Cyclocross - CX and SSCX races and training

Will do! Hopefully see you on Sunday, I'll probably be covered in multicoloured shapes.

How's HHV for drainage?

Offer of wheels has been withdrawn. my other set aren't ready.

It’ll be wet and slippy. It drains okay but the trails are so well used that they are pretty compacted and churn up when it’s wet. Forecast looks like it’ll rain again tomorrow during the racing, so it’ll cut up.

No problem, tires are on and mudguards are off. Gonna be a muddy one.

Slippy for sure.

That was pretty fun! Didn’t get lapped by too many people, and only ate shit twice. The tires seemed like the right choice, I was holding it together while others were sliding out. Was feeling good till the last two laps when all energy disappeared and I started taking crap lines that I’d avoided for the rest of the race, but it didn’t cost me anything at that point.

I would like to state:
my narrow wide 1 x 10 NO CLUTCH mech did not hold the chain in place yesterday. I'm not sure it would have helped though. First lap I dropped my chain because I think the chainring was clarted with mud already. My big starting grid position and plan to track someone from the grid row ahead of me went out the fucking window before I'd even got going.
Still. I didn't bin it and there was a decent bike wash afterwards and it was a fun race. (definitely a stay sat down race)

Can only echo the no clutch mech no drop unless muddy.

Fair enough, you did qualify that assertion!

My rear mech seized when battling for 4th place with half a lap left, and I had to run to the finish shouldering the bike. The derailleur cage is twisted beyond repair too.

I had plenty of grip with my Vittoria Terreno Wets, which I recommend still (if you can get the bastards on the rim).

I couldn't remember. All I could remember was "UNFUCKINGBELIEVEABLE" as I drifted (politely, with a signal) to the right of the course.

Also: I would not know about Vittoria wets. I'd imagine they'd have been a fabulous tyre for yesterday's slimefest.

I marshalled at a race in the pissing Lancashire rain. Got league points for it, which I count as a win. Major takeaway was that I will NEVER force or coerce my son to be a bike person. To bike-loving parents: YOUR KID MIGHT NOT BE AS INTO THIS AS YOU ARE.

How many kids were crying?

It's good for them. Better crying now than saving it up for secondary school.

I witnessed this in a race last year- a dad screaming at his daughter, just into her teens, to move up and get a better result. How is that encouraging? If that was my dad my overwhelming urge would’ve been to punch him, not try harder.

The rain made it hard to tell. U8s race was all at the top of the course but we were marshalling down the hill near some woods. Just before his race, a little kid (maybe 7yo) comes hurtling down the hill and stacks it near us. Already on the verge of tears. We pick him up and ask if he's OK and where he's going. He says "my mummy told me to come down here for the race". His mum comes down the hill and it turns out she sent him to do warm up shuttles.

We go up to watch the race (the organisers asked marshals to cheer the kids, which is an excellent idea) and this lad is just hating life all the way round. Pushy dads telling daughters on Frog bikes to "pick up the pace" in the same race. A commy ended up telling him to STFU.

Later, in the u10s/u12s race, we were marshalling a hairpin at the bottom of the hill. on lap 1, girl comes through clearly not very experienced and basically skid stops at the hairpin. Almost falls off. Race leader is right behind her and gets held up and screams at her to "get out of the way" then bombs up the hill. So us marshals have to reassure her while she manually re-angles her bike. Leader doesn't come round again, so I hope he either got a mechanical, or, even better, got pulled for shithousery.

Just use tyre levers
Mine did get overwhelmed a bit when the course started to dry out and get claggy on the outfield
Herne Hill mud is a special breed

How much do you think his behaviour was influenced by his possibly pushy parents?

I was impressed by your mirror/signal/manoeuvre routine

dunno to be honest

Ugh.

Was lapped at HHV yesterday, by some of you by the sounds of it, I think the top 4 riders. I moved out the way and tried to slot in and see WTF I was doing wrong, still can't work it out. The top riders were always pedaling through the bends, nice and smooth, I just couldn't emulate, as soon as pushed I felt like I was going to lose the wheels.

Was on 33c Maxxis Mud Wrestlers setup Tubeless, 19psi front and 24psi rear (65kg). Would like to blame my tyres but suspect it was weight distribution, lines and general lack of skill :D

I thought CX was the friendly face of bike racing :-/

Would the pushy parents be those that have never raced themselves?

It's scary when you see the value of the kit some of those kids are riding. I wouldn't want that kind of pressure