The Racing Thread..

[gazza285]

More YCCA racing tonight, Cyclocross at Yorksport. A flattish and fast course that favours power rather than technique left me at a disadvantage to the younger lads, but I still enjoyed myself, although standing on a loose rock while navigating the hurdles left me on the deck, two hundred yards out from the finish, so that lost me a few places and most of my pride...

The youth had a terrible start, when he missed his pedal and couldn’t get clipped in, that left him about thirty places behind where he should have been. He made up a few, but his dissatisfaction was tempered a little by the fact he had managed to finish a race, after pulling out of the previous three with bike trouble.

It wasn’t entirely without incident, as I did manage to write off a tub while preparing his bike. The trouble with cyclocross tubs is they don’t wear out very quickly, but they do have a tendency to get wet. Now while the sidewalls can be protected, what tends to happen is water will make its way past the valve stem, and the latex inner tube will start to rot around the joint between the valve seat and the tube. With the latex being porous, the tyres need pumping up often, and the mechanical strain of fixing the pump onto the valve eventually rips an unrepairable hole in the tube, usually as you are checking the pressures at the venue...
This is why we have spare wheels.
I always find this immensely irritating as due to mainly riding on grass, the treads are hardly worn, even though the tyres have done about four year's worth of racing.

[gazza285]

Round four of the Crank It Racing MTB Series today, at the Leeds Urban Bike Park, Middleton. A tough little course, through the woods on some fantastic trail centre downhills, plenty of jumps, berms, and rock gardens. Started fast and furious, before a heavy downpour on the third lap added a lot of mud into the fray. Temperatures were all over the place, as was most of the field, as the tyre choice seemed to consist of tyres designed for fast rolling hardpack. I was on Racing Ralphs, with a pretty much semi slick rear, and I was sliding about all over, great fun...

The youth's run of bad fortune continued, and for a third MTB race in succession saw him retire with a puncture. He's on Ralphs, the same as me, but he is cutting them up. Two seasons with no trouble, then two rears and today's front puncture is taking its toll on his spirits. What's worse is they have all sealed up, but only after he has lost too much pressure, going to have to send him out with a pump...

[gazza285]

Round four of the Yorkshire Summer Cyclocross Series tonight, on the usually fast Killinghall Park, Harrogate course, but the heavy rain left the park waterlogged. Tough riding, even the downhills required pedalling effort due to the soft conditions. An afternoon of sunshine hadn’t helped much, it was soft underneath, and the top had reached a sticky consistency that Toxteth O’Grady would struggle to beat. One lap and the intermediate condition tyres I was using were mud filled slicks, managed to stay upright, but had a lot of moments. Finished mid pack, as usual, but was exhausted after, there was no rest to be had on the lap.

The youth’s run of bad luck continued. I’d brought two bikes for him, his usual lightweight, with two new intermediate tubs glued on to carbon rims, and his heavier winter spare, with full mud clinchers on alloy rims. He opted for the slower, but supposedly more robust, bike, only to rip the rear mech off after completing four of the seven laps. That’s six out of ten races this year not finished, six punctures, a chain retainer, a rear mech, two cyclocross tubulars, and he’s also broken a rear axle...

[gazza285]

Only me racing this year?

Gisburn Forest for the last round of the Crank It MTB Series, a tough and very technical course, my upper body received a proper work out. Usual mid table result...

The youth actually managed to finish a race, after being dogged by bicycle problems most of the season, finishing fourth in his category.

[Coolbanana]

gazza285 said:

Only me racing this year?
... .

I might race next year, still getting myself fit and while racing to fitness can be good too, the only local series for me is the XC BTT Portugal races and they are Pro-Am ranging from 40 - 90 miles and a lot of climbing. Pretty technical too and I only started MTB this year so skills are a work in progress.

I live near one of the annual 40 mile courses so use parts of it as my daily training 30 mile ride. Got a 4th place overall on Strava for a hill sprint yesterday, matched the time of a sponsored youngster so that is a confidence boost but would get my arse handed to me in a race at the moment.

[anonymous-user]

Allegedly using a hidden motor to finish 8th in an amateur crit

https://cyclingtips.com/2019/07/two-amateur-riders...

[okgo]

Have done 2 races this season for the first time in a couple of years. 3rd cat these days, I was quite interested to see how hard they would be given so many in my club insist the game has moved on (I expected it hadn't). Managed to win both, one from a solo effort and the other from a sprint. They were 3rd cat only races, on a circuit I know quite well, and think importantly knowing a lot more about how to race and what my strengths are than the last time I did a 3rd cat only race (7 years ago!).

My advice, find out what your strength is, and back yourself to capitalise on it!

[z4RRSchris]

course specific init, palace is technical and many 3's don't bother turning up. Think you get a stronger crowd at hillingdon or lvvp.

glad the comeback is going well. fair play for winning two on the trot.

i stacked it racing last week and wrote off the bike and a load of skin.

[JEA1K]

Generally having a st season so far, late finding any form and only managed 4 or 5 road races with a 6th place so far. First year I have tried coaching and its taken my strengths away so back to doing my own thing now.

Probably back to being a 3rd cat next year also .. opens up more races again for me on some well known road circuits as a few of the local ones here are now E/1/2 which I just can't and have no interest in trying to compete with the pro's.

I'm in agreement ... the game has moved on ... I'm seeing races up 2/3 mph on the same circuits from 2 or 3 years ago. Young lads who were 2nd cat bunch riders at best have grown stronger and got coaching and are smashing 2/3 races and getting results in E/1/2 road races and teetering on 1st cat and Elite in some cases. Great to see but hard work for a mid-40's has-never-been to keep up

[okgo]

z4RRSchris said:

course specific init, palace is technical and many 3's don't bother turning up. Think you get a stronger crowd at hillingdon or lvvp.

glad the comeback is going well. fair play for winning two on the trot.

i stacked it racing last week and wrote off the bike and a load of skin.

I think it generally attracts a fairly good standard of rider - I have done all the others and found Hillingdon worse, and Lee Valley even worse. Hog Hill used to get a decent field mind you. But I'm only thinking about the elite race of course, not done 3ds racing for years, its pretty easy compared, the e12 looks like it gets as good a field as it did. Bad news on the bike and skin! Time to recover and get back though...

i'll need to do some road races to see if its harder, but I'm inclined to think there may be a few cases of that, but probably not LOADS has changed. Riders winning when I used to race are still winning now

[Steve vRS]

gazza285 said:

Only me racing this year?

Decided that road racing wasn’t my bag. I have the legs (debatable though) but not the confidence or balls to ride wheel to wheel in a group.

So the odd summer CX race and running for me until the North West CX league starts again in September.

[Gruffy]

I've done a few over winter and spring. I'm a one trick pony though so I spend 45 minutes trying to get away, then 5 minutes recovering and then 5 minutes off the front again, before being swamped 50m from the line. It's nice when it pays off but I'm genuinely only there for a good hard workout. I think I'm still 20 points off cat 2 but we're into ultradistance season now so crits are off the table, probably until the winter calendar starts again. This weekend is the National 24hr TT. 4 weeks to recover and then it's Paris-Brest-Paris. Another four weeks after that and it's late September already.

[gazza285]

Round six of the Yorkshire Summer Cyclocross Series last night, preceded by a heavy rain shower an hour before the start. The course went from fast, to quite slippy with the rain, good job I had a set of wet weather wheels in the van. I really struggle to warm up properly, and my starts always suffer as a result, but this also means I can have a bit of fun chasing people down and passing them. Had some great battles through the race, and moved steadily through the field. Highest place finish of the series, just sneaking into the top third, and beating a few people I usually only see at the start.

The youth also managed to finish his race, although he did get beaten by his old man for the first time in the last two years...

[Matt_N]

Matt_N said:

Second week of the local 10 TT tomorrow.

Did a few open 10s earlier in the month and was a bit disappointed with how I ran but last Tuesday was better.

Time: 24.25
Avg spd: 24.6mph
Avg pwr: 280w

My goal for the season was a 25mph avg, looking for a bit more now.

Few months on and quite a few TT’s under the belt I hit my season goal last night, same course as above:

Time: 23.39
Avg spd: 25.6mph
Avg pwr: 279w

Have made some tweaks to position over the season and got things like a new long tail helmet which works well with my position, skinsuit and aero socks.

Still 3 more weeks of TT’s to go.

[gazza285]

Local hill climb last night, just over three miles of hill, with over seven hundred feet of climbing. Setting off with the youth wasn’t a good idea, as we are too competitive. His early lead lasted until the first technical climb after a mile or so, I rode past him,as he had elected to get off and run, before opening up a thirty second gap.

All was going to plan, but he had saved himself for the last climb, and closed the gap in the last eight hundred yards, and after a rather horrendous sprint finish, he pipped me at the line.

[okgo]

okgo said:

I think it generally attracts a fairly good standard of rider - I have done all the others and found Hillingdon worse, and Lee Valley even worse. Hog Hill used to get a decent field mind you. But I'm only thinking about the elite race of course, not done 3ds racing for years, its pretty easy compared, the e12 looks like it gets as good a field as it did. Bad news on the bike and skin! Time to recover and get back though...

i'll need to do some road races to see if its harder, but I'm inclined to think there may be a few cases of that, but probably not LOADS has changed. Riders winning when I used to race are still winning now

Managed to take a few more points to get 2nd cat back, took a race longer than planned though!

Having had a look now at the fields that Hillingdon is getting vs Palace in the E12 - Palace has far better riders IMO.

[jamest1988]

[quote=gazza285]Round four of the Crank It Racing MTB Series today, at the Leeds Urban Bike Park, Middleton. quote]

Interesting, I didn’t realise they were organising races there, it’s very close to where I work. I might have to give it a try next year. Was the course down through the woods and then a fairly simple climb up?

what was the field like? Certainly a beginner myself, would I just end up holding people up or was it pretty inclusive?

thanks!

[z4RRSchris]

okgo said:

Managed to take a few more points to get 2nd cat back, took a race longer than planned though!

Having had a look now at the fields that Hillingdon is getting vs Palace in the E12 - Palace has far better riders IMO.

different riders, i think you get more "pros" at hillingdon.

DON WORLD CHAMPS 6th
Position Name Club name Rider status Category Points
1. Matthew King Team PB Performance Finished 1st 10
2. Timothy Lynch London Dynamo Finished 1st 8
3. Dante Carpenter G!RO Race Team Finished 2nd 7
4. Lawrence Carpenter Team Wiggins Le Col Finished Elite 6
5. Daniel Shoobridge Jam Cycling RT coached by BPC Finished 2nd 5
6. Luke Nolan Nopinz Symec Race Team Finished Elite 4
7. George Gori Nuun-Sigma Sports-London RT Finished 1st 3
8. Theodor Obholzer Durham University Cycling Club Finished 2nd 2
9. Zeb Kyffin Ribble Pro Cycling Finished Elite 1
10. Tobias Dahlhaus Richardsons-Trek RT Finished 1st 1

PALACE TUESDAY 6TH
Position Name Club name Rider status Category Points
1. Robert Moore Nuun-Sigma Sports-London RT Finished 1st 10
2. Neil Phillips TEKKERZ CC Finished 1st 8
3. Matt Holmes Arctic Aircon RT Finished Elite 7
4. David Dalrymple The 5th Floor Cycle Club Finished 2nd 6
5. Matthew Exley Flamme Rouge Cycling Team Finished 1st 5
6. Elliot Phillips VC Londres Finished 2nd 4
7. Daniel Hills Brixton Cycles Club Finished 2nd 3
8. Richmond Rogers Arctic Aircon RT Finished 1st 2
9. Kendal Noctor Kibosh Finished 2nd 1
10. Thomas Fairley Stayer Racing Finished 2nd 1

HOG HILL SATURDAY
Position Name Club name Rider status Category Points
1. Matthew Webster TAAP Cervelo Finished Elite 30
2. Theodor Obholzer Durham University Cycling Club Finished 2nd 25
3. Luke Ryan Richardsons-Trek RT Finished 1st 21
4. Morris Bacon DAP Cycling Club Finished Elite 17
5. Nesta Ferguson Lee Valley Youth Cycling Club Finished 2nd 14
6. Thomas Arkell East London Velo Finished 2nd 12
7. Dominic Schils Velo Schils - Interbike RT Finished 1st 10
8. Tom Wiley Team LDN Finished 1st 8
9. Simon Alexander Richardsons-Trek RT Finished Elite 7
10. Colin Peck Chelmer CC Finished 2nd 6

LEA VALLEY WEDNESDAY e/1/2/3
Position Name Club name Rider status Category Points
1. Benedict Thompson Team LDN Finished 2nd 10
2. Craig Cole Wolfe RT Finished 1st 8
3. Matt Holmes Arctic Aircon RT Finished Elite 7
4. James Mowatt Dulwich Paragon CC Finished 2nd 6
5. Ian Hope Wolfe RT Finished 1st 5
6. Tim Allen Team LDN Finished 3rd 4
7. Keir Sutton Dulwich Paragon CC Finished 2nd 3
8. Kevin Argent Finished 2nd 2
9. Adam Parkes RMNC Finished 2nd 1
10. Jonathan Calderon Wheelsuckers Finished 3rd 1

[gazza285]

jamest1988 said:

gazza285 said:

Round four of the Crank It Racing MTB Series today, at the Leeds Urban Bike Park, Middleton.

Interesting, I didn’t realise they were organising races there, it’s very close to where I work. I might have to give it a try next year. Was the course down through the woods and then a fairly simple climb up?

what was the field like? Certainly a beginner myself, would I just end up holding people up or was it pretty inclusive?

thanks!

A bit more involved than down and back, the organisers managed to get a lap of just over two miles.

There’s a few different classes, so you can start in the fun class if you don’t feel that competitive. You will end up with faster people lapping you, but they tend to be polite and let you know which side they are passing you on.

It’s a good laugh, as long as you don’t get upset at how slow you are compared to the fast kids...

[citizenmtb]

Well done everyone racing!

My seasons been a bit of a struggle. When we had the bad rain in June i disappeared off to Mallorca which did me a world of good, but unfortunately the results just haven't followed.

I managed to get a 2nd place finish in a breakaway at Castle Combe. I'm noticing the better results are never the ones i put out the best efforts so i guess my technical side of racing is lacking.

Combe - 2nd;
Speed 27.0mi/h
Heart Rate 165bpm
Cadence 86
Power 268W

And yesterday I bumped into the local club running a 10 TT so decided to have a crack to see where i was.3rd overall (by 11 seconds), for someone on a road bike isn't bad

Speed 25.7mi/h
Heart Rate 173bpm
Cadence 87
Power 308W