Eastern Cyclocross League - West Suffolk Cross Sat 19th Jan 2013

With heavy snowfall the day before the last proper racing weekend of the season I kept anxiously checking the Eastern Cross League page for any news of cancellation. The beauty of CX is that adverse weather conditions will actually only add to the 'enjoyment' of the course, the threat of it being called off was purely a case of logistics. The CX gods were kind to us though and thankfully the organisers were able to let the race go ahead. 

 As we headed to HQ to sign on, carefully negotiating the car park turned ice rink, the usual nods and greetings from familiar faces were met with sheepish and childish grins of excitement at the prospect of mucking about in the snow. Despite the sub-zero conditions there was still a reasonable turn-out of riders, in fact the women's race enjoyed one of the largest turn outs of the season at 17 riders. This observation prompted several MTFU style comments from the vets whose turn-out was a fair bit below average! Dave Kiely and Hannah Ormesher raced in the 40 minute Vets/Women's race and Bryan Holland raced in the hour long Seniors race. Joe Kiely raced in the U12s category following the Vets race.

We were started on a red grid sprayed into the snow. I thought I'd be fine in base layers and warmers but the icy temperatures meant a last minute number retrieval from lower down the layers up to my long sleeve jersey I'd planned on removing on the line. It was not warm. The course was completely blanketed in snow and required careful handling. We set off down an icy straight which channelled the riders down an off camber corner. The course was quite wide here so start of the race jostling wasn't too fierce. A sharp left provided the first opportunity for riders to show off their snow riding skills, a long stretch with a slight incline along the edge of the school field followed which then snaked back along itself and provided a great sprinting opportunity. The snow however had disguised rabbit holes and mole hills and they certainly let you know about it if you forgot they were there. The course did a further 180 on itself and this time a single hurdle had to be negotiated. Clipping in after the hurdle was tricky at times as ice compacted in the tread of your shoes around the cleat to form one big ice lump which required some forceful kicking at the pedals to dislodge. Just as you managed to clip back in again you were glad you had as you headed towards a really steep bank which split the field onto two levels. The course didn't contend itself with just going up this the once, instead snaking up and down the bank three times in succession. The first time was rideable, the second time required a good grimace/last minute foot out for some to get over the crest and by the final climb the legs were burning so much it was better to just dismount at the bottom and run up. 

The course offered the legs brief respite before another short steep climb, this time it was off camber and it was tricky to keep both wheels gripping on the snowy grass. Super high cadence helped you up although this was difficult in practice on lactate filled legs. As the race progressed the snow became green and slippy in places from grass that had been ground to a pulp under our efforts. A short woody section of the course wound through the trees and mixed the white up a bit with an ankle breaking, lumpy and off camber run up/across/down section. The course then had a bit of a slow and sloggy general meander on some lumpy ground which exited through a tight gap in the trees down onto a slippery pavement before leading back to the start line.

The women's race started a couple of minutes after the vets. I could see the blue blur of Dave Kiely in the distance. I got off to a good start on the second row of the grid in what was a large field of riders for a women's race. I felt confident on the snow and soon realised I'd left a few girls behind I really hadn't expected to. My handling on the corners was not particularly elegant to watch and I lost a lot of speed as I tried to keep both wheels glued to the snow, attempting to make up for my blundering with some snappy sprints out. I held fifth place for a while and being ahead of the stronger riders gave me a real psychological boost. Most of the race was spent trying to keep them off my tail with a 'you could actually beat her today, go on!!' sort of thing going round my head. Apart from a stumble up the last of the three hills I managed to stay upright. A couple of the stronger riders seemed to gain in confidence in the tricky conditions as the race progressed and improved their lap times, eventually passing me about mid-way through the race. I rode flat out and consistent laps with a couple of seconds give/take and was in 7th place on the final lap, desperately trying to hold off a rider I could see gaining on me at every switchback of the course. I managed to hold her off right up until the final quarter of the last lap of the race. Despite having conceded this last minute place (by 13 seconds - perhaps my earlier stumble cost me that) I was still happy to have come home 8th in a strong field of 17 starters having beaten some rivals. Couldn't have asked more from the last race of the series.

The Elite Vets/Seniors and Youth races were as usual the last races of the day. The snow seemed compact on the course in many places with a few sections of mud starting to come through, but the warm up laps provided a little confidence for the conditions. With a reduced field lining up Bryan found himself with the dubious honour of lining up in the second row of the grid (note the gridding system in cross must be a dark art because looking round he could see a number of individuals who consistently beat him gridded in the 2 rows behind?). The start was hectic with one of the favourites lined up in front of Bryan promptly losing his pedals and frantically positioning all over the

place in the first corner to keep upright. Soon after that the race settled down and Bryan found himself racing a little ahead of his usual position in the race. With the bell ringing he was looking to have lost the battle he'd been having with another rider, but a determined effort saw Bryan creep closer on the first third of the last lap only then to then drop back on the difficult hill repeat section of the course. Coming in to the penultimate straight it looked all over, but a desperate move on to the big ring combined with a  "it's the last race of the season - go for it!" mentality Bryan found himself on the wheel with just an off camber section and the final straight to go. The surprise return and the additional gearing was enough to take the place and end the season for Bryan on a small but happy note!