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Eastern League Round 2 - Langdon Hills
Round 2 of the Eastern League took us once again in to Essex for a race at Langdon Hills near Basildon. This was a new course for cross, although it has been used previously for MTB racing. As the name and it's previous usage suggests the course was more akin to the fatter tyred racing, consisting of 3 hills, with very little rest in between, followed by long singletrack descents.
Practice laps revealed nothing to really test the skills we practice on a Wednesday evening and was more an examination of your climbing and descending abilities. No real tight corners and no dismounts meant that a lot of the racing was quickly spread out around the course, in contrast to last weeks cut and thrust style racing.
The U10s did CCA proud with 1st and 2nd in their race and a couple of top ten finishes too in the U12s.
The Youth were again well represented and Nathan Hardy rode very strongly for a podium place in the U14s.
The Vet 50s were next, with Tim riding well for a top 20 finish.
Towards the end of their race was a short but heavy shower which completely changed the course for the Vet 40s. What had been perfectly rideable on file treads for my practice laps, now required a quick change to intermediate tyres. Another heavy shower as our race started made parts of the course more slippery than a bucket of eels. Unfortunately for me the rain wasn't heavy enough to flatten out the hills and my good start was wiped out on the second hill as first Iain then Dan came flying past me followed by what seemed like half the field. The muddy descents were now great fun, despite a few offs, and proved my long held belief that there's not a cross course anywhere that can't be improved by a lot of rain and the mud it brings. Iain afterwards said he hated the muddy singletrack as much as I hated the hills but obviously they impeded his performance less as he stormed to a fantastic 23rd place. Dan also took a tumble or two and Steve looked like he'd slid down one of the hills on his stomach.
Pete and Sam go back tomorrow to race the MTB event there. Good luck with that, it may be a bit cut up!
Results
U10
1st Gethin Hill
2nd Louis Oppen
11th Elijah Storti
12th Daffyd Hill
U12
8th Ethan Storti
9th Iestyn Hill
18th Alistair Oppen
Youth
4th Adam Lightfoot
16th Nathan Hardy U14
20th Sam Daniels
30th Archie Foulkes
53rd Alfie Duckett
61st Joseph Hadsley U14
70th Archie Bracewell U14
Vet 40
23rd Iain Foulkes
40th Daniel Hall
48th David Hadsley
51st Stephen Hill
Vet 50
19th Tim Duckett
26th Peter Daniels
35th Daniel Doncaster
Practice laps revealed nothing to really test the skills we practice on a Wednesday evening and was more an examination of your climbing and descending abilities. No real tight corners and no dismounts meant that a lot of the racing was quickly spread out around the course, in contrast to last weeks cut and thrust style racing.
The U10s did CCA proud with 1st and 2nd in their race and a couple of top ten finishes too in the U12s.
The Youth were again well represented and Nathan Hardy rode very strongly for a podium place in the U14s.
The Vet 50s were next, with Tim riding well for a top 20 finish.
Towards the end of their race was a short but heavy shower which completely changed the course for the Vet 40s. What had been perfectly rideable on file treads for my practice laps, now required a quick change to intermediate tyres. Another heavy shower as our race started made parts of the course more slippery than a bucket of eels. Unfortunately for me the rain wasn't heavy enough to flatten out the hills and my good start was wiped out on the second hill as first Iain then Dan came flying past me followed by what seemed like half the field. The muddy descents were now great fun, despite a few offs, and proved my long held belief that there's not a cross course anywhere that can't be improved by a lot of rain and the mud it brings. Iain afterwards said he hated the muddy singletrack as much as I hated the hills but obviously they impeded his performance less as he stormed to a fantastic 23rd place. Dan also took a tumble or two and Steve looked like he'd slid down one of the hills on his stomach.
Pete and Sam go back tomorrow to race the MTB event there. Good luck with that, it may be a bit cut up!
Results
U10
1st Gethin Hill
2nd Louis Oppen
11th Elijah Storti
12th Daffyd Hill
U12
8th Ethan Storti
9th Iestyn Hill
18th Alistair Oppen
Youth
4th Adam Lightfoot
16th Nathan Hardy U14
20th Sam Daniels
30th Archie Foulkes
53rd Alfie Duckett
61st Joseph Hadsley U14
70th Archie Bracewell U14
Vet 40
23rd Iain Foulkes
40th Daniel Hall
48th David Hadsley
51st Stephen Hill
Vet 50
19th Tim Duckett
26th Peter Daniels
35th Daniel Doncaster
Comments
I was very glad we had the good weather and it shows just what difference that can make as the quickest lap times came in the youth race. Dan was looking great on the climbs and I'm rather glad I'm not racing Iain this year!
I realise I haven't quite got to grips with v50 racing as I missed getting into the hilly fields event, totally forgot...doh.
Jackie and I did not make it into the Springfield race but used the reserve system. Bit of a gamble if you cannot stay to the end but there were a number of no shows so we got in. If you are there with Alfie you should be ablke to get you name on the list early.
Stephen's muddy jersey was classic, must have been quite a tumble and worth £250 if anyone has that on video.
the great results from the kids have propelled us into 2nd in the league though!
https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/events/details/166217/CC-Ashwell-Cross---Eastern-League-Round-5
The course was much changed from yesterday and only the triple hill and finish line remained the same. The rest comprised tricky muddy descents, tricky muddy ascents, ill placed trees and lots of corners! The bucket of eels was much in evidence meaning that you had to ride like you drive a car in snow. Hit the brakes on a corner and down you go!
It was just about ride-able throughout but only if you got a clear run - ironically therefore I was running more in a MTB race than in the CX race the day before. I let my tyre pressures down to risky 15psi but this paid off with grip up the hills and a few dodgy bunny hops over the pesky roots saw me through the race. Both Sam and I scored our best results of the season at 6th and 23rd respectively so happy with that.
Overall Langdon made a better MTB race than a CX but both were good fun.
Harley got 2nd place I think. Tom and Logan both rode well but I'm not sure where they finished.
Might have a rest day tomorrow!
Jackie