Cyclocross season 2012

[Sylv]

I wasn't sure I'd be up for racing off road so far, the knee is doing fine 6 months after op but the recent collarbone dislocation is not painless yet. It's been fine on the road bike though so I figured I'd have a go. What I was fearing most was the return to the brutal pace, after not having raced since Jan, and missed some 4 months of riding this season - I wasn't disappointed!

Started with the excellent late summer series, round 2 in Herne Hill, at least I was familiar with this venue, though was a a bit worried about the new addition of steps, as it hurts a bit to carry a bike. Was gridded from last season's result, but lost some 30sec on first lap - pace was just too high. Started to feel better after a bit and only losing a couple secs per lap on the leader, but was already far from the lead pack. The steps were fine, though I hit my funny bone hard on the saddle tip once, which was excruciately painful. Had a good fight with Jules Birks and later Matt Zeitz after catching him. Finished 5th @ 51 sec, with Matt Webber taking the win. Shoulder a bit sore the following day, but made better by a road ride.

Did another round at new venue Bethlem Park. Was feeling a bit under the weather but it was so close to home that I figured I'd ride up there and decide whether to race or not. In the end I did, in the hope I'd start to feel better once going. Course was great, but it got dark very soon. Lots of riders had headlights, and some spotlights had been placed in the worst spot, but it soon began to be a game of guessing where you put your front wheel. Again I got distanced at the start and lost touch with the leaders. I had Mick Bell and Kevin Knox in sight for a while, Mick crashed into someone and I went past, but couldn't catch Kevin, ended 6th @ 1min25. Again Matt got first.

Yesterday London League Rd 2 at Hog Hill. A horrible day with rain, mud and wind - proper cross weather. Just had time for a pre-race half-lap then riders started assembling at the bottom of the Hogberg. Took waterproof off, it was pretty darn cold in a skinsuit! I surprised myself with a reasonnably good start up the hill and went into the "spiral" in 6th. This new feature got you going round and round in one way then the other - I still haven't figured out how it worked! But it got you a bit dizzy and as you could get a glimpse of riders ahead or behind you I almost came off a couple times trying to figure out how far back I was. The course was good, pretty treachearous in places, I was on the drops the whole way to have a lower centre of gravity and improve handling. On one steep rutty descent into a hairpin I soon began to have to apply the brakes the whole way down in order to be able to turn at the bottom. There were quite a few MTBS with discs and they did well in those conditions.

One unexpected problem were the hurdles. I still can't fully bend my left leg from the op, and these were pretty tall, so I could not hop them properly, and had to use disgraceful methods of getting past them. Once though I tried, and ended up banging my shin really hard on it, with a mighty bang. I was down on the ground and expecting my bike to be broken somewhere, but it seemed fine and the noise must have just been my shin on the plank of wood!
This time I felt worse and worse as the race went, and got passed by a few. Last lap and Phil Lenney went past, despite overtaking him again I couldn't put any power up the Hog and he finished just ahead. Matt had come off early in front of me and it seemed to take him most of the race to catch up, I could see him making ground but was determined not to let him past, and managed to fend him off by just 2 sec. Finished 10th @ 2min 07.

So a difficult return to racing, but to be expected I guess. Whether I'll have the motivation to keep ploughing at it I'm not sure. Still is good fun though


[img]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8315/8019264151_44ebab58b9_o.jpg[/img]
"lower" - yes that would have helped!

[stamourp]

Enjoyable report from yesterday's mudfest, and a good result in the conditions. When I saw the forecast I knew it was going to be a top-cross day, and the bouncing rain didn't disappoint. You know it's a proper obstacle when a crowd gathers in one particular place, as was the case at those planks. Also there was a lovely fence post, helpfully identifiable by the hi-viz tape and the wheel marks leading directly to it, after one of the yumps on the Hogberg side of the course. I became very familiar with that.

The lines developed over the afternoon, and I was fortunate to stay upright round the course, which was a result in itself judging by the number that were going down here there and everywhere. I had a reasonable battle towards the end of the race, however paid for a conservative start with a mid-field result. Later I got more aggressive with the lines and wished I'd started earlier, but at least I got back into the car - and hopeless triathlon affected traffic - with four working limbs and a functioning, if twice the weight in mud, bike. I did my bit to make the crazy circle even more confusing by taking the tape out in an ambitious overtake on the penultimate lap.

I heard some people don't like Hogs Hill for cross, but after racing Beastway I thought it was an appropriate venue and quite liked the course, perhaps as I knew what to expect. At least the mudslides filled in some of the wheel width ruts whilst the rain was coming down.

Good luck for the balance of the season.

Thanks

Peter

[Andrew G]

Nice work, and good luck with the rest of the season.

MY leg's the same Sylv. The one I had the op on I can't pull the foot towards my bum unassisted as far as the other. I think it's from where they cut the hamstring out to make the new ligament. I was also quite shoddy with my rehab so expect yours will be better.

[Sylv]

Last week I opted to race the Central League at Hillingdon over the Brighton round of the London League (slightly easier to get to, and better course - yes, really). Although Hillingdon includes two things I really don't like - bumpy rutty fields, and wind. Start was up the long backstraight with tailwind, I was glad to be gridded, with a better chance to avoid potential carnage.

As expected it started super fast, I got a decent start in about 6th and maintaining my position. Alas the good luck didn't last for very long - about a minute later, transitioning from crossing the tarmac circuit to off-road again, rider just in front of me washed out and went down. I remember being impressed at how swift he was to then cover his head with his hands. I managed to point my front wheel between his bike and body on the ground but had to stop and the rider just behind me barged into me and landed heavily onto my bad side (the collarbone one). I shouted more in fear than in pain I think, that I'd get injured once again. I really thought that was it and ready to quit. But in the adrenaline rush I got onto the bike and realised that my shoulder was ok - wrist was painful though as well as elbow.

I decided to try carrying on. Had lost loads of places, but it was a pity to drive 2h and pay 12£ for nothing. Pain was manageable. I started picking up places, and soon realised that a couple people with whom I couldn't quite keep up in previous weeks, seemed slower this week. I didn't feel great, but it gave me confidence that my form was slowly coming back. Passed lots, and on one section I could see that I was lapping in sensibly the same time as Matt Webber who was some 40sec ahead, which helped me some more. I caught up a Corley rider but he stayed onto my wheel and I couldn't drop him. Now was the final lap and we'd earlier passed a Hope guy who wasn't too far behind, and I was worried he would be coming back to us. Looking back for him in a twisty section I rode into a plastic course-marking pole, which had the unfortunate effect of disconnecting my front brake! From then I knew I'd lost the place to the Corley guy, as even though we were only about 2-3 min from the finish, the remainder of the course was technical with steep off camber climbs/descents. The cross brakes are quite tricky to connect though especially in a hurry, so opted to carry on without the brake - I did my best without taking risks, to finish in 4th place, 1"10 down, with Hugo Robinson, junior nat champ taking the win.

I was glad to have carried on, but now could feel the pain! Got seen at first aid with ice and anti-inflam, and advised to x-ray wrist if it didn't get better. Fortunately it gradually improved, though stayed swollen for another day, then took a nice shade of black.




This Sunday was back to Herne Hill. Think 150 started, mad! Was gridded but only second line, with a decent start (with in mind that good piece of advice from Ian Field that at the start the only thing he worries about is clipping his foot in, not getting momentum as quickly as possible). THe overnight rain had made the course quite slippery, especially as the singletrack at the back had been made much more twisty than usual.

I could see a group of 4 ahead and was confident that I could slowly make my way back to them. I got very near but not quite. I think one or two dropped out due to mechanicals, and in the end Matt Holmes and Alex Paton stayed away from the rest. There was just one hurdle and even though lower than last time, I still had slight issues hopping over it. Some were bunny hopping it but I've banned that from my repertoire since a bad crash in 2009 .. dropped my chain once on the steps and had to stop, but only lost about 5 sec.

I passed Jack Finch who'd had a problem, crash I think, and over the next few laps was trying to keep him at bay, at first I thought he would come back, but the gap was staying constant at 10-15 second. Unfortunately I was only looking out for him, and in the meantime Peter Mollison who'd crashed a couple times, had been making his way back and onto my wheel. He passed me but I took the lead again before the singletrack - this was the last lap and we fought it hard, I let him pass and was hoping he'd make a mistake with me just inches behind him, even tried to pass him running up the hill! I led again going into the velodrome but then Pete bunny hopped the final hurdle, and my poor remounting technique was not enough to overhaul him for a final sprint, so I finished 4th again at 1"24, Holmes back to his winning ways of a few years ago.

Happy with the progress and hoping to podium soon again, just need to find another minute per hour

[Toks]

Glad to see you're back racing Sylv, you're an inspiration to an old crock like me

[Sylv]

Cheers Toks, hope to see you back on the road soon.

Today's round was down at Fowlmead (past Dover), a long trip but a good course which never gets too slow even with this horrendous weather. It did have ankle-deep puddles and all the mud you could collect on your clothes though.

I had a so-so start, not helped by Harry Franklin collecting a bush in his wheel after the start, so I had to slow down and swerve past him which made me lose contact with the first group. I settled onto trying to catch them, but in fact it didn't stay together for long, with Alex Paton building a lead, and several riders gradually falling back. I was enjoying the course though wishing for disc brakes in places, but was suffering like a dog and trying to reassure me that this was what it was meant to feel like. It gets so different racing in these conditions and you have very few occasions to really stomp on the pedals (even though HR is just as high), it's more about carrying your speed and continuously bordering on the edge of sliding off.

Managed to pick up first Mick Bell, then Will Thomson, Jack Finch, Pete Mollison, Matt Holmes. Looked back to see whom I thought was Holmes coming back to me soon after, which was surprising, but in fact it was his team mate Darren Barclay, who'd punctured and was making a strong comeback. I tried my best to keep up when he came past, but he was just too strong, helped by a couple of his dabs on muddy climbs which forced me to step off the bike.

Crossed the line in third I think about a minute down on Alex, so first podium of the season and happy with the progress, even if I can tell I'm not quite at last year's level yet. Probably need to work on my starts too. Looking forward to next Sunday's race at Alexandra Palace though.

[Andrew G]

First and surely not last podium . Great results this year after so much injury setback.

[Toks]

Cool, well done again Sylv

[Sylv]

Not every day I can say I was leading the legendary Nick Craig

[img]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8188/8136163217_614f8e0834_o.jpg[/img]

But that's what happened yesterday at the Rapha Supercross. Well, that was the first lap and he had just been casually removing his armwarmers.

He couldn't get a space in the Elite (team) race so rode with us. And that's pretty much the last I saw of him as he disappeared ahead of us .. finished 2nd though!

Awesome race and atmosphere. Glad I went now (almost didn't, after a mild case of food poisoning and a worrying niggle with my knee the day before)

[stamourp]

Excellent work Sylv. Any tequila shortcuts this year?

[Sylv]

That as well as this (in the fun race):

[img]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8336/8128368503_43a09d6f91.jpg[/img]
pic british cycling

[Sylv]

Round 7 of the London League at Stanmer Park, Brighton. I'm sure there are at least a couple people reading these!

Lots of rain up to a couple hours prior to the event, then sunshine but a bitterly cold wind. Got bike out of the car and it was so strong I couldn't pop the rear wheel in the dropouts (needs to be stable enough to whip the chain around the smallest cog). As could be expected course was super muddy - not the (nice?) wet mud that gets everywhere on your clothes but keeps the course fast and flowing (Fowlmead) but the horrible thick stuff that sticks to your bike more and more as times go, and renders certain sections almost unrideable (I'm sure Belgians have at least fifty different words for mud).

Warmed up then only rode the first section of the course, I remembered it from last year anyway and never get a fast enough start to lead on the first lap, so planned on just following wheels around. Bit of a mishap as the Comm hardly gave us a warning, then mumbled "I'll start you in the next 15secs", at which point Darren Barclay on the first line still had his jacket on. I was behind and had to ride around him as he was getting rid of it.

Got in the top 5 and hid as well as I could into the crazy headwind section. On the second climb I moved up, but Chris Dick from London Phoenix had had a fantastic start and already had a 5+ sec gap. I set on chasing him, with Jules Birks, Jack Finch, Phil Glowinski and a couple others. End of first lap Chris still had his gap and I was starting to wonder if I should worry about it. I caught and passed him on the climb, he was breathing very heavily which was a good sign : ). He finished 3rd eventually which is his best result I think.

Took the lead, I knew my next worry was likely to come from Darren Barclay, and lo and behold I caught the sight of him slowly catching up. Before half race he'd moved up from a delayed start and through the field right up to the front. Logic said he was faster than me, but I clinged onto his wheel at great expense of energy and despite the bike now being caked in mud, produced my fastest lap. He's a real power monster though (past podium at Elite Nat road champs) and a lap later I couldn't sustain the pace anymore and dropped off.

There was no-one behind me and I kind of lost my mojo at that point, but tried to keep the gap betwin Darren and me as low as possible, and also to stay upright which was becoming harder as it went. I caught some course tape in my rear wheel, thought it was just round my hub but after the race I realised it was jammed in the cassette (so that's why my gears started slipping ..) and jockey wheels (couldn't turn them by hand) - not to mention about 3kg of mud on the rest of the bike. Limited the damage to around 45 sec I reckon, happy enough to take 2nd place. Great fun, shame about all the cleaning afterwards

[Marcus]

Sylv I also read your write ups. So there are now three of us.

Congratulations on your second place and as usual great write up.

[higg]

Make that 4 of us now.

Great reports, keep them coming. And we'll done on the results.


Aodan

[Antloony]

5.