You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
The super fast downhill right hander into the barriers & the singletrack climb.
The loamy woods section for me. Having to switch mode from max effort to controlled line choice was a real test.
First cross race in 2 or 3 seasons for me today. I survived and wasn't last! Excellent course at Hoghton Tower for the first round of the NWCCA. Great job by the folks at Red Rose Olympic in putting it on 🙂
Just got back from picking up a cheap CX bike, tempted to have a go at a race or two this year, so will keep on eye on this thread
You should durhambiker - very inclusive, everybody welcome.
First ever 'cross race today! Didn't sleep properly last night due to nervous excitement! 🙂
Had my first of the season yesterday at Hardwick Hall, first round of notts and Derby. Was happy with hire I was going until a snapped quick link brought a premature end. Actually fixed it once but the second time was terminal.
Great course, twisty and dampened by the morning rain.
Was brave enough to try the delight that is 20psi in my clinchers.
No need for cross bikes, just a 29er will do. Cross wheels and tubs optional.
[img] 
[/img]
[img] 
[/img]
^ That bike always goes as fast as it looks (know I've tried hard if he doesn't manage to lap me).
simond - hope you rode the steps out of the barn rather than all the dismounting mincers - it was surprisingly easy and much faster. Mrs also rode them every lap and said the same.
Spent ages on friday afternoon getting the zigzags laid out just right on the tower lawn, but never got a clear full speed run at them in the race (vets and ladies field is huge and rather congested). Also a really good course for singlespeed.
Well I'm back on it, hard ride Friday, hard ride yesterday, CX sprints this morning. Just a little chest cough to finally get rid of and I'm back, legs feeling great.
Best of luck to all racing this weekend 😀
simond - hope you rode the steps out of the barn rather than all the dismounting mincers - it was surprisingly easy and much faster. Mrs also rode them every lap and said the same.
I did indeed! Not very elegantly but made up / saved places every lap by doing so - I'm rubbish at dismounting / remounting 🙂
Amazing fun at my first race at the welsh league rnd 1, brutal, but fun, luckily the course wasn't technical so my tiredness wasn't a massive factor. Boiling hot sunshine too 🙂
Undergoing massive post-race come-down today! Cannot wait till the next one I can make. Anyone else race yesterday?
I enjoyed the welsh course, as a 'cross novice I was pleased there weren't any hurdles! The hardest bit for me was one tight uphill off camber hairpin just before the finish. Kept trying to ride it, was only the last couple of laps I realized it was faster to take a high line then dismount and spin the bike round the turn.
Hi Ferrals - I was at Welsh League yesterday. Glad you enjoyed yourself.
Really good well thought-out course - I like one where there are no FORCED dismounts but are a real challenge to ride...that bank was a 50/50 for me, so it was a run every lap as the penalty for cocking it up was high. I only found a line I could ride through the sand (and more importantly out the other side) on the final two laps.
Solid but unspectacular lower end of the top 20 for me - mind you I just glad to get round after crashing hard in practice. Hit my head and lower back pretty hard - only realised after the race that I'd cracked my helmet in the process - but managed to get round without seizing up. I'm sore from crashing today in additional to the usual post-race dead legs.
Due to illness I was supporting yesterday at Welsh rnd1.
I was gutted not to be racing but was for the best.
Looked a good course, credit to Jif for arranging it. Shame the Llantarnam course has gone though.
David did you bin it on the off-camber descent just before the kerb and building section? I helped someone there who took an almighty wrong way tumble in practice.
Ferrals, were you with Jon P? If so I met you before and after. Glad you enjoyed it.
One of my club mates bought a bike Thursday eve and raced this as his first race on the Sunday. Jon put a cheeky pass on him in the closing laps. He thoroughly enjoyed it.
Don't know if anyones interested but Raphas Super Cross is planned for 17 & 18th Oct at Shibden Hall nr Halifax and 14th Nov at Kings Cross in London around the University grounds 😀
If you think of it like a local CX meet it is, just a few fast lads turn up and tear the legs off everyone in the Elite Cat!
The rest of the field are normal Guys and Gals digging in hard and enjoying a great supported event in some lovely surroundings.
David did you bin it on the off-camber descent just before the kerb and building section?
Mine was further up the back of the course, after the hairpin nearest the school entrance. Got my bars caught in the tape, which then whipped the bike out from under me at high speed. They moved the tape afterwards to stop any else riding the same line!
Shedbrewed, yes, that was me with Jon, hopefully see you at some of the other rounds. Yeah had a great time, had a good battle with one of the jif riders for a while before he dropped me. Think I could have pushed harder as my legs barely hurt today, but it felt brutal at the time and my legs weren't listening to me!
David - cheers, unlucky about the crash, sounds like a decent result considering! glad to hear on fb that no-one hurt themselves badly in the startline crash either as that looked savage out of the corner of my eye. I was getting through the sand in practise but not out the other side so just ran it.
Any idea when the results are likely to be on-line? I was somewhere mid pack i guess/hope, managed 8 laps in a bit under 55 minutes based on my rudimentary self timing.
One of my club mates bought a bike Thursday eve and raced this as his first race on the Sunday. Jon put a cheeky pass on him in the closing laps.
😆 It was very cheeky! Someone had knocked the tapes down on that corner, and then halfway through the stakes were removed as well, so I'd already decided that a tight quick line was legal.. Your team-mate slowed for a very hesitant backmarker on the wider, original line, so I decided to take the tight line, where the stakes had been. I felt guilty that I didn't shout a warning but was worried that your mate would block my line if he knew what I was doing.
Good race. Same as Ferrals, my legs feel fine today. I only really found some speed on the last lap yesterday - should have gone a bit harder.
It was a polite cheeky pass and I could see it coming from the sidelines. His first race so he was just enjoying it. See you at Foxley, or Cardigan if I don't make the time cut for the Welsh 50tt champs.
Fat bloke tries to race a bicycle 🙂
[url= https://farm1.staticflickr.com/733/21391218406_39052878ba_c.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm1.staticflickr.com/733/21391218406_39052878ba_c.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/yAgzYs ]Hoghton Tower NWCCA Round1[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/simondbarnes/ ]Simon Barnes[/url], on Flickr
Simon - recognise the Velocake shirt - were you parked or loitering next to us in the car park? We were in a Citroen people carrier / van thing. Whole family racing, me on home made singlespeed 29er. Alison on Cube 29er with skinny tyres. If so, sorry for not saying hi! We must have been to loads of the same ss races over the years.
148 racers was pretty crazy on such a twisty start...... Vets class is becoming a victim of it's own success. No easy solution other than elbows out and pedal faster I guess 🙂
Just seen the welsh results and I was almost top third of the whole field and just in the top half of seniors. Pleased with that for a first cross race 🙂
Do people normally consider positions in the overall field or in their cat? seems mildly confusing not to have them separated?
Do people normally consider positions in the overall field or in their cat? seems mildly confusing not to have them separated?
I look at both and remember the best. I also include all starters. 🙂
I was very mid-field, 74/144 but 16th in V40 out of about 40, so that's the one I'll remember! Feels about right considering it's my first proper race since last December.
haha, I always feel a bit bad including DNFs as people I've beaten. I'm counting the whole field then!
Shedbrewed, just came across your blog looking for photos of Foxley. That definately looks like its worth driving for!
David jey, were you riding a very brightly coloured bike?
David jey, were you riding a very brightly coloured bike?
Quite the opposite - I raced on my Ridley, which is black. Unless you saw me moving the other bike to/from the pits, which a rather [s]horrible [/s] striking greeny turquoise Genesis....
I'm trying to figure who you may have mistaken me for now 🙂
I got 15th on Sunday, and finished ahead of all the guys I benchmarked myself again from last season, so that will do nicely. It's a long season and I'm just after consistency for the final standings really, but part of me is hoping I can scrape my first top ten since 2008 at some point this season...
In terms of standings, as a senior I always just look at the overall result.
I'm trying to figure who you may have mistaken me for now
Just trying to work out who you are. You lapped me, but so did another 20-30 riders! 🙂
How much has the field increased since then? I had a break from 2006 until 2012 -back in 2006 the numbers were almost half of what we've got these days.part of me is hoping I can scrape my first top ten since 2008 at some point this season...
I tell a lie, it was 2009, the year I started racing Welsh League after moving down here from the Midlands. But yes, field sizes have basically doubled from then; typically 60-80 rather than the 120-150 we get now.
I'm the tall one riding for AJAX.
David, you liked something I did on FB, so I checked your profile. I've spoken to you once or twice and know who you are. 😆 Yeah, keep going for that top 10 - I've only ever had one or two, in very small fields and a long time ago. 🙁
A fast and flat course up at Northallerton last Sunday gave me my highest position ever coming 6th in the V50's.
Dead chuffed and wondering whether to retire on a high, or do it all again on Sunday at Wakefield?
Wakefield it is 🙂
Great technical course at Hogg's Hill today, lots of singletrack & lumpy. The Spitfire & Hurricane fly-past on the bell lap was ace 🙂
Was riding for Singular on the sscx Kite in the vets.
Very tough, relentless course at the Horwich Humdinger today for NWCCA round 2. Nowhere to rest at all and my average speed was over 5kph faster than last weekend. Ouch!
First CX race today, wessex league at Newbury, loved it, did abysmally but wasn't last so that's something.
I'm sure someone in V40 said "hello cookie" on their way past, was I spotted by another STWists?
It was I, no.236 carving the small banks near the tennis courts.
Great course only crashed once ❗
You up for the next round?
Waves...
I'm not sure I can make swindon unfortunately I might be able to do Winchester though.
Was out at Leverhulme park today same as simondbarnes above - great fun. Course seemed tough (although I've not done many) - wide open and fast. I was hardly zipping around it, though - it was a grassy bastard throughout, so hard work to keep the speed.
it was a grassy bastard throughout
Perfect description!
Got my marshal duty done at Leverhulme as I didn't fancy spinning ss round all that grass..... Still enjoyed the day more than I imagined.
Nicest bikes of the day were:-
Sky blue Orrell steel frame in the vets race.
Black and red Niner singlespeed in seniors.
Just been in the garage making the seatstays for Alison's proper cx frame - final push to have it ready for the next round of the series (luckily a 2 week interlude). Will be rattlecan primer only - proper paint can wait until next year.
Doing as many rounds as poss. this season, trying not to clash with son's rugby fixtures..
Next Sunday "Reading Roubaix" - new CX sportif promoted by lapierre cycles.Start & finish at palmer park velodrome 100kms with 20 gravel track/lane sections.
Catalogue of disasters today - someone ran into the back of the car on the way up to Herne Hill, then crashed on the first lap which must've knocked the calliper as the front brake then progressively bound on. Front row to DNF. Meh.
Nice to be back turning a muddy pedal today up at Mansel Lacy. Nice to see Ferrals again. Sorry I didn't chat more.
Had a good start but overcooked it and my bars spinning on a root didn't help matters.
Be interesting to see how Aberdare goes next week.
Rode Heaton park yesterday in the NW series - fine weather and good, mixed course. This one had more of the dismount / remount stuff than last week, and by God it hurt to keep things going. I guess that's what it's all about.
170 riders in the vet race yesterday, quite a turnout.
Be interesting to see how Aberdare goes next week.
I should be there next week, after logistical problems today..
Haven't raced Dare Valley for 10 year, maybe? I once got mild hypothermia there. And another time got a gold medal in the Welsh champs team comp, god knows how. 🙄 (I was most definitely not the fastest rider on the team. 😀
Yeah was a good race, have no idea how I did. I started near the back and got held up by slow people, should ahve been more agressive and barge to the front of the line up! 😆 I enjoyed the challenge of the course, even though it was bumpy as anything. My arms and shoulders hurt more than my legs today as I could only really put the power down on the road and the narrow concrete path after the second stream crossing. Hell of a blister too.
Crashed once at the second stream trying to got right and overtake someone walking it but otherwise was fine, though i nearly stacked it into a big tree trying to take the sneaky inside line round it after the first dropoff.
Looking forward to Aberdare now 🙂
@IdleJon there was no chowder so you didn't miss much 😉 See you at Aberdare.
@Ferrals, good work and don't be afraid to push up at the start. The outside edges can be best as if there's a slow person in the middle you can go around rather than getting caught up in the bunch faltering.
Results already up. A few places down on Cardiff, being almost exactly mid field. Happy enough given i found it hard to find passing places
Whats Aberdare like as a course? Loos from the route map on the fb page to be pretty much all grassy?
Should also give a shout out to the awesome commissaries at HH yesterday ;o)
Ferrals, Aberdare can be grassy or it can be rocky, bumpy, nadgery hell. It's basically an old slag heap.
Hope its the former!
Just remembered that Alan Haycox messaged me some info about Aberdare when I did my preview:
[i]I'm organising the Bike Doctor 'Dare to Cross' round at Dare Valley Park, and we'll be going all out to provide a course that offers the best open grass track available at the venue. We'll start on the ashfelt road right next to the Visitor Centre and that'll allow the riders to race straight for 0.23 of a mile before they go slightly left through a 3 metre wide gateway and more ashfelt before going right through another nice wide gateway and out onto what will from then on be an all grass circuit of about a mile per lap. The lap will be on a gentle camber and the reason I'd secured an early date for our round, is in the hope that we'll not have had much rain and we'll have a good fast course.[/i]
😀
reason I'd secured an early date for our round, is in the hope that we'll not have had much rain
We know who to blame for the next two days weather then! 😆
Though given how dry its been and if the forecast remains he wont be far wrong as its forecast dry from Weds on.
Sounds like it will be brutal on the legs - and strong winds forecast for sunday too!
Another Anaerobic HR race then!
Well that was brutal. My legs are going to feel that in the morning. Had a real shocker of a race after a decent start. Dropped my chain going over the boggy hurdle, crashed a lap later, dropped my chain again. Bring on Brecon next week!
Made up for last week's shocker at Herne Hill today at Happy Valley. Got a good start & managed to stay with a couple of fast groups. Made the mistake of sitting in too long on one though when I should've gone - got punished for it later. Top 10ish I think.
Hey Ferrals yup it was a tough one. Legs and lungs was how it was described to me. Apt.
I had a terrible start after my pedal slipped out. Couldn't chase down my club mate who got a better start and hung on to it. Fast course in places.
Roll on Brecon.
Good race in the West Mids yesterday at Aldersley - nice mixed course.
I entered the wrong race - in a rush and just saw 'vets' so thought it would be like the NW, all vets together. Subsequently learnt that V50+ were separate from V40, who went with the seniors. Don't know if this is a common set-up - did notice there were a lot of grandads passing me in the race.
Have to say conditions have been beautiful thus far - crisp dry autumn days, not even had to clean the bike. I'm in danger of getting into this cyclocross thing - I've yet to have the proper cx mud, rain, cold, drivetrain knackered on the second lap experience, so could change my tune.
Shedbrewed -I think you blasted past me on the downhill towards the corner with the little singletrack cut-through.
Looking at strava I don't think I had quite such a bad race as I thought (pretty much halfway down the ranking for the start lap and 7 full), more importantly, if strava is correct (I'm dubious) I re-overtook one of my club mates who I thought past me when i was lying on the floor in a heap!
I badly need to practise hurdling and running with the bike. Think I was dismounting too close to the hurdle so starting to hurdle from a standstill
Jon, Ferrals, nice to meet you both yesterday.
Thought that was a great course and a great venue. Nice to have a cafe to go to afterwards. I hung around for presentations and was glad I did as I got some prize money 😀 6th senior, probably 10th or 11th overall (not sure how many of the vets finished ahead of me). Very pleased with that, pointy end of the field being at the national trophy notwithstanding.
Think I was dismounting too close to the hurdle so starting to hurdle from a standstill
With a difficult section like that, with multiple lines and decisions over when to run and when to ride, hang around in practice and watch what the quicker guys do (or steal their lines as they lap you!). Nearly everyone was dismounting on the green bit and shouldering for the entire muddy section.
Good to meet you too David, and well done on the result, you must be chuffed, you can only race against who turns up after all.
Good idea re watching people in practise. I did notice in the photos put up on the facebook page that there were lots of people shouldering. Guess it kept tyres a bit nicer too.
What I don't understand is how you get a bog on a slope? Surely all the water should run down to the lowest point, but no, in Wales you get bogs everywhere! 😉
Nice meeting you David.
I enjoyed the downhill - made places there every lap. Didn't enjoy the first part of the climb where I lost all the places I'd just made. That's the fat MTBer in me.
I was surprised at the amount of bogginess that one steep slope could contain - especially given it hasn't rained for weeks?? I didn't mind that bit actually, I had a line that seemed to work. I didn't like the false flat leading up to it though!
Results out, mid sixties out of 150 for me so just into the top half.
42nd/24th. I'll take that considering I'm still nursing a broken wrist! Not expecting to be that near at Brecon given the expected calibre of field.
Good work David Jey. You ride a Blue Genesis? Or is that a different Ajax rider?
Not expecting to be that near at Brecon given the expected calibre of field.
yeah I was wondering about that earlier on what with the cat A status - are you expecting the field to be significantly different? I was assuming the standard welsh league and then some fast people on top?
Just skimmed down the start list for Brecon. It looks like a normal Welsh League lineup, albeit on a day when almost all the strongest riders turn up. But yes, unless you are Steve James/Steve Roach/John Pugh you can expect to finish a little further down the running order than normal!
You ride a Blue Genesis? Or is that a different Ajax rider?
Yeah that's me - ah, you are Thom from Pontypool (based on your results)? If so you pipped my mate Tom (Dye) by a place. It's his first season of 'cross and he's loving it.
Yeah that's me, give me a cheery wave next time you pass. I managed to talk a few more poolers in to racing this year. It's nice to have a bit of club company.
Good work on getting another Ajax in too. Definitely bigger fields in the few years I've been riding.
Now we just need all the cx racers to migrate over to the xc series in summer too 🙂 though my results would get significantly worse I suspect!
Edit. 166 registered online for Brecon, that's amazing, and space for a few more on the day. Looking forward to this one, and without wanting to jinx it the weather forecast looks good, less windy than last weekend 🙂
Cracking course for the welsh league at Brecon today. Most fun I've had yet racing cx, flat out fast with a couple of twisty bits. Pleased with my result too, managed to do 8 laps so only the super fast people lapped me. Definately like the tag system for fast results!
Hmm, definately a one way conversation going on here 😳
Another cracker today. Again very different from the others in the welsh league so far, sludgy slippery mud and saturated grass. Lots of broken bikes from the weight of mud. Think I had my best result so far, really good battle with one of the Abergavenny riders the last few laps though he got me in the end.
Jon - didn't see you - did you race?
I've got an abcess so waiting for that to go before I race.
Watching this thread with interest though.
Huge two wheel slide early on cost me a couple of places at Addington today in the London League. Was a beautiful day though & fast, close racing again. I'm sure the mud will make an appearance soon 🙂
First one of the season for me today a Linc's league one, been riding endurance events all season so had neglected any top end training, wow that come keen.
I Comm'd at Central League today. Seemed like a good race, the course looked quite interesting with a mixture of grass plugging and more technical riding.
It was quite interesting on my way out there to find a car stuffed into the central reservation of the M4. Waited for 25 minutes until the services rolled the wheels that had broken off it onto the hard shoulder and coned off the car before letting every one through.
@bikebuoy - hope you get fit again soon.
By the way, was very pleasd i swtiched from grifos to some clement pdx's great grip and mud shedding. offcamber in particular was great, gripped like riding on the flat!
Well, after several more-or-less dry rounds, the season started for real in South Wales yesterday with plenty of mud 😉
Decent race for me, got caught behind someone else's crash in the first few corners and dropped down to about 30th, but hauled my way back up through the field to 8th or 9th place. Absolutely spent at the finish thanks to an all-or-nothing attack to drop someone with half a lap to go. Both bikes absolutely caked in mud - I took my spare from the pits for the last two laps, so rode it for about 15 minutes to spend an hour cleaning it when I got home.
Good going. Looking forward to seeing the full results.
Pretty chuffed as looking at strava (just requested to follow you btw David), I was a minute behind the fastest guy that trains with my club. In the first two races I did he lapped me and at brecon we finished on the same lap but I was way back, so I feel like I'm getting the hang of it slowly!
Really enjoyed yesterday - full on cross hangover today - a lot of coffe drunk already :-).
Wondering about bringing my mtb to Melin Mynach as a spare, but its more of a trail hardtail than a full on xc bike so i guess it would be an 'in case of mech failure security' than a viable bike to ride. Probably more hassle than its worth.
Good work. Always interesting how the first proper modder of the season can shake up the pecking order - some people go well in the mud, maybe you are one of them!
Wondering about bringing my mtb to Melin Mynach as a spare, but its more of a trail hardtail than a full on xc bike so i guess it would be an 'in case of mech failure security' than a viable bike to ride. Probably more hassle than its worth.
It really depends how bothered you are about scoring points toward the league. If you are bothered, then any spare bike that will get you over the finish line, still scoring some points even if it's less than normal, is better than zero points for a DNF.
Yeah good point, I think I'm just going to make it to 7 races so having two bikes there might not be the worst idea. Mind you I'd be a paranoid android about leaving it unattended 😳
I enjoyed the mud, didnt think i would but it was good, I wonder if mostly riding mtb helps in the mud with traction control?
Jon - didn't see you - did you race?
No, had a family day out instead. I'll be at Melin Mynach next week, and can probably make another 4 rounds after that so didn't need to risk wrecking my bike yesterday. 😐
What was it, something between 10 and 20 wrecked rear mechs?