Yesterday was round 3 of the local cyclocross series in Amwlch, which happened to be the venue of my first ever cyclocross race this time last year, where I pulled out with a puncture half way round. I drove to Amlwch Lesiure Centre where I, and a few other cyclists, thought the registration was. However after hanging around for a good half an hour without any sign of registration, we decided to drive over to the race field to see if it was there, which was a challenge as I had no idea where I was going. Nevertheless I eventually rock up and had a walk around the course with Sam, the Sports Science student that's gonna help me with my racing this year.
The course looked great, lots of interesting and technical stuff, however it was also renowned for punctures and I could see why; with broken glass, cans and even whole champagne bottles (I guess from teenagers having 'Friday nights down the park', living the dream) littering the wooded section of the course. I then got on my bike and did another couple of laps until it was time to race...
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| The steep climb of the course- certainly made the legs burn! |
The race started on the road with a good sized section of straight road. I got a sweet start and was in 2nd place before we hit the more technical stuff. I managed to hold onto 3rd for the first couple of laps, I was feeling good but then things started to go downhill. The course got more slidy and slippery as the race went on, and I realised that my tyres were pumped up FAR too hard (70psi!!! haha) and my rear tyre just had no grip as I've been riding it around on the road a fair bit. So I was slipping and sliding everywhere, and was generally out of control. I had to run the whole of the wooded section because I just couldn't get the power down and had to take corners at a snails pace. A bit of a bummer really but nevertheless I had a good workout and learnt a lesson... tyres matter!
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| 2nd place Chris Purt slogging up the bank |
I ended up 8th overall, and 7th in my age group which was slightly disappointing. As much as it hurt I really enjoyed the race, the course was awesome, I think only one person got a puncture and it was on his last lap, which is cool so everyone had a good time . I currently lye 3rd overall in the series but there's still 7 rounds to go, so it's all to play for.
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| Me feeling the burn big time! |
This time next week it's the BUCS Duathlon, which is the race for all the British University and College students. It involves a 2 mile run, 10 mile road ride, and then another 2 mile run. Should be a good test of my running and cycling, and also a good chance to see where I am relative to other students. So time to sit back and rest my legs for a week. Nice.
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