Racing Banjo Cycles Summer CX Rnd 4

Rain dampens play...

There had been a light drizzle on and off through the afternoon, ( well on the south coast anyway). looking at the darkening clouds through the spotted window, I was relishing a bit of damp to make things more interesting, slippy, maybe a bit of gloop. enough to make conditions a bit awkward and to raise the bar a bit.

The M27 was stop start and much busier than normal, Winchester, grim, and we had to scoot off the A34 early to avoid some heavy congestion. it seems no one can corner in the rain..

We arrive with 30 mins spare. quickly sign on, pay for parking and start getting ready. Prepped the bikes..having remembered the bike stand this week. ( saves leaning the bike up against the car) I brought the SCS Lezyne digital pump with me this week.. so tyre pressures were mega accurate ( having experienced the difference 3psi made last week)

The circuit was clockwise this week. The drizzle help off as we rode out onto the course, for the first of our warm up laps.

The first thing to notice was that the grass had been cut, with the short grass cuttings cushioning the circuit. In the dry, it wouldn't have been too bad, but the afternoons rain and the on off drizzle seemed to make them super sticky, quickly coating any part of the bike, and rapidly building a a ball of grass 'mache' around the brakes and rubbing against the tyre.
Mini Vs seems to be particularly prone to jamming up, I counted three racers running Minis, all three of us had the same issue.
The Hiver doesn't have mahoosive clearance, and by the end of two warmup laps, the bike was pretty bunged up and it was increasingly hard to maintain forward speed, as each wheel revolution deposited more and more grassy gunk into the brake bridge and back of the fork, then compacted it against the tyre..
Another cracker of a course, a longer start straight, through the muddy dip and zig zagging up the hill to berm it around the tree at the top. Two switchbacks took you to the gravel track across the top. This week with a mini detour (blip)to the right towards the eastern end. A hard right back on yourself, before a slick , slightly off camber drop to the trees. Over hanging foliage forced riders wide , a breathing gap to steady yourself, before the next corner and a fairly straight run off down to the bank and the lower field.
An mole hill rutted corner led to the centre of the lower field, before a series of long straights back and forth,  took it out of your legs. Just before  the final corner a right hander took you to the apex of the bank, where the tape pushed you right onto a really awkward slippy off camber, this caught a fair few riders our, ( judging by the pics) a long corner and another straight, then cane it  back through the start.
I ease up to the start about second row, Ben is over the other side. I look over to give him a nod, but he isnt watching..Big ring ready for the off, last years holeshot shenanigans seem such a long time ago.
It comes quickly and we are away. I experience a rubbish start, quickly swamped and cocking up the approach to the muddy dip.
I accelerate up the zig zags, and by the top I am comfortably up to fifth. I manage to hold this for the first lap or so, but it kind of unravelled from there... I started to be overtaken on the second lap.. Riders who I am normally in front of, started passing, and try as I might I just couldn't hold wheels. I tried poking the grassy ball of gluey grass shit away from the front rim, the tyre buzzing angrily against my finger, but it didn't help, inexorably I continued my slip back through the field.

One and a bit laps

 Bunny hopping in an effort to shift it didnt help and I resigned myself to the fact this was to be a 'training race'. Call it 'Training Overstretch'... At some point the rain started again, but I hardly noticed. Gnawing my handle bars, desperate to keep momentum.

Sports Alive.

I could see my team mate Ben making time up on me as my reverse attack lost me more and more ground. I plunged back through the stratified bands of riders, ( serious cross riders, less serious crossers, having a go) , Eventually I gave up, got off and wrestled the large block of grass out of the brake bridge. The wheel would not turn at all and I had been fighting this since Lap two. The bike heaved a sigh of relief as I relaxed, and immediately accelerated as I rocketed off, thats better... A bit of a delay on some back markers, and I tore back through the back few riders to chase Ben down again . I overtook him and managed to pick off a few others , as I could feel my bike ceasing up again. A desperate sprint in the final stretch saw me take back one more rider and I finished pretty blasted in 23rd.. The first time I have finished in the bottom half of a cross race.
I was pretty gutted.. why oh why didn't I stop and clear the grass earlier in the race.; I would have still finished down on my usual placing, but at least I wouldnt be slapping my forehead at my own stupidity....
There is a saying that Cyclocross is like a mullet. "Business at the front , Party at the back".. well thats bollocks. Its just as hard no matter where you are, its the guy in front and the guy chasing you. Dont be a fucker,  evryone is fighting their own battles...
It was a good day for the 29ers and the guys running disk equipped cyclocross bikes. They didnt seem to be bothered by the conditions..
  What went well.

•  fuck all
• ( well I suppose tyre pressure was good.)
• I didnt give up, and finished fucked.
• I didnt damage any kit ( eg rear mech).. this was my mech after....

Not so good.

• Mini Vs are shit in these conditions. They run very close to the rim, allowing shit to build up very quickly. All three riders running Minis had similar problems.
• the Hiver has pretty shit clearance.,
•  Should I be thinking about a Disk equipped bike?

Only two races left to sort things out..

Racing Banjo Cycles Summer CX Rnd 3

Thursday already, after just getting over a birthday weekend and with only two rides in the bank , its time to test the head and legs again at Banjo Cycles Summer Cross Round 3.
 a light breeze and a slight chill greeted us as we got out of the car. Trying to decipher the white lines of tape criss-crossing the lower field.
No queue for sign on, maybe the England match will keep a few riders away.. if there is a chance of a top five, this is it..
Bikes off the car, fiddling with tyre pressure... I went for a bit higher this week, as the ground was dusty hard pack.. ( a decision I was to regret)

We had decided to only do two warm up last this week as last weeks four felt too much.. ambling back to the car in between and again needing a whizz. ( after drinking two litres of water through the day in a hope of warding off cramp) so here was this weeks course:

Clockwise course this week, with the start situated right under the trees between the upper and lower fields. A 100m straight into a right hand spiral, before kicking left towards last weeks muddy ditch. A fast section and dip your head under branches as the course kicked diagonally up the field. 100 m or so saw a hairpin, quickly followed by another one. Gentle off camber took you up another corner, before kicking up to the tree. a gentle berm helped you around and sprint off to the gravel path. along the top of the park, using the fine gravel path, before popping out of the trees and facing a off camber right hander. At speed I found my rear wheel scrubbing outwards... and soon a deep left hander, with plenty of field underneath to take it fast and sweeping . down through the tree slalom this week, with the bottom punctuated by flattened loose mole hills.
up onto a bank and then came a section of tight corner, crossing up and over the raised bank a few times, into a awkward deep gravel and onto a straight>hairpin>straight>hairpin.. sweeping right hander lose speed through a tight chicane, sweeping right hander parallel to the road. headwind to a tightening 270 a straight with a left hand sweeper where you could use the banking to really carry your speed. A long bumpy straight and back up onto the upper field. this way only a third of the way up , but deep bumpy and tough going. a hairpin and back down to attack the start, about a 5min 40 second ish lap.

All 58 starters crowded into the narrow section four abreast. it was tight, and nervous as we sized up the short sprint to the first corner, thats not a lot of ground to jiggle it around before hitting that bend, everyone was expecting carnage. I shuffled in around 4th row, nervous as always, I couldn't get the chain onto the big ring.. so a bit of last second winding the hell out of the barrel adjuster, and I just about snuck it on.. ( looks like the race will be all in the big ring) and as the whistle went I got a pretty good start, clipping in and getting to the spiral safely. an inside line had opened and i worked my way up, sprinting hard on the straight to the muddy dip, and took a  fast outside line where the mud was thinner. The straight to the tree as we hit the first uphill drag i had a hard dig and was in 5th place as the race started to string out.
all good.. I felt good, heart rate was normal ( about 95% max) and I was doing ok into the gravel path, faster than last week. cornering at speed wasnt great, I could feel the  rear and occasionally the front drifting a bit as I approached the apex, ( must have been nerveous following me). Down through the trees and into the lower field, gingerly unclipping to transit the gravel corner, still in fifth...through the first lap, with race really stretching out now.
Steve James( National Champ?) came steaming through on the second lap, as i hung onto that lead group. I had to jump hard into the draggy hill but stayed with it , a chase group was a few seconds down on me, but I managed to limit mistakes and held it together. This came unstuck at the bottom of the down hill through the trees, as the ground changed camber, my front wheel skipped and I ploughed into the floor on my left side.
Quickly up assessing damage. My handlebars were twisted 90' . shifters ok, mech ok, shoe ratchets full of grass, grazes on my knees and elbows. I tried twisting the bars back, but they were clamped too tightly. front wheel between the knees did it... and with riders streaming past me I got going again. only to stop a few yards to shift the bars again.

I think I lost around 10 places in that mishap, but buried myself to catch up. A group soon formed on my wheel as I worked my way up again.
No one came through, but I did notice riders dropping off., A guy on a single speed came past , and eventually gapped me ( kudos)  :
I got  a few places back, and there was a tight group around me that were all fighting for places. A chap in Morvelo kit ( Good choice !), army guy and Jez Hart of Sotonia all over took me at some point, but each time I managed to come back. Jez and I had a good scrap, overtaking each other a few times, until I finally got the upper hand. A Festival cycles guy on a classic Alan frame came past and managed to get a gap. And as the Bell went I found myself chasing him down; finally getting a gap on the riders on my wheel...

Video still from Banjo Cycles Vimeo Feed still leading the train

as we went up the hill for the last time he led through the hairpin, but I opened up a sprint which he couldn't match and I crossed the line well in front of him.
Gasping for air, I had to lie on the floor for a minute or so to recover.  As those I had been battling with cross the line.. I managed to get up, looking for Ben and seeing how his race went..
Turns out I was 12th, so not too bad considering. Disappointing to have dropped out of the top ten, but reasonably happy that I raced hard,
Heres a Video : BanjoRacer Summer CX.Rnd 3

What went well.

• After got back on.raced hard all the way to the line. I raced my race, despite a train sat on my wheel.
• more confident on the gravel section.

Not so well.

• crashing and losing places.
• loss of corner confidence after crashing.
• Poor tyre pressure choice. kept locking and losing on corners when pushing hard.
• Bruised thigh and knee after crash.

Racing Banjo Cycles Summer CX Rnd 2

Thursdays in June means racing in Goldwell Park in Newbury. I couldn't do Round 1 due to family commitments and a hefty cough/cold, so despite a 2 week ease off in any training, I was looking forward to finally getting some racing in and testing all that Spring training out.

We arrived in plenty of time, nodding to familiar faces, and surreptitiously eyeing up the colossal spec of some of the machinery. relaxed chin-wagging and with 45 minutes to go Ben (Darnton) and I took in our first warm up lap. Tubs pumped up to 33psi, (checked using Bens gucci new pressure gauge) so fairly soft as I hadn't practiced that much on field grass with them,
Interesting course. a bit different to last year, as the Banjo Cycles team have gained confidence ( or permission) new bits appeared.
The course was like this... Start line in an anticlockwise this week. 100 meters straight under the trees a wiggle and into a dip with 6 inch deep mud. arcing left hander, back through the mud, and then a  long grassy straight to run parallel with the road.
Sweeping leftto a chicane and onto a new feature. A long low bank has been built in the off season, so the course builders used it in a few places,
Firstly a very awkward off camber switchback , then a long off camber section along the back of a bank.
and finally a bump before the tree switchbacks up the field. after the tree zig zags it was a kick and an off camber right hander and a mole hill strewn dig to the top. The next section was new ;along graveled path along the top, dipping and rolling..past a pump track ( no time to play) and a tight left hander, that you could take surprisingly quickly)
Across the field before a lovely banked right hander around a lone tree. cane it down the hill, careful not to overcook the sweeping left hander, over a vicious wee bump that must have had more than one rider endoing...back onto the lower field. Tape city again, but no real tight turns as it wends its way back to the start. good fast, and a decent mix of cornering, off camber and lung sucking up hill.

I eased forward at the start, second row.. not so confident with my holeshot speed lining up behind Jough Watson of Charge bikes and a few Cotswold Velidren guys. The whistle came quickly, and we were off, a bit of shoulder leaning in front as two riders clashed, pushed me out to the tape, but I managed to dive around and really open up the sprint into the gap that had appeared. the first left hander saw me making up places and I cornered into the first mud trap. A rider tried manualling it and completely balls it up, forcing a few riders to slow. I skipped through the slower right hand line ( always spot alternate lines through bottlenecks) .and hit the sprint again.
it settled a bit, we had been racing for about 30 seconds. heart rate was at max,  the race already lost for some.
I was on my own into the straight, working hard, towing two riders, nervously into the off camber section. During warm up I had washed the front out on this corner, so I gingerly unclipped , waggled my left leg out and made good time through it. The long off camber section was easy at speed, like one long berm, just take a high line to avoid the longer grass ( have you seen what that does to a rear mech.)
  I hit the hill , picking off another rider through the tight corners.. and burnt a match digging on the top bit to  the gravelled path.
I really struggled on this , loose tiny gravel is a surface I am not familiar, give me thick gloopy mud any day. While I wasn't overtaken, I did lose ground that I had made up .
Aaron the Cotswold guy was opening up , and Beeline cycles guy was firmly on my wheel, eventually he overtook me , suggesting that " you've done enough for while" so I gratefully sat on him for 3/4 lap while we worked together to reel in Cotswold boy. I took over and surged to make the catch, and led our threesome for  about another lap. The legs and chest were really screaming and I looked down to see my heart rate hovering around the 187 mark. ( previous max was 188)
I had a very big dig after the trees again and got a good gap. Aaron dropped Beeline cycles  chap but by now I was hammered. Cotswold Aaron caught me and soon opened a gap, which I was unable to bridge. Beeline and any chasers were no longer in sight , so as I passed through the bell, I eased up a little bit , frightened by the beginnings of cramp twinges I could feel in my right calf. Back markers were polite and moved out of the racing line to allow the snotty mess to tear past.( a small tinggy bell helped)
A rear marker crashed just in front of me, on the last corner nearly taking me out as well, I think he was determined not to be lapped, the tape went tight, but I managed to stay on course and sprinted for the line, as one of the last finishers.( the last rider not to be lapped.)
Chest tight, slightly dizzy, back slapping and recounting detail ensued. Summer Season off to a good start with a  respectable 8th of 50 starters. Ben had already finished a lap down , but a very credible 35th on only his second cross outing.

No amount of prep can prepare you for a cross race. ( except for more cross racing). On the whistle its a hammer and sprint for the finish. 0-max in 3 seconds...
Regular training rides are around 80-90% in Z4.. last nights race was 75% in Z5( Anerobic); thats a whole 45 minutes of full on sprints, with tiny rests in between. Its hard.
What went well,
  racing with a team mate, first time in 10 years or so with a team mate in the pack, someone to talk to and bounce ideas off.
  Tyre pressure and tubs were good.
  down hill confidence
  didnt forget anything.
  Good result despite recent sickness and a dip in fitness.
  Checking out alternate lines through bottlenecks is a good idea.

not so good.
  new team kit hadn't arrived in time,
  racing on gravel. I am shit at it, lacking confidence.
  not so confident in the start, but got away ok.. I am relying on being gridded this year.
  not starting GPS until lap 2.
  Cramp. didn't cramp, but nearly. need a system to manage /offset cramp through the day.

riding off a cliff

or not riding....Being sick is a fucker.... and real world stuff bubbles up. Just before the Summer CX season starts....Arses
Just look at that CTL drop off a cliff..

CX Pro or Fred

originally from: http://cyclistsarenotrockstars.blogspot.co.uk/

Crashing

Point 1>> If you mess with brakes, tighten the clamp bolt. As I warmed up into the session, the cable gradually slipped. While I noticed it, the session was going well and each lap I was getting faster and smoother, using/needing the brake less.

Point 2>> if you replace worn cleats, unwind the pedal retention bolt a bit other wise you cant unclip.

So the session was going well, smooth, fast, well in Z4.. approaching a fast dismount and stride gracefully gazelle like, over a berm and over two ditches.

So third lap, no brakes. I couldn't scrub off enough speed, and halfway through the dismount I only partially unclipped..
Cue my own " Joeys Ok " moment.
 I hit the input berm/ramp at pretty much full tilt and launched with my left foot still clipped in..
Like a young gazelle sack of shit skipping stone , I bounced off the ridge half way across and ended up in a heap on the far bank..
The bike went straight up a couple of metres and landed in the first ditch.

Heavy bruising on my Calf and shoulder, cracked helmet ( one of those wing bits at the back) and a major clonk on my knee.
buckled wheel, twisted shifters..
I limped back to work,

May Stats

So June is here already... 5 months of training into 2014. first of the summer cross races this week means that things should be clicking nicely.
Thing is that is not so....Overall volume is down and the rides are spikey.. Trimp coming from a longer sessions ( not so good) or intense off raod sessions ( better)

384 miles 28 hours

I managed a few more runs, but not the two a week that I was aiming for,,, but they are definitely faster.. I did manage a run in the woods in the dark with no torch.. things were going well, until I ran into a wire fence at full speed, and then catapulted me face first into mud.
My left knee continues to be problematic, just hovering there, ready to go shit. It has meant that I have stayed off any hill intervals to give it chance to recover.
I managed a few extra off road rides. a few with my brother in law, a few up tapnage woods, and I have reworked my woodland loop.

The end of May was a washout due to coming down with a heavy cold and cough after SpinUp in a Brewery.
Kit wise, things have been OK.. I need to replace the complete drive train on the Focus, the BB on the Merida has gone and i need to prepare the Hiver for racing.
I slit the sidewall on my new tubs which meant a long walk home when the sealant didn't work.

My PMC has been looking quite good.. the balance seems right, its not overtraining that knocks it out , it seems external work. or late night / gig influences are the precursors to getting sick. My CTL did peak at 10 point higher than anything I have ever managed yet, but with this sickness its dropped back to 77.

June Goals... Race and do well at Newbury.. and prep for a few of the Cotswold Velidren summer series.
not fussed about mileage. not fussed about running.. just race.