Monday, November 8

Lisburn Cyclocross, Ulster CX Rnd3

Ok, for the first time this season a positive race report. First off to the race orginiers...what a course. Chapeau. You stepped up and it was excellent, fast, flowing, slow where it needed to be, painfull everywhere.

Have been sick for weeks with some sort of viral thing, cant get rid of it, been to docs, have stuff to go on as of tomorrow. Turned up to the Lisburn of the Ulster CX league just to ride, not to race.

Surprised that i got gridded as i'd missed the last round, but always a nice feeling to get called up, sat on the third row. Sitting in a bunch of guys i know but am used to being ahead of was a bit odd, but so be it.

Easy fast start saw a quick stretch of fireroad into a 100m section of grass. This had got boards on, which are a stong point of mine, but they were removed at the last minute and we ended up riding a quagmire. All i can say is thank you tubs and 30PSI. Short fast sections of gravel which rode like mini Belgian sand pits lead to a quick tarmac/carpet climb up to the return section.

Fast rolling descents with some tight off camber corners meant that you were trusting your tires to grip at huge speeds sometimes. Underlying rocks were there to punish those running clinchers, but it turned out that rear mechs were the food of the day. 9 mechs...9 ...were counted as being off bikes by the end of the race. Mud, gravel and speed do not combine well. Personally no chain suck. WD-40 the bike the day before, it works.

Had a few great laps racing Jason Henry until i managed to drop him. Then got dropped by my own team mate and spent 5 laps racing on my own (out of 9). Slowly made my way up from 16th on the grid and first lap, to 11th overall. Two places due to mechanicals, the rest...they just were not willing to suffer.

Positives: No mechanicals, no crashes, never even a single sketchy moment
Negatives: I could go harder, i can push the corners.

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