The results and some good race photos are now up on the
BritishCycling website as well.
My placing
I was number 82 - which put me 57 of 67 racers on the day. I suppose I'm a bit disappointed because (aside from the race being sheer torture) when you look at the results I am actually in last place of the male seniors
although I really wasn't last!. Actually I did have the chance in the last few hundred metres to overtake another racer, but I didn't take it. Maybe I felt as sorry for him as I did for me, or maybe I just didn't fancy any more pain, but I just didn't. After being lapped 4 times by the winners I suppose it felt a bit hollow!
My Expectations
People I spoke to about cross racing simply said it was 'hard' and dirty. From this, I'd inferred that although it was 'hard' you could ride at your own pace and finish albeit slowly. I'd also watched quite a few race clips to get an idea of the likely terrain and interactions with other riders. Although I knew the race location (Kenilworth Common) I didn't know the route beforehand. People also said that cross was hard on the bike - which worried me as some of my components had done 10,000 miles and I weighed in at 201lbs (I'm 5 foot 8) on race day.
My Preparation
My preparation was pretty good, apart from failing to lose enough weight for the day. Making weight for powerlifting competitions used to be reasonably easy for me, but I found eating enough carbs to avoid bonking and training outside in the cold seemed to make me eat more. I knew that my fitness would be my achilles heel and boy was that ever true! My bike handling skills and power were fine though.
My Experience on the Day
My pit man (my Dad) and I showed up early to check out the route and hopefully get a test lap in. Once I arrived at the top of the easy tarmac hill sweating plenty I thought I was in for trouble fitnesswise... until I rode the course to the first 'descent'. As I've said I actually know the common pretty well, and I couldn't believe it when I saw that the route included riding the treacherous 'gravel pit' as we used to call it - a 150ft super steep slope of gravel and sand. I used to make zip lines down this precipitous slope as a kid and remember finding it pretty hard just to walk back up! I just stood at the top basically terrified. Eventually a bunch of other riders appeared and I explained that this was my first race etc. They were pretty sympathetic and at least one was bigger than me, so when he said that it was quite rideable and that I should follow him I did. Little did I know that later on in the race I'd be longing for any excuse to stop peddling including riding down this! Anyhow, I rode two practice laps (this could have been a mistake) and waited in abject terror for the start.
I was actually dead last on the starting grid, so once we were moving I raced past about 20 people up the tarmac hill thinking that getting past people on the course would be really hard. I completed the first lap in really good time - about 5 mins with no-one really coming past me either. Once I got onto the second lap though I was breathing like a steam train and getting a stich in both sides! I always back off when that surfaces because sometimes I can't really recover. This was when I found out that cross is just really really hard
From the 2nd lap on I just tried to hang onto my sanity and safety. The course was so demanding (for me) that I'd reach the top of a hill, come down a really steep descent only to have the last hill's oxygen debt kick in ready for the next hill. Soon I wasn't worrying about the best racing line or traction, but just how to get up hills easier! On the first lap I'd gone up the tarmac hill at about 11 mph and topped out at 21mph along the crest, and the lower trail had showed 23mph, but by the last lap I struggled up the tarmac hill at about 5mph coming out of the saddle and could only maintain 11mph at the top and 14 mph along the bottom.
Although I had plenty of leg power I found that even trying to exceed these marker speeds meant that I'd be too breathing too hard to get up the next incline. My fitness was the clear problem. Also I had no idea how hard I could really push myself (without dying) as I'm not used to this kind of event. The worst parts were where friends were cheering for me because I felt compelled to push harder then which meant maybe not getting up the hill after. By the half way point I stopped trying to race and just tried to get through each lap. Other riders were starting to pass me regularly now and I was definitely more of an obstacle than competition.
I had to stop at two points during the race - once to fix my rear brake (avid shorty 4) which kept sticking on quite hard as the tensioner spring kept slipping out - this didn't help much but was probably only responsible for 1% of my pain. The second time was when someone rode into me on the very last lap! Some riders took a short cut to reach the precipitous gravel pit I mentioned earlier which cut across the less direct but safer line I took. Apparently this exact accident happened a lot and with me caused the two of us to wipe out big time and worse, nearly get run over by more riders. Whilst lying on the ground still I literally chucked the bike off to the side and rolled out of the way. My rear brake cantilever was pushed right under my rim but I managed to pull it back out pretty quick and got going again. I wasn't sure what happened to the other rider but he wasn't happy! The only footage of this race from last year happens to be that exact accident too!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9e_t5-pbpc
Post Racing
There were a few times when I thought to myself - what in God's name am I doing here - just pull over before you die! However with supporters out in force and a big lunch nearly ready I really wanted to finish
I'm surprised but grateful that the race organisers allow muppets like me on the track to get in the way of everyone, as it was quite an enlightening experience for me, having only completed in very different strength type events. It certainly highlighted that my fitness is truely awful, which I'll be addressing.
Cross racing looks like a lot of fun if you are good at it, but for me with my lifting goals I'm not sure it's really possible to mix the two with any success at either. We'll see how my riding improves this year. I'd be very interested indeed to see how I would do the same race at say 10% bodyfat (which is about as lean as I ever get) instead of 18%. I'd be about 80Kg instead of 91Kg.
Photos and Videos
Here are my
photos and
video from the day. Thanks so much for contributing everyone