Eastern CX Rd 5 West Stow, 6 Nov 2021

This was my first cross race in a couple of weeks. Life has been getting in the way of racing the other rounds and also seriously interrupted training, so I wasn't expecting much. I was gridded 3rd row, which seemed good, but even though I was in the middle, I seriously got slowed down by the bottleneck after the start straight. I lost 10-15 places and had to pass so many people to get back to the pace i wanted to ride. When i was finally free I rode mostly alone. I did have a good battle with another guy who just got ahead as I slipped on a corner and had to unclip. As I was using mud tyres, i could hit all but a few corners brakeless carrying good speed. My legs were surprisingly strong, i would have liked some more power but after the chaotic month I've had I'll take what I can get. What I change for next time is limited, I rode as well as I could. Getting caught at the start was completely out of my control so the thing I'd do would be to run a summer tyre on the back to get a little bit more speed on the straights. I came in 18th place, not the best result but pleased given the circumstances.

Ollie Maynard