I’ll freely admit I’d had Lovecrossed CX in mind since I’d got the Kinesis last year. Accordingly, I actually pre entered online. What I hadn’t factored into a beautiful frosty Thursday morning as I left for work, was getting hit by a car.
I’ll not go into too much detail apart from I no longer have the Trek I’ve been flying around on, and my backside is the colour of the night sky… yes really. I’m very very lucky to have not been badly hurt unlike a fellow employee.
I managed to get on the cx bike for commuting to work on Friday, thinking I’d be ok to just trundle in and back. I was. On Saturday I discovered the Kinesis brakes were playing up again, and as I was getting increasingly stiff and sore, slowly rode up to Sigma Sport (the shop at Hampton Wick) to see if anyone would have time to have a quick look at them. Luckily Will had time to fit me in before they became non stop busy (Will also did the Mechanics Course which I did a couple of weeks ago, a very patient teacher and excellent at explaining more complicated procedures easily).
As Lovecrossed CX is held at Chavenage House, it’s a bit of a trip for me, so a decision to stay at the parents on Sat evening was a bonus. It also meant I got there a bit later than expected, finding Hank on parking duty (certainly a role reversal – usually me on parking duty and Hank racing with NFTO!) and finally meeting Tangwyn Andrews.
A quick faff with the bikes, before realising just how sore and bruised I was. Oh well. Sign on. Find the pits. Take the Kinesis and stuff down with poor Verity having her first eye opening experience in the pits. A quick half lap warm up, tarmac, gravel, into the woods, winding in and out, into the field where it was just starting to get mucky. That special Cotswald sticky claggy mud. The first foray into the haha, and the kids were racing on the rest. Could see the start, but not really where the course was going.
I managed one full warm up lap, not long before the start, not realising quite how much it would cut up in the race. Luckily the parents arrived too and gave Verity a hand cleaning the worst off the Kinesis.
Sadly they only gridded the Veteran Men in front of us before calling everyone else up as one mass start. Within 30 seconds I realised I had nothing in my legs and my backside up to my right shoulder was not too comfortable. I rode at the back, just happy to keep up an average pace, ending up walking/ carrying the bike from the second haha (not the one from my first half lap) into the wood, over the hurdles and the coffin (n.b Hank – should leave those hurdles up for a very small hunt jump!)
I tried riding the through the wood, but it wasn’t happening. I bet a few people had a laugh everytime I appeared around the stone wall and into the pits. No bike change on the first half lap. Back on and away.
I rode what I could, and carried/rolled the bike through the rest of it. I probably shouldn’t have done it but I’m damn stubborn sometimes. I know I finished last. I really don’t care.
Lovecrossed CX has a lovely set up, everyone was friendly and welcoming, and it’s a fun, hard course to go around. Lets hope I’ll be a bit more with it if they have it next year!
We did stay to watch the last couple of laps of the Senior Mens race, gathering from Keith Murray that Scot Easter was having a bit of a nightmare of a race. However, sailing around at the front was Scott Chalmers (Felt Racing/ Saddleback) who won, pulling his trademark wheelie across the line…
(Scott Chalmers being interviewed, not that he actually managed to speak into the microphone!)
And finally managing to grab a chair by the fire in the house to watch the Worlds from Zolder!
((Next up could be this: Aber Cycle Fest
– but I don’t actually have a road bike anymore!))
#keepsmiling
thelonelycyclist 