Central CX Rd 3 Campbell Park, 25 Sep 2021

Saturday was my first ever cyclo-cross race! I was excited for this race as this was going to be something I’ve never done before, it was out of my comfort zone, and I did it just for some experience. My race was 40 minutes long on a fast, technical course. My aim for this race was try and get the best result possible, chase riders down, and to learn something.

Before my race I did two practice laps of the course so I could plan ahead of my race. I also bumped into Tim, so I joined Tim on the practice laps. The course was relatively flat with an uphill start and one long drag. There were some small hurdles that you could bunny hop (I haven’t got the skills for that!), and some stairs that led to a sudden descent with a sharp right turn at the bottom, and a few other sharp corners. My favourite part of the course was the forest section as you could carry some speed in there, there was some technical parts such as the tree roots and tight corners, but also the forest scenery was quite nice to look at!

After riding round 20 minutes as a warm up, we went down to the start for gridding. Surprisingly, I was gridded second row from the front. I thought I would be at the back as it was my first ever cross race. There was a fast start and I was at the front half of the group early on. I tried to go flat out quick so I could get away from the other riders. A rider next to me crashed on one of the corners, which worked in my favour as the other riders in my category were caught behind the crash. However when we got to the drag, 2 riders from my age category had caught up and overtook me. I focused on settling into a rhythm and try staying with them for as long as I could. Sadly they got away from me after one of the corners so I just carried on going at my own pace.

Ann Tur

I lost time on the stairs, partly because I was just so slow and cautious getting up them. The top part of the stairs is where I lost most of the time as it was a sudden, technical descent. It was almost like there was not enough time to remount before getting to the bottom of the descent.

The rest of the race I just rode my own race, I found a rhythm and stuck with it and didn’t want to take any risks. At the end of the race I finished 3rd junior and even beat some seniors too! I am happy with how I rode in that race, and to get a podium topped it off. This race was a good benchmark for me, showing where I need to improve. After some rest for my off season break, I will definitely give another cross race a go!

Amy Harvey