Alexander Palace Rapha Super cross by Hannah Omersher

The final round of the Supercross came to Alexandra Palace in North London on Sunday 27th October and the Rapha folk reliably brought with them a bit of mud, plenty of fun and loads of cowbells. Frites and 'fishdogs' were the order of the day and the atmosphere in ‘camp Rapha’ was pumped with excitement for the racing ahead. 

The course layout was awesome, there was a tricky off camber downhill after the starting straight which then led into the 'spiral of doom', making for dizzy work, a couple of hurdles, a fast flat hard pack section in a bit of woodland and then a long hard climb starting on a grassy field up through the woods and out into an exposed and deceptively flat looking bit of terrain in view of the Palace. On the recce lap I realised the wind up in this part of the course was crazy and I couldn't quite believe how slow progress was! I was hoping everyone else felt the same! Then the course made its way down through a rutted section of woodland with some slippery corners before blasting out into the daylight and onto the concrete finishing straight. And repeat. 

I got good start off the front row of the grid as for this event we were called up by national ranking - certainly where points come in handy! I was in 5th position into the first bend and felt confident in the spiral. I kept on the tail of 3 girls for the first lap before losing touch with them. I was passed after the hurdles at pace by a young rider who then proceeded to make her way up the field. A mid-race blunder through the downhill section snapped me back into concentration as I eased off the gas ever so slightly to regain control. Cyclocross is intense and sometimes I find myself pushing so far that coordination goes out the window. I think it is better to regain control and lose a few seconds that way rather than potentially losing a substantial chunk of time coming off the bike. I had a few problems with my gears as a mid-wire cable adjuster broke and was tugging at the gear cable. It meant I could not change gear effectively so I avoided making too many changes, trying to avoid a full blown mechanical. The rest of the race was a rather lonely affair until the last lap or so where I caught a group of vets and was grateful to have them to use as carrots!  Thankfully the mech held up and I finished the race in 6th place of 14 women which I was very pleased with as I was hoping for a top 10.

A mountain of chips and ketchup was scoffed post-race. That's recovery food right?! We stuck around after the race to watch the other categories and it was very exciting to see the pros in action later on in the day but even more exciting when the foam cannon came out for the fun/novice race and the weather was on top form with blustery winds sending foam flying in all directions, much to everyone's delight. A 'tequila shortcut' also featured and it was a raving success, it was hilarious to see blokes dressed as a gruffalos, pandas, zorro, on cross bikes, being chased by a guy with a bidon full of tequila and a mad sombrero, getting unit upon unit of the stuff down them! My support team for the day was David Vaughan and Fidge the dog who were on hand to shout/woof encouragement. Fidge got her fill of the action, having consumed enough foam to wash a thousand dishes, and I put a little cowbell on her collar that the folks at Rapha were handing out. She fitted right in. I think I'll try the fun race next year, it certainly looked it!

Hannah Omersher