I rocked up to the 5th round of the Bike Hutt's Cyclocross Race Series only to find a select few had turned up to race A grade. As the track was so muddy, I chose not to pre ride the course to ensure my bike would work properly, at least for the first lap. Mike (the organiser) has a habit throwing in a surprise or two on the start line and this week was no different. As everyone was lining up guessing what the surprise would be, there was some talk about riding topless; Ken seemed keener on the idea than the rest of us. As we were ready to set off, the starter asked us to all turn around and told us we were going to ride the course in the opposite direction because "the course was getting cut up." It made no difference to me; I took my position at the back of the bunch and stayed there. I was duelling it out with Gary (on a 29er mtb with cyclocross tyres) until half a lap to go when my legs finally gave up. I rolled across the finish line in dead last with a much better understanding of cyclocross racing.
It's nothing like road racing where you can hide in a bunch until the finish line or mountain biking where you can recover on the downhills. It's certainly nothing like triathlon where you save your legs on the bike for the run. Looking at how the fast people race, I think it's closer to BMX racing on road bikes with mountain bike skills.
WHAT A FANTASTIC SPORT. I'll definitely be back next year!!!
Full results here
No video this week as the camera lens cover got a few drops of mud on it.
Thanks to Danielle for the great photos.
