Cyclocross - CX and SSCX races and training

Katie and Sven doing a press the flesh thing at Trek MK. Register for free tx.

Some bellend of a senior got a podium place in the V40s race.

I'm not sure if that was his or Rapha's mistake, but it adds to my view that whilst the races themselves are great, the organisation couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery.

The crossing placement and control seemed a bit sketchy to me. Why on Earth was the 'main' crossing point on the diagonal across a wide corner? Hid the crossing from riders view, made the marshall have to turn to see whats coming or watch the crossing. And then the railings blew over covering half the finish straight, luckily the peloton was off suffering the mud somewhere else.

I don't think there is gonna be a BUCS offical cyclocross this year. To be honest the BUCS cycling isn't really worth doing, the timing of events isn't particularly great...

Not to mention quite a few crossing the course, who seemed completely oblivious to the muddy racers hurtling towards them.

Can you imagine if people crossed the road without bothering to look.....

Oh

Shortly to build my first tubular wheelset. Is sealant used as a preventative measure, or just to seal up any holes after puncturing?

Don't put sealant in them.

It depends. Some manufacturer's, i.e. Dugast who recommend Effeto Caffelatex, say you can use a sealant, whilst others, FMB and I think Challenge, say don't bother.

I usually didn't bother, if you puncture it's generally race over anyway.

Well that's one less thing to purchase, at least initially.

Will be glueing (and taping) Specialized Terras onto Velocity Major Toms. Should be a fairly fool-proof combo I think. If anyone else is looking for tubs Sigma have both the Terra and the Tracer available for around £25 each.

I recently got out and did the Condor Kentish CX loop (http://www.condorcycles.com/route-club/kentish-cyclocross-ride.html) on my commuto-cross, which was a lovely change to the usual road training rides.

Can anyone share similar routes that are suitable in the area? Hard to tell if mtb routes will be too rugged, and the standard Google-mapping software I use to plot road rides doesn't cover off bridle ways etc

You could try the Rapha Hell of the North routes in Hertfordshire. I think I've got garmin traces for the last couple of years if you're interested.

I think @Howard and @dicki have done a nice following the River Lee route which is mostly offroad as well.

@Howard has also done some good offroad training routes in the North Downs as well, around Peaslake and Dorking I think.

Yeah I noticed that it wasn't going to be an official BUCS event. However I might be in Durham that weekend anyway so thought I could take my bike and give it a go. Do you know what the course is like?

Major toms don't need additional tape - three layer glue job does the trick thanks to the huge gluing surface.

But tape em if you never, ever want to get em off.

HON: http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/479715536

Kingston CX route: http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/618478301

Three pimples http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/375679307

Surrey mix-up (requires train out, and balls, if ridden on a CX bike) http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/526297769

My JerseyPocket write-up of Ally Pally Supercross. Good to see so many of you there..
http://thejerseypocket.cc/2014/10/30/mud-sweets-beards-supercross/

Much thanks to @amey for the B&W pix and @Howard for the GoPro footage.

No idea, never ridden it! @jzk Got my mielec cross frame on order but it's not here until mid december! fortunately I can borrow a crux off my LBS for a couple of races. What sort of cassettes do people run with single rings? have a 39t and a 11-25 or is that just asking to screw my knees?

39 * 11-32. Was on 11-28 but needed a bailout gear or two.

CX noob, looking to get into it.

Cantis vs V's. Is it just personal choice?? I know from my mtb days V's were way better than cantis. What am I missing?

Cheers.

What am I missing?

Mud clearance. Whilst V's stop you better they are much quicker to clog with mud than cantis.

Ah ok cheers. Makes sense.

Thanks - just glue it is then.

Did anyone race at Addington in the Summer Series? How is it?

Round 7 of the London X League at Addington Park today.

The course was entirely in a grass parkland but, partly due to the weather, was a challenging and fun one to ride. It rained heavily for a good hour before the race, making conditions extremely slippery.

I was gridded and managed to get a spot on the front row and got away well, but the first corner came quickly and I got a bit swamped, then struggled with grip on the exit so lost a few places and was in a tussle with a few riders on the spiral with a bit of bumping and bashing. (This may have been where I got the mysterious injuries to my calf and just above my right knee that I discovered under the mud after the race - I don't know where else they could have come from!) Things settled down and I had a clean first lap, benefitting from riding the large double hump as whilst some others got through it faster on foot, I was much quicker on the section afterwards and regained my place.

On the second lap I was in a group of five and we moved away from the chasing pack, but I got stuck behind the one rider in the group whose cornering skills weren't as good as the rest and it took me the whole of the descent to get past him, only to get caught up in the tape at the mound and had to dismount and unhook it from my saddle, so spent the next lap chasing him and overtaking him again on the descent. This time I made it stick and set about chasing the two riders from the five who were ahead.

I steadily reeled them in on the next lap then used the three straights before the start/finish line to get back up to them, then set about testing them on the uphill sections. I quickly gapped one then spent the next lap trying to gap a rider from Eastbourne, which I finally did on the straights before the start/finish.

I spent the rest of the race chasing George Higgs from Crawley Wheelers but despite closing to within about 10 seconds on the penultimate lap, couldn't get catch him.

I think I was in the top ten again, just, but given I spent yesterday morning moving 4 bulk bags of manure in a wheelbarrow, was very happy with how I went. I also managed to avoid crashing which, given the conditions, was a surprise.

Strong ride Andy. As a bit of a noob I found that excellent course such hard work. I was slow through all the corners it was a tad embarrassing. Made for some fun cat and mouse with many a rider, as I took them on the hills/straights, for them to take me on the corners. It was a race they all won in the end.

Glad to have gotten involved, was hugely muddy, slippery, painful fun.

Tubs (and a spare bike and assistant) would certainly have come in handy there.

That's the worst kind of mud. Spare bike and pit partner required.