Ride to live

General guff from me in the current edition (August) of Cycling Active on sale now.......

And then a write up on the Ronde van Oost Lancashire in the next month's mag.

Majoring on tubs...

Jonathan Day who runs Strada Hand Built Wheels is already signed up as a Belgian and you could do worse than to check out his cross and cobble specific wheelset - the Major Tom.

I'm testing a pair at the moment (and Dave Haygarth has a disc specific pair when I get my gluing act together).

Anyways, if you are thinking of going tubular or getting a purpose designed and built tub wheelset for cross, then I would highly recommend them.

Review 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....

Yorkshire Cross Round 1

Yorkshire Cross League Round 1 - Oakworth School

Rich Allen, Mark Turner and Mark Bradley rode, Alan took photos and barracked good naturedly.

Cross is in the house!

Rich





Mark T



Post race

Beacon Park Cross

Beacon Park hosted the NW League Final last Sunday - a final fling for part timers and last gasp chance for full time League riders to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory or vica versa........

There was a great course laid out, alternating between fast track and boggy grassland with the odd mudbath section in between to slow things down a bit. Though muddy it was still a fast course and one that didn't favour any particular style of riding. Other than flat out.



Four Belgians contented themselves with personal battles - Rich and Alan, and Dunc and Mark with some close racing in the opening laps.




Jo, resplendent in her new Belgian Supporters Club jacket provided moral support, jacket holding and her best pics yet.




Full flickr pic set here.

Todmorden Revolution Cross

It was minus 3 as we rolled into Todmorden yesterday. Five miles over the hill, in Burnley, Saturdays big dump of snow was untouched by any thaw and we were expecting a war of attrition through a thick covering. Frozen cleats and clogged cassettes were a distinct possibility

It was somewhat surprising then to find the course with a mere dusting of snow but more worringly, large patches of ice all over it.

Warming up was more a case of finding where the worst of the ice was and working out lines to avoid it but the sun was out (at least over the hills above) and there was a race to be had for Rich, Mark and Alan with Jo bravely there in capacity as official team photographer (all photos from Jo unless stated). A separate Vets race was a novelty too (here in the NW) and welcome for us old timers....

Mark broke his chain before the start, only just mended it to take the start and promptly broke it again on the first climb. He redeemed himself with 'Hups' and 'Come on the Belgians' shouts throughout from the sidelines.



Rich followed his New Year resolution, and was much braver than Alan at the ungridded start on the rutted, sheet ice playing fields and was rewarded with a trouble free ride into 11th. It should be remembered that this is a man who regularly ice climbs in Scotland and Norway and therefore has a severely diminished sense of self preservation.



Alan, remembering his currently incapacitated wife and consequent ongoing domestic duties, opted for a more cautious (snail like?)start and enjoyed picking off riders each lap after the chaos subsided, to get 15th, about 20 or 30 seconds behind Rich.



The course was fun and technical, with conditions changing during the race as frozen patches beneath the immediate surface of snow and grass began making their presence known. Valuable though the experience was for boosting confidence at racing on icy surfaces, I am yet to find a bombproof technique for turning 180 degrees round a stake on a sheet of ice.....


The 2 photos above: Joolze Dymond/British Cycling website

Spare a thought and a great big 'Chapeau' for this guy in his tweeds, wellies and on a 3 speed Sturmey Archer geared shopper with almost bald touring tires!

Happy Cobbleness All...

Just a quick one to to echo the sentiments of Simon - hope he had a good race, we're due a couple of harsh snow/sleat battles of our own in the northwest. The question for me is do you get your legs out or dress like Sven? I digress...

So Merry Christmas to all, have a good one.

I have a feeling we'll be having some adventures over the coming year.

Cheers

Dunc

Photo from Cheryl King's lovely flickr set here.

Brockholes pictures

Courtesy once again of Jo (Hanglebads). Cheers!

The Brockholes Breaker

The bike parts industry and local bike shops will have been welcoming yesterdays's NW League race at Brockholes, Windermere - I stopped counting broken rear mechs after about 7........ 1st prize in that particular contest goes to Stuart Reid from Wheelbase who snapped not one but two Dura Ace mechs. Ouch.

Heavy rain in the week followed by a dry day had predictable results on a grassy based course surrounded by trees, much of which left itself on the riders bikes by the time they had finished. It was the worst clean up job I can remember - my 2 bikes were almost totally blocked up, as were the 2 kids bikes. Thanks to Mark's brother-in-law Russell for helping with the kids bikes.


We had Otley Rich, Mark and Crossjunkie Alan racing the Seniors, and the three mini-Belgians Matthew, Jack and Ella in the U12 race. Ella (4) got stuck in the bog and fell over, and disliking the sensation an instant mud pack gave her, decided she had had enough. Matthew lost both shoes at one point but soldiered on, and Birthday boy Jack (here in co-ordinated red, white and black Belgian colours) celebrated with a win in the U10s. Pics above and below: Dave Haygarth.


The bigger boys played hard in the mud, and Uncle John/Oom Johans appeared to be the weapon of choice as other flashier and more exotic cross machines literally ground to a halt and had to be regularly excavated from the coating of mud that had immobilised them.


Jo was on hand to photo the sticky action so look out for photos soon......

Halloween Cross

There was Belgian representation at the Rollapaluza Halloween Night Cross, Herne Hill, London, courtesy of Gary. He has promised a report but until he gets the exact font choice and grammar construction right (Gary is publishing/designer type) these pictures will have to suffice....


Also, Gary will probably be too modest to tell you he was 6th, just behind some pretty talented riders including Stu Bowers, Jamie Newall and Matt Holmes. I would go as far as to suggest that makes him scariest looking and fastest Belgian at present.

Boggart Hole: The good, the bad, the ugly...

The third race for me in this far too short season (I'm loving it, can we make it last longer?) and I saw this race broken down into 3 parts.

The Good.
The course. A little bit of everything for everyone. Wide open sections, field loops, sinewy woodland downhills, off cambers the list goes on. The kind of course you don't really master as you're preoccupied with trying to go faster whilst forgetting to be smooth on each component. Challenging, so much so I wanted to do it again...and again. It's only then do you realise how good it was.

Here Come the Belgians. 5 team members entered, looking good, riding better than good.

The support the team had from the sidelines. Many thanks to everyone who shouted "Here Come the Belgians!" whilst we tried our best. It makes a difference, makes your legs turn over a little quicker... and also made me chuckle every time I heard it.

The midpack gentlemen. Good banter once we were into the racing and a sense of care after a couple of crashes to fellow riders.

The organisation. Hats off to Manchester Wheelers. Sorted course, quick results, photos and a write up, doesn't get better than that.

The Bad.
The course. A small slimy bank with questionable traction to tarmac climb. It sucked but I'm just frustrated I didn't really master it.

My Start. Got to the grid too late, too far to the back and once away was boxed in with no chance of opening the throttle and getting on top of the gear. Maybe I wouldn't have been any further forward with a better start yet you can't help wondering.

My remounts. I wasn't smooth at all. More mental than physical the course had my head in bits.

Pulling my left foot out of the cleat a couple of times every lap. Doesn't really help does it.

The Ugly.
The Course. Off camber tree roots to front end washout dumping me on the ground without ceremony. Took with it the confidence to push on the last lap. A result is better than a DNF and separated shoulders hurt, believe me.

Midpack grumblers. Pass someone into a corner and be mumbled at for racing...eh?

So...
A thoroughly enjoyable race, next stop Wheelbase cross which will debut a new handlebar setup and hopefully a refreshed set of lungs. See you there.

Fail to prepare, Prepare to race... Northwich.

Or should that title read the joy of intervals.

Let me expand. My initial thought on seeing the Northwich race early in the calendar was one of anticipation and focused excitement. The previous year's pre-race food consumption had me facing the man with the hammer whilst the wide variety of mud on the course had me reaching for the ejector button.

Would this year's race be a drier, better fuelled, better trained for affair?

Lets look at my previous week's intervals...
Wednesday: 1 A.M bike building (yes, 1 in the morning)
Thursday: 11.40 P.M bike building
Friday: Rest day - entertaining friends via the beer & curry program
Saturday : 10.40 P.M bike finished!

So as you can see, not ideal race prep. I managed 20 minutes on the old frame prior to stripping and cleaning and rebuilding into an 'Oom Johan'. Any intention to be competitive was reformated to 'go out and see what happens' .

Sunday morning arrives and I was confronted by a girlfriend with food poisoning and a puppy with diarrhea. Having finally put the household on an even keel I throw the bike on the roof and get to the race with 20 minutes to spare. To say I felt stress is putting it mildy - although I'd resigned myself to arriving as the whistle blew and everyone disappeared around the first corner. At least I'd arrived, signed on, managed a 100 yard warmup...then as I adjust my wheels everyone lines up ready to start. I was so close to being left home alone.

So the whistle blows and my stress disappears. I'd absolved myself from all the previous weeks and hours of stress and just got into a groove. I really enjoyed myself. I felt a semblance of flow, stuck every remount and felt pretty good throughout. I even managed to put the hammer down and put a half lap burst in to better the gent I'd been battling with throughout the second half of the race.

So in summary I had a great time. We had a great team vibe and I'm gutted Mark punctured as he was looking at a decent finish, expect a few sets of spare Belgian wheels in the pits over the forthcoming races. I'm a fan of the Northwich course and can't wait for next year already, I have a feeling I'll be better prepared.

So now for the real intervals and time to learn a bit of race craft.

Tyre pressure sidenote.
I threw averything in the car and forgot my trackpump. I arrived without time to use it even if I'd had it. I had wheels with tyres on and just had to get on with it. I checked my pressure tonight and I looked like 40 something on the front and 30 something in the rear (psi). In clinchers.

I wonder if I can get any lower...Maybe have to forget the pump more often.

Cross On!!

Cross season roars into life this weekend in the Northwest. Weaver Valley CC based in Northwich will be hosting (in my opinion) a truly fantastic eurostyle course. Expect to see a few Belgian jerseys in the mix with myself, Crossjunkie and the the two Mark's making an appearance (bike building and tyre fitting woes aside).

So what will we be riding? Oom Johan's my friend.

So by all means come and say hello, grab a beer mat and follow the shopping list.