cyclo-cross round 3 witton castle *PICS NOW ADDED*

mr-marty-martin · Joined: 30 Jun 2008 Posts: 1979 Location: co Durham

hi everyone

wasnt looking forward to this one as the day before the race i had a major mechanical, a only 1 brake race mechanical that is... Rolling Eyes

but i battled on and tryed the warm up, which wasnt to bad apart from i got a puncture 20 mins before the race so got that fixed and had no time to warm up again as the race was starting which isnt good

the course was very good, it had a great mixture of ups, downs, single track, technical switch backs and slippy concrete sections, although the back end of the course was a bit on the grassy side giving advantage to those on cross bikes

got to a great start and had a realy good rythem going in third place for about a lap and a half, then once again disaster strook as the front brake which wasnt working anyways started rubbing aggresivly (metal on metal ) and i started to loose touch with 1st and 2nd. so grouped up with the two riders behind me. as the brake wasnt easing up and the rubbing getting worse ( making pedaling a bit harder ) i tryed to loose them and got a little lead before it got any worse. but this was soon to be regreted as i'd used to much energy and got caught again putting me back down to 5th place and 4th in my age cat. i then got droped ( by riders i beat last week ) so i just turned the tempo down and preserved a bit of energy for the adult race as the people behind me were way back .so overall i had a bad race and was very disapointed, i come 5th overall and 4rd in my age cat. the person who's infront of me in the league didnt turn up so it puts me second in the league.

getting ready for the adult race which i ride in just for the sake of it, i took the pads out of the front and the rubbing was gladly stopped

a wasnt sure how to play the next race as i wasnt riding against anyone in my catogary (the closest person was 17 years old) i got to a good start again and the legs were feeling suprisingly good. for the first 4 laps of the one hour long race i grouped with my coach from hetton and left abit of energy in reserve for later on, but i soon got bored of this and got past another thew riders to group with an old bloke ( who was actually very good, national or regoinal champion a think in his age group ) we both had our own good sections of the course, me on the technical and him on the grassy parts. i was enjoying racing with him as we spured each other on and joked that the race is only out of me and him. we kept splitting and then joining as the laps rolled past and once i heard the bell i made it my goal to beat him. it was a very rocky uphill road when i heard the bell so i new we had a lap and a half left to race. i realy went for it at this point and for the first time in the race he didnt catch me on the grassy stuff. i held the postitoin and got to the flag with a solid sprint

so over all it was a bad race points wise, but i had allot of fun in the adults, so onwards and upwards with a race next week and new brakes etc

will post the pictures of the race when they get put on the website

heres the pictures, not as many of me this time so i'll post some other ones i think look good

just coming out of the technical section
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sprinting upto the hurdle
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coming of the small but hidden drop off
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me starting to get droped
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one of the lads getting some air
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nice pic of witton castle
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the start of the adults race
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me infront of the bloke i was racing on the climb
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everyone chillaxing at the end of the race
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Gunner · Posted: Sun Oct 12, 2008 6:38 pm Post subject:

Well, it's all good experience marty, just look at it from that perspective.

And next time, check, check and re-check your bike before a race Rolling Eyes

Why not have a look in this weeks Cycling Weekly magazine, there are some pointers, I believe, on cyclo cross dismount techniques etc.

mr-marty-martin · Joined: 30 Jun 2008 Posts: 1979 Location: co Durham

the thing was i new about it the night before but it was to late to get parts etc, and if i didnt race it would nack the season up Rolling Eyes

Dale · Posted: Sun Oct 12, 2008 6:59 pm Post subject:

Looked like a good race that, that lad seemed to have got his front wheel pretty high from such a small bump Shocked

mr-marty-martin · Joined: 30 Jun 2008 Posts: 1979 Location: co Durham

yeh a wondered what he was doin actualy when a saw the picture, thought he was pulling a wheely at first

it was just like jumping of something a bit bigger than a curb realy, but we were trying to bunny hop it cos there was boggy mud there

mr-marty-martin · Joined: 30 Jun 2008 Posts: 1979 Location: co Durham

it should be a good race tomorow as people's been sayin it's suited to mtb's, got the bike all set up spot on aswell

also might be getting a old cross bike, just tht someone's selling his old one for £50, nothing spectacular but it'll do the job. he won the national cross championships a while ago now

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