After returning from my off-season and not racing for almost a month, I was really excited to be racing my second ever cross race at Welwyn. It also felt strange racing around the end of October as I would normally start doing turbo or doing long endurance rides for when the road season starts again.

We only managed to do 1 lap of course practice but at least it’s better than nothing! The course was very long- it would take somewhere from 8-10 minutes to complete. It started off with a long flat start which took us up to our first climb with some mud in the middle and grass either side- I preferred the right side of the course as it was easier to have grip. After the climb it was a bit flatter and then where were some twists and turns throughout the first half of the course. The second half of the course for me was the most difficult as there was a long draggy climb which contained some more twists and turns then it took you on to a very fast descent. At the bottom of the descent was a sharp right turn with mud from the bottom and a steep climb, also filled with mud. For me, running was the best option as it was quicker for me to get up there than to ride up there. Again, another big descent and there was this weird muddy speed bump things (not sure what they’re called in cross!). Then another climb with some technical turns and then finally we reached to the flat section where there was a short forest section which wasn’t technical and luckily no tree roots. There were hurdles on the exit of the forest but these hurdles were massive. The hurdles reached up to my knees so for me that was the most challenging part of the course! There was a small chicane and then the course was straight onto the finish.

I was gridded at the back as expected but I knew that I would just have to work a bit harder than the other girls that were gridded in front of me. I got a good start and managed to overtake a few women on the start straight. We got to the first climb and I noticed some people were getting dropped already, so I knew I needed to get past them. I successfully overtook some more riders and just set myself targets by trying to catch and overtake them. The first lap was the hardest lap for me as my chest felt tight and I thought I may have used up too much energy already. As expected I lost time on the hurdles but I can’t help having short legs!! By the second lap people were dropping so I decided to just pace myself throughout the rest of the race and make up spaces by catching up with riders in front. I continued to do this for the rest of the race and it worked really well. I felt strong on the climbs which is where I mostly caught other riders.

Sadly with 2 laps to go I made a couple of mistakes with my mounts which did cost me a place. After running up the muddy climb I went to mount but my cleats wouldn’t clip in, so the bike came to a stop so I had to clip in the way I would do on a road bike- not ideal! Then on the same lap after the hurdles it was harder to clip in but I managed to clip in better that time round. I knew on the last lap I needed to mount on pretty much perfectly as I could not afford to lose anymore places. Thankfully on the last lap I managed to overtake one last rider on a climb and I was able to mount perfectly after the climb and the hurdles.

Overall, I finished 1st in the junior category and 15th overall. I was really happy with this race as I was able to use my experience from my first cross race and put it to practice in this race. The course really suited me with the several hills we had to climb on every lap and it wasn’t too technical either. I felt more confident in this race and my legs were feeling great too. This is my favourite cross course so far!

Amy Harvey

Eastern CX Rd 4 Welwyn, 24 Oct 2021

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