Central CX League Round 5 - Milton Keynes

Sun 23 Oct 2016

Round 5 of the Central League took us back up to bowl at MK, this time under the direction of Team MK.  Being the local club and not just visiting to use the venue they pulled in a lot of the local business and food venues, as well as Jez Cox on MC duties providing full commentary on all races, it created quite a buzz in the atmosphere.

The course design I have to say was probably the best I have experienced at the bowl. It had the right amount of everything in it from my perspective, which made it challenging but also fun to race. This was echoed by many of the riders as well, could have been a different story if it had been a wet one though.

I got my usual call to the 2nd row and as usual went backwards quicker than I could blink. This again meant having to pick my way through the field over the next couple of laps trying to reinstate myself in the correct place within the food chain.

My self and a rider from GS Henley got embroiled in one hell of battle for the majority of the race. One would attack, get a gap, get caught then the other would counter. It was murder but strangely enjoyable. Due to constant high pace we had moved up and fighting for 7th place.

With approx. 1.5 laps to go on an off camber downhill section I slid out, hit the deck and got entangled around a course post and tape. It took me a minute, while ignoring the pain to my left knee to get things in order and back on course and on the bike. Once on the bike and trying to descended back into the bowl I noticed numbness to my right hand and was unable to grip the hoods or place my hand in the drop as I couldn’t feel or move my thumb. I managed to wrap my fingers on the tops to steady the bar, this though made the final part of the race extremely tough as it meant I couldn’t use the gears or the brake sufficiently. After pulling lengthy rear wheel skids for lap I came home in 10th place. On crossing the line I was ushered quickly over to the 1st aid tent as they were packing away, the 1st aider removed my glove and in the process there was slight pop sensation and a sudden rush of feeling and pins and needles back into hand/thumb. I was given ice packs and directed to get x-rays to check everything was back in place.

No cross for few weeks now but hopefully will be back at for the Central league fixture at Welwyn in a months’ time.

Paul McGrath