The Cyclocross season is upon us. Yay!

7 races in, it’s been a busy month, and loving it, even managed to snag a couple of national vet points 🙂

Kemble Airport in the Wessex League on a very tough course which was flat and relentless with loads of switchbacks and wooded single track sections.
Eventful race for me. Second row start but struggled to clip in and lost a few places but managed to get to the front of a group battling for 6th place.

Dropped a chain on lap 3 which managed to jam itself between the crank arm chain guard and lost about 10 places before I got it back on. Chased back and finished 11th in the end. Was hard but also good fun chasing people down.

Not done an event yet.. 😥

Every year you get fitter, but so does everyone else, plus handy newbies coming in with some good road fitness still in the legs…

Enjoyed yesterdays 1st Welsh League race! Took me a while to get my racing head on getting my left and right mixed up at the start…looking forward to the Hereford round.

Really need to work on my cornering skills…

I did the Bronte Mountain Bike Challenge on my ‘cross bike yesterday. Some mountain bikers don’t half get arsey when you overtake them.

Kemble Airport in the Wessex League on a very tough course which was flat and relentless with loads of switchbacks and wooded single track sections.

That was our event (Cotswold Veldrijdren, I was on results duty and had the added stress of only 8% laptop battery left as the Seniors race came to a close. Hope you enjoyed it, we are getting lots of good feedback from Kemble as a course/location.

Was a good course but bloody hard as there was nowhere for any slight recovery. Looked at my heart rate on lap two and I was 97% max and that pretty much continued for the rest of the race 😯

Only downside was I always seem to be surrounded and mobed my your riders throughout the race! 😉

have my first race tomorrow at round 2 of western league quite looking forward to it tbh

Loved Hog Hill today, pretty technical but faaast! The walnut whip of doom was a laugh.

will be racing in the midlands today (no northwest or yorkshire races today)

First round of the central league today. Over 50’s are just racing 40 minutes, not sure how that’s going to go? always put my fastest laps in the last 20 mintutes of the hour.

First round of the central league today. Over 50’s are just racing 40 minutes, not sure how that’s going to go? always put my fastest laps in the last 20 mintutes of the hour.

Go for a 20 min ride first ???? 😉

Cunning 8)

well thats my first race and im nackerd aparentley the hardest bristol course i took a pasting,probably came dead last BUT i had a really good time and will deffinatley be doing more
note to self– change road gearing as its just to hard on a cx course

Go for a 20 min ride first ????

Cheers, I was one place from the prize money…which I would have shared with you 😉

Nice fast conditions today, and team manager did a spot of videoing 🙂

Cheers, I was one place from the prize money…which I would have shared with you

Lol good skills 😀

great technical course at Tackerro!!!

First race of the season for me at the 2nd round of the Western League in Bristol. In attendance was non other than olympic rider and ex pro oli beckingsale.

Tough, tough race for me. Have done no proper riding/training since the end of the summer series where I finished 6th in the league. Started right near the back and took me 10-15 minutes to get my brain, lungs and legs opened up that I’m racing cross again. Made a schoolboy error by not taking my gloves with me and i’m sitting here with skin missing from the inside of my thumbs!

Think i finished in the top 20 although not sure. Disappointing that I was well back from riders that I was easily over taking in the summer season but that’s my own fault.

Thoroughly enjoyable still and definite need for improvement.

well thats my first race and im nackerd aparentley the hardest bristol course i took a pasting,probably came dead last BUT i had a really good time and will deffinatley be doing more
note to self– change road gearing as its just to hard on a cx course

What kit were you wearing?

53 years old, racing with a number on my back since 1975. And I’m like a kid at Christmas because I’m racing Saturday.
MK Bowl, which is a corker.

Wessex eastleigh for me on sunday. not done much cycling in the last month and have a 10k run saturday so not exactly well prepared for it but looking forward to it.

6th place yet again.

Love an image that flatters one. 🙂

Sefton. Nice shot of my team mate behind you there. Can I pinch your image for our blog please?

Ta

Rich

tricky- i was just in a ss jersy 3/4 bottoms old spesh tricross with mini v’s and huge road chainset lol

cx50 arived friday all bolted up and now running a mtb rear mech for the ratios should help me allot

nice pic.

i dont recall that sand trap at eastleigh being an issue last year..
anyway i was way slower than last year but still fast and fun, downhill at least 🙂 not that eastleigh is hilly..
roll on newbury saturday!

tricky- i was just in a ss jersy 3/4 bottoms old spesh tricross with mini v’s and huge road chainset lol

cx50 arived friday all bolted up and now running a mtb rear mech for the ratios should help me allot

Did you do rd 3 at cheltneham?

http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/cyclocross/article/cyx20131006-cycle-cross-Cross–Junior-Fox-scores-solo-Cheltenham-win-0

I had a much better race. Terrible start (someone went over the bars at the start) and i watched on in dismay as the whole field rode away from me. Spent the whole race battling trying to overtake

Ended up 12th in the senior race.. 8 places higher than a week ago. Just need to get top 10 to get some points

CX curious.

Never been to one, so no real world experience.

From watching the youtube links…. you don’t need a CX bike to race CX then ?
Is this at local level races.

I understood the debate ages ago about the 3 peaks CX race being for CX bikes only and some strict rules on bike set up, but a unique event.
Are the rules of racing more enforced at national level races with the licence and point chasing ?

In theory, could one rock up to a local level race on any bike, looking like a hooligan from downhill racing with no licence and have a stab at it 🙂

Friendly racing or very intense serious roadie-esq attitudes ?

Most likely candidate would be a flat pedaled/flat barred SS karate Monkey on CX tyres, could get some drop bars and levers fairly cheaply if required.

Tempted to have a go one day.

Friendly racing or very intense serious roadie-esq attitudes ?

Friendly. The good guys are never asshats, the rubbish ones have nothing to worry about. I see loads of MTB’s and sometimes they have their day. One race where the course was changed at the 11th hour, it fell into the hands of those that had turned up with MTB’s. After the race the commissaire rounded us all up to give them three boo’s. It’s ‘serious fun’.

🙂 Ta oldgit.

It’s getting harder to get out to DH races, so looking for something else for amusement.
Not sure i can last an hour without throwing up 🙂 i guess no beer tent halfway round. Done some SS events and quite enjoyed chucking a flat barred flat pedaled road bike around the woods, trying to bottom out the twangy fork and slow down on barely working brakes.

Figured CX might suit me, monster cross Karate Monkey methinks.

dident manage to get up to the chelt race looking forward to hengrove as its just over the road from me

Took the day off work and spent it building the course for this weekends first national series race in Gothenburg. Still a little too do, but bring on the racing tomorrow.

New tubs, new skinsuit 8)

Euro ^^^^

Getting to grips with CX rules.

You run up steps….

I could ride down that without puking up 🙂

Ooh double picture post, sorry about that.

There is a ton of grass if that makes it more UK style?

vdub – yeah go for it…more pics on the midlands cyclocross website. (I nicked it off there or facebook)

oldgit…didn’t know you are a Belgium…you a Northerner? yorkshire league?

Nah I’m one of the two? southern Belgians. I feel a bit like a privateer, but I know most of the club riders very well so I can jump in any outfit that’s going well, naughty really 🙂

Proper cross weather today, should be a mudfest tomorrow 🙂

First race for me tomorrow, Happy Valley round of the London X league just outside Brighton. Excited/Nervous

National cup, round one, home pitch.

10th place for me, despite getting seeded in the last row via the lottery, (stitched up by my own club!). Came past 40 odd people, but finished 1:50 off the lead and 40 seconds behind where I’d have liked to have been.

Still, tubs held, always a relief first time out, big thumbs up to the new Vittoria Evo XN as front tub, really flexible sidewalls that I could feel squishing nicely around corners, ran at 24psi. Tufo Cubus Flexus on the rear at 26psi.

More importantly the boys raced and enjoyed themselves.

Same again tomorrow.