Eastern Cyclo Cross League 11 - Saturday November 26th 2011

A return to Eastern League action for the North Road crossers this week.  With Steve James still doing his Gollum impression due to the continuation of his back problems, it was left to John McDowall, Tim Brown and Dave Kiely to set out on the long journey beyond Thetford and into Suffolk.

The race was held at Redgrave and was hosted by the Diss and District CC.    With a biting wind the temperature took a dip from the unseasonably warm temperatures endured so far this cross season, although skinsuits and arm warmers were the still order of the day.  The course seemed, on first impressions, fairly flat and undemanding; an out-and-back closed road section, a set of hurdles, and a tightly packed triple set of small hillocks that required shouldering and running with the bike.  However, the actual race was far from undemanding.  The large sections of exposed lushly grassed circuit proved very energy sapping, not helped by the strong wind. 

Tim was on the first row of the grid and had a good bead into the first corner and as usual rode strongly throughout the race.  However, the leading two riders had broken clear of the pursuers almost from the start and remained clear for the whole of the race.     John’s start was less assured and he lost ground despite promotion to the second row of the grid.  After that he made good ground, but a dodgy patch middle race cost him a handful of  important places and meant that he was outside his target of a top twenty finish.  Dave had another steady ‘learning the ropes’ ride.    With a more lowly grid position, it is always a tougher race to make progress through the tightly packed field.  

The winner was Phil Buick of Iceni Velo who completed six laps in 35.10.  Tim again finished in fourth place at +1.01  John was 23rd at +3.54, with Dave finishing 39th at +5.27.

Fifty-seven riders finished with two DNFs.  Full results can be found here,

http://www.easterncross.org.uk/race11-12-11.htm