Eastern Cyclocross League 8 - Mistley Sun 28th October 2012
Mon 29 Oct 2012
Round eight of the Eastern Cyclocross League was promoted by Colchester Rovers and took place at Mistley in Essex.
Last years race had been dry, with the overriding hazard being an abundance of acorns scattered over the woodland floor. This year the squirrels had done their job, and acorns were replaced with lashings of lovely mud.
The course consists of a sprint to a corner that takes you into the woods. Apart from a couple of psychological breathers where green grass and sunlight are briefly spotted, the majority of time is spent under tree cover, avoiding roots, straining up steep slippery climbs, and for today especially, judging speed into corners and trying to find the correct lines that will keep you upright.
First off were the 45+ vets with Tim Brown and Dave Kiely representing the North Road.
From his usual well earned place on the front row of the grid Tim was in tenth place at the first corner. Finding the course a little too hilly to suit his strengths, and perhaps suffering a little from the previous nights hop and grape based beverage consumption, he lost a few more places to finish 13th at + 4.37.
From back in the fourth row of the grid Dave had, by his standards, a good start. Surviving and prevailing in a leaning contest with an adjacent competitor, he made up a few places before the enforced single file riding of the forest began. As cyclocross natural selection thinned out the initial crowded first lap he had a rather lonely race catching a couple of riders and finishing alone in 20th place at +7.22 behind the winner Richard Muchmore of West Suffolk Wheelers who completed 5 laps in 38.45.
Hannah Ormesher rode in the women's race which, due to the technical nature of the course and for the avoidance of mass pile ups, started five minutes after the male Vets race. After a tentative few warm up laps it was soon clear that the race was going to be as mentally demanding as it was physically. Hannah found herself on the front row of the grid on what was a comparatively small field of riders - perhaps due to the chilly temperatures and promise of rain.
A strong start saw Hannah in second place during the first lap but she was passed and slipped into third place on a get off and run up a hill section of the course. The race felt long and tough as the course led the riders through numerous climbing sections mixed up with fast technical descents, all in woodland. As the race progressed the course become more and more cut up and strength draining. A few slips caused by a decreased level of co-ordination near the end of the race caused Hannah to concede one more place as she battled to remove a large section of branch and twigs from her rear wheel which she had inadvertently blundered into. Another lucky unexpected final lap was enjoyed by Hannah when the leading Vet passed her to finish his race on the final corners of the course. Hannah finished her race in her best placing of the season in 4th place out of 10 riders.
Bryan Holland, probably wishing he was a few years older for once, was our sole representative in what must have been a very challenging senior race.
With the course again extremely well prepared for the final race of the day Bryan needed a quick wheel change as the starter was calling the riders to the grid, after a rear puncture during the warm-up. The distraction may have accounted for his poor start which saw him drift back down the field before the first corner and fighting out the first lap in a congested back half of the field. Slow progress forward was made during the first lap, before Bryan’s first off in lap two lost him some energy and places. The race continued in a similar fashion with the hilly and muddy conditions requiring a lot of energy, focus and technique and consequently really taking its toll. Bryan completed well down the field and frankly was relieved to finish with only another four (possibly five, they tend to blur past two) “departures from the bike” through his 7 laps of the woods of Mistley. He finished in 37th out of the 50 finishers, one lap and 7:26 behind the winner Tim Guy of Iceni Velo
Abi and Joe Kiely both rode in the under 12s race. Joe was 11th and Abi was 36th of 50 starters. Abi was having her best race so far until her chain came off costing her a lot of time. She still managed to be third girl. Joe, like a few others, suffered from the cold conditions to the extent that afterwards when faced with the choice of cake or warming up in the car, chose the car. We knew it was serious. He recovered in good time to get his cake. Aaron Freeman of Chelmer CC appeared velcroed to the ground as he opened a gap over the rest of the field to take the win. In all there was some great bike handling and determination displayed by the field, blowing raspberries at anyone who thinks kids these days just want to play video games and watch TV.
Report by Dave Kiely.