Eastern Cyclocross League 2 - Springfield Sun 15th Sept 2013

Mon 16 Sep 2013

Round two of the Eastern League and a more ‘traditional’ cross style course than last weeks race.  Plenty of off-camber work, some short sharp climbing, lots of cornering, and two sets of steps for some off bike leg stretching all ensured a frothy, spit streaked cyclo-cross smile for the North Road guys’n’gal


Young Joe Kiely was in action again in the U12s race that was first off the grid.  Suffering from a cold, he showed strongly early on before dropping back towards the end of the race to come in sixth place.


In the vets race cross regulars John McDowall, Steve James and Dave Kiely where joined by last weeks cross debutant Lawrence Brenchley, and complete first timers John Rumbold and Simon Best.  A full field ensured a hectic race with pinch points on the course causing some bottlenecks for riders further back.   John brushed bars with another rider whilst overtaking early in the second lap.  Unfortunately, although contact was light this caused a chain effect crash as the  Iceni Velo rider  came down taking off Dave who was in close attendance.  Both where fine despite stunt man style catapulting though the air, and where quickly back in action.  Dave had looked strong despite his injuries from a couple of training crashes that had caused him to miss last weeks race. All the cross regulars put there experience to good use with John coming home in 20th at +3.36, Dave in a stirling 26th (+4.25) and Steve in a respectable post Tuscan holiday 28th  (+4.41)  


The other North Roaders suffered from having to start off the back and getting held up at the inherent pinch points.  John Rumbold showed very encouragingly in his first ever cross race coming in 41st (+6.51).  Lawrence crossed the finishing line in 61st (+1 lap 2.29) with  Simon on a MTB in 64th at 1 lap and 3.31 down on the winner.  A total of 69 riders took part.


Hannah Ormesher was competing in the Women's race, that starts two minutes after the vets event.  After a successful summer campaign of road racing and TTing, and the purchase of a rather tasty carbon disc CX bike the guys where worried about who would be caught and passed by Hannah during the race.  It was a fate that befell two of the vet men!  Hannah came home in seventh place at 1 lap and 5.19 down on the winner with 17 riders competing for a good start to her cross campaign. 


Bryan Holland, and cross newbie Matt Crees where part of another full field for the Senior / Elite Vet race.  The wind had picked up and the clouds began to look more menacing with the forecast of the first autumnal storm of the year. Bryan settled in to a battle with  a Malden rider swapping places for about the first 30 minutes, before with a slide and off on a fast corner caused Bryan to loose touch and further time recovering.  The middle of the race was then a solo effort with intermittent rain showers. With some pushing on during the later stages he pulled a couple of places back and went past the Malden competitor with a lap to go and caught back up with another rider he’d been tussling with before the fall.  The extra effort to catch up took its toll though and he didn’t have quite enough to overtake and gain another position on the last lap.



Matt was enduring his baptism of fire in his first 'cross race.  He secured a spot towards the front of the non-gridded riders on the line (very astute!) with the aim to keep in front of the bulk before the first choke point. His start didn’t go particularly well, failing to clip in quickly (rookie mistake!) and that left Matt at the back by the time he reached the first of the course choke points. Pre-scouting the course paid off with some good work at the steps and in selecting the correct gear for other obstacles, all helped to move Matt up the field.  Matt’s first  lap was completed in a very competitive seven minutes but it was  clearly already hurting.  With 53 minutes still to race Matt had gone off too hard, so eased up slightly and set himself to ride to some sort of pace.   Each dismount and remount was getting harder and less graceful, so almost inevitably on lap five he failed to unclip properly on the dismount and went down for what the guys euphemistically refer to as a ‘power nap.’  The rest of Matt’s race was uneventful and he was heard to state that he ‘enjoyed’ it...when he had finished.


Bryan felt stronger than last week and came home in 42nd (+1 lap 4.03).  Matt was 67th (+2 laps  2.10).  Eighty-five riders took part.

 


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