Ilkley CX

It seems strange to suddenly return to talking about the wintry pursuit of ‘cross racing, now it appears that spring has sprung but, for the sake of documenting Belgian activities, it’s important and better late than never I guess.

To start with, I was born in Ilkley and, as a home coming gig so to speak I wanted Ilkley CCs first cyclocross event to be good – really good - and a success.  I think, as a whole, they achieved this.  In addition, it was a close venue to me geographically, and I could utilise public transport to the race, ultimately allowing me the luxury of utilising the mobile bar post race too.  Double bonus.

The course lap, in and around the buildings and grounds of the Nell Bank Activity Centre, seemed a touch short, and included a rather long tarmaced road climb, but was overall varied enough, and also included some carpeted sections.  Yes carpet!  This is Ilkley after all.  The absolutely Baltically freezing conditions meant a completely frozen lap – at least during the Vets race - and the lower sections, where evidence of former mud could be seen, were rock solid and very rutted and rough.  I dare say if these sections had remained mud, then it would have proved a more enjoyable lap.  Another section presented the racer with 2No. railway sleepers across the course, but these could quite easily ridden, and the whole lap could, therefore, be completed without unclipping.

As far as my race was concerned, all the blood sweat and tears excreted from my body, battling Chris (WYPCC) through both the Summer and Winter Series’, had finally reached a dramatic climax on this the last race of the season.  Talk about excitement?  At our previous outing, at Todmorden, I’d luckily come out on top, and drawn level, and we now stood at seven wins* apiece.  Ilkley was THE decider and THE eagerly anticipated showdown!!

To cut a long story short I managed it!  I don’t know how but I rode to finish ahead of Chris and take the overall honours with an 8-7 victory.  All credit to Chris who rode flawlessly through the Summer Series and Winter Series and pushed me to breaking point on a number of occasions.  However, I think with this race being ‘Ilkley’ it played into my hands some what and I just ‘tried harder’ - any other day on any other course the win would have gone to Chris I’m sure.

All in all I thought Ilkley was good.  There was a large spread of abilities present, a good location, oh and a bar, oh and a free water bottle to all who took part.  I’d have liked a slightly longer lap, and less tarmac but I think a big pat on the back is deserved.  Hopefully there will be more to come.

Photos courtesy of Jo Allen.  More here.

* When I say ‘wins’ it refers to one of us beating the other in the race – not that we actually won anything J

Hit the North 2012

All pics: Jo Allen

Hit the North isn't any particular type of event, cross, mtb, enduro - it's just Hit the North. That's it.

It defies categorisation really. You can have an entertaining little 'which is faster - cx or mtb?' argument, though to be fair it is almost always won by cross bikes. Dave H set up a carefully calibrated scientific experiment between On One Dirty Disco crossbike and Planet X Dirty Harry 29er mtb to settle this score for once and all - read further if you wish to find out the results.

Either way it lumbers on, this entertaining off-the-wall, hors-categorie of an event. Mint balls, brass and samba bands,a  horizontally laidback atmosphere and a constantly entertaining course - it's got it all. Brant from On One even brought his inflatable Inbred man to stand and menace the brass band in the sub-zero temperatures.

The racing was fast and furious in the frozen conditions with a bigger than ever field of varied athletic types and not-so-athletic types. Favourite memory? Piling into the base of a particularly steep and hard run up, and having to navigate around a large group of fellow competitors, off their (mountain) bikes and having a right good natter. Mid race. But that's the point - whilst I was there to race, they were there to ride. Each getting exactly what they wanted from the occasion.

Of course, in true Hit the North tradition, we weren't going to get away with just minimal mud and fast conditions....  It started snowing on the last lap, slickening up the course a little prior to a mad mass scramble to exit as rapidly as possible from a by then fully snowed up car park and approach road. Which was a real shame, as half the fun of the event is the apres-race stuff - food, chat, eclectic prizegiving and tall story telling...

National Cyclo-cross Champs - Derby

Team Here Come the Belgians is for me absolutely all about loving riding, whether it be cross, road, track or mountain bike. And it's definitely not about how fast you ride - there are plenty of elite teams and clubs out there to satisfy that sector of the market.

However, it is worth pointing out that many of us take racing, particularly cross, quite seriously. And some, snuck amongst our midst, are quite good at it.

Both of them are way too modest to post anything themselves - indeed they disguise themselves with other kit whilst racing to draw attention away from from their exploits - but there were two Belgians racing at the forefront of a National Champs last weekend. Whilst they ride officially for other clubs/teams, we will claim them as our own.

Dave Haygarth has been riding at Elite level for many years before succumbing to Vets status this year - top ten 3 Peaks finishes, crit wins in gruff Northern towns, a North West Cyclo-cross League title a few years ago, and long time member of an all conquering Wheelbase Cycles cross team.





Gary Lingard apparently rode for the Gary Fisher mountainbike team in a past life and on a different continent, but of late has been upsetting the established order of Veterans British Cyclocross races in his first season as a Vet.





Dave produced a 'solid' ride on a technical and tricky Nationals course at Derby in the Vets race, just outside the top 10, coming home in 12th.

Gary nearly produced a big upset, spending much of the race in 3rd spot, before a late charge by former professional Chris Young nudged him out to 4th. Too quiet to make a fuss, it is fair to say that the media machine at British Cycling has overlooked Gary all season, favouring the old-guard that have been familiar faces for some time. That will change.

Anyway, congratulations to those two for stellar performances. And we look forward to seeing them off-duty in a Belgians shirt sometime soon.

Tod Cross

Nick, Rich, Mark FM, Alan (Crossjunkie) and Mark Turner chew the fat after a tough Tod race.

They were aided and abetted in various forms by Dave and Phil Haygarth, Andrew McHugh, Steve Cavell, Carl Nelson, Jason Miles, Richard Seipp (see here), Simon Fox and Sunny doing his taptiming thing. Oh and soon to be Belgian and visitor from Dublin, Greg May and his partner Pauline.

Duncan did the artwork for the posters and cunningly didn't ride, and Jo Allen took photos with her spangly new camera.

All in all, I suggest that is a pretty good turn out at a single race, for an outfit that 18 months ago had 2 members. Pat yourself on the back Dunc - it was you that dunnit.

The Cobbles of Doom didn't disappoint and Dave H had a good crack at winning the magnum of Blue Chimay in the Vets. Alan and Rich's end of season celebrity deathmatch was a bit of damp squib as Rich had a technical early on the first lap and dropped significant time to Al who wasted no time in disappearing off. Inconclusive result there - to be revisited at Hit the North?





http://www.flickr.com/photos/hanglebads/sets/72157625738880276/

Race reports and vids here

Happy New Year to all and may 2011 be as Belgian as you wish for.

No longer a bystander

All pics: Dave Haygarth

Finally, after over a month of inactivity due to a viral infection, I managed to race at Bolton. In fact it was here just over a month ago I came to a grinding halt and crawled over the line.
I absolutely loved the course the guys from Horwich had created and flowing in reverse made it feel like it was our first visit of the season.
Freezing temps failed to put people off and over 30 riders started the under 12's. Matt did his usual ride round without a care in the world - so layed back its untrue. But he is growing in confidence and his bike handling skills keep improving.
The best laid plans failed again, as Matt's race seemed to go on for ever leaving me a quick dash back to try to get some warmth back into my body.
I started right at the back as I was really unsure how I would go and I wanted to make sure I had at least a good workout. One thing I did get wrong was the lack of warm layers and as the sun began to set I started to feel really cold, so I wont make that mistake next weekend.
The conditions got worse as riders polished the surface and several corners began to catch riders out and I managed to slip straight into the barriers.
It was good to hear shouts from Matt and Georgia (my eldest) and several others dotted around the course and I really enjoyed being on the bike.

Addition of pics by crossjunkie:

Here Comes Duncan (clearly having too much fun)



There Goes Alan Crossjunkie (clearly taking it too seriously)

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)

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

3 Peaks - we came, we rode, we were photographed

The 2010 3 Peaks race is well documented on honourary Belgian Dave Haygarth's (seen below) seminal Peaks blog so I won't repeat anything here. My own take on the whole rocky affair can be found here too.



Suffice to say there were lots of photographers and spectators out on Sunday, and lots of shots aimed at, shouts shouted toward and general love for, the Belgians. Dunc would have been proud to hear it all.....

So here is my own little selection of piccies of me (Alan), Rich Allen, G, Richard Knowles and Simon Fox - missing in the thick of it are Winkie who shunned a Belgian strip for some reason (tut tut) and Simon Nurse who rode in green but rocked the team windjacket after. We were aided and abetted by Mark Turner, Jo Hanglebads and Mark Bradley and Gemma Nurse. And probably others whom I didnt get to see on the day. A massive thank you to all the helpers as it really makes all the difference on a logistically complex event like this.

Going back to the images, superb shots in particular can be found from the Belgian friendly Cheryl King and Richard Seipp both of whom are represented below.

As he did in the race, winner Rob Jebb (1st shot below) leads us up the impossibly steep first climb and into the fun:

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

Belgians watch the Brits

Pic: Ian McVety http://www.flickr.com/photos/40814262@N08/sets/72157624376597504//show/

Supremely challenging, relentless, savage, brutal - the pundits had a field day describing the course for the British Road Race Championships. And it was everything they said it would be.

Except these were mine and Mark's local roads, our Sunday morning ride territory, our training grounds in a tucked away corner of East Lancashire. We like to think of them as challengingly hilly, good for a workout, and beautiful to boot. It seemed a little harsh to describe them in the same language as a war zone, but that is not to underestimate the attrition of multiple laps and an unusually hot summers day.

We rode through green lanes, unmarked roads and leafy byways to get to our viewing points to watch the Womens race. Halted for an hour after a slightly predictable (narrow, bumpy, technical descents + big nervous bunch = ????) but rather nasty crash, there was less viewing time available for me, and half the number of laps for the riders.

No matter, it was a simply superb race, uncertain right to the end and full of gritty and stunning performances from the main protaganists. And a worthy winner too.

Northernism

We fielded a team of 4 at Hit the North 2010 in Phillip's Park, Manchester. It was again billed as cross vs MTB, 2 hrs in length and with over 160 starters and a unique vibe.

Winks arrived with his usual laidback style (aka last minute mechanical issues), Alan and Mark were kitted up to the nines in the van and Dunc was late again. Well nearly, despite the best efforts of his dog Buddy's now legendarily unpredictable bowel movements.

Missing in action were Adam L, on duty somewhere else in the country and Rich who bizarely had decided to go ice climbing. In Italy.

Alan staked a claim at the front of the grid, Winkie in close attendance, whilst Mark and Dunc took up more considered positions midpack.

The course was engrossing and absorbing throughout, particularly so for Winkie who had a heavy altercation with a tree, forcing a DNF and necessitating a trip to A and E for professional twig removal from top lip. Mmmm.


Alan seemed to think it was a race (doesn't he always), despite the protestations of half the mountain bikers there who were clearly out for the craic and to save their legs for another day. So much so that he went off like a scalded cat and held on for 3rd overall.



Mark worked hard to pick the field off after a hampered start and came in 52nd, much improved on his race here last year.



Dunc seemed to have a philosophical contra-temps with the whole concept, and confused, stopped on a tree stump to eat a gel and 'work out what it was all about'. Having put such important questions to rights, and armed with a definitive answer (in his mind at least), he resumed his effort and plugged away to finish a little behind Mark. These artistic creative types..........


All in all, a fun way to end the cross season albeit with a mountain bike race! Further musing on the whole sticky affair here!



Eyes down for road, cobbles and classics from this point on.

Hit the North 2010

We came, we raced, we got loads of shouts and we got muddy - full report to come.....

In the meantime here's a great portrait of Mark post race, courtesy of Richard Seipp/qwertyphoto:



I think he might be saying "Now someone remind me, exactly why did I agree to do this?...."