Overdue Reports...

North of England Championship 4/12/11

A new venue to me near Barnard Castle which at first didn't look that interesting going on the preview video posted a few days before. Once there however thing picked up! Firstly it was obviously going to be quite muddy and secondly it had a bit more ascent/descent than appeared from the video. Oh and there was the weather!

Nick over the barriers

Keeping warm before the start was priority number one - the decision was made in consultation with Dave and Nick to ride just the one preview lap and warm up on the road a bit. Firstly though, not to leave the comfort of the warm car until absolutely necessary, as there was no way you were getting back in after a muddy lap out there! The preview lap revealed two areas that were particularly heavy, one regaining some tarmac on the far side of the course and a longer section that was initially ok but got progressively worse (or I got progressively more tired!) coming up past the big tree toward the finish. The start was on the tarmac and nearly proved a disaster with a foot/pedal clipping my wheel (or visa versa) but luckily resulted in just a stall rather than a fall. Lots of effort and a good choice of line through the first heavy section saw me back in roughly the 'right' position. The race definitely felt like a war of attrition with the heavy going sapping energy progressively through the race (unless you were Noel Clough, in which case you sailed on without any fall off in speed!). The final lap and a half were concluded appropriately enough in a semi blizzard. Excellent stuff!

Blizzard to finish

Sheffield Stars Go-Cross 27/11/11

Not the most inspiring of courses but a fun event and a proper 'Go-Cross' that is ideal as an introduction to the sport. Combining the race with a visit to see Lizzy, G and Rex and Winkie, Nats and Annie made the for a fun weekend even Ginger James even made it for the photo call! A twisty turny playing fields course with one section of banking and one wall/barrier meant a fast race. Unfortunately being a little to casual at the start meant not getting on the front row and getting a little caught up to begin with. Not much chance of last years surprise win with this year's field especially with Rob Partridge in as a bit of a ringer! Happy enough with 7th overall and 2nd Vet given the alcohol fuelled preparation the night before with G and his apicultural mentor's mead. Good to see G back racing and a shame that a cold virus prevented Winkie from lining up but hopefully the two Sheffield Belgians will soon be back to regular races and fitness.

Fun for all the family (Photo Liz Walton)

Stuff I Learned this Weekend

i) I don't need a new bike, I need to get faster. My bike has a single gear, Reynolds 520 steel, dubious geometry, cantis that work when they feel like it and I look upon the Dirty Disco with wonder. But there's a chap who rides my league with the same bike as me, is older than me, and rides faster than me. He rides faster than most of the field in fact. So if he can do it etc etc. Shelling out for the On One, as marvellous as I'm sure it is would feel, well, a bit of a cop out.

ii) My bike handling in real mud is utter rubbish. First race in deep mud and I'm pottering around corners taking wide bends - all over the place. Umpteen people overtaking on the inside on the racing line. The only clincher I know for this is Michelin Mud and that's only because the clue is in the name. May need to look at Griffo's ...and practice more.

iii) What I don't know about herbacious borders isn't worth knowing. My car CD has given up so its Desert Island discs to races, Gardener's Question Time on the way back. Every week.

iv) I have found my level. Take the number of entrants divide by two and that'll be where I finish, to within a place or two. I'm quite happy with this, I don't think I ride to beat other people but to cause as much discomfort as I can to myself. Not sure if this is sensible or deeply Freudian?

v)New road wheels on and a spin for 3 hours the night before Sunday's race. Not the best preparation for sure but they are so completely ace I just kept going. Makes me wonder what I have been riding on. Nothing special Open Pro on Ambrosio hubs, Sapim Race spokes, but they just glide perfectly and are wonderfully stiff.

ps. thanks to crossjunkie for posting pro race coverage. Has kept me sustained these dark nights.

A weekend of new things

Photo thanks to SportSunday

Saturday Al & I headed over to the National Cycle Centre to race in the Madison event at Clayton Vale.
The course was short with some sharp climbs and tight corners and some proper mud!
The format was one lap each rider with a transition area where you could hand sling, tag or push your team mates arse!
Laps were around the 3 minute mark which meant a full out effort each lap and despair as just as your breathing was coming under control your team mate was coming in to the change over area.
we had a good start and we were in third place after the first lap, Al closed the gap down but we never managed to get passed the team in front. Some unfair changes i.e. 5 meters out shout from some teams so us trying to claw back that distance each lap and on a short lap it wasn't happening.
we placed 3 rd overall after what seemed like hundreds of laps and had big smiles on our faces.
free soup, bread roll, coffee and a bottle of water at the new cafe at cycling centre before prizes were presented outside Evans.
the event was great, well organised and the food and prizes (donated by Evans were excellent).
One to put in your diaries for next year if nothing more it was a fantastic interval session. Just needed better judging in the transition area!
Saturday was the first outing for me on tubs, Al has been steadily pushing me towards them for some time and last week a set of FMB super mud's arrived, expertly stuck by Al they were ready to roll on Saturday.
These FMB's are fantastic the grip was excellent and they shed the mud really well, allowing faster cornering and more confidence on the climbs.
Roll on Sunday

Supercross Cup Round 5: Tymon Park

Final round of the Supercross and the season wrap up for the Leinster area. As per normal you had to start the last round for points in the series to count with best 4 out of 5 races being considdered for your overall ranking. As I'd been sick I've only ridden 2 rounds previous to this, had to make some sort of effort, even if I was starting from the back of the grid.

Tymon can be wet, the first corner is normally sorta wet...but add in a B race and it got shredded. Running race every lap for about 100m allowed me to pull back a lot of places in the first two laps as people tried to ride it. By the end of the second lap I had pulled myself into 23rd and felt ok. The leaders were gone but there was still racing to be had with Paddy Mc and Sutty from my own club trying to reel me in and Mark McGauly just meters off my front wheel. I spent the next 4 laps catching up to mark on the running and technical sections.

Every time it went straight ahead and became a power race he gapped me. This season has been the first year I've not lost time on the technical sections, but my overall strength and fitness is not there to allow me to ride the hard bits fast. Tymon rewarded us with some excellent technical sections. The hill side twists and the Spiral of Confusion (tm) worked a treat on the first lap and every other lap gave you instant idea where you were placed. No more straight line drag strips, we need this, we need to be able to see who we are leading, who is coming back to us. Put loops in your courses folks.

The technical little step into a run-up was a moot point for some. Many of the road oriented B's were not happy, but if they'd ridden in St Annes they knew what to expect. In the A race it became a point of contention as some riders got a bit elbows out being very lucky to miss a DQ despite several complaints.

Myself, I enjoyed the race. Tymon was where I lost my CX cherry many years ago. It's a venue I love to race in and I think this years course was the best we have every done. The supercross is over for this season, but it will be back next year. Hopefully bigger, hopefully stronger and hopefully with less internal handbags. Race organisation is stressful. Hence after this round we all went out for dinner. Talked, drank, ranted at each other and generally just got together outside of the complexity of racing. For all of us there may be a me in Team, its just jumbled up with excess crap. But never forget it also contains mate if you look hard enough.

This Week I've Been Mostly Thinking About...

The end of the 'cross season. It does seem a bit weird that it's so short, a few months of intense racing and well, that's your lot until next autumn. Maybe its because it's now December that the end is in sight. It feels like the end of Christmas when you're a kid, or the end of a World Cup - what did I do to fill the time before this? I won't miss mid-week intervals but I will certainly miss weak tea and cake after the races. There's seems to be few outlets for total immersion in something so comletely demanding, no matter how daft. Bring on September.