to the back.

do it. its right good fun.

That sound promising. I’ve signed up for it anyway. I hope the weather is absolutely dreadful. Ideally gale force winds. If I only get to do one CX race this year it better be proper one.

That sound promising. I’ve signed up for it anyway. I hope the weather is absolutely dreadful. Ideally gale force winds. If I only get to do one CX race this year it better be a proper one.

@padkinson you were very strong, that course was deceptively tough though nothing deceptive about those headwind straights!

I did the opposite to you, was in third for the first couple of laps then racing with a cold caught up with me and I went rapidly backwards and ended up 9th.

I’m feeling bruised today! I wasn’t expecting much having been off the bike all of last week with sinusitis, and still having it yesterday and today, but I felt ok, if a little sluggish.

What I wasn’t expecting was to get caught up in a back marker having a wobbly screaming fit about people passing her safely. To prove her point she entirely blocked the final hurdles in the last half of the last lap, knocking the guy in front of me (a lapping rider for me, and probably 5 laps in front of her) completely over, and I managed to get tangled up in his bike and end up on the ground. By the time the blockage was clear, she must have held up about ten people and in her temper became the least safe person to be near. 🤔

Scottish round 1 on Saturday on a rainy, muddy, grassy, slippy Isle of Bute course. Got to love a race you need to take a ferry to.

Delight that certain people are now 50, less delight that other certain people are now 40!

Quieter race than a normal Scottish v40 pile-up (under 100 starters!) but great fun all the same. First race of any sort for me since a serious-sounding injury back in May, pleased to have come through unscathed. Could have lived without the back wheel trying to pop out at the top of the run-up and then a lap later sliding out and hitting the deck on a corner, Happy with 8th but know I had legs for a bit better, just felt a little rusty on the bike.

Good to be back!

Heavy race at Longridge in the NW series yesterday – rain for days so was expecting mud, but it was on a thick grassy field so it was a real energy sapper, stretches that felt like a red line effort to go 20 yards on flat ground. Was not optimistic in practice as my bike felt like it was sinking, but ended up doing a bit better than usual finishing just into the top third.

Bikes getting destroyed left and right. I had a spare in the pits but no one to give it to me, so didn’t swap as my gears still worked (just), and I thought I’d drop a couple of places going to get it. Not sure that was the right decision as my race bike was about 4kg heavier by the end, but good racing nonetheless.

Are we still together in vet 40 Garry? I didn’t think I’d enjoy that course but somehow managed 16th, slightly higher up the “dads” pecking order than usual. I though the powerful boys would do well, but it was only the flat bog past the pits where they seemed to have an advantage. Elsewhere seemed to be an mtbers course (Mrs found the same bagging 2nd overall in the ladies).

Overall I think they did a good job with what they had available for the course. Pits was a nicer place to be without any jet washes :-)

V40 for me Mick for a few more years yet. Sounds like your legs are in fine form – that’s a good result.

See Ben Turner rode the senior race [there’s a vid of his jet-engine start up on twitter]? I got off handy after our race but would have stayed to see him tackle the course had I known. Agree they did a good job with what they had – just a plain grassy field really with a couple of banks, but the tape worked its magic.

Maybe I’d better do some training!

Results suggest Ben took almost 4 mins out of Giles which is crazy fast.

I was marshalling the drop yesterday which made for some great commentary! Watching Ben Turner was a sight to behold. We were timing him and he was 2.30 up after 3 laps. TBF Giles didn’t seem to have a great start and made up pretty well.

I thought it was a pretty good course. I had a few spins round in between races and it was fairly fast in places. The field where I was marshalling was a bit boggy but it held up well. I only work a mile up the road so on Friday I was wondering what it would be like with all the showers we were getting! I didn’t race although I did take all my kit with me just in case. Stuck to average points which after seeing the carnage with missing chains, pedals etc., seemed like a good choice!

anyone want to recommend a set of cx disc wheels/tyres to fit on my Bokeh – currently sporting 650b x 47mm wtb horizons

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Foxley Estate Hereford never disappoints. Another fantastic course put on.

I was expecting carnage on the first little DH bit after the concrete path start – but didnt see anyone crumpled up about there all race. Although I got caught out coming around onto the concrete path to start 2nd lap .. bike just went from under me; took half a lap or so then to get rhythm back.

Hopefully I scraped into the top 10 this week.

Are numbers down in the Welsh league this year? Last year I thought we had almost 100 V40 riders in most races??

Dirtyrider

The guy that won V40 was on these from crc

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/mobile/prime-pro-disc-road-wheelset/rp-prod142940

Looked amazingly good / light for less than £300 with BC discount.

Doing NW series I haven’t a clue about dry weather tyres…… For mud, more and more people are using Schwalbe X one bites tubeless – brilliant grip and mud clearing.

Gutted to have missed Foxley – everyone in my club has been saying it was epic with the mud and the course tweeks.

thought seniors in round one was pretty well attended – but I guess Cardiff always is.

Foxley just seems to have the right mix of everything. Ned & co did a superb job again👌

Would make a good Welsh champs course.

Would be an interesting one for the champs but I guess in december the stream could be three foot deep!

Did you race Aber. last year? I ddint but am looking forward to it – from the pics it looks like a good course and potentially another muddy one :-)