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:
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...
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.
Not so well.
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.
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 |
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.
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