Scunthorpe Cyclocross

The end of the TT season, a couple of weeks away on the Costa Brava, and one cold later and it's time for winter training fun - of which a few cyclocross races form part of it.

First up, a trip to Scunthorpe, a course I didn't like two years ago when I rode it, and to be honest my feelings haven't changed !

I warmed up on what was a cold and very windy day and could still feel the arse end effects of my cold. I rode most of the course, even the sandy bit that I ran last time around, but managed a spectacular fall at the bottom of the bomb hole - mind set, I would be running that obstacle during racing affairs !

My start was ungridded, and I went backwards really fast, yielding my line continuously as I was very rusty. I had good power on the straights, and made places, but to be honest, I was blowing hard by the end of the first lap and things didn't get much better, I made more places up on the 2nd and 3rd laps, but by the 4th and forty minutes I was really hanging out of my arse and the last two laps were an exercise in just surviving and not losing any places.

I did manage to take a couple of places in the last throes of the last lap, but I was truly relieved to see the finish after an hour in the saddle. Welcome back to Cross Andy - countdown of 5 months to the start of the testing season started today !

Closing out the season

It's been a truly brilliant season. Whilst I've been distracted by some triathlon nonsense which has been incredible fun, but definitely accelerated the wind down of my season. there have been three final events over the past three weeks and this is how my season sort of ended...

TA Jack Riley 25 - held on the V235 course which is the old A1 up at Boroughbridge. It was very low key with four entrants and only three starters. the road was eerily quiet, and I enjoyed a stress free trike 25. I would imagine that this course could be very fast in the days where traffic poulated the course, it's got some good cover and it's lanes are pretty wide. For the actual race, I paced it well, took a PB and improved my club record with a time of 1.03.15. Nothing more to say.

LRRA / Leadenham Hill Climb - held on Leadenham Hill, south of Sleaford, I knew this hill pretty well, having ridden it on a few occasions during reliability rides and club runs. I didn't expect much, but on the day came a respectable 14th and beating the dark lord at the same time. I started in the big ruing and switched down only when the gradient ramped up in the middle. Swithching back to the big ring for the very top and sprint for the line. If testers did hillclimbs this is how they would design it.

Leo 30 - Not great conditions with a cross wind, so I debuted the kask bambino. I'm unsure if it's any better than the Javelin but I gave it a go any way. I rode too hard at the start and felt like I struggled on the return especially in the last five miles. I definitely had last weeks half marathon in my legs still which didn't help at all. very close to the club record (8 seconds out !!), everything lines up well for next year. For now, I just need a little bit of a rest and then on 1st November it's time to knuckle down for the 2018 season.

Course E2/30C

Temp 63

Wind 10 W 

Cadence 80

NP 274W

HR 175

Course CHC/1

Temp 61

Wind 11 SW

Cadence 81

NP 409W

Pos 14

HR 165

Course V235

Temp 61

Wind 12 S

Cadence 86

NP 297W

Pos 1

Lincoln Half Marathon

Team Newham was supposed to getting the band back together for a Lincoln Half season swansong, but one half of the dynamic duo is still recovering from Weymouth, so it was time for the older, better looking brother to head over to the showground and attempt the 2nd edition of OSB's Lincoln Half Marathon.

The race itself..

A different course this year as instead of heading into Lincoln via Burton Road, this year the change had been made to turn right and go through Burton Village and head into Lincoln via the towpath. The HQ and bot the start and the finish would again be the showground at Lincoln. The parking seemed slick and the queues of last year averted, and the runners themselves seemed to be seeded better and the start was a much more enjoyable experience.

So, onto the race itself - I wanted a sub 1.50 time considering my lack of miles and this was only run no.6 since February. I started strong but controlled, I tracked the 1.45 marker runners and then purposely inched ahead of them heading to Burton village. I soon had clubmates for company, so forgot the pacers and focused on keeping with them. By halfway I was on for around 1.40, but at mile 8, you start a climb upto Lincoln Cathedral via Carline Road, and hence, my slowest mile of the day came to be !

From there on in, boy what a struggle. I could tell that my longest run had only been six miles, and everything started to stiffen. My calf started to throb and I adjusted my footfall to compensate, my thighs burnt but my breathing was fine. Back up at the showground and I knew I had a sub 1.43 if I pushed it a little, which I did, amazed to find that mile thirteen was slower than I had actually started at - it felt like a sprint !

So, great time, not a great demonstration of race smarts though, and certainly not a clever thing to do off so little running.

I write this a day later and my legs really really hurt !

Next weekend is the last race of a very busy season, I'll check back in after that !