Cyclocross Report 19th October

It was a ‘Double’ race weekend, but not in the normal sense, when we would have an event on Saturday and Sunday. There was a clash of events this week, the Eastern League race was at Mount Bures and the Leicestershire League (LCXL) at Misterton Hall at the far end of the A14.
The Wheelers CX Crew were torn between the events, as for the past few seasons most have always travelled to the LCXL race as it hasn’t clashed with the Eastern League fixtures, this year was different and so we had a split.

Sara Hale has written a superb report about the Misterton race, but first some notes on Mount Bures.
VC Revolution host their event at Valley Green Farm near Mount Bures, which is owned by the Avery Family, who race and now build their own bikes called ‘Omata’. The track is designed in a valley making great use of the slopes on either side. The start straight is reminiscent of our own at West Stow, but steeper and longer, then there is respite with about 600 meters of flat, before tearing down the very rutted meadow through a series of sweeping turns and switchbacks, before crossing the stream via a bridge and ascending the other side to some technical features through the woods, before a fast descent to another bridge and then, do it all again and again and again !

I must start the report with the last race of the day, the Senior/Junior Men, which had everything, including the forecast rain, there was an epic battle for the win between long time rivals Cam Hurst and eventual Winner Kieran Jarvis, but the interest for the Wheelers, was Sam Brook resplendent in his new Bioracer long sleeve jersey, he produced his best race of the season by far, he too was in a race long battle, it was superb to watch, swapping leads almost every lap as the pair tried to close the gap to 4th and distance those chasing behind, Sam was doggedly determined, technically and tactically brilliant, he made his move with just under a lap to go on the long hill, distancing his rival before the bell and then continued to put the ‘hammer’ down for a fantastic 5th place overall. Chapeau young man.

Megan Free also had the rain to contend with, she was delighted with her race finishing a well deserved 11th overall and 7th Senior, cheered on by her family.

In the combined Masters race 40/60 there were 5 Wheelers on the 60’s start, Paul Watson was our best finisher in 4th despite loosing his chain on the penultimate lap, next was Peter Golding who lost time on every lap, finishing 7th, a lap down on Paul, then came Tony Read in 10th he had an outstanding race getting faster with each lap to finish 10th and less than a minute behind Peter, what a ride, Martin Archer (2nd Claim) was next, he didn’t have such a good race, crossing the line in 13th and finally Tony Whale who was racing his new (to him) Colnago for the first time, finished in 21st, having been dead last at the end of the start loop, what a ride.

And finally in the Masters 50 Stephen Brook had a brilliant ride, which may have inspired Sam ! At the end of the first full lap he was 24th but he started to carve through the field distancing his nemeses to eventually finish an excellent 15th. What a day out for the team and our supporters, the Free Family and Ros Brook, thank you for the encouragement.

The following is Sara Hale’s lovely report about the Wheelers who went West, maybe there’s a song there!

Just to spread the love a group of Wheelers went west this Sunday to Round 2 of the LCXL held at Misterton Hall and hosted by Welland Valley Cycle club. This is described as a bucket list cyclocross course and is set in the grounds of a private house. Having looked at the forecast, we were expecting rain but on the way was bright sunshine so that forecast was obviously wrong!
Teresa and Nick Rush had got to the venue before the rest of us as her race was before lunch time and us racing after. We were surprised they had already done a sighting lap as their bikes were clean and pristine. The course was running very well; it was dry and other than a few roots (or at least one big route system) there wasn’t too many surprises.

The start was in an open grassy field surround by trees, it was an uphill start, left turn and into a widish singletrack into the woods, then uphill along a track which turned left and then levelled out, a fast straight and sharp turn into the woods, fast bumpy decent, 180 degree turn then a drag back up to continue along the track but to the left. It the went into another set of woods and meandered around the trees to ‘The Root system’, this was a step raising about a foot and a half consisting of large, medium and small roots with a sharp left turn straight into an adverse camber which then took you up and to a sharp 180 around another tree. Down a single track to a sharp narrow left turn edged with a hedge and the picturesque lake (with a straight two-foot drop if you got it horrendously wrong). Followed the edge of the lake then up an incline then eventually back in the woods twisting and turning to come out over the bridge walkway, Up past the house, back into the original field only to cut back into some gnarly single track then back out onto the field to the start again.

Teresa was first up, and we could see she meant business, she had eyed up her competition the week before at Leicester, so the bit was between her teeth. Off from the start she led her rival away into the first wooded area. She had a good race and judging by her ever-present smile was clearly relishing the challenge even though the promised rain had set in. Teresa took more than one scalp to finish second in her category so well done.

Lunch break or for those up next practice laps was on the agenda. By now the rain was in full flow, not heavy but enough to make a difference. Although most of the track was wet it hadn’t degenerated into anything sticky and on the plus side everything in the trees had remained dry.
Karl Hale and Iain Milligan were on the start line for the master’s 50’s, Karl 3rd row as he is a league member, Iain so far back they could hardly see each other because he wasn’t. The whistle went off they both went, Karl trying to keep his advantage, Iain moving like a great white through the group hunting his prey.

Nick, Paul Chapman and Will Tate all set for the master’s 60’s and their whistle went a few minutes later to spread out the field as with the master’s 50 and master’s 60 a total of 92 competitors were racing. Nick was strong and constant and mastered tight turns and features, Will was coping well with the course although there were some minor acrobatics involved and he did confess that he does his own stunts.

Paul found the first lap testing but persevered despite a chronic shoulder complaint and managed the stay shiny side up and kept remarkably clean judging by the look of everyone else.
Iain had caught up and overtaken Karl on the last lap and was pacing to the finish, however Karl did a sneaky, caught him by surprise and beat him to the line. To be fair, had they both had the same start, and it had been fair Iain would have most certainly left him behind.
Results for their categories Teresa 2nd, Karl, 32nd, Iain 33rd, Nick 19th, Will 25th and Paul 32nd.
What a great day out, also special thanks to Cath, Sara and Hugo for their support and to finish the day off we had coffee and homemade cake, so what’s not to like hey.
There is no Eastern League race next week, but there are races within reach in the Central, London and Leicestershire Leagues, watch this space !

p.s. Don’t forget your helmet Peter Golding!