Eastern Cyclo Cross league 6 - Colchester Sun 14th October 2012

Round six found our gallant breed of cyclocrossers out in the wilds of Essex, Colchester way.  Dave Kiely, after last weeks heroics, was missing with ‘a slightly runny nose,’ or as he insists upon calling it ‘a full blown cold.’  This left John McDowall, Tim Brown and Steve James in the vets race.  Hannah Ormesher in the ladies outing, and Bryan Holland in the full-on-go-for-an-hour senior race.

A bright and sunny day gave the completely false impression that any warmth was forthcoming from the fiery orb in the sky - it was cold, damn cold.  Certainly a day for nuclear strength warm up embrocation on legs for some, whilst others went for the arm and leg warmer combo combined with long gloves.    A large lapped course awaited the riders.  Set in a park, it contained long sections of testy single track, lots of off-camber muddy sections, some fast open bits,  and regular dis-mounting and re-mounting.  Just about all the required ingredients for a tasty croque-monsieur of a cyclocross race.

Tim was grided up with the gods on the first rank, whilst John and Steve where in their usual positions, rows three and four.   Tim didn’t get off to a poll position start, a week off on holiday with copious amounts of Turkish food and drink, somewhat blunted his performance so that he was in tenth place into the key first bend.  However, despite a couple of tumbles he battled his way on and back up the field

Further down the field another titanic North Road battle was developing, as late in the first lap Steve and John become locked in another multi-lap battle for position.  It was Steve that looked favourite, after a crushing Gilbert style attack on a short climb, took him past his team mate and allowed a thirty meter gap to develop.   Steve was coping expertly with the  many technical sections of the course, whereas John was slightly stronger on the more exposed sections and was making up a lot of ground on a hard run up an unridable section of hill.   The gap fluctuated over three laps between fifteen to thirty meters.  

But with half a lap to go, Steve succumbed to the pressure and mental torment of John’s incessant  chasing down and lost concentration on a technical off-camber downhill section, losing his front wheel.  Steve was down, and reduced to flailing around in the mud like a baby hippo on a warm day at the water hole.  John  took his chance and swept by, for Steve to shout despairingly from the deck, entangled in his downed bike,  ‘I’ve fallen off‘   it struck John, even in the throes of oxygen debt, as an odd time to state the obvious.    Steve picked himself up, but the damage had been done.  

Tim came home in fourth place at +0.59 down on the winner, Phil Buick of Iceni Velo.  John again claimed 20th place at +4.28.  Steve, with a massive improvement over last weeks showing, came in 22nd place at +4.39.  There where 68 starters with three DNFs

Hannah started on the second row of the grid.  Although not feeling her best she got into the swing of things and kept the bunch in sight  for the first lap.  Climbing confidently Hannah got caught by her personnel racing nemesis and couldn’t battle back to remain in contention.  Hannah crossed the line a bit disappointed with her result, but was glad to have made it round without doing herself any damage on a technically demanding course. Hannah finished consistent with her general placings this year in 12th place, out of 18 competitors (one DNF)

Bryan was our sole participant in the final race of the day.  Lining up in the third row of the grid he got a good start and came into the first set of single track having kept position in the initial sprint from the line. As the competitors formed a long line through the single track he managed to take advantage of missing a lot of the bottle-necking that occurs further back  and gained some breath back before the race settled down over a long flat field section. 

 With such a technical course there were a number of people crashing or losing time in the more tricky areas, especially as the days multi-race  wear and tear on muddy sections started to take its toll. Having been fore-warned by his team mates from the earlier race, Bryan was focused on keeping on course and upright and tried to gain time from avoiding any mishaps.  

 Coming over the line in 40^th place overall , one lap and 1:35 down on the winner (Darren  Barclay [Artic/SRAM]) This secured him 13^th place in the Elite Vet 40-45 category.  Seventy-eight riders started the race, with three DNF’s.