Seeing as Dusk til Dawn is only a week away, I thought a quick Cyclo Cross race would get me ready for it.
It was round 2 of the London Cyclo Cross League down at Deers Leap Park in East Grinstead. Dad came down with us again for support on what was again another hot dusty day.
A quick recce lap before the race (after a long signing on queue) and it was obvious an MTB was the way forward. Actually might have been good to take the Epic as opposed to the Maxlight. The course was rather bumpy as it was so dry with a couple of technical sections through the woods.
I lined up toward the back of the grid and when the whistle went, I gunned it. Maybe a tad too much, my HR was over 190 and didn’t get back down for the next mile or so. The course soon bottle necked and everyone jockey/pushed for position. This certainly wasn’t as friendly as an MTB race. Talking of which when people crashed or punctured nobody seemed to ask if they were ok etc, guess it was every man for themselves. Anyway through this singletrack and down round the outside of a field, with 90o left hander in the middle. This is where the MTB came into its own as I could straight line the corner over the bumps and fly out the other side.
Another bit of singletrack with a short sharp climb with a tight turn at the top. Not many people rode it but it was certainly do-able. After this we were out on top the top of the course with a doubletrack along and down the hill which was rather fast. On lap 4 I low sided and crashed on the next corner, as I went into it way to fast and over confident. Picked myself up, dusted off and caught back up to where I was by the next single track. The last tiny bit of single track was down a steep bomb hole type feature and straight up the rooty other side. Again not many people where riding this, but on the MTB no probs.
Next we were out into the main start finish area and on for another lap. My race went pretty well, but after about 5 laps my front tyre started to feel soft and was rolling around on the rim. This might have been why I crashed on lap 4. By the end of the race it was pretty much flat as a pancake.
Overall though it was an enjoyable race and cheers to Dad for coming down to support again.
Results
Awaiting…….
