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National Trophy Milton Keynes
CCA presence at the National Trophy could be summarised as the Fields and me. Beautiful sunny day belied the nature of the course, which was extremely challenging with lots of climbing, and slippery off-camber descents, linked up with tarmac sections, more than familiar to those of us who have ever raced at the MK Bowl summer races.
Jackie 23rd (4th Vet)
Noah 23rd U14
John Polak 33rd (40-49Vet)
I am hoping the Fields will add an account of their races, so just a quick summary of mine. 66 young Vets lined up, followed by 52 old Vets, starting at an interval of 1 minute, to give us an incentive not to be too tardy. I was gridded on 5th row, together with the likes of Martin Carter, Philip Peacock and Bruce Mackie. Felt like Eastern League race
The atmosphere was very different though, with the barriers separating the riders from the crowds, the PA system, and the tension amongst the field was palpable. Once the whistle went though, all the stress was forgotten, and it was back to the regular business of racing.
I got a bit of space ahead of me so moved up a few places, then caught the high line on the first bit of off camber, and was able to move a few more places forward still. Then came the first off camber descent. This was scary sketchy in practice, but in the middle of a closely packed fast moving peloton it was terrifying. Still we got through it somehow, and thereafter it was into oxygen debt and fear of crashing was soon forgotten.
As it happened I think I only crashed once in the 48!! minutes of the 40 minute race, and that was a fairly gentle and painless affair, unlike some of the other crashes, one of which left Greg Simcock lying on the ground in pain for what seemed like ages. I got passed by the leading old Vet (Stephen Davies, who else) about half way into the race, and had the benefit of being on his wheel for a bit. I was gratified to see that he took the technical step section in exactly the same way that I did, and that I was not losing any time to him on this section. The off-camber descents, however, were a different story. This was where I suffered, and I estimate that I lost maybe two minutes to the best guys on these sections over the course of the race. We need more off-camber stuff in the Eastern League to get some practice in!
Having failed to complete my first attempt at a National Trophy earlier this season due to a jammed chain, it was gratifying to complete this one, even though it was just outside the points. As experience gathering goes, I need to consider it a pretty successful day out, and a great building block on the road to the National Champs in Derby in January.
I have some pictures to post, but I need someone to talk me through the process, as I have tried to work it out before but failed miserably.
Thanks for reading.
Jackie 23rd (4th Vet)
Noah 23rd U14
John Polak 33rd (40-49Vet)
I am hoping the Fields will add an account of their races, so just a quick summary of mine. 66 young Vets lined up, followed by 52 old Vets, starting at an interval of 1 minute, to give us an incentive not to be too tardy. I was gridded on 5th row, together with the likes of Martin Carter, Philip Peacock and Bruce Mackie. Felt like Eastern League race
The atmosphere was very different though, with the barriers separating the riders from the crowds, the PA system, and the tension amongst the field was palpable. Once the whistle went though, all the stress was forgotten, and it was back to the regular business of racing.
I got a bit of space ahead of me so moved up a few places, then caught the high line on the first bit of off camber, and was able to move a few more places forward still. Then came the first off camber descent. This was scary sketchy in practice, but in the middle of a closely packed fast moving peloton it was terrifying. Still we got through it somehow, and thereafter it was into oxygen debt and fear of crashing was soon forgotten.
As it happened I think I only crashed once in the 48!! minutes of the 40 minute race, and that was a fairly gentle and painless affair, unlike some of the other crashes, one of which left Greg Simcock lying on the ground in pain for what seemed like ages. I got passed by the leading old Vet (Stephen Davies, who else) about half way into the race, and had the benefit of being on his wheel for a bit. I was gratified to see that he took the technical step section in exactly the same way that I did, and that I was not losing any time to him on this section. The off-camber descents, however, were a different story. This was where I suffered, and I estimate that I lost maybe two minutes to the best guys on these sections over the course of the race. We need more off-camber stuff in the Eastern League to get some practice in!
Having failed to complete my first attempt at a National Trophy earlier this season due to a jammed chain, it was gratifying to complete this one, even though it was just outside the points. As experience gathering goes, I need to consider it a pretty successful day out, and a great building block on the road to the National Champs in Derby in January.
I have some pictures to post, but I need someone to talk me through the process, as I have tried to work it out before but failed miserably.
Thanks for reading.
Comments
Nice consistent Field results too.
Braver than I.
Daniel
A new experience for all of us today at MK. Never been before and the view from the high point over the whole bowl was very impressive. Yes Daniel a lot of tape. I was pit man for Jackie and Noah which consisted of walking from side to side of the pits offering a bike every time they passed which was never taken. Mainly due to a drying course the tyres never really got blocked enough to warrant a change. It was interesting to see the set up that some have. Bike hangers with water butts attached and petrol driven power washers. I managed to get by with my trusty bucket and stiff brush. Interesting to see how a couple of Welwyn riders entered the pits by crossing the course and coming under the tape. lucky they weren't seen by the pit judges.
Jackie and Noah both enjoyed their race but found it tough on the many off camber bits. Noah enjoyed using my new bike so I think I may have lost that. Having now tried it out they are keen to have another go at Shrewsbury and Derby although the competition is tough.
Watching the senior men in the afternoon was great. The standard is very high. Eastern league winners were well down the rankings although looked to be going well. There was a steep climb through some trees which had 3 large log steps in it. Some of the leading men were riding this.
Jackie
Jackie, you should be proud of that, it was National level and it puts you up there with the best. Im certainly impressed and equally impressed with Noah and Johns results, really , really impressive. well done CCA.
Stuart, i think you may have just lost your new bike and VP there is an image tutorial somewhere but if you just upload your image to something like imageshack, find and copy the direct link code and paste it into the img tab above you should be away.
Very well done Noah, Jackie and John for all stepping up a level.
P.S. Stuart, don't dwell on losing a nice cyclocross bike to your son - instead, start looking at catalogues for petrol-powered pressure-washers.
Here's my Flickr page, have a look:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/92313970@N04/
Daniel
Vids from all the races from John Moulineux.
Checkout Jody Crawforth riding the steps at around 1:45 in the Seniors race, and for the aficionados of Svenness, I am demonstrating the Polecat line at 2:05 in the Vets race.