Baptism of Cross Fire

This weekend was a first for both me and my bike. I finished my Van Dessel Gin and Trombones build a couple of weeks ago but due to wheel problems I hadn’t had a chance to ride it. Fed up of my whinging about wheels Paul offered to lend me his spare set for the weekend. This is what the bike looked like with Paul’s wheels

Apologies for the state of this photo, I will get some better ones soon! As all three of us with Van Dessel Gin and Trombones from the Bearded Man have finished our builds, I will write a blog about how each of us has built up their own bike and the specs in the near future.

Back to the weekend!

Saturday was an early start and a training road ride with Paul. I decided I’d better test the Van Dessel and make sure everything worked as I thought it should. With road tyres fitted we set of for a few hours with some intervals in the middle to spice things up. Having never ridden a ‘cross bike, let alone the Van Dessel I wasn’t sure what to expect. The bike was perfect, well balanced, light and responsive. I was chuffed, the bike worked well and an inspired confidence, all that was left to do was to put some cross tyres on and have a go at my first cross race.

So Sunday arrived. As I said, I’ve never ridden a ‘cross bike before let alone raced one, so it was with a little trepidation that I turned up to round 5 of the CXNE league. As fantastic as the bike is it deserves a solid performance, unfortunately I was the rider. The VD’s first public appearance was me making a prat of myself in the carpark practicing my dismounts / remounts. Dismounts / remounts turned out to be pretty tricky and I instantly regretted my comment of “it is only getting on and off the bike, I’ve done that every ride so far” – what an idiot! After much hilarity, mainly at my expense, we test rode the course. With much relief we finished the first practice lap without needing to dismount, this meant I only had to deal with some tricky off camber sections; a very lucky escape.

Pre-race prep followed the tried and testing cliff bar and a hand full of shot block formula. The start was the usual mass of some smug, some nervous and some already knackered looking faces. I was concerned that with my lack of experience I would mess up someone else’s start so picked a position somewhere towards the back of the pack. This was a bit of mistake, I hadn’t realised how quick the start would be, by the time I crossed the start line it seemed like the riders at the front were already half way round the course, from now on I will be at the front (probably messing up everyone else’s race)!

The racing was brilliant, much more exciting than I expected and demanding a level of rider skill which means that even the road whippets don’t have it their own way. The sunshine also helped!

Usually, I ride and race for longer than one hour and I am always making a conscious effort to keep something back. I found it really difficult to get out of this mindset and found myself backing off when I felt myself go into the red. I’m not saying I could have gone much, if any, harder but I was learning about the bike and the style of riding all the time. I am amazed how hard you can corner and how little you have to brake!

At the end of the race, while my position was nothing to write home about, I had learnt a lot about the bike, cyclocross racing and had achieved a couple of the aims I started out with. I made it to the end and I didn’t come last! I am already looking forward to next week!

Finally a thank you to my team mates Rob and Neal who fielded all my rookie question and tried in vain to teach me how to get on and off a bike without coming to a complete stop! And to Paul for lending me the wheels.

Oh yeah, and while I think about it I made another rookie mistake. I took my girlfriend along to cheer and pass water bottles. This backfired massively, as I spent the rest of the day doing things I hate paying off the ‘brownie points’ she earned. She also had a conversation with other WAGS and nearly discovered the true cost of cycling. Luckily, realising the danger the WAGS were split up and made to stand separately, maybe this should be a rule at all bike races?!

And so it begins...

My first taste of cyclocross racing came last October, and despite its reputation for being miserable anyway, it was awful. Unknowingly carrying a knee injury and riding my MTB, it was a baptism of fire to say the least, at a muddy but fast Temple Park in South Shields.

So it was with a sense of unfinished business I approached my first cross race this year at the same venue. Armed with a proper cross bike, some summer riding and a goldfish memory I rocked up at a balmy Temple Park on Saturday. Quickly joined by fellow Cross Club riders Paul Errington and Neal Wesley, we scoped out the opposition and compared tyre pressures..

"See that Dutch lad in the tiny car? He won the World Cup..."

Rumours of Belgians and Dutch pain merchants abounded; and that was just the start, as Paul Oldham, Steve Lampier et al also warmed up... not to mention Kenny Haswell! A scout of the course showed it was quite quick, a good dismount on the back section and a sandpit providing the only obstacles.

Northwest Kneewarmers embrocation liberally applied, some of my favourite Clif Shot Bloks devoured, and at 2:30pm the race began. A chaotic start with the large (some mention of 100 riders) group meant bottlenecks at the first taped section. Still, the field soon spread out with the top 10 moving away swiftly. I thought at the start I'd try and stick to Paul's wheel. Having trained together a lot and having been lapped by him the previous year, I knew he could put the power down and I couldn't bear to be passed again... early on in the first lap though, I felt good enough to make a cheeky pass, and latched on to a group of 3 other guys.

The 4 of us put in some good shifts, each doing well in different parts of the course and working hard. The dismount/remount worries prior to the race were unnecessary; although the guy who's saddle snapped off his post mid-remount next to me will surely have had sore nuts this morning. The sand pit was good fun; 'just power through' was the general consensus.

It came with a sense of certainty that I heard Paul Oldham politely ask for room on the right as he lapped just before the bell. Only a group of 4 remained at the front though, showing how fast it was despite the National Trophy the next day (The Dutch guy in the tiny car won both, in the end - beating Oldham to second on both occasions).

With the bell we pushed hard; I tried an attack and shook 2 of my fellow sufferees, but was pipped through the sandpit by the third to the line.

Note to self; don't attack too early.

All in all, a seemingly decent result for a first race, and thoroughly enjoyable regardless. With the unexpected congratulations of a good race from Paul and Neal, I can only look forward to next week and a trip (possibly) to Windermere for Rapha Supercross, and then Gateshead for the CXNE on Sunday.

Unfortunately I am no doubt a marked man in Cross Club now, and expect to get my arse handed to me by Paul soon enough.

Until then, though, I feel the Temple Park demon has been laid to rest after last year, and look forward to more. Bring it on :)