Rise of The Newbies!!!
This Sunday was round 9 of 11 of the Central Cyclocross League and ARCC had its best turnout of the season (maybe ever?).
We had 14 club members racing, 3 members turn up to support, plus Charles (Claire B’s other half) a teammate if not a member.
I really want to give the biggest shout-out to the 5 members who rode their first-ever CX race after coming along to the Intro CX Skills morning only 1 week ago! Cross is for everybody but from the outside, it can be hard to know that & it takes enormous courage to sign up, pin a number on & give it a go.
Giles & Grahame were off first for ARCC in the Male Vet50 race at 11:30, I think it’s fair to say that Giles had the upper hand on the more technical elements while Grahame, used relentless tenacity to chase back or pull away on the less technical bits. Never more than 50m apart they seemed to swap positions every time we saw them. Here is what they had to say about their first-ever CX race;
“Loved every minute!!
Great to be out there with so many ARCC clubbers of all abilities (as Team as cycling gets)
Something for everyone
Give it a bash !!“ Grahame N
“Why didn’t I find this 20 years ago?!; Also, such a great vibe: even when I was being lapped, the riders came through giving a call without making it sound like we were in the way!” Giles G
Next up we had the Women’s race, which spanned all age groups (although age group prizes are still awarded so there are about 5 races within a race!) at 12:30. In this race we had newbies Claire & Vanessa plus old hand Fiona (doing her 2nd ever CX race). What took place for maybe the first 30 mins of the 40 mins race was basically a G3 group ride with added grass, they just wouldn’t leave each other alone! Somehow even closer than G&G in the race before. By the end Claire had pulled away a little bit and very well done to her for that, here’s what our other two newbies had to say;
“Been thinking of giving this a go for last 2 years. Didn’t know what to expect but what a blast, loved it. Everyone was so supportive and it was great to have so many club members taking part.” Vanessa T
“SO much fun, type 2 kinda fun, loved it! Bit of a nervous first lap but once I got into it and found my rhythm it was great! Wish I’d got into it earlier in the season” Claire B
Next up we had the Male Vet40 race at 13:45, and truth be told I’ve reached this point of the write-up having completely forgotten Nick H hadn’t raced CX before! I’ve legit had to go back to the top & change 4 to 5, that man just takes to things like a duck to water. Along with Nick we had, Matt B, Darran E & Rich J racing. By this point the rain was incoming but these seasoned professionals made it look easy.
Due to poor planning, we don’t really have many pics of them racing, sorry boys 🙁 This will be rectified at future rounds but in the meantime enjoy this image above of them working hard in the pits AFTER their race was over, cleaning team mate’s bikes. Say it with me; CYCLING IS A TEAM SPORT.
Due to the aforementioned poor planning, I missed most of their race trying to find a cycling shoe, but in the gallery I’ll link to at the bottom we do have a few videos of them slipping n sliding.
As always the final race of the day was the Senior Men at 14:45 where we had me (Grant), Ben K, Adam W, Jordan T & Alan W. Plus son of & boyfriend of ARCC members, Charles.
For the senior men, the heavens truly opened & the mud arrived – you need to go to Instagram to see the full story where Fiona has made a series of videos from across the races.
Finally a shout-out to Andy B, Bex & Sam who gave up some of their Sunday to cheer us all on & Paul B who lent us a portable jet hose!
Images & videos from the day
Youtube video showing onboard footage of V40 & Junior race
What’s next?
Details & to enter round 10 at Minet Park, Hillingdon on 27th Nov HERE
Details & to enter round 11 at Ashlyns School, Berkamstead on 4th Dec HERE
Details & to enter Dalton Barracks, Abingdon CX on 11th Dec HERE
Want To Get Involved?
We aren’t planning to run another ‘Intro to CX Skills’ session until next year. But… if you think you’d like to enter any of these last 3 races & just need a bit of a confidence builder first give me a shout & I’m sure we can sort something out.
That’s all for now,
Grant B