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.

Kilbroney CX -Ulster CX final round

Every year I look forward to this race. Every year it gets my attention. This year was no different. Normally at this time of the year the ground is frozen solid. Snow is falling. This course with its short grass becomes a drag strip inter-spaced with a few tight hard corners and a run-up. This year was different. Its November and we've not had a single frost all winter. It's warm. Unseasonably so.

An easy drive up with Tim lamenting the season that wasn't for me, and the season that is for Tim. A year ago the boy couldn't take a single corner at speed...now...well he can....mostly. Park up, sign on, watch the muddy MTBers and decide that Rhino's are going on, muds for Tim, muds for everyone. Good choice.

Start was narrow. The first turn for the hole shot narrow. The next section narrow with people who couldn't ride it. Ahh the joys of a shit gridding. The rest of the lap was a mixture of deep rutted mud. Slip-sliding corners. A horrendous fast section along the bottom broken by narrow dead turns. Into the 180's that cost me a great finish last year against Glen Kinning. A run up for many, a ride for few, followed by a long drag to the start.

7 laps. I fell asleep for two and dropped off my bunch. Although I lost focus this is the first race I rode above threshold for the entire race. Both power and heart rate were where they should have been. Not as high as last season. But the highest so far this season. I might make it to Natz this year. Just a matter of playing it safe and staying healthier than the other 19 people who beat me.

Supercross Cup Round 4: St Anne’s Park 2011

What can I say that has not been said by others? A great course. Perfect for spectators. Best course of the year.

It was. It is. It will be.

For me it was a bad day. I was tired, I was stressed, I had to much going on and no way to get it down. Knowing the course only gives you so much when you've been up since 7am getting ready. Spending the morning placing stakes, taping, cutting back corners, borrowing traffic cones off the roads...it all takes its toll on your ability to ride a bike.
I loved to ride the course, I loved the shouts I got even though I was in the bottom 10, I loved the face on people as they got off on our suffering. Humans are odd, odd but great. All the while remembering that I was the cause of this pain, this torture, this masochistic rite that we take on in winter. My course, my pain, my concept.
Thanks to all who helped. Thanks to all who rode. Thanks to all who spectated.

Articles and Video:

• http://www.stickybottle.com/races-results/seymour-takes-victory-from-an-posts-mcconvey-in-raheny-supercross/
• http://www.irishcycling.com/publish/news/art_5979.shtml
• http://sensetheadventure.wordpress.com/2011/11/20/robin-seymour-takes-victory-steven-super-cross-cup-at-st-annes-park/
• http://www.kingdombike.com/TheKingdom/?p=947&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=crazy-for-cross

Images:

• http://www.flickr.com/photos/70144037@N02/sets/72157628072069721/with/6372500407/
• http://www.flickr.com/photos/27991172@N00/sets/72157628078462567/with/6375538287/

Double Time

First race of the season. Make mine a double please.

Sickness had conspired to keep me out of any early season races this year. Mentally I had written off any chances of coming close to my result in the Irish CX Nationals of last year. I knew if I was going to pull anything from the season I just had to get on with getting un-sick (??) then getting on the racing wagon.

Supercross Cup Round 3 - Corcaigh Park

A race I have never done well in, one that mentally I loose before I start, a real fast mans course. Terrible gridding at the start as I had no points. Worked my ass off for the first lap to try and get myself up near the top 10. Made it up into 15th then tried to settle in. 5 laps in and things were getting greasy. Rhinos were doing there job more than my fitness and I was making a time back in technical bits from all the fitness sections where I lost it.

Sadly lap 5 was also where I rolled. A poorly glued rear popped off on a clumsy remount at the boards. Popped it back on, twiddle my way back to the pits and swap bikes. 15th -35th in only a minute off the bike. Racing is now so tight in the elite race that you just cannot afford to come down or get a mechanical. Mentally the race was over. I clawed it back up to 31st over the next 4 laps but knew deep down that I needed to work on things tomorrow.

Ulster Cyclocross - Moire

New venue. New motive. Second day to try to see if I could do it all over again. I've raced doubles in the past and historically I've raced much better the second day. Normally though I'd not be coming off a 1 race total for the season. A 2 hour drive up to the race site in Northern Ireland. Bit of banter with the locals then a pre-ride of the course. The MTB race was shredding the course, we were going to do much worse. Another day for the Rhinos with Fango's on the spare.

Another terrible gridding. Another start with people un-familiar to me. What wheel to follow? Who to stay away from? I decided for 'no-one and everyone'. Got to an edge slot and smashed it from the whistle. By the first corner I was 10th wheel, by the 4th corner 2nd wheel. Best start of my life. Drilled it for the first lap but had no chance to get onto Roger Aitken (ex national champ) who is having the season of his life and went on to win two from two this weekend.

Got in a nice fast group and worked wel until they dropped me. I then promptly dropped myself on a flat section and lost my 4th place and ended up in 12th ish with a messed up derauiller and one gear. Pit. New bike. Work like a SOAB to get back in the game. 4 laps later, a few places but no idea how I finished. Form is there, latent, waiting to come back, ready. It just needs a chance to shine.