Eastern Cyclocross League 8 - Mistley Sun 27th Oct 2013

Mistley in Essex was the location of round 8 of the Eastern Cross League.  The course is mostly up and down with sharp bends in woods just outside the town and generally tends towards the muddy side. With a number of riders opting for mountain bikes, this course  is perhaps the closet the Eastern League gets to a mountain biking.  The NRCC team for the day (Lawrence Brenchley, David Kiely, Matt Cress and Bryan Holland) were having none of it though and all lined up on cross bikes  hoping the lack of brakes on the downhill and gears on the up-hills would be balanced out by the lightness of the bikes and some “lets get cross” attitude.  The Vets race saw Dave and Lawrence compete and the spectators watched with interest as initial laps saw a mountain bike rider was off the front of the pack by some distance. As time wore on the eventual leaders dragged him back and overtook on hills were running a cross bike was just quicker than riding up in a lower geared mountain bike.  Dave and Lawrence where however having their own battles.

 

Lawrence Brenchley reports -

 

As you first arrive at Mistley it looks innocuous as there’s a good flat field around the start.  We had sunshine when we started and then you go straight into the woods and don’t re-emerge for most of the lap!  The course is very hilly in woods apart from small sections through the finish line and it’s a technical course.  Although there was only one actual barrier, a large tree trunk, which Ross Tricker, winner of the Senior race confidently bunny hopped.  The traffic I encountered was in the steeper sections where most riders had to dismount to get up and this made it the most tiring race I’ve done to date     I was riding my new tubs for the first time and , despite the front wheel looking like a blind man had glued it on, Dave Kiely said ‘ it will be fine, it’s only cross’ so I lowered the pressure down as far I dare.  Dave was nowhere to be found at the start but arrived just in time and pushed his way into his grid position, to the bemusement of riders further back.  I started in my usual position and had an unspectacular race mostly trying not to fall on my right ride and re-ignite my bruises from last week tumble at Davy Down.  There was plenty of encouragement from Bryan and Matt.  Did the new tubs make any difference?  Well, I didn’t seem to slide around as much and I didn’t fall off, so I suppose that means they were better,  or  was it that I wasn’t trying hard enough! 

Dave Kiely reports - 

I was suffering almost immediately, but still managed to have a little "battle" with a couple of other riders, until a mysterious chain and rear mech ailment, (which turned out to be  my freewheel seizing up) on the penultimate lap leading to a couple of chain drops and a period off the bike looking for the problem. The final ten minutes were eerily quiet as I only just avoided being lapped and had the woods all to myself having long since lost anyone else to race with. 

Dave finished 31st at +10.55 with Lawrence 52nd at +1 lap 4.35 (74 starters)

 

In the last race of the day Bryan and Matt lined up for what would prove to be a long hour.  Bryan remembered Mistley well have fallen far too many times last year in difficult conditions and was hoping to have a better time of it in the slightly better conditions this year. Though the course was less wet this year it still proved tough as the constant mix of descents and ascents in the wood left little time for recovery and the repeated carries on the climbs took their toll.  Bryan was pushing along in mid-pack obscurity for much of the race and as lap six started he realised that he’d managed to avoid any “offs” so far and having paid particular attention to one innocuous section which had proved his undoing previously (about five times). Well you can guess what happened on that lap, yes as tiredness crept in he forgot to watch out for said section and he was sliding along the ground thinking I’ve done this before. Despite a quick remount he lost 30 seconds in the lap and a couple of places.     

 

Matt Crees reports - 

With the warmup complete and slightly tired legs from the previous days race, I took accustomed position at the back of the group at the start with the aim to avoid any pile ups on the first steep decent. Today's aim was the same as usual, not finish last and get some good practice on a technical and tough course and I soon found myself in a battle with three other riders. A bit of jostling for position went on for the first three laps until I managed to gap them on a long ascent after trying a new line (Nys would be proud). I kept a pace I could sustain and for the next lap and a half I increased my lead over the riders behind, with one and half laps to go I spotted a rider in front struggling on the hill run-ups. Invigorated I upped my pace slightly and pushed on catching the rider just before the bell for the last lap, a dart up the inside on a corner allowed me to pass before the single track in the wooded section and a 10 second interval was enough to gap them. They had no reply thankfully and the rest of the last lap was making sure I made no mistakes to take 50th place of 59 riders. Bryan came in 1 lap down in 31^st place.

 

Earlier in the day Joe Kiely of Welwyn Wheelers finished 7^th in the under 12s race after having a disastrous first lap on which he managed to crash 4 times!