caitelliott.co.uk » cyclocross

Bike Pure GP

Cait — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 22:24:28 +0000

The Bike Pure cross race on Saturday was nicely timed with a big thaw, saving my sanity with chance to get back to riding a moving bike again. There was no women’s category so I raced in the expert men’s race – much better, guaranteed a good hard race and more people to chase!

The start was really narrow and I was at the back of the grid so had to work really hard for the first few minutes to try and move up the field. It was a short course looping around a farmyard with a mixture of grass fields, bumpy farm tracks, and rooty singletrack. Mud and snow still on the ground made it pretty technical but with slightly slower speed than previous drier races.

Early in the race the layer of icy snow in the field sections made for some interesting sliding around, treading a fine line between exciting maximum speed and nasty crashes (managed to stay on the right side of it this week!). With so many riders on the short loop, the snow soon turned to thick heavy mud making things really hard going. There was one small climb that was an absolute killer towards the end, with mud gluing the tyres to the ground it was tempting to jump off and run, but I thought suffering burning legs to power through it was a better option!

I was riding close to a few riders for most of the race, initially just behind them, but as time went on I began picking people off. Its great fun when you get someone in sight and focus everything on catching them, the only problem is that a few seconds looks like nothing, but in a cross race it’s very hard to make up. Taking a slow line on a corner or messing up jumping back on the bike can mean losing several places, or at least giving yourself far more work to do at a time when its seems physically impossible to go any harder. I’m not sure why you come out of a race after all this pain thinking it was brilliant!

Coming into the last section there were suddenly two guys right behind me so I had to use my best blocking techniques to hold them off until the final tight corner and then make a sprint for the line. I just managed to stay ahead and it’s always good to finish with a bit of excitement!

I didn’t realise it at the time but I finished 3rd in the expert cat and would have been 9th in elite – not bad against the guys. Results are here and race report on irishcycling.com here.

It was a great race, I really enjoyed the course and the weather conditions and sponsorship from Erdinger with beers after the race made it even more authentic cyclocross. Thanks to all the organisers and encouraging supporters. Check out bikepure.org to see the excellent work they do in promoting clean and drug free cycling.

a longer video:

Stevens Supercross Cup – Tymon Park

Cait — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 17:23:43 +0000

Saturday was the final round of the Supercross Cup held in Tymon Park, Tallaght. Rain the day before left the grassy park extremely greasy and with a more technical course than last week it was set to be an interesting race. It was good to see a few more girls out this week in a 75 strong starting line up out for 9 laps of the course.

leaders show how it should be done

We set off at a blistering pace and with so many riders close together it wasn’t long before the first pile up as someone fell jumping over the first set of nastily high boards. After some early fighting for positions, things strung out fairly quickly and I settled into a rhythm with a combination of burning legs on the flats and concentration to wrestle the bike through muddy sections. Although I knew more what to expect pace wise after last week, it felt no easier, my legs were a bit tired from the weeks training and I had to force them to work.

...and how not to do it!

The course swooped up and down a steep bank several times, and with sharp corners at the bottom of each descent and only tape separating riders going up and down, it was a sure spot for some crash action. It felt stupid to ride so slow on the corners but it seemed the only way to avoid coming off. Next was a nice bit of mtb style wet rooty singletrack through the woods, which got extremely sketchy on 30mm tyres.

For most of the race I could see Fran Mehan not far behind me each time the course looped around on itself, so I had to stay on my toes. After the last race I felt I didn’t push myself hard enough on the corners, and I ought to test the limits a bit more to avoid losing time on them. This, combined with the slippery conditions, meant I ended up on the floor a couple of times after hitting corners or off camber sections with too much speed. I wasn’t the only one, I think the poor marshals spent all day re-taping sections that people had hurtled through accidently! When you get the balance right though it’s great fun, two wheel drifts through the mud at high speed with minimal control over the bike.

Towards the end conditions seemed to get greasier, and on lap 8 as I came down the grassy bank the bike suddenly went from under me and I wiped out completely, slamming into the ground and sliding down the hill. It took me ages to figure out how to untangle my bike from the barrier and course tape before I could get back into it. At that stage I couldn’t see Fran behind anymore, and having already been lapped by Robin, I lost my mojo a bit and wasn’t fully in racing mode. The last lap I took a more conservative approach to the slippery parts and instead tried to use my efforts to go fast on the flatter sections.

I won the women’s race and finished 34th overall (results here). Could have done better, should have at least improved on last week, but looking at the results it was mostly due to crashing/slacking on the last couple of laps! Again another great days racing and a big thanks in order to everyone involved in organising and supporting. This video strapped to Robin’s bike gives a good taste of the race.

It’s great to have so much variety with training at the moment, I change my mind daily about which kind of biking is best – cross was yesterdays thing, today its mountain bikes…!

Stevens Supercross Cup – Corcaigh Park

Cait — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 20:25:39 +0000

After getting a crossbike the other week I did two cross training sessions to remind my body what hard work feels like and watched some youtube videos to try and learn some of the skills involved in preparation for the Supercross Cup race in Corcaigh Park, Dublin on Saturday. Cyclocross is a funny sport where you race laps of a short course around a grassy field on a bike with dropped handlebars, knobbly skinny tyres and cantilever brakes. Those who haven’t tried it often dismiss it, yet anyone who does it seems to get totally addicted. It’s fast and furious with only split seconds between each rider, and little margin for error, so racing can get pretty exciting but very painful.

looks easy? horrible part of the course!

There was a mass start of 65 riders, with nine laps of a short course taking 7-8.5 minutes a lap. I was towards the back of the group as we lined up, and surrounded by aggressive guys I lost even more places in the first few minutes (next week I’m going to sharpen my elbows and pretend I’m at a world cup!). It was straight into a section of greasy, tight corners on the grass and with so many riders squeezing into a tight track at high speed several people came down and took others surrounding with them. I managed to avoid crashes but lost time at each corner as people bunched up.

After a while things began to spread out and I got into a group riding at a steady if painfully intense pace. Since races are so short (about an hour), cyclocross is super intense and you’re literally flat out for the whole thing – not easy when you haven’t raced in 2 months! Skinny tyres and rubbish brakes on wet grass with tight corners means there is a lot of high speed sliding around the place on the edge of being in control. It took a bit to get used to the limits of the bike, but the more of the edge you ride the more fun it is. I seemed to be surrounded by roadies with some rather suspect bike handling skills – legs and arms sticking out all over the place and way too much braking, but although I could get ahead on the corners, as soon as we got to a horrible flat tarmac section, they’d come motoring past and I had to dig deep and ignore the burning sensation in my legs to stick to them.

The next issue was dealing with the wooden boards placed across the course – unless you’re very confident at big bunny-hops you have to jump off the bike and carry it running over these. There is a real technique involved to do it without losing time, and by the end of nine laps I was starting to get it but still had a few amateurish fumbles trying to find my pedals after leaping back on the bike. When you do get it right it’s great fun, bounding over the boards and jumping onto the bike at speed.

Since the laps are so short and the course kept looping back on itself, you could always see the next target in front, or people coming to catch from behind. Towards the end of lap eight I kept catching glimpses of eventual winner Robin Seymour powering along and getting closer and closer to me. I was determined not to get lapped but it felt a bit like running away from a tidal wave as I struggled to find another gear and hold him off! I managed it but it made the final lap even more painful and there was still a lot of chance to jostle for positions before the end. Coming into the final loop a guy I’d been racing with all day jumped past me only to crash on the next corner. He was back on quickly but I slipped ahead and then had to sprint like mad to hold him off at the finish.

I’m pretty sure that at the time the whole thing seemed incredibly hard and painful, yet somehow I came out of it thinking it was great and really looking forward to the next one. Racing does wierd things to your brain! I finished 1st female and 31st overall, full results are here. Thanks to Team Worc for a great course and event.