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..
National CX Champs 2015
Re: National CX Champs 2015
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.
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.
Re: National CX Champs 2015
Well done lads from anythong I've seen online it looks like it would have been a tough circuit.
Re: National CX Champs 2015
Well done lads, looks like a savage tough sport. Maybe next year
Re: National CX Champs 2015
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
https://www.facebook.com/kenny.bucke/me ... nref=story
Re: National CX Champs 2015
Amazing pictures there David, well done to you both for doing that and getting the results you did.
Re: National CX Champs 2015
Maybe not next year, I'm wrecked just looking at this. Well done lads
http://www.thebikecomesfirst.com/first-lap-flat-out/
http://www.thebikecomesfirst.com/first-lap-flat-out/