Cyclocross - CX and SSCX races and training

Hah, I love it.

"Last year it was even worse".

That'll be low pressures and disconnect the front brake, by the looks of it!

Wow. Not seen anything like that before. Looks lethal!

Those brambles on the left are where I ended up (the year before). It's fine as long as you don't have to change direction suddenly.

I'm not sure how muddy it'll be tomorrow, the trails are well used and it's on a side of a hill so the surface is soft and anywhere that is flat tends to collect water, but it's been dry for at least a week so it might of dried up a bit.

Thought addiscombe put on a great event today at porc. Fun course, semi technical with a fair bit of grunt required climbing back to the start/finish.

9/10.

It was good, and the ride out from Tonbridge is lovely, pretty much all along NCR12.

I should have hustled for a spot nearer the front, got held up quite a bit on the first lap, but eventually settled into a good tussle with 3 other guys. I can see how you could crash in a straight line there, the ground conditions were pretty sketchy.

The cost of making a mistake on those descents was pretty high, as they were lined with brambles. Fortunately only my bar tape and right calf got bitten by them. I think I'd ride it again, but only if I knew there'd been a good dry spell before hand. It'd be rank in the wet.

I can't quite work out what's going on at PORC. Is it part built, part abandoned or what? The main building looked good from the outside, but it was just a shell.

There was a very treacherous bit of road on the way, watched some poor guy bin his carbon De Rosa on a corner by Penshurst Place. He was OK, but the RH shifter, tape, bar and rear mech were all looking a bit shabby :(

Sundays race was lots of fun, first CX race. Next time I think I might drop my ratio from the 39-16 that I was running and maybe a few less pints the night before. Just got my results after a slight clerical error, came in 18th which I am happy with.

Looking forward to heading down to more races, although Croydon I am away for.

What is Madison Cross?

Teams of two, first rider starts and does a lap, then does a Madison changeover to throw the other team member in to do a lap. Repeat for an hour.

It's great fun.

Thanks. I can imagine it is.

Rad! Might give it a go

I'm planning on having a go. I mean, what could possibly go wrong?

Anyone been following the #SVENNESS videos from In the Crosshairs - amusing and informative coverage of the men's cyclocross season on the continent

https://vimeo.com/cxhairs

I'm planning on having a go. I mean, what could possibly go wrong?

You get paired with Mick Bell and he hands over after the first lap in third place?

You get paired with me? I undo all your hard work. Every lap.

We beat Krisz and his partner, Howard, so all was good with the world.

Andyp, fancy giving us a talk-through of Sunday's course?

It's the first time the venue's been used, so I've no idea I'm afraid.

You haven't been down there especially to do a recce for us? How remiss of you!

You get paired with Mick Bell and he hands over after the first lap in third place?

Yeah, stuff like that. I'm particularly looking forward to being caught mid-mince pie at the handover.

You haven't been down there especially to do a recce for us? How remiss of you!

I can only apologise. In my defence, I did manage to tear the rear mech off my cross bike the other day, so have been busy replacing it.

If the local environment is anything to go by, I'd expect stony clay tracks with a fair bit of climbing each lap (as it's on the side of a valley).

Having a good season:

Wout Van Aert a rising star
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Good value?

Easton EA70x 700c Wheels with 32mm Dugast Rhino Mud Tubulars Cyclo-cross

Good course today, mixture of a lung busting climb, technical sections, fast descents and a great big bomb hole to whizz through.

Met Biarittz before the start. Hello! That Burls is Proper Nice.

I'm going to have to completely strip the drivetrain on the Cube, it's making some ugly noises. But then, the amount of abuse a CX drivetrain takes it's no surprise, really.

was it very wet?

Rain came and went. The whole course was under the shelter of trees, so you didn't really feel it much. The leaves helped mitigate the mud to some extent too.