Summer Cross Rounds 5 and 6

Round 5 – Brigshaw School, Kippax

Considering the afternoon’s torrential downpours that plagued the Leeds area, the blazingly hot sunny evening that greeted Belgians Rich, Waggo and me John P, was actually a pleasant surprise. In addition, the excellent course, which I thought was a return to form, comprised fast open stretches of playing field, some single track through a small wooded embankment, a step climb, and a sandpit, had not suffered from the rain, and remained essentially intact and fast. My race consisted of the now familiar fortnightly tussle for the lower ranked positions – but a good enjoyable race was had across the varied course - finishing 68th - and also within a sizable group of 8 lappers. So overall fairly pleased - but boy was it hot!!

Round 6 – New College, New Hey Road, Huddersfield

How long is New Hey Road? It’s a chuffing long I can tell you. Having spent half an hour asking for directions and doing countless u-turns, I realised that simply setting the Tom Tom to ‘New Hey Road, Huddersfield’, thinking “That’ll get me near enough”, wasn’t going to get me anywhere ‘near enough’. A quick phone call to the Mrs, who found the proper post code for me, confirmed this. A frenziedly mad last minute dash across the outskirts of Huddersfield followed and, thankfully you’ll be pleased to read I’m sure, I made it. I managed a 5min warm up too. The massive 100 competitor field encompassed Belgians Alan, Dave, Rich and me, and also included, for good measure, the Nick Craig’s and Renee Saxton’s of this world. Continued, essentially dry weather resulted in another hard and fast course, and with no dismounts, running sections or hurdles etc. engineered into the lap, the relentless pedalling commenced straight from the hooter. An early entanglement with another rider resulted in a couple of bent spokes and buckled front wheel – which, in all fairness, didn’t really hinder my stately progress all that much, and I rolled in in 89th position. However, who knows, with a fully functioning bike, I may have been able to give Nick Craig more of a run for his money! Next time……

Thanks to Jo Hanglebads for the Photos.