jez

Wessex League Cyclocross Round 11 report

I don't really know where to start with this report, except to say it was a day when if it COULD happen, it DID happen. In fact this report is going to be about what happened to me, Phil and Jon - everyone else is welcome to fill in their stories… there should be a few!

Today was a bad day for:
• Thumbs
• Staying upright
• Punctures
• White kit
• Spectators and photographers

Today was a good day for:
• Sliding around
• Cake
• Watching everyone else fall off too

Conditions today were nudging the 'epic' bracket with gale force winds and sideways rain. Add to that a large helping of slick mud and you've got a rough picture.

Held at Sparsholt College, on a largely flat, grassy course with plenty of tight corners of either grass or mud to catch riders out. The laps were long and took in two wooded sections and a concrete starting straight.

Lining up for Sotonia in the Vets race were Jon Dudley, Phil Connell, John Phillips and me. In the seniors, Dave Belcher, Dan Edwards (in his first cross race) and Darren Sell were in attendance.

After hiding in the team bus as long as we dared, things quickly got 'interesting'. Jon went over his bars on the warm-up lap, dislocating his thumb and had to be whisked off to Winchester A&E. In true-grit cross style, he was hoping a doctor could pop it back in and he could get back to race. Sadly, it being Sunday (ie. rugby day in Winchester) there must have been quite a queue for dislocated thumbs and he didn't get released until late afternoon, complete with cast and permanant 'thumbs up'.

The race itself was swings and roundabouts, after keeping rubber side down for the first two laps, I managed a proper moto-gp 20metre slide down a fast secton before recovering and then catching Phil, who had a puncture - he asked if he could borrow one of my spare wheels and I told him to go for it as we only had a lap or so to go. I wasn't going to need it… or so I thought. The jinx of the double-tub-rolling struck and as I figured out how to finish - Simon Guard, missing today with a sprained ankle will surely be chuckling at this :), Phil then passed me, asking if I wanted the wheel back! I figured it was game over but tried to push the tyres back on the rims. To my surprise they stayed on and although I lost 6 or 7 hard-fought places, I managed to finish a couple of spots behind Phil.

In senior race I can't say what happened but I do know that Dave got a thorn stuck in his tyre just before the start and like Jon it was all over before the gun. On the plus side, Jon's wife, Ann made another delicious cake which went down very well and I won a bottle of wine.

To sum it up, it was one of those days that had you grinning from ear to ear and shaking your head at the same time… unless you were poor old Jon - heal soon mate!

by jez

Wessex League Cyclocross Round 10, Thruxton report

And so to round 10 and the motor racing circuit at Thruxton or more precisely, the carpark. Today however, the grass field was covered from end to end with markers and tape on the tightest, grassiest, switchbackiest, hill repeatiest course of the season.

After observing a minute silence for the sad passing of cross legend, Geoff Shergold. The vets field of 80 riders blasted the 200 metres to the first corner and the beginning of the "Maze of Great Dizzyness" named due to the mind boggling number of switchbacks within switchbacks within… well you get the idea. And that was pretty much the course, long laps, repeated dead stop corners followed by tough climbs up the hillside, a few off camber turns to get you sliding and a set of barriers thrown into the mix.

Riding the Vets race for Sotonia CC was Jez Hart, Phil Connell, John Phillips and Martin Ward. Phil and Jez started pretty well, too well in Jez's case because after catching and passing Phil, he slowly realised that his legs couldn't cash that particular cheque. He latched onto the next group of five and yoyo'd off the back of that till the final lap when he managed to reel two in before the line in 34th, with Phil 28th. John Phillips was our next finisher (50th) with Martin bringing up the rear guard (75th). The race itself was not won by Crispin Doyle for once, who told me he didn't mind rubbing shoulders with the leaders but was too polite passing a group of back markers and ended up getting delayed (not sure I'd tell that to Pete Hargroves if I was him!). Lewis King, Beeline Cycles took the win with Mike Simpson of GS Henley second.

In the senior race, our man was Darren Sell (pictured) - another Sotonia convert to cross in his first race! And he looked to be riding strongly as we cheered him on to 24th place. The winner was Andy Hargroves with a touching tribute to Geoff in a race I'm sure he would have loved to watch.

Jez Hart's race snaps are here

Graham Robins' proper pics are here

by jez