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Good ride Will, when you came by on lap 3 I was in such a hole that I could only just watch you ride away. Pleased that I dug myself out to come from 12th to 6th in the last 2 laps.
Despite first appearances, the course was great - nice to have some proper mud too!
Strong effort to move up so late in the race. Not sure about next weekend, it's nearly 2 hours from London, so might not bother.
Yeah, it's 105 miles each way from home, so in 2 minds about it as well. I think a lot of people are in the same boat - turnout might be pretty low.
You guys saying Houghton Regis was a good course? Wow flat,dull and UN exciting flat around a field! With a sprinkling of Mud wouldn't bother racing there next year! 3 weeks off for me now as in Thailand on holiday! Back for Hillingdon.
Good as in quite fast and the corners seemed to ride well. Certainly for what they had on offer it was good.
Any of you lot going to be at Rapha Supercross tomorrow?
Well yeah, was meant to be racing.
Never have Rapha got it so wrong (i'm a big Rapha fan btw) but 3 hour delay, little communication and then cancelling the event! I'm glad i only had a 5 mile ride to get there.
So in short, no cross racing this weekend.
East Kent League put on a cracking course with the theme being off-cambers. Everyone seemed to love it, I know I did.
The Supercross event Rapha ran had to be cancelled due to the Rain and Wind and more importantly the slippy conditions.
You have to remember this event was an Urban Cross style event in that it was run through the grounds of St Martins collage. The pavements were all flagstones and pavement as you'd expect from an urban event.
The Kids races went ahead, 2 rounds of the Adults races went ahead. It was clear from the conditions and subsequently sheer amount of crashes into barriers at corners and through the doorways that this became too risky to continue on with.
I agree that the event cancellation should have been wider publicised but most or all of the event racers were already on site and understood the conditions only too well. Most wanted to drop out of the races and it became clear to run the event in the afternoon/evening was too risky. One poor lad bust his collarbone on a corner, not unusual in cross event, but when it's on flagstones it becomes a different issue.
As is the location was an excellent choice, great surroundings and most of the attendees agreed the format was first rate, the conditions took over though.
There were issues with college students bemoaning facts around being unable to get into/out of their college quick enough. Having to queue to cross the course was inevitable but not really liked by students.
There is talk already of a Nocturne type of event, possible a linkup with them but the plan is to run a similar event of Urban Cross again next year.
Shame the conditions were rubbish, but hey..
My issue is that hosting an event in November, where if it rained, means you have to cancel the event is a little bit daft. The past two years where I marshalled at Ally Pally were great fun, it's just a shame it can't go back there.
will - Member
My issue is that hosting an event in November, where if it rained, means you have to cancel the event is a little bit daft. The past two years where I marshalled at Ally Pally were great fun, it's just a shame it can't go back there.
I agree Will, they tried another format. If that had worked it'd been brilliant.
Totally agree with the lack of communication though. We still had some folks turn up for the Elites to watch despite torrential downpouring.
Did you end up in the Tent with us lot??
Two races for me this weekend, did the NDCXL on the saturday, which was a slippery slidey muddy event but great fun despite the rain. Sunday was lincolnshire league, firm course, and a stiff wind, enjoyed both.
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Just seen the photos from round 8 at the central league in Kettering. Woah, that looked awesome. Even more gutted I didn't go now.
BB - I ended up near the Bar, that was free for a few hours, just chatting to some mates until I got too cold...
As is the location was an excellent choice
I have to disagree. Organising a race in mid-November on a surface that is lethal when wet is more than a bit silly really. Fair play for trying something different but don't call it cyclocross if it has to be cancelled because of rain.
On a different note, the East Kent CX on Sunday was fantastic!
Agree - as soon as we got there on Saturday we realised that it wasn't happening. Anyway.....
Mud fest in the London League at Sumners Ponds today. Good fun but bloody hard work. Loads of broken mechs & riders at the side of the track cursing their bikes. Excellent organisation from Velo Bagarreur.
Yorkshire league in Sheffield. I think my penultimate lap time is going to be s l o w due to mud clagging up rear wheel. Cleared it on a run section and way hay, speed on the last lap.
Nick Craig was sheer class, super fast in the conditions.
You can do quite well in the technical sections having an MTB background, made up loads of places and time there. The spiralling switch backs were great fun.
Washing machine is now taking a battering, half way through cleaning bike/shoes/wellies.........!!!!
Absolute mudfest at Penrith today, whole course brown and slidey, good to get back to a race though
Mud fest at Markeaton park, Derby yesterday, saw loads of rear mechs ripped off. It was definitely a day for two bikes if you could.
Today was Lincolnshire league at Cranwell, amazingly dry with some fat forest singletrack that you could catch the next group in front but trying to get past was impossible.
Last 3 races I've done have been mud baths. In the absence of 2 bikes and a pit crew I've been considering a SSCX. But I haven't seen many. Struggled towards the end of most races especially when there are long dismounted sections and my bike is getting heavy.
Still cheapish light SS options with discs though. Best I can see is the Arkose. Everything else is niche steel.
Trick to avoiding a rear mech catastrophe is to always pedal forward even if you are just turning slowly. Under no circumstances pedal backwards - hard when your pedals are set up wrong for a remount.
I'm riding SSCX it's great in foul conditions, but if the course has a fat drag strip start you tend to lose out. I'm contemplating gears for next year but I'm not fully decide yet.
I'm on a SS disc Singular Kite - don't think I've ever raced with gears. Still cleaned 5lbs of mud from it yesterday.
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Proper winter cross race! Course was shoveled, mostly, so as long as you stayed in the 12" wide track you were OK. Plenty of wet rocks, roots and greasy mud to throw you off it, though! Really fun. The only lap I didn't enjoy was my fastest. There's a lesson there, I think...
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Wow, where was that Nedrapier?
Finland, about 30km SE of Tampere.
Nice photo Ned - was going to say yesterday's outside Liverpool felt wintry until I saw that.
Does anyone know how the number of laps is decided on the day? Did 4 laps yesterday in the vets (plus a bit from the start onto the main course) and got lapped by the winner towards the end of my 4th and that was it - 36.40 total time. Felt a bit short and would have thought an extra lap was in order as that would have brought the leaders in around 43 mins.
Is it decided ahead of time or do the timekeepers make a decision on how the race / day is going?
garry lager - the latter, after the leaders have done a lap or two they work out how many they will complete in an hour and countdown from that. It get very confusing, youll be lapped by some not all and sometimes you are convinced you've been cheated out of positions but it only really happens very very rarely. Main thing is if its a long lap it can make a difference to how long you race, just get lapped at the wrong time your bell lap before the winner and you be out there for nearly 1h10
Does your league have timing chips? that really helps.
After driving through some heavy snow storms on our waý to the penultimate round of the regional cross series we were all thinking the race was going to be very grim indeed. But 12km from the venue the skies cleared and we were treated to some blue skies and a sandy well drained course. This was a new course for the series and everyone enjoyed it: nice mix of technical woodland, sand sections, bomb-holes and running over sandy banks sections. A good day for the five of us who went..three podium spots!
Timing thing these kerazy Finns are using is Webscorer PRO 2.1. Numbers on an ipad, touch the racers' numbers as they come over the start/finish. Going to get unwieldy at some point, but it works well up the 60 or so they've had along to some of these races.
Then they lie to you about only having one more lap, and tell you to go round for another one after that.
Garry - it wasn't too cold, certainly once you were moving. Had numb hands for the first lap, stacked on the 3rd, and didn't bother putting my gloves back on again once I'd sorted out my brakes. And pretty dry - I was expecting to be wet through and caked in mud, but I didn't even really have a wet arse, really. Combination of just sub-zero temps and sandy soil. And not going fast enough, probably!
Don't know if this will work:
Nice to see another Singular!
@Garry, Stadt Moers? I was in the same position - 4 laps @ 37:30ish, I thought I had another lap but that's how it falls sometimes. I was counting laps for the other races and the total number of laps was being estimated by the chief commissaire after the 1st 2 laps, although there are timing chips he was using his stopwatch.
It was Seamus - good course I thought, not done it before.
First time out on tubs for me and managed to stay upright throughout, so felt pretty good. Had plenty left, so was a bit regretful at not going harder at the start. Not sure my bike had another lap left, mind. Drivetrain was absolutely mullered with the mud.
Yes, best course so far this year imo, small changes from last really improved it.
When I Comm I usually try and bring every race in just below the time stated in the programme. This is a for a number of reasons:
- there's a programme of races, if it starts to drift out then its hard to get the overall event finished on time
- there's usually a wide variety of abilities - if you bring in the leader just over time then the last people to finish may be 15 minutes or so later (That's why we sometimes pull people near the end if they're almost but not quite about to be lapped)
- even though most leagues have chip timing it's just as easy to use a stopwatch, at least you don't run the chance of putting off the lap counters and spoiling all the results. Mine shows the last 3 lap times anyway so you can see how its going
- Sometimes the conditions worsen during the race - if the leaders start to drop off on their lap times then you sometimes need to reconsider and shorten the race a bit
I must admit that finishing at 37:30 does sound short - was it supposed to be a 40 minute race? Because that would seem about right.
aP - MemberWhen I Comm I usually try and bring every race in just below the time stated in the programme. This is a for a number of reasons:
- there's a programme of races, if it starts to drift out then its hard to get the overall event finished on time
- there's usually a wide variety of abilities - if you bring in the leader just over time then the last people to finish may be 15 minutes or so later (That's why we sometimes pull people near the end if they're almost but not quite about to be lapped)
- even though most leagues have chip timing it's just as easy to use a stopwatch, at least you don't run the chance of putting off the lap counters and spoiling all the results. Mine shows the last 3 lap times anyway so you can see how its going
- Sometimes the conditions worsen during the race - if the leaders start to drop off on their lap times then you sometimes need to reconsider and shorten the race a bit
I must admit that finishing at 37:30 does sound short - was it supposed to be a 40 minute race? Because that would seem about right.
Vets race is pencilled in for 45 mins, I think, and the winner came in at 36.06.
Prob down to your first point - I think we were quite late starting, like 30 mins plus behind schedule, so maybe they needed to cap it off to get the next race done.
NWCCA vets are 40 mins Garry.
No Monday morning updates?
Welsh League unfortunately had to be cancelled this weekend. The course is right next to the sea, exposed to the full force of the westerly gales. Given how rough the weather got in Cardiff on Sunday, I think the organisers made the right call.
Not racing did give me a chance to finally get my blog about CX racing up to date for the season though:
[url= http://indydj.blogspot.co.uk/ ]I'm not dead yet[/url]
Nice blog. You werent tempted by Cheltenham then? I see a few made the trek.
It was ridiculously windy in Swansea so they definitely made the right decision. I was pretty relieved as my back is still knackered from Tuesdays idiotic accident. Starting to worry about whether I'll make any more races this year with the way its feeling, seems to be getting worse not better. Doesn't help A&E saying - "We can't see any fractures on the X-Ray but they are hard to see in the Thoracic spine anyway so you still may have a fracture." Thanks for setting my mind at ease, panicking with every twinge!
Lincolnshire league went ahead, it was seriously windy, with the course pegged to the floor rather than fluttering a few feet above it. It was a day that saw the sunny riders absent and the true muddy crossmen ride. I had decided to pop another tooth on my gearing as my current chainring was seriously worn, so went from 33:17 to 34:17 which doesn't sound alot but it was definitely plenty big enough give the rain and the boggy conditions. Definitely finding my shorter race distance legs after a summer of 24hrs and 12hrs events on a fat bike. Looking forward to getting my tubs stuck on my new wheels, never raced tubs so that's my weeks job along with a few more turbo sessions.
London League was at Cyclopark yesterday. A really good course, with plenty of singletrack, berms, spirals, off camber traverses, dismounts & a proper cliff to run up!
Unbelievably, the ground was pretty much mud free despite the weather in the previous 48hrs, which made my choice of mud tubs look like the wrong one. That & a really bad start meant that I spent most of the race clawing my way back to finish in what is becoming a customary 14th place.
Singlespeed here too.
What size gear are you running John?
40/18 or 19. Usually wishing for a 20 🙂
Area champs weekend, where's everyone going?
I've got a good 2.5hr drive to get to Telford, never raced there, so should be interesting.
Sorry for the sneaky high jack...
If any of you looking for a hangover cure on New Years Day the entry is open for Palmer Park Velo's NY Cross https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/events/details/140673/Newbury-New-Yea r's-Day-Cyclo-Cross
It should be a really good event, it's at the tried and tested Goldwell Park in Newbury (home to Newbury Summer CX), there should be pizza & hot coffee available (to be confirmed) and we are working on some rapha like features for the course!!!
It's a non-ranking event so super cheap, £3 for little ones and £5 for those who are fully grown!
Oh, and fancy dress is being encouraged!!!!!
As you were folks!
Area champs weekend, where's everyone going?
Irvine beach for the Scottish champs.
Weather no doubt as wild as it usually is at this race.
Have an entry for the N of England one in Manchester - struggling with a cold though, so thinking it would be wise to swerve it.
Or I may cast off the blouse and get stuck in for 40 mins. Hmmmm - make me mind up on the day.
It's Colwyn Bay for the Welsh, a 5 hour drive for me, so I'm not going. (I'm not overly disappointed, I can't remember the last time I rode the Welsh Champs..)
North of England champs at Manchester on Sunday, then National trophy at Bradford next week...what was I thinking 🙂
Aim of the day will be not the 1st guy to get lapped
Wonder whether half of the regionals will go ahead, with Welsh champs being Colwyn bay a long long way so hoping they don't cancel it! I'm not traveling there for 1hr of racing! I lasted race Welsh CX champs in 1996 😉
I'm currently deciding whether to enter Nat Champs! Race against Helen Wyman and Nikki Harris. . .get a kicking or learn from.experience aim not to get lapped!!!
Who is in for love crossed CX on 30th Jan? Western league.
Haven't actually registered but planning on lovecrossed. Looks like a great race and day out.
Yeah, I'm thinking of lovecrossed to finish off the season.
Likewise I was wondering about Lovecrossed. Doing the SPAM 50km on 3rd Jan on the cx bike too. Anyone ridden Lovecrossed before?
Doing the SPAM 50km on 3rd Jan on the cx bike too.
It's years since I last rode that. Always enjoyed it but tried to only ride the frozen ones. (One year we rode across a completely snow covered Plain. It was good until I lost sensation in my fingers.)
I have just spent the night at work entering all the remaining Central league CX I can race (all except 2nd Jan) and Love Crossed!
now I just have to sort my full race licence out to do the Nationals and annual leave to do the Wessex League race in Abingdon! ooo 2 races on a weekend I'm beginning to feel like a pro 😉
Well that got muddy, it was definitely a two bike day, unfortunately I only have one. It was a great course but the rain that came down prior to the race turned it into an exercise in skidding about which was great fun.
Tremendous day at Irvine beach for the Scottish champs, surprise late entrant: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-35029568
Happy ending - no one rode over him and he'll be off to Gran Canaria after a bit of a race.
Should make next year's risk assessment interesting.
I did OK yesterday, robbed of a top 10 finish on the penultimate lap when a rider I was lapping managed to swing his back wheel out at 90 degrees as I passed, which took me out and let the two riders chasing me nip by. Never made it close enough back onto them to contest it.
good shout adam buckland .. the summer rounds at northcroft, Newbury were fab.
Be a laugh in fancy dress! bonuses for fairy lights?
Dig in at the Dock, Scotland's most popular CX race, has just sold out all 180 spots in about 4 minutes. Wow!
21 Feb at Bo'ness, brilliant day out if you're in the area.
Flybywire - Of course. The guy has confirmed that he'll be there with oven fresh pizza - fat and carbs to soak up the hang over. I think the snow machine has also been confirmed which should add to the fun!
North of Endland's Sunday just gone, Bradford this weekend, NWCCA Sheepmount Carlisle Cancelled
have the "green light" for new year's day @northcroft - wooh!
Sounds good, pizza - hopefully not see it again (maybe snack post ride?)
what tyres for pseudo snow? 😉
what tyres for pseudo snow?
pseudo file treads 😉
pseudo file treads
Lol...
I've heard that there will also be some extra festive additions to the course!!
Who is at Hillingdon this weekend for Central league?anyone got any handy hints on course?? Thanks.
Who is at Hillingdon this weekend for Central league?anyone got any handy hints on course?? Thanks.
Just entered love-crossed 🙂 seen some pics of the Welsh course and it looks boggy! Going wait till next week to race, back still bad. Plus racing mtb on 3rd Jan so need to remind myself what flat bars are like!
The frankencross is ready, the wrist is ready, the legs are ready (after an aborted E123 race today). Roll on tomorrow's vets race at Hillingdon. First cross ride of the season, and only five left. Might race the senior race too as i havent been off road since the accident in April.
Should be fun riding past the broken derailleurs with my single speed and three INCHES of mud clearance on 18 psi tubeless tyres. It may not be fast, but it always finishes 😈
edit MC my club TCC have been laying out the course for the past two days. It is not particularly technical, just one modest descent, a lot of riding on a camber and a lot of grass and last year there was sticky mud so bikes were coming back with a kilo of mud stuck to them. It will be windy and there will be a mad dash on the tarmac at the start. Three bikes broke rear derailleurs on the practice lap last year. what are you riding, i'll give you a cheer ( i'm on my single speed mtb with cross tyres and may brave a tcc skinsuit). Curiously i tested some of the banking on my road bike this afternoon avoiding a crash in the Imperial Winter Series race that was abandoned!
Finished 11/59 in a sticky grassy race of attrition. Was gridded right at the back, but things were sorted by end of second lap of four. I needed another lap to catch the tenth placed rider. But as my first race (and fourth ever) I was pleased. Will ride the remainder now I'm happy my wrist is better.
MC how did you get on?
@ferrals, yup it was gloopy today at Caerphilly. Took singlespeed and cx bike and think I saved the rear derailleur by starting and doing 4 laps on the SS before swapping to the faster CX bike. Rear DR started graunching on penultimate lap so swapped back to SS for final lap. Was very very muddy.
Which Lovecrossed race did you enter? I notice there's two for Seniors?
Really? Just clicked on senior men 12.45 start for an hour. You going to do it? Sounds like a great way to end the cross season, especially watching the world champs afterwards in a stately home! I guess we won't be allowed in muddy!
Bit gutted I didn't do Caerphilly as my back felt OK riding mtb today - but I think running and shouldering the bike would have been a step too far.
Still, frothing for Pembrey now and so long as I finish I'll have done 7 for a league position.
@ferrals Yeah 12:45 was the one I was going for. Will get it entered. Looking forward to Pembrey
What was the a-line / b-line split by the way? They don't normally do that in cx?
I'll have done 7 for a league position.
They've reduced it to 6 events after cancelling the other week.
Ah cool, pleased about that - was that on the F.b. page?
Yes, think so. (I hope I didn't dream it as I'll be one event short...)
ferrals - Member
What was the a-line / b-line split by the way? They don't normally do that in cx?
POSTED 1 HOUR AGO # REPORT-POST
There was a hillock coming out of one of the bunkers which was the A line, with the B line as the chicken run. The A line was definitely quicker and rolled you into the next section whereas you were pedalling all through the B.
Another huge mudfest in the London League yesterday. Big climb, nice descent & a lot of slop in between with lots of roots & thorns to catch people out.
5th in V40 - best result this reason, definitely a case of last man standing though - singlespeeds & tubs rock 🙂
John_l sorry I didn't get the message before Hillingdon! I raced yes! I had a blinding start (I Was in the black and pink Ale skinsuit) ... got up to 24 mph and dropped them all! Then got taken out early on (by a team mate) and 4 girls got a gap on. Having had 5 weeks off racing and 3 of those weeks enjoying life on holiday in Thailand it was a bit of a suffer fest after that! HR tells me I was working hard with an average of 188 and max of 196 and body feels battered today! I made some poor decision on run v walk so lost an additional space. ended up finishing 6th... disappointing as worst race of season! I did have a big gap on the women's overall lead which is now going to come down to the last 3/4 races! I need to get the speed back into my legs which I had at the start of the season dam it! Muddy, lumpy, hard graft out there! Can't say I was the biggest fan but maybe impaired by my poorer performance?
PS how slow to get the results out! Woman had timing chips and still on Tuesday morning there are no published results! That would seriously annoy me if I was further down the field as people always want to know how they got on!
I've just had my first weekend without racing since October. Not sure what I'm going to do with myself now! I'd set a target of breaking into the top ten in the series and I finished 7th overall which included a DNF in one race and missing another because of a family holiday. So I think I'll have to set myself a top 5 for next season . 😯 Some friends are organising a local race at the end of January which is part of a different race series but it's unofficial so there is lots of secrecy surrounding it including on the day as everyone will only know the location of the meeting point and will have to ride in convoy to the race venue. They have over 200 starters already so not sure how they are going to manage it all without the authorities getting wind of it. Should be good!