Cyclocross - CX and SSCX races and training

nice one @owlz

How often do people clean their bikes? I've been cleaning mine after every ride and giving the chain/cassette a good going over and re-lubricating etc, is this standard procedure for most or me being a mechanic and over thinking it.

It depends how dirty it is, and when I'm riding it next, but at this time of year I usually clean it after every ride or race.

I don't think you're over thinking it.

I raced the London X League event at Footscray today. Definitely felt the after effects of too much food and booze (for me) over Christmas and struggled to get going. I crashed on the first lap when my front wheel washed out as I over did it on a left hand corner. It was only as I was riding back to the station afterwards that I noticed the stem had been knocked out of line.

I also managed to get a stick caught in my rear derailleur on the final lap, which I nursed to the finish fearing I was going to tear the mech off. I just held off, by a tyre width, my friend Jimmy to get 8th. Sprinting in 36x25 is interesting (the gear it got stuck in).

Nice one @andyp. Thought that was a great course, nice and quick compared to other recent outings.

Nice? I think that's one of the hardest courses in the league, with no respite for almost the entire lap, really bumpy in places and that drag up to the dead turn by the pits is a killer. I do enjoy it though.

Could I fit 25s on the Giant tcr slx? Want to go for a ride tomorrow and only have the cx bike

I don't see why not. The worse that could happen is you crash and die.

Seems fair enough

I've ridden zero miles this Xmas so basically have to get out!

Nice in comparison to Hog Hill, for sure.

Relatively uneventful race for me. Typical poor start but managed to work my way up to third on the second lap then I was riding on my own for the remainder of the race. The top two were way out front and I managed to build a good 30 second gap to fourth so I could ride reasonably conservatively and make sure nothing went wrong. Gained points on the rest of the league contenders too.

Thankfully Ian Field did not race and push me off the podium (he was pitting for Annie Simpson)!

He's been sick so is focusing on recovering before the National Trophy final round next Sunday (then the National Champs the weekend after). I had a quick chat with Annie Simpson before the start and she thought he'd be rubbish in the pit. He did well enough for her to win though.

Slightly different conditions here in Denmark. :)

Nice!

Herne Hill Madison - teamed up with @owlz. Course was claggy muddy - SURPRISE! - but mercifully the rain held off so most of it was ridable if a bit sketch. Ridiculous Christmas tree pinball thing was less dangerous than I thought.

@owlz was serious, bought his tubs down and everything, felt bad for leaving mine at home AGAIN. I started for us, made the mistake of popping in to the pits to dump my jacket before returning to the grid so space was limited to the back row. Ooops.

Terrible start ensued and minor collision with VV lady. But got better and made some overtakes. Owlz made up many places on his lap, was clearly the quicker of the pair - tubs obviously working. After things settled down we were battling on and off with the rapha / BC pair where owlz would scalp rapha on his lap then BC would put it in to me on mine, usually nipping past me on the sketchy straight in the final 100m of the course.

Final lap, thought I'd suggest that owlz rode a double being clearly the quicker but - surprise - no, I needed to do it. Meant killing myself and not missing a beat on the final lap to stay ahead of BC which I just managed, snot pain face and all at the finish. Nice.

Good start to the new year, props to owlz for making it all look easy.

Sounds fun. Tubs are great at HH but only when it's properly wet, too much rubble otherwise.

I had to cry off sadly, other half under the weather so needed at home to entertain the kids.

It was curiously rubble free today - maybe it's been cleared up?

Christmas tree pinball was ace! There was one good line through it that easily bought 5 seconds per lap.

I'm so glad we beat team 13, was touch and go at some points!

I'm so glad we beat team 13, was touch and go at some points!

Yeh, ahem, probably my fault it was close :)

Really wish I could have made it to this, instead I backed down at the threats of execution from my girlfriend (or flatmate)

Were handslings mandatory in the pits?

Were handslings mandatory in the pits?

Yeah, kinda. I was shit at that, too.

Decent set of pictures here from Ripley Castle CX, although he did seem to miss the gantry ramp completely.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/126405427@N08/sets/72157649650267538/

A pretty good race with a decent course for both spectators and riders alike. Definitely one to earmark for if you're up north for the new year.

With the emergence of things like this, the Rapha Series, Muddy Hell etc we're getting a really good development of spectator friendly, non-league/national events that are verging on Britain having it's own Prestige Series of races. It's a brilliant direction that CX is going in.

If we could only resurrect muddy hell tho - that was a blinder of a race.

I think it could be done. There's definitely the appetite for the race and I think with a couple of new publications coming out aimed at the CX market and retailers/manufacturers making bigger inroads into the discipline it should be feasible again.

What it really needs is someone motivated and savvy enough to pull together the elements needed to make the event work. With things like the Supercross, Ripley, CityCross and so on, it's a bit of a shame that London doesn't have it's own flagship event. Muddy Hell would be the logical choice to start with. I know Rollapaluza cited funding issue but I'm at a bit of a loss as to how an event like that could actually fail and how there wasn't the all round will to make it happen.

I got the impression that muddy hell is basically one person in particular's baby and if he, for whatever reason, can't or won't organise it then it ain't gonna happen. The knowledge gap etc being too great.

100% hearsay tho.

The knowledge gap is a bit irrelevant.

If you know what goes into the event such as format, construction, facilities, services, marketing, etc then it's just a matter of finding your own way of doing the same thing. Might be a bit rude to nick the name but rest is ostensibly fair game if they aren't going to do it. The same event by any other name would be just as awesome. Seems silly that something of this nature not go ahead just on the say so of one person.