Cyclocross is the new black

My good friend Joey Gough has renamed me 'Cyclo Ross such is my current obsession with the tough winter endeavour that is cyclocross.  But seriously, its the hardest hour of cycling you're likely to encounter, interesting and varied courses and good close racing; what more could a racer ask for?  I'm racing the Eastern League and after a slow start at my first race I've stepped it up to gain two 11th's and a 13th overall and a Senior league ranking of 6th, not bad for a 4X racer!

 

Sunday was Round 6; Hillyfields Supacross, promoted by Colchester based club, Amis Velo.  The course was my favourite so far, with fast grass sections broken up nicely by twisty wooded sections, which suited me down to the ground.  The race set off at a reasonably steady pace and I was sitting nicely in 7th spot but heading out of the woods on lap three I picked up a front puncture, I rode it to the pits (gotta love cyclocross rules) and rode a stint on a mountain bike (an emergency spare) whilst my crew fixed the flat.  Turns out mountain bikes are slow in comparison, but I dug deep to minimise the loss.  A lap and bit and I'm back on the 'cross bike, with the bit between my teeth I went on the comeback trail...  I managed to get back up to 11th overall, narrowly missing out on the 10th spot with a sprint to the line.  It was a stacked field and junior National Champ, Hugo Robinson took the win from Eastern League leader Andrew Nichols and Shaun Aldous rounded off the podium.  Pretty stoked on my position given the quality of field and the time lost due to my puncture.  Top 10 next time.

 

Meanwhile, Dogman and Bates both took top honours at the Midland BMX Champs.  Report to follow shortly...

I've been a bit slack with the blog updates but its just been such a busy time of late, everyday life getting in the way of riding and talking bikes and all that.  Hopefully I'll be a bit more on the ball with it as of now...

Getting rad on the 'cross bike

4X Champs - Better late than never

I've finally got around to updating from the 4X Champs at Harthill.  I arrived in the UK late Friday after the massive drive back from a week in the Alps, I headed straight to Bates' house to crash the night and hit Harthill Saturday AM.

I said before, a week in France would either be the best or worst preparation ever.  Turns out it was pretty bad.  Conditions were damp but the sandy track held up well to it, shame there was a vicious cross wind, making the 'pro' line a bit shady, mainly as it was gusting up and inconsistent.  Oh well.  So I set about getting my lines dialled, I felt pretty average.  I got moto'd so at least my racing was consistent with practice.  Only a National round so I wasn't arsed, the champs was my main focus.

Me and Bates went to Ironbridge for a swift half afterwards, I finally got to check out the bridge that it is famous for.  We got a Thai takeaway and talked tactics for the following days Champs.  I broke it to him that we'd be doing a timed seeding run then straight to knock out rounds.  I wouldn't believe me until June Beaumont confirmed it.  The Beaumont's always know what's happening.

Sunday race day, more rain, wind was blowing up the hill so no cross wind and I guess Saturday's riding done me the world of good, I felt like a different person, I quite like racing in the wet and I'd changed gearing and tried something different on my gates which worked out well in practice.  Timed run was steady but solid, ended up 15th I think, which would mean a reasonable gate pick later on.  Bates the timed run specialist blasted into 7th.  Fellow Hardcore Elite member, Joey Gough had picked up a knock from the day before and took another slam in practice, so had to sit it out.  I was gutted for her, she was definitely in with a good title chance.  Next year Goffy.

Into knock outs, I'm light on details as, if I wasn't racing I was trying to keep my goggles clean and dry, it was still pissing it down...  Bates was making things difficult for himself by crashing and then making comebacks to make it through to the 1/4's.  I was happy with my progress up to the 1/4's.  It was a tough one; an in form Will Evans, Beaumont and Gethin alongside me, I knew I would need a good lap.  Got a minter of a snap, things got a bit tight, next thing I'm upside down, flying backwards and then sliding in the mud, not sure what happened but that was it, my bars were twisted round and my wrist was feeling like it took the brunt of the impact.

Scott Roberts and Beaumont went down in the final, leaving PJC to battle it out with Luke Limbrick, with Luke taking a surprise win, who says 4X is dull?  I didn't witness this myself I was already on my way home.  A big clean up operation ensued, mainly one handed as my wrist was still feeling tweaked, it's amazing how difficult it is to wring out wet kit with one hand!

Ironbridge - Whilst we waited for our delicious Thai takeaway

Thunderbolts of lightning; very, very frightening

So a while ago my mate Stu phoned to ask if I want to go to Alpe D'Huez, riding for a week, he has some mates going, there's room in the chalet and he's driving anyway... Obviously I accepted the offer, a slight adjustment to the schedule to fit it in around the national 4X champs and away we go, but not before buying my own camelbak, after years of robbing other people's water.


Lack of WiFi has resulted in a "Dear Diary" report of the highlights from my iPhone notes.  Stu has all the good photos, I'll upload some highlights when I get time...


We left the UK Friday after work, drove, slept in the car a few hours and drove some more, arriving at the foot of the famous 21 hairpin climb about lunch time, thanks to the luxury of Stu's Chelsea tractor we felt energised enough to blast some DH runs before teatime.  Quite a change of pace in the space of 24 hours.


Sunday was Mega Avalanche day so we kept clear of those maniacs and rode some of the enduro and DH runs the mountain had to offer.  It was pretty rough, lots of people have been in town and everything was pretty blown out.  But ascent by chairlift and 30 plus minute descents are good by me.


Monday the Etape was heading into town (at any given moment there's a cycling event going on in France!) so we busted out early and headed to Bardonecchia in Italy, a few hours drive away.


Lessons learnt from today:
French civil engineering is impressive.
French drivers aren't shy of a blind bend, mountain pass overtake.
Italy is full of bikini clad Pensioners.

Driving over the top of the world...

Bardonecchia provided some mellower riding than previous days high altitude rock strewn tracks and the drive home was fantastic, driving through the Frejus tunnel, 8.2 miles long it was quite an impressive piece of engineering.  The supermarket had the hottest check out girls I have ever seen, which topped off the day nicely.


Tuesday we headed over the famous Col du Galibier into Valliore, where we found some fantastic trails, the favourite being a 10k descent with ridge lines and fresh cut woodland loam; I can't remember grinning that much after a descent ever before.  Me, Stu and Phil just gunned it flat out 'til we decided we were getting a little too tasty for our ever decreasing energy levels.  The drive home took in more amazing passes and incredible engineering masterpieces, the French love hydroelectric and there was some awesome dams and subsequent reservoirs.  Straight up one of the best riding days ever.


Wednesday + Mountain thunderstorms = No riding

Power tripped in the chalet from a VERY close strike.  Rich was cleaning the 19" rims on the pimped out Fulford Cycles Transporter at the time, he's a big man but boy did he move. Hail stones promptly followed.  WiFi day for sure.  Hustled Tom on the pool table and watched Cav win a tour stage in a British owned bar.  Lightning strike frazzled the boiler, resulting in no hot water.  Cheers then.

Thursday was the last day of riding and we kept it local on Huez mountain, amongst other things, we took in the Mega Avalanche quaili course, the top of the Mega was closed due to bad weather, gutted not to get up there but never mind.  To be fair I was feeling pretty battered from the weeks endeavours so in some ways I was quite thankful it was shut.

Big thanks to Stu for driving and the Fulford Cycles crew for being perfect hosts.  If you're ever up in York pop in and see them.  Enjoy yourself!

On the road again

So all my kit is packed, half a day of work left and I'm heading South to ride the Alps for a week.  Alpes D'Huez to be precise.  Driving down with my buddy Stu and hooking up with some other guys for a week of XC trail and DH, I haven't been proper mountain biking in ages. Can't flippin' wait!  Thanks to Ison Distribution for swiftly despatching me a sweet Renthal bar and stem for my Heckler.  Gonna chuck my 4X bike in and have a blast on that at some point, we drive back on the following Friday and I'm straight to Harthill for NPS 4X and National Champs.  It'll either be the best or the worst prep for that...

Rode the Gate 23 trails last weekend with Goffy, Scoobs and Jonny, amazing weather and the first trails session for an eternity meant moto whips and phat tables a plenty.  Read Joey's blog for a better write up and some sweet pics

Clicky clicky ---> joeybmx.blogspot.com

And like a proper all action hero I raced another criterium road race last night, tight technical track, 50 riders and an hour flat out made for a surprisingly fun way to smash your legs to bits.  I'm so road right now.  Joking aside, it's rad.  And for some reason I keep thinking about buying a cyclocross bike for this winter, I'm considering embarking on an all out assault on the Eastern cross league. Watch this space...

Busy times ahead

Well July is looking like it'll be a busy month, Alpes D'Huez for a week of DH and trail epics followed immediately by the British 4X National Champs at Harthill...  Literally; I'll be driving home from France straight to the Champs.  Should be good.

Got some interesting stuff in the pipeline for The Hardcore Elite, including a new collaboration t-shirt design and looking further ahead to 2012 a 4X team with a star-studded line up.  Can't say any more than that right now, watch this space...

It seemed like a good idea at the time

109 miles of brutal Peak District road was conquered by a hardy bunch of Hardcore Elite crew members on Sunday.  I'm short on details but it had over 4000 metres of climbing apparently.  My legs can back this fact up.  Thanks brothers.  Another awesome trip, riding bikes with your buddies.  It's the future.

Just to get the ball rolling...

The Hardcore Elite is back.  Well, it never really went away.  Blogs are all the rage these days so we had to grab a piece of the action.