My first cyclocross race

Race morning

On the day, I woke up quite nervous and a bit shaky and made my way to Liz Hughes’ house to get a lift to the bowl at Milton Keynes. She is currently second in the league and was driving there anyway.

Once we arrived, we quickly got changed, I met Tim with the cyclocross bike I was borrowing from him (what a hero) and went off to race practice. I was lucky to be able to go around the course following Liz trying to learn to turn quickly and to find the best lines.

Luckily from triathlon, I had learned the swinging leg dismount, but I was a bit rusty at it and struggled to clip out with my other foot (not a problem in triathlon). Fortunately discovered this in practice (almost falling over) and tried a few times to make it a bit smoother.

Something I have had very little practice at is remounting and clipping in quickly. I do wonder how many seconds or minutes I lost here and how many people face palmed watching me struggle.

The race

We gathered near the start line and they began lining everyone up according to their race numbers. As a newbie I was put at the back. Then they counted down 3 minutes, 2 minutes, 1 minute, 30 seconds and then before you know it you’re off!

Liz told me it is a sprint start in cyclocross so to try to get ahead. I half took her advice. I started off very relaxed and then saw the hill and thought okay I need to get around some of these people before that. However, it was not enough, and I ended up stopping halfway up the first hill and trying to manoeuvre around people which was a bit of a ‘excuse me, coming through’ type of thing.

For the first lap I was just trying to figure out what speed I should be going at and trying to not fall off. In the middle of the course there is a sharp slippery uphill where you have to get off close to the bottom and run up. My attitude was that your lungs should be exploding when you get to the top. This part benefits runners and I was really glad to be one of those!

I saw Tim every lap with the encouragement getting better and better each lap. By the second lap I was really starting to enjoy the race and was amazed at how well I was doing at staying upright which I will put down to bravery (the ex-gymnast in me), core strength (those workouts are important!) and a lot of good luck.

On the third lap they ring the bell and I was quite relieved as I was pretty exhausted at this point and glad that I only had to complete one more lap. Close to the end I heard that the first-place lady had crossed the finish line, so I knew I didn’t have too much longer to go. I came around the final corner and saw the big finish line flag and crossed the line ecstatic and feeling alive (and also very glad to be alive)! 12th finisher out of 55 – extremely happy with that considering my lack of bike handling skills and starting from the back!

Maddie Heywood

12th place after starting at the back. Photo: Keith Perry

Central CX Rd 11, Milton Keynes, 30 Nov 2019

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