Written by Stephen Jones
With winter fast approaching and much talk of mud guards, gloves and extra layers, there is still a small group who are still insisting on wearing skinsuits, no gloves and obsessing over the difference between 20psi and 22 – Welcome to ‘Cross season! Sadly though, we are already done with Cyclocross with 9 Central rounds raced and each of them has provided us with a very different challenge, some close racing and more than a few instances of poor pressure-choice! But the good news is: there are only 9 months til the new season!
For those that are unaware, grip is king in CX. Tyre choice and pressures can have a huge effect on your performance – no matter where you are in the pack! So from the flag of one race to the whistle of the next there is endless chat about tyres and pressures!
So what happened? Well at the start of the season it was suggested that we create a league for us all to compete in based on the net gains from the grid position. Not saying that this was a resounding success – the rules kept changing and it favoured those with lower starting positions, but it was a major talking point every Monday – which was kind of the whole point! Due to an autocorrect it was known as The Netflix League. The way to score points was simple: finish higher than your gridding number.
Round 1 – Milton Keynes Bowl
The season started nervously. A mixed bag of representation. Sadly no women at this one, but with Darran and Sam in the Senior, Rich and Matt in the V40s, and Stephen and first-timer Simon in the V50s – there was plenty of ARCC on show.
The conditions were dry but overcast. Pressures were on the upper edges with most opting for somewhere around 30psi.
Senior race was tight with Sam and Darran knocking lumps out of each other until the elastic snapped and Sam stamped his authority on the race. Darran put in a very good fight and never stopped pushing until the very end. Ending with Darran 49th and Sam 32nd.
The v40s was similar with Rich and Matt fighting it out, trading blows lap after lap. But Rich kept dropping his chain (3 times at the last count) and every time the effort to get back to Matt was getting harder and harder. Matt just kept that massive engine going and took the spoils at the flag. Rich 31st and Matt 29th.
Then it rained. For 46 minutes. I.e the exact length of the next race: the v50s. It was Simon’s debut after taking “Charles and Sam’s ARCC CX Masterclass” the week before. With Stephen gridding on the 3rd row and Simon gridding at the back, they set off flinging the cut grass all over the bikes creating an extra obstacle which had not been expected. Stephen blew a gasket on lap one being more excited than his fitness and power would allow and slowly slipping further and further back (He was blaming the 46t chainring he had forgotten to change). But with Simon making progress through the pack would Stephen hold on or get caught by Simon? The line saved him, just. Simon 41st, Stephen 34th.
Round 2 – Ziggurats (some brewery somewhere in some woodland)
Dry and technical – probably the best course out there. Short, but it had everything for everyone, including craft beer and wood fired pizza.
Pressures mostly in the high 20s (except one – more on that later)
This was a new venue and was set perfectly for some of the more technical riders.
Alan made his return to the senior race, along with Sam and Jordan. The racing was tight with a lot of interesting line choices from some of the more ‘enthusiastic’ but perhaps less gifted riders. One such example punting Alan sideways late in the race – this will create a rivalry for the next round. CX can be an unforgiving place! Jordan had a super-consistent ride making up 5 places on his grid position ending in 22nd. Sam was solid throughout finishing in 32nd and Alan a very impressive 13th.
Stephen’s Race ended before it started. It was the perfect course for him being technical, but after a blistering start and making up about 50 places poor pressure choice gave him a flat on lap 3 and with no pit bike, had to call it a day. DNF.
Darran raced in a different league this time, so started at the back and seemingly had a stormer! He blitzed past 38 of them for his best finish of the season! If a CX racer finishes well, but there was no-one there to watch it – did it really happen??
NB: CCXL counts every lap, so even though Stephen didn’t see the checkered flag, he wasn’t last and managed to still beat 4 people! He started last on the grid.
Round 3 – CX in the City – Campbell Park
This round is alway a bit of a CX showcase – The Velobants team wheel out all the contacts with RedBull in full show with a DJ Defender, free RedBull for the riders, a Delorian and one of the fastest descents in the calendar it made for an electric atmosphere. The course was a mix of flowing corners, some stinging climbs, some steps and a felled tree to leap over. Proper ‘cross in the center of a city.
With the dry course most opted for mid-high 20s pressure-wise.
This round saw the women step to the grid for the first time this season and they did not disappoint. Holly made her incredibly impressive debut in the v40 and Claire in the seniors. Fi even made the trip to MK to ring cowbells and shout in passing ears! It was a hard fought race with Claire managing to make 4th and Holly surpassing herself and claiming 2nd in category! Amazing stuff. Chapeau Holly, Chapeau.
In the v50s we managed to get Matt, Stephen and Simon onto the start line. All were in sight of each other on the grid. Somehow all dodging the crash within the first 20 feet or so and sprinting up the hill to the first corner. Matt and Stephen continued to trade places until Stephen slipped a chain just off the fast downhill and never managed to claw back the spaces lost. Simon put in a sterling effort to finish 47th with Matt 27th and Stephen 29th.
RedBulls all round!
Round 4 – Bedfont Lakes
Hot, fast, flat. This was a scorcher. Grip was not an issue. Overheating potentially was. It was mid 20 degrees C so most opted to match the heat with tyres and go for 26psi. Probably good considering there was grip everywhere.
First up were Jordan, Darran and Alan in the seniors. Alan looked superbe flick-flaking through the switchbacks and bounding up the steps like a gazelle. He was making up for the chopper in the last round, dispatched him swiftly and then took himself to 12th at the flag. Perfecto!
Jordan and Darran were enthusiastically cheered on from the sidelines and late in the race Darran had a charge (or was it that Jordan was flagging?) no-one could tell but the heat was getting to them over the 50 minutes of trading punches, running up steps and jumping over hurdles. Sam took the flag in 27th and Darran not far behind in 30th.
Stephen and Matt in the V50 raced off in the heat of the day. Stephen was looking forward to this one, having done OK at this round in previous years. But Matt put the early punch in, on the only climb in the circuit, and put a small gap in. Stephen was bruised mentally but started to come back later in the race. Up until a “tactical lie down” coming in to the steps a little to hot and the race was over. Limping to the line a few places back on Matt.
Ice cream for Darran at the line. #realwinning
Round 5 – Hemel.
Hemel has a reputation for being hard. It’s in Gadebridge park – there is no hiding in this one. There are 2 things it’s known for: “that” hill and the spiral of doom. The rest of the course is fairly fast and flowing but you have to get past the hill. It’s probably the hardest of all the CCXL rounds.
But we had a good show: Claire in the womens, Simon and Colin in the v50, and Darran, Jordan and Stephen in the Seniors. Stephen making the (big) step up in category. No-one can understand his thought pattern.
The support on this one was world class with many ARCC members getting to Hemel to shout encouragement from the sidelines and eat frites. There was a party atmosphere we will call it ARCC-fest.
Pressures were mid 20s mostly. Those on tubeless opting for high teens. It was dry and grippy so pressures could have gone a touch higher.
Claire bossed it from whistle to flag. She was SO quick. So in control. Making the hill look flat and breezed over the obstacles. She looked happy? Can we say that? Possibly not happy, but not UN-happy. But of the 6 ARCC riders on the day she was the only one who made the podium for an incredible 3rd on a very testing course. Chapeau
The seniors saw Darran start with some choice tactics of putting out about 10,000watts from the whistle and denying the use of brakes at the first turn. It gained him places, sure, but they were all gone by the spiral! Jordan and Stephen had a ding-dong battle over the next 6 laps or so with Stephen blowing up big-style on the hill and losing a minute to Jordan by the end. A plucky showing considering. Darran finished 42nd with Jordan 34th and Stephen 36th. Stephen is still contemplating his life-choices on this one 24 hours later (CX set up from this point forward is a 40t on the front).
V50s time with Simon and debutant Colin Peters out to show the youngsters what’s what. Simon is now hooked with this being his 3rd race of the season – gridded 38 he made light work of scything his way through the field to claim 28th on the day.
But the day belonged to Colin. At the start wondering about tyre pressure. And thinking he was about to just have a short, but pleasant ride in the park he set about teaching everyone a lesson. Gridded at the back he made his way to a very, very impressive 4th place in the v60 class. And Class he was. Chapeau.
(Claire, although made the podium, was also gridded 3rd…. It’s tough at the pointy end)
Round 8 – Milton Keynes
There was a time where MK bowl was used almost weekly. I still don’t know the way, having driven there at least 3 times each season for the last 10 years! But here we were again. This one promised not to be so hilly as they opted to use some of the apron and a lot of off-camber. The lay out was actually pretty good (aside from one small section, but we’ll ignore that as it was inconsequential). The start loop was an abomination, but once through that the lap flowed really nicely. It’s a short lap at the bowl so you end up doing a depressing number of circuits. You feel like exploding on lap one… what? Another 9? You are joking me!
The weather looked like it was going to make it a mud fest, but was actually OK. Most tyres were in the mid 20s PSI.
The line up this time out was Stephen and Alan in the Seniors, Darran for the v40s and Simon in the V50s, Holly was the lone womens representative. Interestingly Stephen caught Alan at the start and was 2nd wheel to him for the next 12 meters or so before he disappeared along the track. The next time they were in sight of each other was when Stephen saw Alan 2 laps from the end…. Catching fast. Putting his head down and HR up, Stephen put in a last gasp effort to save the blushes of getting lapped. He made it with a new HR record of 196bpm.
The track dried out a bit for the rest of the riders allowing them to put in some solid performances. But Holly was the winner on the day (again), with only her being able to have a net Gain on Netflix…
Round 9 – Corby
No-one from ARCC went. Supposedly it was a good circuit. But it was 2 hours away. Next year perhaps a minibus, a jet wash and maybe a Holiday Inn for a pre-race paarrrtttaaaay! Maybe.
Round 10 – Hillingdon
Some people hate Hillingdon for CX (Stephen). Mainly because it’s either long grass or a bog. Either way you are highly likely to return with fewer rear mechs than you came with. However, this year, the Twickenham lot did a solid and created the best Hillingdon course ever. There were sections universally hated, but actually added to the experience – without them the course would have been dull. It made for some great racing. It was very fast in sections, technical in others it meant that there was a lot of hand-to-hand combat in every category.
All the talk in the lead up was about tyres. Some were willing to spend a lot of money getting the right tyres for the course. Because of the mud most opted for lower than normal pressures. Low 20s.
Strong representation with Stephen, Darran and Alan in the Seniors, Simon, Matthew and Colin on the V50s/60s, and Holly and Claire in the Womens races. Strong games all round – Colin, Holly, Matt and Simon all making positive gains on the netflix league: Colin making up a massive 32 places from his starting position – one to watch for the future this one.
Alan, Darran and Stephen all had “races within races” and never really saw each other from gun to flag. We all seemed to settle in about ¾ of a lap back on each other.
All rear mechs that started the races, finished them.
Round 11 – Berkhamsted
So it all came down to this. In the week leading to the race talke was all about tyres. Everyone opted for muds (barring Matt), The amount of rain and the flat surface meant that every corner would be slippery. Very Very slippery. This was going to be one for the technically gifted.
This week, being very local, had Alan, Darran and Stephen in the Senior, Matt, Simon and Colin in the V50/60, and Holly and Claire in the Women’s races.
Personal note: In the years of racing CX I have never enjoyed a race more. The mud was slippery, but the course design was the best yet, the small changes making it really engaging all the way around. The corners were slippery but there were plenty of places to gain time – provided you were prepared to put the watts out.
In the Seniors Alan was on row3 and no-one saw him until the end gleefully showing how muddy his number had gotten! Darran (AKA Elf on the Shelf) was in the middle of the pack and for some reason Stephen was at the back. This spurred him on to make up time on the others (specifically Darran as thoughts of gaining time on Alan are futile, we all know that). In the mele at the start Stephen jumped Darran and then spent the next 6 laps trying to catch him again.
The V50/60 was a similar story with Matt making a positive start until the mud got the better of the bike forcing a somewhat shortened race. Simon had a stormer and finished a rather pleasing 33rd. With Colin (again) scything through the field to finish 7th in category.
It took the rest of the week to pick the mud and sand out of various parts of bodies and bikes. With more than one BB consigned to the bin.
A final word
CX is not for everyone. But it is for anyone who likes a bit of “type 2” fun. Every race is a story at the individual and at the group level. Every race is different. Every race is a race within a race. Every one of us puts 100% into what we are doing and every one of us is proud (to some degree) of what we get out. Each year we go in with hopes of lofty grid and even loftier finishing positions, but what we know we will get out of it is merely that we pinned a number on and stepped between the tapes. Nothing matters bar the stories.
So there are no excuses to be had – if you have a bike with suitable tyres (yes MTB is fine), you’ll be given a very warm welcome on the start line of any category. The atmosphere is amazing and the racing is as close as you can handle. It’s a great way to test your fitness, power and riding skills to the absolute limit. You’ll get cheered on from the sidelines, you’ll get chips at the end and you’ll have earned a little lie down before your roast dinner.
We started the season as a disparate group of riders from the same club just wanting to race CX, we ended it very much as a team.
Chapeau CX-ers, Chapeau.
#crossiscoming
