Welcome to the forum
Eastern League Round 3 - Baldock
Round 3 of the Winter Fat Fighters Club took place at Knights Templar School last weekend and CCA were very well represented across all races and in the crowds.
Everything went smoothly apart from the top of the course which was lumpy bumpy and seemed to take forever to get round. I need to find an extra gear to stop slipping back through the field.
I didn't see any of the early races as I had to pop home and watch (Saturday Kitchen) the kids and would be interested to hear how these went.
For some reason I cant fathom I fall into the Elite Vets race and this basically means racing an extra 15mins and getting beaten up for longer than the previous race.... It was only my 2nd race after Basildon and multiple ascents of the 'Basilberg' so I thought this would be a bit easier and faster. Wrong - this week the 'Baldberg' threw in its own special focus on ascending skills whilst having the support of spectators eager to see some carnage.
After getting a starting spot in the back row or two of the grid the start was more of a roll out than sprint for the first corner. I didn't get my foot in properly so was very thoughtful and leaned on a chap next to me to get my balance back. This caused a small yelp from him so I thought it best to put my foot down and avoid any dispute so early on.
I managed to overtake Daniel M in the first two corners by shouting a lot and causing him some concern. He got back round me fairly quickly and I didn't see him again. I tried to keep Vam in my sights but he slipped away with consistent lap times and better speed.
Only lapped once this week by the leaders so things are on the up. Theo, Jon and Bryn all went flying past and it was a shame there were a couple of DNF's.
Great support from the home crowd and pleased to see my local MTB friends getting into the spirit of it. I think there will be a few more converts in the future
Thanks to Mark and everyone else for mucking in and making this happen again. The Wednesday evening training sessions really helped with this round as well and I managed to use the Baldberg and hurdles to make up a few places on riders who were slower through these obstacles.
Next stop for me is Mistley. Sounds interesting...
Everything went smoothly apart from the top of the course which was lumpy bumpy and seemed to take forever to get round. I need to find an extra gear to stop slipping back through the field.
I didn't see any of the early races as I had to pop home and watch (Saturday Kitchen) the kids and would be interested to hear how these went.
For some reason I cant fathom I fall into the Elite Vets race and this basically means racing an extra 15mins and getting beaten up for longer than the previous race.... It was only my 2nd race after Basildon and multiple ascents of the 'Basilberg' so I thought this would be a bit easier and faster. Wrong - this week the 'Baldberg' threw in its own special focus on ascending skills whilst having the support of spectators eager to see some carnage.
After getting a starting spot in the back row or two of the grid the start was more of a roll out than sprint for the first corner. I didn't get my foot in properly so was very thoughtful and leaned on a chap next to me to get my balance back. This caused a small yelp from him so I thought it best to put my foot down and avoid any dispute so early on.
I managed to overtake Daniel M in the first two corners by shouting a lot and causing him some concern. He got back round me fairly quickly and I didn't see him again. I tried to keep Vam in my sights but he slipped away with consistent lap times and better speed.
Only lapped once this week by the leaders so things are on the up. Theo, Jon and Bryn all went flying past and it was a shame there were a couple of DNF's.
Great support from the home crowd and pleased to see my local MTB friends getting into the spirit of it. I think there will be a few more converts in the future
Thanks to Mark and everyone else for mucking in and making this happen again. The Wednesday evening training sessions really helped with this round as well and I managed to use the Baldberg and hurdles to make up a few places on riders who were slower through these obstacles.
Next stop for me is Mistley. Sounds interesting...
Comments
My race was good fun with the usual tussle between Vince, Tim and myself. The racing was also great to watch as a marshall especially the elite race. I have a large amount of pics of the CCA boys in action pulling at times some astonishing faces going over the hurdles. Huge range of styles - not all text book. I will try to upload them or email direct.
A few of the elite riders thanked me (as a club) for putting on a great event which they said they really enjoyed which I thought was a nice gesture.
Only two things to tarnish an otherwise perfect day. Obviously the bike theft - any news on that? and a friend who was taking part in only his second race was sworn at on a number of occasions whilst racing. By his own admission a novice CX rider but getting in the way at a course like Baldock is difficult to do given the width of the course. He said the leaders in the elite were polite and encouraging as they went by but some of the middle packers much less so. I said he should report it to the commisaire but that should not really happen.
Stuart