Wessex League Round 11 Thruxton...Squirellyness 1.0

Not many races left to get it right. By the time I get it right, it will all be over, there is only this one and Fairthorne., ( with the Army CU in February too far off to focus on at the moment and I am abroad for the Christmas Crabwood race)
So this weekend...Thruxton.. Last years race was interesting.. a last lap crash and unshipping my chain had put paid to a decent result, but its a tough old course..http://haywil.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/racing-wessex-cx-rnd-10-thruxton.html

So to this year, its been raining ....a lot , not as windy as last year, but last weeks circuit was anything to go by, it was to be a muddy one, making tyre choice easy... muds... but
The circuit had changed a bit, about 1.2 miles... and a lot of corners..  Uphill ones, downhill ones, inside camber, offside camber, flat ones... tight ones, carving ones.. a confusing sea of tape, punctuated by corner after corner, and what appeared to be a muddy version of Heathrow Terminal 2 Passport control at on the western edge of the field.

Sign on is easy.. this week I had Pre entered, and after travelling up with Phil, we were nice and early..Parking in the lee of the garages we quickly sorted stuff out while getting wet, until someone pointed out that the garages were open ,.. The Pit bike was readied, and the race bike was quickly sorted..yet again I am faced with a pressure quandary. go low and risk another tyre blowing off the rim? or high and end up cornering like a happy shopper.. I go for 34 psi at the van...and then take a squirt out a bit later on. I have really struggled to find a pressure that works for me this year. In training I can get pretty low and on the edge of squirrellyness ( is that the new Svenness? -- Squirellyness) but anxiety of race speeds and the additional stresses of cornering at race speed force me to err on the side of caution and go a bit higher.

Negotiating the off camber Photo Graham Robins

So to the course.. gentle uphill start up a bumpy field easy right still up hill to the top where a pair of switchbacks take take you to a very awkward steep off camber right hander.. slippy and difficult to take at anything other than walking pace. the exit was just as tricky as the camber forced you to the tape.
up the bank at an angle to a slippy off camber left hander. down the hill gathering pace building speed to get as much speed up a steepish kick. a vicious bump forced caution, while bleeding speed that left you troubled at the top . a scoot across the top to an easy drop to the running barriers..over these a straight bit and back up the bank at an easier angle. Up down, in out the pattern repeated as the course folded in and out. Each of the corners at the top difficult and off cambered, while at the bottom, they were more open, but muddier and difficult to hold speed.

Passport control

Eventually this meandering led to the a strange feature of 11 straights , punctuated by tight 180s.. ( ooo my favourite) As the race went on the latter stages of this section got increasingly cut up and harder to keep the pace.  It looked like Passport control. after that it was an quick up and down before turning back onto the starting straight. a lot of corners. hard switchbacks and closed off cambers,... .

 Warmup went ok.. a lot of riders again, but I managed to push a wee bit harder than just bimbling around, I spotted a decent line through the off camber.. not a Sven line, but one that suited my chickeness.. in the drizzling rain I regretted not bringing a turbo to warm up on..
It wasn't long before gridding started, 4th row again.. not really improving, but better than missing a spot in the surge of  "and the rest of you"

Aaron Taylor ( Banjo) with the off camber in the background)

I line up behind Will Macdonald. a good rival and a a rider who has been going better as the season has progressed.  I feel calm, pretty confident... and as the whistle goes I get a good start. easily finding my spd and powering up the hill, that first corner comes and I accelerate again and by that first hairpin I am probably in 10th. a few riders I expect to pass later are in front, and as it settles I am content. Tim Hyde goes down on the off camber, and the race settles down again. Brakes squealing and its down to the task in hand. Who's in front, who's on your wheel.
My regulars are around me.. and I make a point of having a good dig on the gentle uphills, I seem to have gone well on these this year so try to capitalise when I can. I enter passport control, that first corner had a decent line that you could really carve into .. then it was eleven corner sprint, brake as late as you can, sprint , brake sprint. each end taking stock of how you were gaining on the guy in front, or being caught. just working to hit the corners the same time as the chasers, despite my admissions that I struggle on these all that cornering practice and countersteering messing around seemed to pay dividends as I didn't seem to lose ground on this section.
I pass regular opponents, Pete and Gareth and at one time I overtake Will. and work up to Robin Wilmott. I seem to be able to corner inside him, but he is strong and can power away on the outside as I come back up to speed, we pass each other a few times, until he messes up one off the tricky off camber lefts and a streak of white grass appears as he loses his rear wheel. I quickly pass and get a gap. Will has a dig and passes me on a uphill section . I lose ground to him on the downhills and those slow bottom turns., but manage to keep Robin at bay.
The bell lap comes early at 38 minutes and it a dig in time, careful not to overcook that off camber.. go wide and commit to the torn up apex.., same with the approach to the running barriers . I almost get up to Will, but his last lap effort me maintains the gap and finishes around 9 seconds in front of me..
A very contented 9th in the race and 7th Vet.. very happy with that as I felt it was a proper race. no screw ups, no excuses.. raced to my ability finally.. very pleased.
Trouble is there's not enough races left to work my way up the league tables.

What went well:

Good result.

Good tyre pressure choice.

No misshaps

not so well.

Should have bought Limus Tubs not Open Tubulars then I would have the confidence to go lower.

Need to practice barriers again.. I've got slower.

Punch short banks are lagging at the moment.