My first CX race

I've been rather busy recently, so I still haven't written up our holiday in the lake district (where we rode Blaes Tarn (25%) and I "swannied"* for P when he rode Wrynose Pass (30%) )

But since getting back I took the plunge and after faffing about for a bit, I entered the Wessex Cyclo Cross league opener at Newbury.

For the last few weeks, I've been using what spare time I had around work (both at the shop and CycleSystems) and leading Sky Ride Locals to get out on the Cross bike. This included using it on a Sky Ride, a brief foray through the paths of Swinley Forest including the Devils Highway stretch which has sand, gravel, loose rocks and very very steep climbs and descents.

A couple of weeks ago, I upped the challenge a little and rather than just riding through, I took the cross bike out onto the Blue route of the Swinley Forest MTB singletrack trails. Great for confidence, bike handling and getting me to attack the ups and downs of an off road course much more than I've been used to.

My training effort (as it was) culminated last weekend with a half hour warm up of riding on grass, hitting short steep ramps and dismount/remount practice before attacking my CX training loop around Wildmoor Heath. The loop has a 1 mile stretch of technical CX terrain and then a 1.5 mile road section back to the start. The tech bit is as follows:

Ramp (run with bike)
Remount, short ride to stile, dismount/cross/remount then fast compacted gravel path to 90 degree left.
Dusty loose stretch (including gate) then 90 degree right into the last .5 mile which is basically a climb.
First part is a short sharp 13% ramp on loose needles/cones, down then up a 9% section up to gate (dismount/remount) then a steady light gradient through what can be a muddy path depending on weather.
 Sprint to end.
join the road and recover for 1.5 miles back to start - repeat until collapse

Even with being nice and accommodating to the walkers and dog owners, I set some good times.

I prepped the bike in the week and took it on the commute yesterday as a last shakedown.

Home, early night and get as much sleep as possible..... then....

Race Day (eek)

...........

After soliciting advice from lots of people much more knowledgeable than me (all the way up to the lovely and approachable 7 times British and current European CX champion, Helen Wyman) I actually felt relatively relaxed this morning. Breakfast and packing kit into and bike onto car, we set off with P acting as Swanny* for the day

We got there in plenty of time to park up, change and sign on before I took a slow recce lap of the course.. for a newbie it seemed quite tough and technical... and tiring. With a "playing field" start and finish through tape, a rather stiff hill (max 15-16 %). a short tarmac section onto steps (dismount) then up sharp little grass ramp (remember the training) up to a very loose gravel path curving back down toward the playing field section. The transition from the descent off the hill to the tarmac section dropped through a little gully of hardcore. then a hard 90 left. The gully was difficult as the bike really got loose under me and was capped off with "Beware of the Adders" signs (not just snakebite puncture risk then). The playing field section also included two crossings of the long jump pit (and a hairpin) which some were riding, but I felt faster dismounting and running a very tight line through it.

P had met up with a couple and their son (dad and son were competing, mum is recovering from a knee injury) who we ended up spending most of the day with and chatting too. I took Dave (the dad) on a recce lap (my third in total) and having dropped the pressure on my tyres. This made the snake death gully a little more bearable.

And then.... warm up done, we were being called to the start of the combined Junior/Vet/Women's race, the top riders being called forward and the rest of us forming up behind....

GO....

My start was not great, being near the back of the "grid" anyway, nerves and maybe not quite enough of a warm up meant that I felt that most of the field rode away, but not all..

I settled into a rhythm, trying to keep decent speed on the grass and tape sections, and digging in on the climb. Bizarrely for me (remember that hills are the natural enemy of pandas) the uphill section at the end of the playing field and the actual climb itself seemed to be the place where I was making up the most ground on riders ahead and I started to overtake and catch people. There was a group of three riders ahead, including another girl, that I set my sights on catching. I did catch her, and pass her on what was to be my last lap, but letting the leaders through at the end meant I lost a bit of speed and she passed me back cleanly before the end. I made sure I went straight over to her when we finished and thanked her for the motivation. It really helped.

At this point, the full results have not been posted, so I have no idea where I actually finished (EDIT- They have now...see below) . I was lapped by the leaders, who were all fantastic in calling out their line and passing cleanly without compromising themselves much at all. I will update the post when the results come in.

We watched all the races before and after mine. It was great to see first and third place in the under 12 race being taken by girls. The senior race got hit with rain halfway through, making a couple of points of the course rather treacherous. The tight corner on the tarmac section claimed one rider rather spectacularly, losing the front wheel and sliding through ( didn't see the crash, but P helped him at the end)

It was a friendly, open, well organised event (thanks to Newbury RC who hosted) on a good circuit and for me, it was a great intro to CX racing..

Will I do more ? I hope so, calendar and commitments allowing.

Thanks to everyone on twitter who offered advice and support. I achieved my pre race goals.
1) Finish the race (not everyone did)
2) Don't finish last (I wasn't)
and 2(b) Don't finish last in class....and I THINK I wasn't (Edit - I wasn't)

When I get time, I hope to do a more detailed report for the BikeShopShow podcast.

And professional pride dictates that I should report that the bike performed faultlessly throughout the race. So I have to thank my race mechanic for all the work she did on setting the bike up (yes, yes, I know, it was me) and thank P again for being super Swanny* for the day.

I might add a couple of photos later too....

LATEST EDIT - FULL results and report (with link to some photos) HERE

In summary:

I finished 6th in the Women's race (7th including juniors) 
82nd overall (note- the winner of the women's race was 41st overall) .

Happy with that


*Swanny - anglo corruption of Soigneur, who are assistants responsible for feeding, clothing, massaging, and escorting riders; from the French for the "one who provides care"