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.
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.
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.
Only two races left to sort things out..
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.
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.
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| One and a bit laps |
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| 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..
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