Cyclocross - CX and SSCX races and training

Change of venue for the 24th January round - from Bethlem to Hog Hill. Boo.

What's the inside story @owlz?

Yay

Course not great but much quicker drive

Charlie who liaises with them said he had radio silence for best part of a year then finally this week they replied saying: no, our gardeners don't like it.

Or something like that...

They were miserable bastards at the best of times. What a shame.

I now feel a moral obligation to train there as frequently as possible.

I am gutted. Birthday weekend cross race 5 k from home. I had cowbells lined up and everything....

Will still be worth the schlep to Redbridge, we'll come up with a decent course.

Ditto :( (-minus the cowbells)

Today. Windy. Big hill. Lots of turning.

I feel destroyed.

Great course. Big, fast field in the S/J. Sprint at the beginning was batshit. The cliff was a highlight, but equally enjoyed the other run up, the steps and the cambers.

Put in a great ride until I punctured at the start of the final lap. Had to ride pretty gingerly to the pits then change a wheel. Lost about 5 places in the process.

Superb course, on a par with RAF Halton as my favourite of the season, and as a bonus I win back an evening from bike cleaning.

Definitely my favourite course so far. Great heckling by ladies at the top of the cliff.

Many mini voms in my mouth throughout. Hangover + fryup was perhaps not the best prep!

Think I would've found it really hard had it been muddy.

What kit were you in? The yelling was keeping us warm ..

Excellently fun course and surprisingly dry! Felt like an amusement park of a cross course where you got to play on all of the things!

Had a great time today, even the crazy wind couldn't ruin it.

DAS RAD KLUB obnoxious pink/blue/black/white with a pretty obnoxious bike to go with it.

Was suffering too much to offer you a smile! That cliff was killer.

I liked how after getting up the hill the wind would blow your bike around..

Bit of a disappointing course for the riders in Ipswich today. A very flat course with only a small amount of technical riding in the form of some banking play. Not a venue that I would recommend.

In the WV40 cat, all the riders were waiting to write this off as the bad race of the series. Maddi Smith proved to be the most about this. She opened up a lead of a couple of bike lengths on the starting straight and no one made contact after that. She said she panicked that she'd overdone it but just opted for TT mode and kept pulling away.

If Shrewsbury is as flat as I think it will be the Isla Rowntree will not have an easy time defending the National Champs jersey. This could be quite exciting.

Great course today which washed off a dreadful hangover. And after last week's mudpocalypse, it was good to have a reminder of how much fun you can actually have.
I feel I made improved decisions in terms of running and when to remount, which made me happy.
The field of women was also the biggest I've seen, which was great.
Next week's regional trophy will be interesting I think. Mission do not come last.

@George_Sportif you didn't seem to understand when I complimented your bike half way through the cliff haha.

@George_Sportif, that bike is banging.

Couldn't hear a word anyone was saying over the howling gale.

Punctured in the 1St lap. Had to run from the uphill berms to the pits, and then from the pits to the start finish and back to get a tube and mend it.

That was pretty painful, but the course was a lot of fun. Managed to unlap myself by going past a few people, I'll be very happy if I haven't come last. The hill heckling was very much appreciated.

Definitely a fun ride tho, hopefully my running will have improved after today too!

Bad luck.

I didn't even get to the fucking venue. Lost a crank bolt on the way to Bromley South to get the train, and despite my efforts to retain it without one, it failed within 200 metres of riding from Meopham.

@andyp, bad luck. I'm checking mine now.

Definitely something wrong with my drivetrain judging by the noise coming from it all race.

I am racing hog hill next weekend. Guys from my club says single speed is mad. I am currently on 42/21T but I could also go 42/19T. What do you reckon?

Edit: Does anybody have a strava file from previous races?

Thanks @owlz @Ecunard

@andyp you have had the worst luck what with that and Pensford! Thanks for the tool at incredibly cross. If you're at the next one definitely say hello!

@Hulsroy I am more of a spinner, but I ride 39/19 at the mo and if it's muddy am thinking about sticking a 20 on the rear. I am pretty new to it though so don't take my word as gospel.

How's your running? It's a new configuration at Hog Hill next week, but there are two climbs a lap still and they are quite steep. It also tends to get very muddy there so I'd go for a 21 at the back.

I'll add a couple of Strava links later when I'm on a computer.

Awesome thank you. My running used be good. Not so sure about my overall fitness these days though :-) I haven't raced since last season.