Der Ronde

In case anybody is up for it, the entries for the 2011 Tour of Flanders are open as of tonight! Link is here I'm down for the 260km version, like a fool. Fraser K who took some photos on our behalf (and happens to be a good friend of mine!) is coming along too!

So, who's in?

Real men from Leeds/Wallsend (courtesy of the Jazz Butcher)

Nothing to say, but this looks like a bit of a laugh.

www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest/504937/classic-cyclo-cross-a-film-from-the-archives.html

No car parks or planks in those days!

Hier Komen de Belgen Bradley Woods

Well after the disappointment of missing out on Boggart Hole Clough due to illness I was looking forward to Bradley Woods. My cold was all but gone however almost a week off the bike left the legs and lungs feeling under prepared. I did

do a little skills training with Mark on the Saturday but this was interrupted when he decided to ride into the only set of goal posts in an otherwise empty field - I was paralysed with laughter for several minutes!

The course was excellent, technical with a little bit of everything; steps, tight and rooty, soft loamy/muddy, uphill, barely ride-able uphill, fast descents, a bomb hole, trees, in fact the only thing it lacked was flat sections!

Despite being gridded I had a poor start (need to work on that!) which was further hampered when I decided to go wide to pass a rider and collided with the rather obvious large tree - I shouldn't have laughed so much at Mark! The rest of the race was thoroughly enjoyable and absorbing - especially the bomb hole which was perfectly ride-able providing a) you carried your speed b) the rider in front didn't stall... The technical nature of the course was a reminder that there's always lots to work on in cross, I was well down compared to recent races maybe because of post viral malaise or a lack of flow/fitness, something that was emphasised as I crossed the line by a couple of fellow competitors asking "What happened to you?" If only I had had the wit/breath to reply! Still it was a very enjoyable race. Elsewhere on the course Mark and Nick had both taken different diversions to lengthen the lap, two of the leaders had had a 'heated exchange' following a collision resulting in a long run to the pits for one (no names, no pack drill) and Chipps had rolled a tub (I feel a crossjunkie tutorial coming on!) altogether a grand day out! There were no Belgian representatives in the seniors race though Tom Jolly (Jonathon and Flandrian Nicole's son) riding for Pedalsport won the Juniors - top effort! Jo captured some excellent photos again, check them out on http://www.flickr.com/photos/hanglebads/sets/72157625238625164/

Newness...

Another kit order has come and gone and I'm proud to announce some additions to our ever expanding juggernaut of cross and cobble. So without further a do, here goes a welcome to:

Mark Leyland: A Former north west rider now living in the midlands which expands our midenglandshire membership by 100%...which means there's now 2.

Suneil "Sunny" Curwen: Sunny is of Tap Timing fame which is making a decent fist of keeping track of the Yorkshire Cyclocross league amongst others. Owning a team kit now gives Sunny carte Blanche to overindulge in cross, cobble and belgian beer... his own admission, you read it here first.

Richard Seipp: Of qwertyphoto fame. Richard is a pro freelance photographer based in the Peak District. He's both rider, racer and photographer... I just wonder if he can do it all at once?.. while juggling fire*.

Ken Bloomer: Ken is another addition to our European contingent. Ken owns and runs Crema Cycles in Germany. He rides, races and writes, but then again, why am I bothering to tell you, here's Ken himself...



*I shouldn't make glib comments like this. He probably can do all this and more.

Awesome vid

Just wanted to share this with you people.....

Local trails ala cx from Andy Wardman on Vimeo.

Losing my racing virginity...

After getting hooked on the idea of cyclocross earlier in the summer and making contact with Duncan through our mutal friends at Shutt VR, today saw me line up as a Belgian for the Central CX League race at Icknield near Luton. Despite losing 3 recent weeks of training due to illness, my 'proper' CX tyres not arriving and generally being afraid of making a complete idiot of myself, I got my act together and decided today was the day I lose my cyclocross virginity!

Icknield School was the venue, with a course winding back and forth across their playing fields, up and down a near vertical grass bank numerous times with off-camber drops and turns and a section of horrendously bumpy singletrack through the woods. It was a pretty small field of about 40 riders for the main race so I thought I'd be safe at the back to start, but the race marshall had different ideas when he lined us up and I found myself on the end of the 3rd row surrounded by fit and experienced looking 'crossers. Oh shit....

Then we were off, my heart was thumping and I was chasing the pack across the playing field. The leaders quickly did a vanishing act with the super-fast Corley team boys showing everyone how it was done. Before I knew it I was at the barriers which I had never even attempted until a few minutes before on the recce lap (when I nearly fell flat on my face in front of a group of spectators!) and I was off, running, jumping, running, jumping and back on again. I was holding my own and nobody was coming past me - unbelievable! I caught a guy from Team MK that I was talking with before the start and held his wheel for 2 laps before deciding I could push harder, and dropped him. Next up was a Welwyn guy in a bright green kit that was 50m ahead and just begging to be reeled in. A lap later and he was done along with a couple of others. The leaders blitzed past me somewhere during all that as well but I kept safely out of the way and didnt cause them any trouble. Every lap I gained skill on the technical bits and confidence to attack corners harder and things began to come together.

40 mins into it and I was really feeling the pace. Sportives, group rides and the compulsory lamp post sprints against the lads are one thing, but flat out lung-busting laps of pain like this are quite another and it was beginning to tell on me, especially with the illness-hindered training I had managed since the summer. I inevitably slowed in the last third, but it seemed most others did as well and I kept everyone behind until the Corley boys came out of nowhere and stuck a second lap on me (and almost everyone else it seems) and even gained another scalp who was not happy to see me pass him on a technical section. Then it was the bell and one of the most beautiful sounds imaginable as I realised only one more lap of hell was ahead of me. Best of all was the fact that the bell was ringing for what seemed like a lot of people well behind me - that was a real confidence booster. There was nobody around me and nobody to chase for the final circuit so I did my best to give it 110% all the way and finished with absolutely nothing left, a very happy boy!

I've no idea where I came, although it was clearly well down the field, but I had more than achieved my goal of not being last (or too close to it) and had passed enough people, and kept them behind me, that I rolled back to the car a very happy Belgian. For now I'll forget about the luck I had with no mechanicals, and a relatively simple course that was far drier than it should have been after the last 48 hours of rain, which allowed my 'wrong' tyres to work perfectly and the fact that I rode my recce lap with a former junior national CX champion who shared no end of tips with me, and I'll just bask in the warm feeling of being a 'racer'. Somehow things will never be the same on a bike again.

Same again next weekend. Damn, this racing thing is addictive!



I got this guy and he wasnt getting past me again!



More pictures courtesy of Fraser K here

Bogging at Boggart

Pic: Ed Rollason - there's a lanky Belgian in there somewhere

We had a crack team of 4 out riding at Boggart Hole Clough, Manchester with Rich Allen and Mark Turner also present but sidelined due to lurgy. Jo Hanglebads was on cake-dishing out duties and surprisingly surrendered her camera to Rich too. We have yet to see the rushes...

Boggart is probably one of the best courses out there in the NW - it mixes rooty singletrack, tarmac blasts, grassy field, a little bit of bog and a brutal tarmac climb that needs to be big-ringed but hurts you if you do. We had a massive 130 starters which required a round and round the field type thing to string us all out. Nick Craig won easily, Duncan and Ric built on their previous outings and fitness for 65th and 30th respectively, and I managed to get clear of the start mayhem to ride strongly into 4th Vet and 19th overall. Spare a thought for Mark Thomson who punctured on the 2nd(?) lap. He saved his energies for the Velodrome later that day though so it wasn't a wasted trip.

And onto a little digression. Whilst we are spoilt here in the North West and Yorkshire by our own Jo's super snapping, there are some professional photographers out there too. Cheryl King has become a Belgian friend over the past few seasons, and like Jo, attends most of our races and in all weathers. Her dramatic and insightful photos have been recently collated in a book Cyclo Cross, which featured both myself and Duncan as well as other regular North West riders. This is a shameless plug really, in the sense that people like Cheryl are out there for the love of the sport and hopefully bringing it to a wider audience. I received some of her photos from a friend as a present and they were most welcome. I urge you to support her and her craft at www.ckingimages.co.uk and http://www.flickr.com/photos/ckingimages/


Anyways, I know Jo won't mind me upstaging her pic wise this time as good though Chery's pics are, she has yet to offer me cake at the end of a race.....

Ric Knowles



Alan D





Dunc




This coming Sunday brings another comedy name venue - Pignut Hill in Northwich. Also a good cross course too. Must be in the name.

Oh I almost forgot. Dunc won the gurning competition. Again. Check out his fine effort captured by Ed Rollason....

Relentless 24

120 miles into the 300-odd mile journey to Fort William, I had an 'OHSHITOHSHITOHSHIT' moment.

Having meticulously packed everything I needed for a 24 hour race in the last few days, like I always do, then carefully placing everything in the van a few hours earlier, I was immediately shocked into a state of confusion and panic when I realised that I’D LEFT ALL OF MY SODDING CLOTHES IN A BAG ON THE BED AT HOME.

Eventually I gained enough composure to ring Dave who confirmed that he had two team jerseys with him and that if I was short of anything else (which I was), he had 3 of everything else. I was heading up to Scotland in October with nothing to wear apart from the shorts and t shirt I was sat in. Fantastic. What a great start.

Eventually arriving at the race campsite (which was a car park at the Fort William gondola station) at 10pm-ish, I ate some more food and got my head down for what turned out to be a brilliant night’s sleep in my floral-print pop-up tent. Luckily for Dave I was able to buy a new pair of bib shorts at a stall the next

morning. A quick visit to the lovely 2Pure folks at the Niterider stand for another 24 hour race-worth cardboard box of CLIF

energy fuel, then new shorts and borrowed jersey donned, I got ready for the start.

The run at the start of the race was thankfully very short but unfortunately didn’t have either the length or the Hit the North-style hilarity to properly break up the field so immediately a queue developed as everyone tried to ride through the first constriction (a tunnel!). It’s a long race. It won’t matter. The course had lots of climbing and a fair share of technical, rocky, slow speed bits to keep things fun early in the race and to also keep things dangerous later on when everyone’s knackered.

The course really was su

perb. I was tapping out laps with a kind of rhythm that I’ve not had for a long time…since perhaps CLIC24 a while back in fact. Until I got a puncture. I knew that I was in 3rd or 4th place at this point and I wasn’t too keen on dropping back 6 hours into the race but The Incident Pit started to open and I couldn’t get the tyre back on the rim. Eventually Dave arrived and dug out a tyre lever to replace the one I’d just snapped…then a marshal who was riding a trails motorbike turned up and handed me a foot-long metal tyre lever. My Stans rim won’t like it but here goes….

35 minutes of buggering about later and I’m on my way again, now chasing the places I’d lost.

I got back into the beat of the race again and rode into the night still feeling good. Still gaining time on those in front. A bit of big-ring action on a downhill here…pass a group of riders on a climb there…keep your eyes open for the bloke in 3rd cos you’re gaining on him, that’s a fact. It’s true, Angela said so.

Angela, Dave’s girlfriend, was here to support us and had been awake for the entire race. Using two alarm clocks so that she could keep track of mine and Dave’s approximate lap times, there wasn’t a single lap where I didn’t see her next to our pit, arms full of energy drink bottles, food, gels and would immediately run and get whatever I needed as soon as I’d mumbled my ‘order’. In between looking after 2 needy soloists she’d be examining the leaderboard, writing down names, positions and lap times so that we’d know when we were doing ok and when we’d need to pull our fingers out. You just can’t ‘race’ a 24 hour race without support like that.

Eventually my tempo dropped and I started to hit the wall. This doesn’t happen to me that often; waves of nausea washed over me and I felt very. very cold. No matter how hard I rode, I was shivering. I wasn’t shivering due to cold though, I was starting to switch off – my effort not being matched by either my preparation in the weeks before the race or my consumption of food during it. Sat on The Chair Of Hurt for 20 minutes with a blanket around me, I contemplated ending the 24 hour race season like this- broken and shivering. As I shivered a second cup of tea all over my legs I decided that this wasn’t how we were going to end this race. I’d driven for 6 hours to get here. I’ve recovered from bigger setbacks than this in races in the past. It’s been a long, hard season with almost continual endurance racing but surely this would have made me stronger? Yes? YES?

I got up and rode away. Almost immediately I fell off, got back on and hit the steep climb out of the main arena….

5am. I passed the guy in 3rd place. He didn’t attack, but I’d have ridden away from anyone right then in any case. I kept going. Tapping out the laps. bang. bang. bang. bang. Sunrise, a second wind, lap times tell me I’m dropping 4th place…

The finish. 26 laps later, 3rd place overall. The overall winner is a vet, which means that I’m in second place in the ‘Senior Mens Solo’ – Dave’s finished in 1st place in the seniors. We’ve owned that podium again ;0)

…and due to my forgetfulness on the clothing front, there were no clean jerseys to wear on the podium. So we accepted our trophies still wearing the stinking, filthy threads we’d raced in for the last day. Living the dream…

(pics courtesy of Mike Hulme)

London League Round 5

First cross race today around the infield and surrounding estate of the splendid Herne Hill velodrome in South London, in the mighty Belgian colours. HH is a legacy of the 1948 Olympics and given that it is still used by hundreds of riders every week it has to be one of the best value legacy sites of the Olympic movement. Unfortunately it is under threat and so the venue has an uncertain future.
http://www.savethevelodrome.com/

I digress. My first cross race, first single speed race. Finished 106th out of 148 starters. And, er, second in the singlespeed category. A few points I learned from this:

1. singlespeed for a relatively flat course is a not a disadvantage - quite a few riders headed into steep sections and tried to flick down their gears too quickly. A bit a crunching and cursing. With a single gear that's not a concern.

2. It isn't the full-on first lap that was the issue, but the last. Whether it was a lack of food, fitness or both but the last lap was hell. Grass sucks energy and momentum and I got very close to packing. The pain in my legs was worse than anything I recall from my road racing days. Must eat more cake.

3. 'Cross riders are very polite; riders who lapped the field pleased and thanked their way through as I darted into the odd bush/gravel pit/hedge to give them their line. A bit of Corrinthian spirit, chaps.

4. A bit of time mastering the technique of getting back on after a dismount would seem in order. Hopping off postman style most people could accomplish but there was a certain amount of inelegant stopping and time wasted getting back up to pace afterwards. On long grass with one gear that's extra pain that isn't needed.

5. Picking a good line on tight singel track is vital, several times I took corners too wide or I was hesitant. If in doubt just blast through it full-on, sort of.

But in all a superb turnout, fantastic weather, top notch organisation. So what's all the fuss about mud then?

Race report will be posted on http://www.londoncyclesport.com/ with a gallery in the next few days. I have absolutely no idea what happened or who won. http://www.cross-crazy.com/ is a related 'cross site that may be of interest, albeit from that London.

I Have A Dream...

Well ladies and gentlemen, Winter Training is upon us. Which means a few things around my house.

Firstly, I winter up the bike. New cables, chain, brake blocks and tyres. This year I've plumped for the Vittoria Pave CX tubs (Tubs in summer and winter, how Euro am I?!), I expect the extra 1mm of width will be a real boon if we have 3 weeks of snow and ice again this year... hemhem. I glued them onto some 1998 Campag Shamals I picked up off a guy at work, for £50. These wheels are still some of the best I've ridden, an utter bargain and, in reality, far too good for winter wheels. The only problem with them is the 9 speed freewheel body means I can't get into my bottom gear without the rear mech hitting the spokes. Just as well I'm not planning any climbing into my winter training.

Secondly, the Turbo Trainer comes back out and the Turbo Dungeon gets set up. I'm supplementing my Cycling DVD collection as I type and these and loud music are all that get me through 3 nights a week in the garage. I've invested in a big bloody fan too.

Finally, and here is where the dream comes in, I plan my calender for the year ahead. Having knocked road racing on the head, I need new challenges so this year, I will be looking mainly at Time Trials and Sportifs. However, I want to do a full hill climb season at the end of the year and finally pick up my cross bike and do some cross racing over the winter... Then comes the real challenge.

I have decided that in 2012, I'm going to take on the Flanders and Roubaix Sportif rides on consecutive weekends in my Belgians kit! I think I just want to see if it's possible to do the full distance of both and cope with the conditions/terrain. Hence the taking up cross. As it was blogging about training that first brought me into contact with the Belgians, I think I'll try and put regular updates on here through the winter and the season (if anyone is interested). Also, if anyone else is interested in taking on one or more of the rides... let me know.

More racing last weekend

In a marked contrast, last weekends WMCCL meeting was run off in near sunshine compared to the torrential rain at round two! The ground was still quite tacky through the single track and the slippery nature caught out quite few.

A clash of dates with the opening round of the National Trophy series meant I was hoping that some of the faster guys would be at Abergavenny, unfortunately that didn't pan out and I noticed Steve Knight on the start line!

I had a good start and rolled through the first lap just outside the top 10, even after tangling with the tape. I felt the strain at the start of the second lap and lost a few places, but seemed to settle in and pull some places back over the next laps. Managing to avoid being lapped by Steve meant I could fight out the minor placings with a guy I'd been swapping places with for the second half of the race, finally pulling away from him through the single track to take 15th overall (J/V/W) and 11th in the V40-49 race.

With the new kit on my back I hope I can keep this up and show off the HCtB colours through mud, sun and whatever mother natures wants to throw our way this Winter.

Notes from a Southern Softie

It rained the weekend before last, and I see lots of Belgians got very wet and muddy!

I entered my first 'cross race as a Belgian, and also my first for 25yrs. The course was going to be challenging..........three laps of the car park at Blenheim Palace!

Given my lack of respect for car park races, I decided to cycle from home and enjoy a soaking wet hour off-road beforehand. So I arrived rather cold, wet and covered with a thin layer of Cotswold grit filled mud. Expecting to meet 2 non Belgians at the start I check my phone to find they had decided to read the paper and brunch with the family, rather than flog around in the butt end of Hurricane Igor. Hey ho no mates, no support!

I decided that I would ride the course in case I had missed any hills or technical sections. I quickly realised the course had been designed by the Aztecs from Nazca! 4 spiral loops were connected by long straights with a couple of jumps and a large area of standing water. Imagine your motorcycle CBT in 10" long grass, 2" of standing water and driving rain. Somehow I was looking forward to this.

Anyway a much depleted field assembled at the startline. I was aiming for a top 10 and with the number of dropouts it was on the cards. The start line banter was designed to intimidate, a couple of entrants looked in need of a good meal, and we had to wait for one character who was practising bunny hops over a rather large fallen tree.

The race commenced with quick shout of "go" and we were off. I did my usual tactic. Go to the back, and the only way to go is up the field. This has always worked, from marathons to triathlons, but today it seem to be different. The fat bloke in the HCtB top was in for a tough hour. After about 20 dizzying minutes of spirals and tree roots I had picked off about five people but now the race was spreading out. I was hoping mechanicals and boredom might set in and I would pick them off one by one. It didn't happen though I was going to have to dig deep and race! I did pick up a few more places and I ended up 9th, more on the turnout than ability, but I acheived my goal.

Having no reason to get any wetter or colder, and having no interest in watching people race Bromptons, I headed back home for a hot bath and to receive the adulation of my 6 year old, who now thinks Daddy is in a Belgian cycling team.

I had a fun first outing, and might look for my next race to include a hill and some proper mud.

Late results from West Mids Cross League

This is my first post here, to coincide with my first outing in the latest HCtB kit. So hi to everyone, and this will be breif.

The results for the latest round of the WMCCL were issued yesterday. I managed 23rd overall in the J/V/W race, and was 13th in the V40-49 category, which was ok considering the mechanical problems I had for half of the race. I'm hopeful that this weekend the bike will be trouble free, and with the clash with the National Trophy may help me pick up some lost points.

There is also a nice photo of the new kit on the British Cycling website here taken within the first 2 minutes as I am still recognisable. Here is a a low resolution copy :

Team People...

I've been remiss. I've overlooked a valuable contributor to capturing our moments in time.

Jo Allen (Hanglebads), a kit owning team member from the beginning and a valued photographer capturing our days in the dirt. Also to be found with various bits of team kit draped around her person following a frantic start grid strip off.

Apologies for a long overdue addition to the teamlist.

Please may I have some cake now?

TEAM KIT RE-ORDER...1 WEEK DEADLINE

As you've seen from the previous posts we've begun campaigning this colour scheme already. With the popularity of the kit I'm putting together a re-order so here's a chance to either get some more kit or get yourself onto our juggernaut of a cyclocross and kasseien team (buying a shirt gets you on the squad).

PRICES:
Shortsleeve shirt: £38.50
Longsleeve shirt: £45.00
TechFleece Jersey: £62.00
ThermoShield/TechFleece Jacket: £76.00
ThermoShield Jacket: £87.50

Gilet: £37.00
Wind Jacket: £47.00

Bibshort: £50.00
3/4 Bib Knicker: £60.00
3/4 Fleece Bib Knicker: £67.50
Fleece Bibtight (no pad): £71.00

Skinsuit short sleeve: £73.50
Skinsuit Long sleeve: £78.50
Skinsuit Cylocross (fleece): £95.00

If you're interested email teamhctb@gmail.com for an order form.
Order book closes MONDAY 11th OCTOBER 5.00 pm prompt.
Please note - NO ORDERS will be taken after this date.

Temple Newsam

Well the 4th round of the Yorkshire Points series saw the Yorkshire contingent racing in the new kit in true Belgian conditions, pouring rain and sloppy mud. To start things off MarkFM had created a little extra excitement by organising to have his Uncle John cx bike delivered separately to the start because his long suffering partner Rachel had been using it in a Triathlon that morning. In fact she and Kate had arrived still inTri suits and Rach 'borrowed' the glamourous car rug to stave off the chill - I'm sure she will thank me for the included photo.

Mark swapped out wheels, seatpost/saddle etc and was ready for the off together with potential recruit Nick (currently sporting Clifton colours but that will change!).

Another good course with a mixture of fast grass (well it would have been had not the biblical rains intervened), technical woods/roots and a few power climbs and off cambers made for an entertaining race. You'll need to check out Jo's flickr photos here to truly appreciate the rain

Fellow Three Peaks rider Nick turned up to shout us on en-famille with Sarah and little Max who seemed to enjoy the weather more than most! I also like the way Nick is protecting my second bike with the brolly ;-) and we finally got to meet Paperthinben in the flesh (and mud!).

Results can be found here but I suspect there may be some revision due to obscured numbers, missed laps etc, personally I like the way they currently stand ;-)

Dusk Till Dawn 12 hour

Hello. My first post on the Belgians blog so I'll start as I mean to go on...I'll be writing some guff during the 'cross season providing my 'cross season is slightly less disastrous than the last one however I'll mainly waffle on about rather long races and rather long rides...oh, and occasional news about Hit the North.

For my second of Three Races In Three Weeks adventure I headed down to Thetford for Dusk Till Dawn, the ace 12 hour endurance race in the ace Thetford Forest that started at 8pm Saturday and ended at 8am the morning after....that was the ideal. The reality however was a bit different...

Riding a mountain bike quickly at night, in driving rain on a trail that twists and turns through a dense forest whilst only being able to see out of one eye is not an experience I want to repeat. Ever.

The start of Dusk Till Dawn went well, I’d got myself into a reasonably good position during the rolling start, well out of trouble (there was plenty of sketchy riding going on all around me at the start) and whilst I sat behind some traffic during that first lap it was ok. Not blisteringly fast, but not slow either. Making full use of the fireroads to stretch my legs and overtake large groups of other riders I was feeling good, just as I was last year.

The second lap was a bit wetter. At some point soon after the start of the race the rain also started and the levels of grip that I’d enjoyed in that first lap had pretty much gone now. I needed to get back to the solo tent where I expected Michael to have the spare bike (with mud tyres) ready to go.

It was still raining and now a large blob of mud had scored a direct hit on my right eye, despite me wearing glasses. I’ve also lost the use of my rear brake, oh and the rear mech seems to have developed its own free will. This is starting to get interesting much earlier than I was expecting it to….

Back to the solo tent, there’s Michael stood in the rain with the bike. He’s a good lad, my lad. A quick ‘my eye’s hurting and this bike seems to be broken’ whinge and I’m off again, this time apparently with a level of grip and an ability to manoeuvre around the twisting and turning singletrack the like of which the rest of the riders out there could only dream of. The biggest challenge at times was avoiding crashing cyclists.

One lap and a pair of brake pads appeared to have been worn out. I think I actually braked just twice during that lap too. Back to the tent, eye hurting, grab another bottle, eat a gel, carry on.

Ignore the pain. No idea what my position was but I was pretty sure I was doing ok.

As well as brake pads, my right eye was now definitely being worn away. The grit that was obviously still in there was causing me a great deal of pain by now – I was having to stop more and more frequently to try to remove it with my filthy, cold, wet fingers and not surprisingly I was making the problem worse.

I was getting angry with myself now as I should have just gone to get help and have the eye washed at the end of the second lap. I was going to have to stop after this lap and find the first aid tent…

Then my rear mech packed in – bizarrely the grit seems to have destroyed the lower jockey wheel so that’s now seized. The chain is continuing to roll over the jockey wheel but it was vibrating and making a noise like a moped.

I’d better get back to the solo tent to fix it then.

But I can’t see out of my right eye now without it feeling like someone has built a small fire in it. Sod the bike, first aid is what you need.

The medic shone his light into my eye and after washing out most of the dirt with (I think) a water pistol, he told me that I’d put a large scratch on the eyeball. No amount of cleaning was going to reduce the pain so he put a dressing on it, shared an anecdote about scratched eyeballs and chainsaws, told me to expect a couple of days of pain and then sent me on my way.

And that was the end of that. My race had ended after just four hours.

Other riders went on to soldier on through the worst weather ever seen at this race – 50 minute lap times eventually became over 2 hour slogs. Even the wide fireroads deteriorated to a point where they were mostly unrideable but despite this, many riders made it through to the end.

Suppose we were long overdue a proper wet race. Who knows what would have happened if I’d not got injured..I know loads dropped out, each one either having their own troubles or just talking themselves out of carrying on. Onwards and upwards…Relentless 24 next, after some bike repairs and a few days of Optrex.

Temple Newsam Cross - Yorkshire League

Action from over the East side of the Pennines - classic cross venue Temple Newsam Park in Leeds. The Yorkshire chapter of the Belgians got stuck into some bibilically wet conditions and Jo Hanglebads took the pics - riders were Rich Allen, Mark Bradley and Ben. As in Paperthin. Not sure how they got on yet, but they all looked stylish.

Full photo set here

Leverhulme Cross, Bolton #1 - NW League

First competitive outing here in Bolton (and over in Leeds too with Rich) for the new kit, including the skinsuit. Tough race, tough conditions.

Appropriately then, your first model is...... Duncan:





Also racing were Mark Turner:






and Richard Knowles.

Just 2 miles - a very short story on the worlds

With just two miles to go it looked like this:

Well, it finally looked like this:

Can You imagine his jersey next year at Garmin ?

The essential guide to Belgium

Whilst chatting with Jo, Alan and the rest of the HCTB crew post three peaks, I briefly explained the origins of my (un)healthy obsession with that most bureaucratic of European destinations – and hence what attracted me to the club in the first place – Belgium. According to our family genealogist (my Uncle Bill) the origins of our family name lie in Wallonia, the French speaking region of this great state. At this point I rather unexpectedly encountered some Flemish snobbery (the cheek!) so in the interests of club and nation building, I thought I’d set the record straight and put together a list of some essential Belgian facts(1), thus offering a brief guide to our club’s spiritual homeland. Footnotes have been provided for clarity.

1) Belgium is approximately the same size as an annual area of Amazonian deforestation.

2) Belgium is renowned for its culinary nous with Moules Mariniere and Brussels waffles holding a special place in many European gullets.

3) Belgium gets more hours of sun per year than San Tropez(2).

4) The national sport of Belgium is our very own cyclo-cross with riding over cobbley bits a close second. Football barely gets anyone excited since Jan Ceulemans hung up his studs.

5) Belgium is hillier than the alps(3)

The Koppenberg provides proof positive: They don't fall uphill on the Ventoux.

6) Audrey Hepburn was born in Belgium(4).

7) Belgian cycling kit designs are pretty bloody good but not as good as Duncan’s (Pure class Duncan and I won't be giving away the latest consignment to other family members - I got the sizes right! My mum will have to buy her own).

8) The best beers in Belgium are largely still made by monks(5) and of these beers, Rochefort #10 is generally agreed to be the best.

Monks deliver heaven on earth; the ultimate beer.

9) Walloons are considered to edge the Flemish, being really nice people, great cooks, amazing cross riders and fantastic lovers.(6)

10)The best film ever made in Belgium is ‘In Brugges’ however Colin Farell is quite mean about this beautiful medieval city and frankly, deserves everything he gets.

Really, this is about all you need to know about Belgium other than it gets a rough old time when European superpowers square up around it, that you can get a train at St Pancras and hop off in Brussels two hours and 7mins later and that a night on the Belgium beer should be approached with respect and caution.

With water streaming down my office window, battleship grey clouds overhead and a lunch of bread and cheese in front of me, it feels like I’m in Belgium currently. I’ll try and hold that thought until Sunday for Round 2 of the Welsh Cross league at Risca and see if I can’t find some of those Belgian genes during the race.

Good luck to all HCTB riders this weekend.

1 some of these ‘facts’ have been embellished and/or are lies.

2 bit of a fib.

3 Or at least it feels that way at the end of the Tour of Flanders.

4 true!

5 Monks also make great cheese and if they could ride bikes without catching their habits in the chain, would also probably do cyclo-cross.

6 Ok a bit of bigging up there.