I was the only Addiscombe there today on a very cold day. I was hoping this would mean that the course would be hard packed and icy but the single track section was a combination of really slimy mud and then hard icy bits. The approach to the big hill was a slurry mess so no chance of anyone being able to ride up it today, just have to jump off and try and scrabble to the top. Well it was a scrabble for me as my MTB shoes are the trainer type so don't have very good / non-existent grips. The infield is always a bit of a slog on the MTB with fatter tyres and was tough today as the ground was quite spongy.
I started quite well but with a lot of infield to cover before getting to the singletrack section it was hard work just trying to avoid losing too many places to those on skinnier tyred cross bikes. In to the single track and I grabbed back a few spots as I could ride this section faster than a lot of others who were struggling with bike handling on the slippy stuff and then the icy ruts.
By the end of the first lap it had, as per usual, thinned out and started to fall in to pattern where you ride in smaller groups/strings of riders. It was a bit frustrating as I had a bit of a hard time trying to get up the hill and through the infield compared to those around me but was much quicker through the singletrack but had to try and pick my way through them. When I did the hill would come around and they'd run up it quicker and then I'd have to dig in again once on the infield to hang on, so it was a bit of a yo-yo race in the part of the field I was in.
As per normal in cross races I can never tell where I am in the field, not near the front but I don't think that close to the back either, just somewhere in the general pack fodder area. I don't care where I was though as I just try to do the odd cross race for a bit of fun and a workout in the winter, but will find out when they post the results.
[edit: 66th out of 114 starters so as expected well amongst the pack fodder
.]My bike was covered in mud and cack at the end so as my legs got more tired I had to drag round more and more weight too, there must have been about 5 kilos of the stuff stuck on it by the end
.Damn good fun.
