National CX Champs 2015

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DavidF
Posts: 2289
Joined: Wed Dec 23, 2009 2:15 pm

National CX Champs 2015

Post by DavidF »

Me and DC headed to Swords today for the National Champs. Rumoured to be a tough course with lots of muck and hills

And so it was. The course was old school cyclocross; mud, steep banks, more mud and more steep banks. Some tricky mtb style singletrack too. All in all a great test, with every cyclocross skill needed

Me and DC entered the Masters (>40) race which is a step up from what we have been racing this year. A large field of around 50 or so. Normally our races are around 50 mins, this was looking more like an hour or so.

Cyclocross is flat out from the gun, into the red, hold position, try to recover, consolidate position is the usual way. Today was the same, although for me the steep banks and the mud were really putting me into the red.

DC rode a great race, no results yet but mid division i'd say. You need to keep your head in these conditions and he did exactly that; using time off the bike to judiciously clean mud from the bike. A cute hoor you could say. I rode well too but was afflicted by mechanicals (again) and a puncture on the last lap, but finished even so, so happy enough.

Great show by Swords CC, we had a plate of curry and rice not 5 mins after finishing, and all the tae and biscuits in the world. Off to Cashel next week for the Muddy Cup which will be our last race of the season...Can't wait!

Here's dc'slegs to give you some idea of the conditions..
dccx.jpg
dccx.jpg (101.44 KiB) Viewed 5404 times
DavidC
Posts: 1709
Joined: Mon Dec 21, 2009 2:28 pm

Re: National CX Champs 2015

Post by DavidC »

Yep, that’s about the size of it, tough and technical. And insanely enjoyable! DF was unlucky but showed great perseverance to finish very respectably given the company we were in and his mechanical calamities. (His pedal fell off and he got a puncture.)
Results are here: http://www.stickybottle.com/races-resul ... ps-swords/

Roll on the Muddy Cup next week. Who else is coming? Might be your last chance to get all those shiny new CX bikes dirty before the season ends.
Patsymc
Posts: 154
Joined: Tue Mar 04, 2014 10:29 pm

Re: National CX Champs 2015

Post by Patsymc »

Well done lads from anythong I've seen online it looks like it would have been a tough circuit.
MickF
Posts: 107
Joined: Thu Mar 06, 2014 9:12 pm

Re: National CX Champs 2015

Post by MickF »

Well done lads, looks like a savage tough sport. Maybe next year
DavidF
Posts: 2289
Joined: Wed Dec 23, 2009 2:15 pm

Re: National CX Champs 2015

Post by DavidF »

here's a great set of pictures which really give a great idea of what the course was like

https://www.facebook.com/kenny.bucke/me ... nref=story
don
Posts: 722
Joined: Thu Jan 07, 2010 10:17 am

Re: National CX Champs 2015

Post by don »

Amazing pictures there David, well done to you both for doing that and getting the results you did.
MickF
Posts: 107
Joined: Thu Mar 06, 2014 9:12 pm

Re: National CX Champs 2015

Post by MickF »

Maybe not next year, I'm wrecked just looking at this. Well done lads

http://www.thebikecomesfirst.com/first-lap-flat-out/
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