Winterton Cyclocross

Winterton Cyclocross had been my best performance during the 2014 season, and when it was declared to be the Club Cross Champs race for 2015 I positively whooped for joy !

Coupled with that, it had rained progressively over the past few days which meant that the course was going to be very boggy in places, and a real power test. Anyone who shrugged front line duty on club outings into a headwind was surely going to be found out today.

We had a later start time than usual, as we lined up with the seniors for their HOUR LONG !!! race rather than our usual 40 mins Vet race.
12 Wheelers lined up along the back of the grid and once everyone else had been set on their way, we waited 30 seconds and were set off ourselves.

I got a reasonable start and worked very hard on the first couple of laps. The ground was boggy and very muddy in places but the worst of it was the wind - it was blowing a hoolie, and with sweeping rain, hailstones at times, and generally just a bit grim, it was a hard, hard race. At one point I had made my way up to a surprise 3rd Wheeler position, but couldn't hold it and fell back to 5th. All my good work done in the first 3 laps, the final 2 or 3 spent, tapping away and making sure I wasn't being caught.

A very muddy and drenched and freezing and elated Andy made it across the line after an hours racing to claim good club points in our Rider Of The Season Competition.

RAF Cranwell Cyclocross

I was well up for a good race today and as I made my way around the long lap of the course at RAF Cranwell, I didn't see anything that concerned me too much. In fact, there were some long straights, hard ground, a bomb hole, and some twisty tight wooded sections - three offs though - an up and down a bank off, a jump over a plank and run uphill off, and finally a single hurdle off. Gotta say, one of the courses on the calendar more suited to testers !

12.00 was our start time and i was a fair way back in the old gridding - but got a decent enough start this week and found a few places early. First off, shouldered the bike and made my way up the hill, made some more places and then recovered well in the wooded section. In parts of this I was quick, however, one section was a twisty effort where the organisers were being either devils or just had to use up their tape allocation and I was so slow through this part of the course, I held riders up !

First three laps OK, without incident, and even the tree roots not putting me off. Lap four would be the last lap though and I struggled to get the bike up the bank, and the run uphill had become a very tired jog !

All that being said, I was happy again, and enjoying a good course. 3rd Wheeler in the race and a good 50 minute workout. You can't get better value for a tenner !

Lincoln Cyclocross

Up early doors and out of the door by 7am - late for setting up our very own cyclocross race at Police Headquarters at Nettleham. It was a partially mild day, but very windy and the tape we used to mark out the course was getting blown to buggery all over the shop !

Despite quite a lot of rain last night, the course was surprisingly dry and didn't look like it was going to cut up easily like last years version. Speaking of last year, we had one mound to ride up and down, this year though we had three, and although I initially bobbed myself trying to get up the third of these, I practised and got it right on the fourth attempt on the warm up - the rest of the course feeling OK and similar to last years routes although not a lot for the tester.

By the time the start came along, I'd been on site already for 5 hours and just wanted to get some racing done. We all congregated near the start, and then the gridding began - I think I ended up on the 5th row, but matter not, because I wasn't forecful enough and fell backwards because I'm bad at holding my position. want to come by me ? Sure no problem, I'll just move aside for you and let you through !!

First lap, fell off at that third mound I told you about and watched loads come past me. I then spent the next part of the lap, blowing out my arse trying desperately to make places up on a couple of the other Wheelers - at first, I thought it was working, but after three laps, it was obvious that I wasn't gaining and was in danger of falling further back through the field.

Thankfully, us old boys only have to race 40 minutes, so I was pleased to hear the bell for the final lap where I just gave it everything. Took one Wheeler place, but to be honest, this one won't go down as one of my better outings.

Next week, a new course, RAF Cranwell

Ostlers Plantation Cyclocross

So, following on from the Scunthorpe race a couple of weeks ago, I really wasn't feeling very optimistic about riding yet another Forest course, complete with fire roads and pine trails. In fact, this one had been described as..

 ''One massive long straight fire road a load of single track, some lethal twisty stuff with wet leaves on concrete, two massive whoops, an earth bank on the side of a building and a fallen tree as the dismount .....all good stuff!!

OK, so I read that and all I saw was massive and lethal ! The rest of the description being a blur! Still, another Sunday and another opportunity to win some points in the Wheelers Cross League, so loaded up the bike in the A-team van and then rocked on up at Woodhall super early to avoid the parade for remembrance sunday going on at the same time. mega early arrival then, but plenty of time to relax and ride the course. 

My description would be.... one long time trial straight, a bit of single track, multiple earth mounds to roll through, one log to get off and jump, and a squeeky bum time, muddy undulating section toward the end. I seemed to get on well on the warm up, and there wasn't anything that made me pull up or bottle out of - so, if I could just keep my wits about me, I could navigate the course quite well. 

Gridded again for the main course, but don't know why I bother, as even trying as hard as I could, I couldn't keep my place in the field and slipped backward again - however, crucially got ahead of a few wheelers going into the first whoop and whilst they decided to take each other out, this let me ride off and get some space between me and that particular battle. I had my own to take care of and slowly picked my way up the order. The course turned out to be brilliant, and although I crapped my pants at the arse end section a few times, I failed to blow up this week and kept my effort going til the very end. 

It felt like a breakthrough, albeit with no Wheelers in close proximity this week, maybe the pressure was off early on, leading to a less edgy performance. 

Next weeks action is our very own Nettleham course !
 

 

Hubbards Hills Cyclocross

This was the one I was fearing after the descriptions given about last years mudbath and the description of the course as 3/4 uphill and 20 secs of down hill. I had seen pictures of last years finishers bikes that looked like they had been dredged from a ditch !

I also got thinking cheap points in the league as surely this would be one that people tended to miss - but that theory was put to bed when I saw how busy the car park was.

My warm up lap didn't fill me with confidence as mud quickly accumulated around the front brake and blocked the wheel pretty bad - how was I going to make it around 5 laps !

Decision made - avoid the muddy line wherever possibe and ride the wetter grass to keep water moving through. Well, this approach seemed to work, because after my usual slow start, I found I was keeping the wheels pretty clean by riding those lines and also taking back places as it seemed quicker to get away from the well trodden path.

I shipped the chain a couple of times, but managed not to have too many dramas on the way round, trying to ride sensibly and calculating the best lines through the bends.

The last lap I was blown up and the legs had gone - but satisfied to finish such a hard race in a better than usual position ( I think !!)

Up next : Ostlers Plantation