Cyclocross - CX and SSCX races and training

Puncture or rear mech?

Well done @andyp - it was the heckling that made the difference obvs!

@Howard - what happened?

I went in the "ditch of doom", with John M filming and commentating. Great!

Ha!

I punched myself square on the nose crossing it on the last lap. Put me right off for a few seconds.

Ripped a tire on whatever it was in the middle of the U-turn descent.

Heard 3 go at that point. Think we'll have to wait until summer to work out what that was!

Plenty of ruined tires, snapped chains, broken mechs. Christ is the LL is expensive.

I marshalled there when we hosted a summer series race, saw 9 punctures. Pulled a metre long piece of metal out of the ground after the race.

It's the second muddy winter in succession, and the mud wreaks havoc on equipment. I'm tempted to go singlespeed next year, if only for the proper mudders.

I've only ever DNF'd in LL races - always through wrecking tires. I'm not even that aggressive with the pressures either. Le sigh.

I've now ridden 9 rounds this year and finished them all, with 11th being my worst result.

Does it come down to luck or something else?

I split a sidewall whilst riding in third with two laps to go, on the second bank in the woods. Unsurprising given I hit a root pretty hard whilst running 20 psi. Fortunately I'd a spare wheelset with me, unfortunately I'd failed to let any air out of them so was cornering (terribly) at 60 psi. Managed to hold onto 7th place which betters my best 8.

A stick day today for Trophy up in Derby. It's a flat course and fast if you aren't drifting on the banking. A far different day to last year's soupy conditions. A lack of shouldering opportunities meant that riders weren't doing much to clean their own bikes so changes were fast and frequent.

The women's and juniors race started in warming sunshine but descended into freezing fog quite quickly. Those in short sleeves were made to pay a high price. Series leader in the Elite women's race Amira Mellor didn't need to race having already done enough in previous rounds but still took a decent second to Annie Simpson. She's a strong talent and you can expect her to be a rising star when she turns Senior next year.

The Vet womens race was a bit of an upset in the running order. Usual podium fixture Marie Jackson was beaten back to fifth. Perenial fourthish Alison Kinloch edged her out in a surprise show of good form. Tracey Fletcher, course favourite after dominating in last year's champs had to work had to hold third. Frequent top of the midfield Liz Clayton had a stunning race to second place which she attributed to her first ever race on tubs. Maddie Smith, not a favourite on the flatter courses caught out the field by disappearing off the front at the start. With the closing fog they never really saw her again. At one point she was told to stop looking back because there was no one to see. Relatively new to the national circuit she's been an impressive rider to watch from the off. Definitely going to be marked at the Champs and I hope will try her hand at the Masters.

Great write up!

Have we had this yet?

I have numbers and timing chip to return for ll. Who/where/how?
Good show everyone.

Thought it was a great course, I was one of those that punctured early on though. Same descent as @Howard , so there might have been something going on under all the mud.
2nd DNF of the season through punctures/tubeless-burp, going to have to invest in some tubs for next year and keep a wheelset in the pits.

The ditch was inspiring, wish every course had such a feature.

Apologies, Amira Mellor came second to Annie Last, not Annie Simpson.

Hard to understand why Last doesn't have a contract at the moment other than a depressing lack of money and corporate commitment to women's racing. A fair few women in the Elite field could be good pro riders if they were given the chance to do it full time.

The same could be said of the men though, no? There's not many of them who are full time either.

Whether we like it or not, cx is a niche sport and is much more about participation than spectating here. It's only really in Belgium where the reverse is true.

Believe it or not I am laughing in that picture.

Not nearly as much. CX is a niche sport but its one where participation for women is close to equal in accessibility as it is for men. Although there is disparity in prize money, in any given event, there is a race available for women. The same is not even close to true for road racing, circuit racing, crits etc. So what we see is a lot of talent for women appearing in CX, MTB and other co-race disciplines or track. Men on the road showing some talent can go pro infinitely more easily and many have developed through CX. I don't think there's as much scope for the current national field of CX men to go pro as there would be for the women if funding and corporate interest across the board were equal.

I think it's a pretty dismal state if affairs that the Last's, Carter's, Payton's and Miller's of this world aren't being offered the opportunities that they would be if they were men of comparable capability.

Numbers/transponders are going to be in use next year too, so if you're planning on racing then keep hold of them.

Excellent. I'll hang on to them.

Very well done all at the weekend for getting involved. My assault on the LL has ended in complete meh-ness.

This time next year!

We hosted a junkyard-Time-Trial-CX race here in Copenhagen on new years - some pics https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.857358757641427&type=1

Looks great! Was first prize a knackered Peugeot frame?