CycloCross Round 2 – Lady Dixon Park

by Rich · October 14, 2014

It was beautiful day at Lady Dixon where Phoenix CC hosted the second round of this years CycloCross. With record numbers taking part this getting parked was just the first challenge of the day. There were a few changes to the course set up with the youth races (for the Under 6s up to the Under 12s) now located in a section of the park close to the house. This grass area had been marked out so that it increased in length as the race categories moved up. For the senior race, the course had been modified in parts to run in reverse of last year as well as taking in new sections of the park. The plank jumps were located on a bank behind the finish line, the steps (with sand) were located close to where ‘carnage corner’ was last year. The course made great use of the grass areas of the park switching back and forward to take in the slope of the hill.

Dromara CC were once again out in strength with the Junior section showing how it is done:
Ben Wilson 3rd in Under 14 boys with Kerry Beattie also taking a the same step on the podium in the under 14 girls race. In the under 12’s Fraser Harrower produced an excellent performance to take 8th place with his brother Alex taking 12th in the under 8’s – Just getting quicker and quicker.

What’s all this running about? If I wanted to do this I would have got a CX bike

In the MTB races Graham ‘I need a CX bike’ Beckett (19th), Peter Davison (28th), Robert Davison (29th), Bryce Hetherington (33rd). Great to see Jackie Wade and Wannita Broome tackling the MTB race finishing 6th & 8th respectively

In the CycloCross ‘B’ Race we had plenty of dromara colour on show – Graham Smyth enjoying a front row spot took an excellent 10th place just ahead of John Shanks(12th), Richard ‘Did I tell you i dropped my chain and wasnt gridded’ Cowan (13th), Brian Wilson (21st), Paul Mawhirt (26th), Mike Barton (29th), Derek Graham (38th), John Mcguigan (45th) and finally Adrian Booth (DNF-Punture city – ask Barry)

In the Ladies race which saw 11 ladies take to the start line saw Lisa produce a superb 3rd place.

Our main man for the CycloCross ‘A’ Race finished in 13th and I will let you read his report below. The dark horse of the group Mr Grimley has clearly been in secret training producing sub 20min 5km runs – finished 40th today in a very impressive time – one to watch this season.

The last smile for the day

Report by BVK

A tale of many woes. For some reason I wasnt Gridded, and started behind half a dozen chancers that I beat last week, stuck in on the 3rd row at the last second as the cattle all pushed forward and crushed for a good position. Gridding is everything. The holeshot is everything. Avoiding the inevitable bottle neck is everything! Just ask Redgie!

Off we went, up the tarmac at warp speed. Despite my bad position, only proper fast guys are ahead. And Luke. I can live with that, as none of these lot will do anything crazy. Up the sandy steps and through the bottle neck without any issues. On Alex Donalds wheel who is riding for all he is worth now that he has a powertap laced up with a Tub on. He clearly wants good numbers to look over when the race is done and dusted.

The first two laps pass without major incident, the groups are settling down, but from first right the way down to myself it is fairly even, no massive time gaps. At the start of lap 3 I get a little worried that my front wheel is soft but its hard to tell when you had sub 30psi in it to start with. So I ride past the pits and my spare bike trying to convince myself all is well. Midway through lap 3 and the bike only wants to go in straight lines, tubular folding all over itself on every corner. Its definitely going down and I am losing valuable time and positions. Luke repasses me. Disaster.

I finish the lap and find my spare bike in the pits eventually. I only brought it just in case of a mechanical. Yippee.
I also only put the bike together on saturday afternoon and did a 2 minute test ride out on the street with my trainers on. All gears and brakes worked adequately.

The one thing I didnt test was the pedals. Which were done up with full spring tension for commuting duties. Note to self. Test the bike with SPD shoes on next time.

I discovered the error of my ways as I approached the log section the first time round on it. Hand on the top tube, right leg stepped through left and off the side of the bike, feathering the brake with my other hand ready for a Pro dismount.
The last part of a pro dismount is a flick of the left ankle to disengage the pedal and flow into a nice running motion. It works better when your foot disengages. When it doesn’t you can do two things. Haul both brakes on and try to stop. Or panic and throw the bike away from you while your foot is still permanently attached.

I went for option two. I felt it would give the crowd better entertainment value. In hindsight it might have been a poor choice.

Picking myself up as the crowd stifled their laughter, I try to put my chain on, retaining my cool calm exterior. The façade is crumbling though as it refuses to go on properly with my first attempt. On I get, oh bother, my shoe buckle opened in the crash. Off and tighten it up and go again. Oh Double Bother, my shifter hood is pointing 90 degrees the wrong way. Off again and wrestle it a little. I win the wrestling match eventually after a brave fight by the 105 sti.

Meanwhile I have lost over a minute and about 10 places. A lot of guys I would be aiming to beat every week all steam past and suddenly find the form of their lives as every single one of them fights to the death refusing to yield. I manage to somehow pick my way past most of them eventually riding as hard as I could, with a big raging stubborn head on me. Luckily a nice by product of this is that I can see Luke just ahead.

The laps tick down and I try to ride smoother and keep it consistent, and low and behold last time through the start finish area onto the last lap and he is just about 10 seconds ahead. On to the sandy steps and the catch is made. The poor cub can ride a bike but can’t jog steps. A few wee looks over my shoulder to check where he is and trying to chase the last two possible catches in front brought me home in 14th place.

It’ll do.

Great course with great CX features. Harder physically than it seemed at first, an energy sapping one the longer it went on.

Well done to all the club representatives. Its really brilliant to see so many Jerseys in the B race and guys enjoying it. Brilliant result from Lisa in the big ladies field, biggest turn out ever i believe? 3rd place. I was talking to Aiden McDonald before hand and he laughed saying how amazing it was to see so many women racing, “10 years ago I raced mens races with less guys than that in it”

IMG_20141012_125202180_HDR by barry_kellett99, on Flickr