Race reports
- Thread starter One More Solo
- Start date
Second blog report from the Scottish national hill climb - https://dcun.co.uk/bc-scottish-hc-champs-2018
Awesome - great read, impressive result, shame about the amateur gear shifting. 
/edit - jeez you're so lean. Tips for getting down to that sort of body fat % gratefully received (especially if it involves still being able to eat own body weight in biscuits).
/edit - jeez you're so lean. Tips for getting down to that sort of body fat % gratefully received (especially if it involves still being able to eat own body weight in biscuits).
Soldato
Good to see you back at that sort of level without even a full season behind you.
I keep meaning to send you a message to arrange a wee photography trip but I havn't had a free weekend for ages!
Awesome - great read, impressive result, shame about the amateur gear shifting.
/edit - jeez you're so lean. Tips for getting down to that sort of body fat % gratefully received (especially if it involves still being able to eat own body weight in biscuits).
Thanks pal. Two fat ladies, 8th and 8th at the events ha! Funny enough my next blog post is all about nutrition and weight so will be sure to link it for everyone to read.I cannot believe I got back to where I am now only since June but it has been a graft. Good situation to be in to work over winter and come out back of it ahead now.
Free time, as in, a free hour is hard enough. Never mind free weekends eh? Now is a superb time with autumn colours and snow topped mountains cannot be far away so in the coming 2-3 weeks we really should make effort to organise something. If it's far enough in advance I might even get a free pass WITHOUT eyes being rolled and tuts being made!
Your hard riding this year has seriously paid off... Quite literally now hahaAs per Strava, final bunch of 12 and I got 6th out of 52 starters and first 4th cat and £30 to me
<snip>
Well done mate, going to keep it up? Wasn't sure what had happened to your riding as hadn't spotted anything on Strava recently.
Meda run-ride-run mate, supreme pacing/splits considering! Kudos! Think you've found something that really suits you! How are you finding the running & recovery from it?As I did my first race the other day I can finally post here
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Soldato
- Joined
- 23 Nov 2004
- Posts
- 10,647
Your hard riding this year has seriously paid off... Quite literally now haha
Well done mate, going to keep it up? Wasn't sure what had happened to your riding as hadn't spotted anything on Strava recently.
Yeah I plan on entering every race that I can next year which will mean mostly Sunday races as I work Saturday but if a better race is on a Saturday I can always try swap to do it. Starting off in February with the ice breaker 2up TT on my road bike.
I still use Strava to keep track of things just set it to private as I'm a weirdo and people were doing my head in.
Also joined a local club that do a bit of racing, me and my mate will be lowering the average age by quite a bit though
Good stuff mate, kit looks quite cool too, although not sure about the fuzzy legs haha
If people give you grief over your Strava data then they know what to do - unfollow you! I had a couple complain over the amount of activites I used to post (riding 4 times a day) so just told them the easy option! Ta-ra haters
No write up last week even though it was one of my best races... Apart from falling off on a bank on the one part of the course I ran all day. Fought back well though to come 14th or something.
Today once again gridded semi high with the big boys up in Scotland for the national trophy... How does that work?
Had a good start and got through first couple of corners about 20th keeping in the coat tails of my mate worked my way forward a bit as some lads went off very hard and died very quickly. Worked my way up to a group and was sitting about mid pack on the second lap when I spilled it on an innocuous left hander where there was still a Bit of damp grass. Took couple of riders down behind me. Got back up quick unfortunately I had lost my chain. As I was right by the pits I swapped it over but unfortunately all our club were hungover today from last nights awards so nobody had hung around.
Luckily cx is very close knit and some other pit guys sorted my chain. Jumped on the cannondale and worked about catching back up. Unfortunately my brakes were not biting with relatively new pads and I had no confidence going into the corners. Got round the next half lap and back on the canyon with a rapid changeover..next 2 laps I was out on my own with couple of guys on my wheel after the pit but I was down on confidence through the quicker bends usually an area I make up big time. It came back though and I slowly dropped the guys behind and was reeling in about 5 riders ahead.
About 20 mins to go and I passed one and the lapped riders started to appear so I ensured I was calling early on a tough day to give them loads of time to get out the way whilst continuing to make seconds up on the group in front each lap. As it was about 1.5 laps to go I'd caught another and was right on the tail of another guy putting a pass on him through a quick section where I carried momentum through. He stuck to my wheel for the next half lap. As we crossed the finish I heard his dad call jump now (his dad fixed my chain earlier) I kept grinding my gears knowing I was on the inside for the next quick right hander. He tried to get ahead but I didn't really brake and pushed him wide into the Bush on the outside . That place was now safe so I used the next quarter lap where I was blistering compared to those in front go catch wheels. Made up one spot fairly quickly once again block passing and leaving him no room to go and then eyes up to the next guy who I caught quick enough. I pushed hard to get past him early and make a jump as with the wind he could sit on my wheel I knew I'd lost the sprint. The jump worked and I had a five second lead going into the last 4 turns knowing just keeping it up would be good enough. Sprinted for the finish to come 20th.
Bit frustrating considering previous weeks results but happy with how I regathered my thoughts (was thinking of dnfing half way through ) and worked my way forward. With thoughts during thus of what I need to change to get more confidence on the bike and making my pit bike feel the same as the canyon.
Got some work to do this week but back to the course that snapped my frame 2 years ago and got me 3 punctures last year.. Hopefully I'll have more success in the potential mud fest looking st the forecast.
https://my5.raceresult.com/110782/results?lang=en#10_FE003A
https://www.strava.com/activities/1932613201
Today once again gridded semi high with the big boys up in Scotland for the national trophy... How does that work?
Had a good start and got through first couple of corners about 20th keeping in the coat tails of my mate worked my way forward a bit as some lads went off very hard and died very quickly. Worked my way up to a group and was sitting about mid pack on the second lap when I spilled it on an innocuous left hander where there was still a Bit of damp grass. Took couple of riders down behind me. Got back up quick unfortunately I had lost my chain. As I was right by the pits I swapped it over but unfortunately all our club were hungover today from last nights awards so nobody had hung around.
Luckily cx is very close knit and some other pit guys sorted my chain. Jumped on the cannondale and worked about catching back up. Unfortunately my brakes were not biting with relatively new pads and I had no confidence going into the corners. Got round the next half lap and back on the canyon with a rapid changeover..next 2 laps I was out on my own with couple of guys on my wheel after the pit but I was down on confidence through the quicker bends usually an area I make up big time. It came back though and I slowly dropped the guys behind and was reeling in about 5 riders ahead.
About 20 mins to go and I passed one and the lapped riders started to appear so I ensured I was calling early on a tough day to give them loads of time to get out the way whilst continuing to make seconds up on the group in front each lap. As it was about 1.5 laps to go I'd caught another and was right on the tail of another guy putting a pass on him through a quick section where I carried momentum through. He stuck to my wheel for the next half lap. As we crossed the finish I heard his dad call jump now (his dad fixed my chain earlier) I kept grinding my gears knowing I was on the inside for the next quick right hander. He tried to get ahead but I didn't really brake and pushed him wide into the Bush on the outside . That place was now safe so I used the next quarter lap where I was blistering compared to those in front go catch wheels. Made up one spot fairly quickly once again block passing and leaving him no room to go and then eyes up to the next guy who I caught quick enough. I pushed hard to get past him early and make a jump as with the wind he could sit on my wheel I knew I'd lost the sprint. The jump worked and I had a five second lead going into the last 4 turns knowing just keeping it up would be good enough. Sprinted for the finish to come 20th.
Bit frustrating considering previous weeks results but happy with how I regathered my thoughts (was thinking of dnfing half way through ) and worked my way forward. With thoughts during thus of what I need to change to get more confidence on the bike and making my pit bike feel the same as the canyon.
Got some work to do this week but back to the course that snapped my frame 2 years ago and got me 3 punctures last year.. Hopefully I'll have more success in the potential mud fest looking st the forecast.
https://my5.raceresult.com/110782/results?lang=en#10_FE003A
https://www.strava.com/activities/1932613201
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Good read, big watts per kilo too! Over 5 alone is tough!
Ouch. What happened?
Following my disappointment from a few weeks ago and Canyon not moving quick enough to replace my cockpit (due today) I moved on with a week off and some training in the wet and dark on the SuperX in preparation to the regional Championships.
In the lead up to the event one of my clubmates kindly leant me her 2017 SuperX so I still had two bikes for the event. Getting ready for it the day before I got my mud tyres on ready as it'd been raining pretty much constantly in the days before. Doing my D -1 race day routine my legs felt really good and power was easily achievable, so I was confident heading into the race.
Come race day an early start for the long trek over to Keynsham near Bristol, on the drive over the weather went through all 4 seasons it seemed, so I was unsure what I would get when I got there, fortunately it was dry but muddy under foot.
After dragging 50l of water to the pits I went and helped out my club mate in the V40 race pits and got talking to some of our youth members about their ride and tips for the course. Following the race I went and got changed and had a recce lap, the course was quite slippy and had a huge banked section that went up and over it multiple times. The course was getting torn up and I knew this would be pretty much running the whole way come my race. Following the recce I helped out briefly with the ladies race pitting for a lap and then went off to do my race warm up. Once again my legs felt good and my HR was up quickly and down quickly which I know is a good sign and shows I'm in good form.
Following warm up I ride over to the start and discover the ladies race is still ongoing for the last few, so knew our race would kick off late. I just kept moving to stay warm until gridding.
Unfortunately I soon discovered that as I don't have a race licence I don't have any points and therefore my grid position was basically last in the field rather than on the 2nd row...Ohwell with the tricky conditions I knew I could move up if I stayed on, and at least it would be fun battling up through, as the whistle blew, off I went, making up about 8 or 9 positions off the start, and then the carnage came!
with the sloppy conditions on the 3rd corner someone fell in front of me, taking out 3 other riders, I managed to scoot behind, being close enough to the accident to get round before people moved round into the gap, but far enough back I wasn't really slowed down. couple of corners later, same again rider down taking 2 further riders with him, and then another few corners later another rider slipped on the exit, luckily only sliding out by himself harmlessly. All of these happened just in front and I knew my more sensible approach as opposed to all guns blazing as I seem to have been doing the last few races would pay off. Once past this last accident there was a bit of a gap in front and I worked to start making up time and positions.
Onto the banking for the first time and the course was horrendous and required running up every lump, especially as there was no approach to them to carry momentum. I made up a bit of time but no real positions, completing the first lap I could see I was about 20s back on the riders I usually race with and worked to catch them up, unfortunately this gap soon extended as I unclipped for the hurdles for the first time (they were cut out on the first lap) and my pedal wouldn't unclip on my left leg, and down I came in what must have been hilarious fashion! I was soon up, but had given away a couple of places and crucial seconds. the mud must have clogged everything up that first lap as I had no problems after this.
I just got into the rhythm, soon passing these guys and working to catch my usual competitors up, and slowly but surely over the next 2 laps the gaps closed and I passed a few of them. Swapping bikes every other lap, my borrowed superx was working well, but I didn't have quite as much confidence in the tight corners. also being sram I occasionally botched the gear change. (hate the hydraulic hoods on them), but my Cannondale's headset was working loose so got my pit crew to get this tightened.
On about the 4th lap I could see I was catching guys that I'm usually targeting to beat and focused on catching those up and within a lap I was there passing them. My running capability really paying dividends. From this point my race died down as did my legs as I was recaught by a couple of riders and couldn't close the gaps in front I focussed on keeping the guys I've never beaten before behind me, and although one of them almost passed me, a slip by me at just the right time (couldn't have planned it better even though it was an accident) meant he dropped far enough back on the last lap for me to cruise to the finish.
In the end I'd worked my way up to 14th from 37th and was really happy with the result as the riders from other leagues that finished ahead were clearly the strong guys in that league. Beating those guys who I've targeted all season was a real sense of accomplishment. Just a shame I had a rubbish grid and didn't have the Canyon!
3/5ths of my race in the strava. Think I need a watch for CX!
https://www.strava.com/activities/1996626848
In the lead up to the event one of my clubmates kindly leant me her 2017 SuperX so I still had two bikes for the event. Getting ready for it the day before I got my mud tyres on ready as it'd been raining pretty much constantly in the days before. Doing my D -1 race day routine my legs felt really good and power was easily achievable, so I was confident heading into the race.
Come race day an early start for the long trek over to Keynsham near Bristol, on the drive over the weather went through all 4 seasons it seemed, so I was unsure what I would get when I got there, fortunately it was dry but muddy under foot.
After dragging 50l of water to the pits I went and helped out my club mate in the V40 race pits and got talking to some of our youth members about their ride and tips for the course. Following the race I went and got changed and had a recce lap, the course was quite slippy and had a huge banked section that went up and over it multiple times. The course was getting torn up and I knew this would be pretty much running the whole way come my race. Following the recce I helped out briefly with the ladies race pitting for a lap and then went off to do my race warm up. Once again my legs felt good and my HR was up quickly and down quickly which I know is a good sign and shows I'm in good form.
Following warm up I ride over to the start and discover the ladies race is still ongoing for the last few, so knew our race would kick off late. I just kept moving to stay warm until gridding.
Unfortunately I soon discovered that as I don't have a race licence I don't have any points and therefore my grid position was basically last in the field rather than on the 2nd row...Ohwell with the tricky conditions I knew I could move up if I stayed on, and at least it would be fun battling up through, as the whistle blew, off I went, making up about 8 or 9 positions off the start, and then the carnage came!
with the sloppy conditions on the 3rd corner someone fell in front of me, taking out 3 other riders, I managed to scoot behind, being close enough to the accident to get round before people moved round into the gap, but far enough back I wasn't really slowed down. couple of corners later, same again rider down taking 2 further riders with him, and then another few corners later another rider slipped on the exit, luckily only sliding out by himself harmlessly. All of these happened just in front and I knew my more sensible approach as opposed to all guns blazing as I seem to have been doing the last few races would pay off. Once past this last accident there was a bit of a gap in front and I worked to start making up time and positions.
Onto the banking for the first time and the course was horrendous and required running up every lump, especially as there was no approach to them to carry momentum. I made up a bit of time but no real positions, completing the first lap I could see I was about 20s back on the riders I usually race with and worked to catch them up, unfortunately this gap soon extended as I unclipped for the hurdles for the first time (they were cut out on the first lap) and my pedal wouldn't unclip on my left leg, and down I came in what must have been hilarious fashion! I was soon up, but had given away a couple of places and crucial seconds. the mud must have clogged everything up that first lap as I had no problems after this.
I just got into the rhythm, soon passing these guys and working to catch my usual competitors up, and slowly but surely over the next 2 laps the gaps closed and I passed a few of them. Swapping bikes every other lap, my borrowed superx was working well, but I didn't have quite as much confidence in the tight corners. also being sram I occasionally botched the gear change. (hate the hydraulic hoods on them), but my Cannondale's headset was working loose so got my pit crew to get this tightened.
On about the 4th lap I could see I was catching guys that I'm usually targeting to beat and focused on catching those up and within a lap I was there passing them. My running capability really paying dividends. From this point my race died down as did my legs as I was recaught by a couple of riders and couldn't close the gaps in front I focussed on keeping the guys I've never beaten before behind me, and although one of them almost passed me, a slip by me at just the right time (couldn't have planned it better even though it was an accident) meant he dropped far enough back on the last lap for me to cruise to the finish.
In the end I'd worked my way up to 14th from 37th and was really happy with the result as the riders from other leagues that finished ahead were clearly the strong guys in that league. Beating those guys who I've targeted all season was a real sense of accomplishment. Just a shame I had a rubbish grid and didn't have the Canyon!
3/5ths of my race in the strava. Think I need a watch for CX!
https://www.strava.com/activities/1996626848
Soldato
- Joined
- 23 Nov 2004
- Posts
- 10,647
Sounds and looks like a good day out!
Always good to beat your peers and cross does sound like it relies on getting off first and holding it rather than having to fight through the field from the back like you.
Always good to beat your peers and cross does sound like it relies on getting off first and holding it rather than having to fight through the field from the back like you.
I very much enjoyed it and now looking at entering the national in January!
Yeah being further up helps massively especially this time of year as the lines you take are obviously quite narrow or you'll just end up on your arse. Means youre more likely to stay out of trouble as well.