Wessex CX League Rnd 5 Fairthorne Manor

With the Wessex league well underway , its on to Round 5. Its been a while since my last race..(see my previous post) but a lovely, crisp day heralded a return to racing. Fairthorne Manor, promoted by my local club Fareham Wheelers. A mere 10 minutes from home, so with Family in tow, I made my way down the hill to Fairthorne manor with plenty of time in hand..

Saturdays heavy rain had come and gone, but with it the awkward question about what tread to use..
Do I go with Griffo:-  medium, all round tread, currently glued on my tubulars? or should I go with my new Limus open tubulars., unused to date, and still lightly dusted with baby talc after fitting. James from the shop was watching his son race, and advised the Griffos. Saves me risking new kit in the trace so I stuck to what I knew. I dropped the pressure a wee bit , checked my pit bike pressures, and went to sign on.
Fairthorne is a great venue.a warm club house, easy parking , showers and a set of loos right next to the start line , spot on for that last minute nervous piss.
So initial ride around its pretty dry... only two slightly boggy bits.. the Griffos were a good choice. I even saw someone on file treads.
I don't do enough warming up, as I am chatting too much.. but do get two laps in, a fair bit of yammering, and craning my neck to see when my wife and son pitch up.

A cracking course, with a few changes from January's splatter fest. Phil (Chinn) had listened to the feedback and opened the circuit up a bit. Not so twisty and tight on the grass and less time in the woods.
The start was right across the front of the club house  heading eastbound straight for a copse of trees. The full lap wound its awkward way through these, but for the start it was straight on. a left kink across the field, bee lining for a small bridge.
First lap it was straight over, and along the hedge before rejoining the course at a second bridge.
Off camber along a bank,. hard right , with a slippy root on the apex of the turn.
Down a dip to accelerate into the field, a few grassy corners, past the pits and down a rutted drop to bottom hedge. Along a damp section, over a rise and over Phils glorious engineered bridge onto a short section of tarmac.
a left kick up the hill into a single track rise through the woods. a lot easier in this drier weather.
a bit of decent single track a left hander , dismount for a log. remount , down the hill onto very greasy leaf strewn tarmac. 50 metres before up the woods again. Phil likes his wooded sections.
another scary rejoin and a 200 meter sprint on tarmac to a tight loose right hander.  punching out into the daylight again.  a corner, and line up for the sandpit. take this fast  and to the right, but I spied a bail out line on the left.over a rise, and onto soggy bottom part two.
churn along  this and start gaining height back up the field. Around a fallen tree and a good run through grassy taped corners , over a rise, to the finish line. a great circuit,
the family turn up , just as I am moving off to the start. a quick good luck and I am gone.. ready to wedge myself as far forward as possible. any hope of being gridded long gone. big elbow time.
The commissare starts gridding.. the rows are formed. . as soon as I hear " and the rest of you" I am up there like a shot. nailed and lined up on a third rows tyre, with mm in between.
Marshals adhere to the rules and one unfortunate rider is sent to the back for not lining up.. felt bad for him..
The start comes and we are off. , its a slow one, as the guy in front of me fluffs his clip. In the melee I try going right, but get switched, so move left . two of us lean on each other, all fair in the chaos.
a bit of mutual sup[port when its needed. Speed builds up as I go left and sprint across the field to the bridge. Committing early , burn an early match , get the positions and then defend it. easily across the bridge and sprint again around the bottle neck. Take B lines to move up.. Only dead fish go with the flow. A strong looking chap undertakes me , half wheeling into a corner. but he isnt strong enough to press his advantage and i go around him on the next straight. I unclip and tripod through the bottom of the hill , and am in a pretty good position, going into the woods. I felt strong, and riders in front seemed to plod up.
I unclip early on the log and run past the bottle neck at the logs. then sprint on the exit running just a  little bit further than other guys. a good way to make up places..Simon Medwell loses it on the corner before entering the big field again. I manage to avoid him as he remounts again.

pic: Graham Robins

We settle into the race, I take stock of my surrounding riders. Ed Gurney of VC Venta behind me, a string of Cotswold Veldrijden riders in front. I manage to gap Ed and work my way up to Robin Wilmot of Cotswold. Content to be on his wheel, he is a regular top ten rider. nipping at his heels, ready to pounce if he makes a mistake. he gaps me on the field section, but I manage to get back up to him through the woods,. Heart rate is ok. I am feeling pretty good, and the woods especially feels pretty dialled in.
We stay like this  for a fair while, until we pass into the woods again. A back marker is in the hedge, his front wheel sticking out from behind a tree. Robin calls, but the marker moves out and I am forced to swerve to avoid his front wheel. I lose momentum, un-clip, and awkwardly fall on my side, letting two riders through.
Back up to speed, ( accelerating up hill on loose soil in the big ring) burn another match time.. I make a few mistakes on the next few corners by trying too hard.
Take it easy , ease back a bit. no mistakes.. I have 20 minutes or so to catch up again. Ribs ache a bit when I breathe deeply, but manageable. left hand hurts, but thats what ibuprofen is for later.
I work past the two opportunists and blast past a few more back markers. With 120 riders in the full field , back markers really slow down the flow of the race.
I drop my chain on the tarmac section, but manage to keep my composure. Keep pedalling and reseat it.( my fix of a long bolt does the trick and it rides back on) My left wrist hurts like hell with all that pressing on the STI lever. I go down onto the drops to try relive pressure.
Worse was to come as we enter the woods on the second to last lap. Robin manages to squeak past a train of three slow riders just as we entered the woods. I get stuck behind a very slow group, despite my calls, they refuse to move off the line. and I see Robin ride away. My early run move works on two of them, but I am still stuck behind as we rejoin the tarmac. They eventually ease over so I can pass, and I burn another match and kick hard but its too late and I cant get on to Robin as he presses home his advantage.
No mistakes through the sandpit and steadily tap through the top field before my final dig for the line. ( in front of my cheering family)

I dont feel as trashed as I normally do. Racing is hard, but in this one I felt fitness was ok, but my technical skills were holding back my speed.
After the race I hung out with team mates Ben and Dan. Before watching the  Seniors Race with Aaron (my cycling mad son) and Bens family. A few photos, a few gentle heckles and mucking around with cowbells.
an excellent day.. and a superb event.
what went well.
Tyre choice and pressure was dialled  in spot on
raced hard.
despite not getting gridded , managed to get 4th row
no mechanicals.
Having family cheeering every lap... its a big deal :-)


not so good.
Getting held up by back markers.