This round was a welcome return to the venue of my first ever CX race many years ago, that I haven’t raced at since. The weather couldn’t have been more different though, with heavy rain overnight, on the way to the event and during the warmup (it stopped just in time for the race) meaning the park was like one big wet muddy sponge! Because of the forecast I decided at the last minute to change to my wheels that had just been fitted with full mud tyres - unfortunately a technical issue meant I had to go with a mud tyre on the front and an intermediate on the rear. The course recce made me a) glad I had a mud tyre on the front and b) realise I was short of grip on the back, which became a problem on some of the steep climbs on the course.

I had a great start and was well up over the first half of the course (mostly uphill and the power side of the course), with a mistake on a climb (wrong gear!) meaning I came to a halt and lost some time. After that it was a question of trying to keep the bike upright, and use my power when I could. My main mistake came a few laps in when I managed to clip a stake on the outside of a corner, breaking the course tape and getting some wrapped around the bike. It seemed to be ok for a while, making a ticking noise but not slowing me down, but eventually I had to stop when my chain came off and I spent what felt like an eternity trying to get the tape out of my rear mech to make the bike rideable again (there was still plenty to remove after the race!). After I got going again for the last couple of laps I did what I could but in the end I was disappointed with 33rd place, after two top 20s in a row. It was fun to have a go in ‘proper cross conditions’ (after an all dry 2021) but it does make you realise that with a spare bike and a pit crew to hand it to me (and some more talent) I would have been better off.

Tim Phillips

Central League CX Rd 7 Welwyn, 23 Oct 2022

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