Cyclocross!

I have said a lot of things about cyclocross in the past, most of it not particularly positive (as I was reminded after announcing my decision to break my duck). This weekend I finally got around to putting my prejudices to the test after years of never quite getting around to it. With a week of recovery in my legs following Kielder the Swindon round of the Wessex Cyclocross League was the perfect tonic. The weather was shit and there is no way I would have gone out for a training ride in the torrential rain so I needed the motivation of competition to get me out of the house.

Amazingly my bike was still in working condition after Kielder, even having a full complement of brake pads remaining, so a quick clean and re-grease was all the preparation required. I arrived at the playing fields outside Swindon about half an hour before the race start and wasn’t too keen on doing a practice lap. The longer I could stay warm and dry the better. After pinning my number to my back I headed off to do a couple of sprints to get the legs warmed and then lined up for the start. They only gridded the first row so I managed to get a spot about half way back in the 50 strong field. As I looked around I couldn’t see anyone else on a mountain bike, no pressure then!

From the start I got away well and made up a few places pretty quickly. For the first lap it was very close racing with everyone fighting for the line into every corner. I even had to take my hand off my bars at one point when someone else had their bars hooked around mine. The course made its way around the playing fields with a number of switchbacks before heading into the woods with more switchbacks, a small drop in and a couple of short sharp climbs. The second climb came after a tight turn and made it impossible to ride, especially when rocking a fat summer XC tyre. The whole course was a mudbath with very little grip anywhere but the rest was pan flat so the main risk was washing out on the sharp corners, which I did, twice! My legs weren’t great and I was losing time on the straights but a lot of the guys around me were cornering like jessies and I was making up a lot of time here. I even saw people running down the drop-ins!

After about 45 minutes of racing things had settled down and I was in no-man’s land until my second slip which landed me back in a group of 3. Over the next couple of laps I managed to get away from my company again and finished comfortably in 24^th (I think). It was a bit odd finishing the race after only an hour, I felt like I hadn’t really raced! Maybe that’s a sign that I wasn’t pushing as hard as I could have done but I wasn’t feeling particularly sprinty!

Despite the mud, the flatness and my lack of top end speed, I actually quite enjoyed the racing. The short laps and open course design mean you can always see your competitors and there is always motivation to push on. It’s also nice beating guys who do this every week and have all the equipment and it’s definitely a good training session. I am certainly tempted to do another race in the near future, especially if Giant decides to loan me a CX bike!