Eastern CX League - Stow Scramble

Sun 13 Dec 2015

John, Bryan and Matt paddling in mud syrup

A day that never really dawned due to a curtain of drizzle and battleship grey skies  that dominated  the weather outlook for round 15 of the ECXL.  A new venue for the league, and a previous location of the 2012 Under 23 European CX Championships, that was won by a whipper-snapper by the name of Mathieu Van Der Poel (current World CX Champion) Set in open parkland the initial impression was of a low skill set course.  However, the CX technical points where racked up due to the continuous mud syrup surface and a number of ‘Hail Mary’ off-camber mud-chute descents.  In the dry it would be a fast’n’furious off road crit, but in the mud and rain, it became a more technically demanding beast.
John McDowall  and Bryan Holland where first off in the Vets 40-49 event.  Both got off to solid starts and set about using the power sections of the course to their advantage.  Bryan was working his way ahead but John was not far behind.  Unfortunately,  John started to suffer random, and increasingly more serious gear problems forcing him to run many of the climbs to avoid the possible loss of his rear mech.  The problem was later discovered to be cassette cog gapped sized stones that had worked there way between the gear ratios causing noises that really shouldn’t come from the hard crafted Italian masterpieces of Seignior Campagnolo.   This blighted a good part of John’s ride, and would have had the great man turning in his grave at the abuse of his components,  but probably in reality only cost him a place in the results as he had got away from his main pack of pursuers when fully functioning.  
The best result of the season for Brian coming home in a well deserved 13th place. John held on to a commendable 17th mainly due to some spirited running, his second best result in the current season. (57 riders, three DNFs)
Another top result from our only rider in the Senior race, Matt Crees, with a season best 13th place.  Matt reports that “the slippery conditions resulted in a tough race for  the Seniors. My 'cross experience was beneficial on the corners, where picking the correct lines meant that I could attack riders. This combined with a ‘pro level’ bike change courtesy of Bryan and John, alas tarnished by a schoolboy error with a dropped Garmin, meant a good result for a tough afternoons toil.”