| NEWS ARCHIVE - CYCLOCROSS |
World Cyclocross
Belgium Diaries - Leuven Life(16/03/2012 18:05:20)Sometimes, no matter where you are or what you’re doing, you have to pause for a moment, take a deep breath and close your eyes. Relax. Free your mind and let it dream. Into a state of subconsciousness far beyond our immediate world. A few seconds to ... |
Belgium Diaries - Vlaanderen Born & Bredene(16/03/2012 18:04:57)An almighty cheer erupts as I exit the only toilet in a local bar come registration HQ for the Versluys cyclocross event, situated on the water’s edge of West Flanders in a small town going by the name of Bredene. Despite the obligatory race day nerv ... |
Haulin' Assenede(19/09/2011 09:35:26)January 23rd, the height of winter in Belgium and I’m sweating. I roll back the duck down duvet and step onto the cold wooden floor, a shock wave immediately being fired straight through my drowsy body to awaken every nerve ending. I’m hoping that if ... |
The Worlds Is Not Enough(14/05/2011 18:45:21)Seven hours. You’d have thought that with a dawn patrol start and long drive I’d have been able to finally put the fine golden grains of Zilvermeer into a safe place up top. Out of sight, out of mind eh? Hmm, not quite. The car door swings open and I ... |
National Cyclocross
National CX Championships - Where's Your Head At?(16/03/2012 18:05:38)Give me another few minutes and I swear my head is going to explode, the pressure building to the point in which it feels like my skull is going to split like a meat cleaver splicing through a melon to reveal its random contents, muddled thoughts, an ... |
National Trophy Round 3 - Point Made(15/11/2011 23:16:11)One by one riders are called forward to take their position at the start. I’m nervous, more so than I have been all season. Foreign camper vans adorn the perimeter of the course, only adding to the discomfort in the pit of my stomach. The course has ... |
National Trophy 6 - Never Plain Sailing at Rutland(12/05/2011 08:52:44)With over 70% of the earth’s surface covered in water there’s little wonder that, as a bike rider, you might get caught in the odd shower from time to time. With the Noah-esque amount of rainfall throughout the week I was seriously beginning to think ... |
National CX Championships - Demolition Derby(20/04/2011 12:36:04)Even the apparent perfect calm of an endless blue sky could do little to mask the pain and suffering of all it prevailed. The distant war cry of two stroke engines getting more forceful with every revolution of the pedals as we make our way past the ... |
National Trophy 4 - Hometown Gory(09/02/2011)It’s been far too long since the National CX merry-go-round visited home soil. Close to three years to be precise and, if I want to recount the saga more accurately, on that occasion it was a perpetual mud match for the 2007 Championship race. The ch ... |
National Trophy 3 - The Dirty Face Of Faith Hill(18/01/2011)Bikes lay strewn across a muddy pit, the sound of another jet washer coughing into life and being asked to give its all in a two minute interval at level four. Semi clean drive train and its like departing one war zone and straight into the next. It’ ... |
National Trophy 2 - Little Shock Of Horrors(13/01/2011)Most of the journey had been spent under cloud burst skies to Chantry Park, Ipswich, for the second round of the National Trophy cyclocross series. Despite the forecast for further heavy rain in the afternoon, the day remained still with only the th ... |
National Trophy 1 - Flatline Racing(27/12/2010)Well, the 'cross season may have technically started a few weeks ago, but in reality it's not until the six race monster that is officially referred to as the 'National Trophy Series' gets underway that things really start to hot up (in a winter sort ... |
National Champs - Cross It’s Bigger Than Hip Hop(06/06/2010)Snowed out at the first attempt and rescheduled four weeks later on February 7th the queen event, and final showdown of the cyclocross season, returned once again to the home of the National Championships, Birmingham’s über fast and spectator friendl ... |
Regional Cyclocross
Wessex CX Round 11 - Even the Strong Crumble(03/01/2012 18:22:24)I’m quite sure that the words Jesus and Christ have been whispered by many lips this week in the run up to the big man's birthday. Presents wrapped and under the tree, lights twinkling along every road and cupboards stocked with festive treats with a ... |
Wessex CX Round 10 - I'm Screaming(23/12/2011 17:44:21)It’s early, the purest part of the day when the world has yet to wake. Quiet. Unassuming. Calm. The sky is already rich with dreams of the road ahead and as clear as an open mind. I pull the front door shut and take a deep breath, the chill winter ai ... |
Wessex CX Round 9 - Don’t Bank On It(15/12/2011 16:44:37)Winter is a glorious time to embrace the elements, the ever changing conditions day-on-day not only add to the diversity of each ride but can also frequent the everyday cyclist with the ultimate kit bag conundrum, what the hell to wear. I can count o ... |
Wessex CX Round 8 - Culinary Delight(15/12/2011 16:44:27)Well, they say that everything happens for a reason, and that every action has a reaction. So early into the month of December and my box of Christmas cards was already running low. The credit crunch meant that a cull was in order, but whom can I str ... |
Wessex CX Round 7 - New World Disorder(15/12/2011 16:44:00)The school grounds are already chock-a-block, rammed full of laboured bike-rack wielding vehicles from across the south. Apparently, I’d heard the course could easily take 180 riders without bursting its seams. Huh, funny. I think someone may ... |
Wessex CX Round 6 - False Start(28/11/2011 15:42:26)Amazing. Take one large grassy bank, perched on the side of a well known motor racing circuit, just a stone’s throw from the south coast. Add a century of yellow and black marker tape, splosh in a few days of precipitation to gently moisten the land, ... |
Wessex CX Round 5 - Schoolboy Error(15/11/2011 14:19:19)A foreboding mist circles above as if the world is slowly imploding with every second that passes, colour sucked out of it like an old black and white movie. All recollection of the enchanted landscape of the previous days dispelled in little more th ... |
Wessex CX Round 4 - Parklife(15/11/2011 14:18:26)Cycling is a preference for the habitual voyeur of what is known as (parklife). And morning soup can be avoided if you take a route straight through what is known as (parklife). Jim's got riders droop he gets intimidated by the dirty bikes, they love ... |
Wessex Round 3 - Blazin' MC's(15/11/2011 14:18:10)Already it’s turned into a no-holds-barred sprint, legs burning with the intensity of the stop-start pace, heart dancing deep within my chest, beads of sweat just starting to run off of the brow. Fifteen minutes, I’d only lasted a measly fifteen, pat ... |
Wessex Round 2 - Solar Powered SuperX(18/10/2011 09:05:00)Maybe it’s just my warped, sun dried, little mind but it definitely feels as though the cyclocross season is starting earlier each year. I think that this is in part to the well known saying ‘time flies when you’ve got a moosh full of mud’ and the fa ... |
Wessex Round 1 - Bertie's Back(18/10/2011 09:04:36)Don’t quote me on this, but I’m sure when I went to bed last night it was April, no, let’s give the sands of time the benefit of the doubt and go for May at the very best. It was absolutely and categorically NOT the ninth month of the year. As I rub ... |
Wessex Round 12 - Something in the Water(19/09/2011 09:33:23)Rising temperatures this week led to the fast spread weeping of ice across the south, with what once seemed to be a world of frozen roads and tracks as far as the eye could see. A final thaw makes way for the undercoat of green that lay trapped bene ... |
Wessex Round 11 - Dancing on Ice(19/09/2011 09:32:50)Now, let’s get one thing straight right from the whistle. I know little of the Yupik or Inuit Eskimo groups. When I reminisce back to my school days I most likely snuck out of History class deeming it ‘not necessary’. The teacher could have bored a g ... |
Wessex Round 10 - Born Slippy(19/09/2011 09:32:13)Choose life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a king of a TV, choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players and electrical tin openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol and dental insurance. Choose fixed-interest mortga ... |
Wessex Round 9/SoE Champs - Fourplay in the Stables(19/09/2011 09:31:41)Conditions under tyre have been pretty extreme this week. The highly touted dumping of snow finally arrived on Wednesday evening with even the south buying a lucky dip and winning over four inches of the excitable white powder in return. Awakening th ... |
Wessex Round 5 - No Mountains, No Magic(04/01/2011)It’s been a big week, reconnoitering both stages of the 2011 L’Etape du Tour with Cyclefilm. There’s no time to question actions on these trips. Fast and furious is the mantra that has been adopted since we started working together in 2006. We’ve ... |
Wessex Round 3 - As The Wind Blows(22/12/2010)Double trouble on the horizon, with the combined Wessex and South Western League's races, meant that an ensemble of extra bodies took to the start at Lydiard Park, Swindon. It's funny, despite a good early season I found myself struggling with motiva ... |
Wessex Round 2 - Two Becomes Won(21/12/2010)Oxford School, one of the more established fixtures on the Wessex calendar without a shadow of a doubt. In fact, I've often heard this venue described in disco speak as a 'Club Classic', an absolute 'Banger' (at least I think they were talking disco ... |
Wessex Round 1 - Good Prep, Bad Prep(19/12/2010)I've got to be honest, there really wasn't any reason not to be at least 'semi prepared' for the opening round of the Wessex Cyclocross League. I mean, it's been in the handbook forever, the clock counting down week on week, yet I still find ... |
Wessex Round 8 - Elbows & R’s(21/11/2010 08:36:28)I think I may have mentioned not so long ago just how important recovery is to the competitive cyclist. Good sleep during the week is an essential factor for anyone wishing to drill themselves fully into the ground (for fun) come the weekend. I would ... |
Wessex Round 12 - Two Part Christmas Special(09/05/2010)Legendary Soul singer Smokey Robinson nearly got it right with the release of his latest album ‘Time Flies When You’re Having Fun’. I can’t help thinking if he’d been just a little more imaginative with that well used cliché then sales could ... |
Wessex Round 11 - Snow Patrol Headline Reading(02/05/2010)Having spent the week in the sunny 25 degree heat of Gran Canaria, rolling along the open roads for more hours than I’m technically contracted to do in a working week, you can imagine the shock as I stepped off the plane to discover that Mr Met Offic ... |
Wessex Round 10 - Pride Of The South(02/04/2010)Well it’s been a pretty reasonable first season back so far. Adjusting the outlook of racing endurance and 24hr solo events to a 60 minute hack around a water logged field is not only a rather extreme shift in what you’ve physically trained your bod ... |
Wessex Round 9 - Seconds Out(29/03/2010)In a strange way, there’s something rather satisfying knowing that whilst you’re nailing yourself to a muddy puddle (known as Oxford Community School) the best cross riders on the planet are doing exactly the same thing in Koksijde (only faster) for ... |
Wessex Round 8 - Just Add Waffles(05/03/2010)Up until now we’ve definitely been on the lucky side with course conditions down south. Despite the wettest November since ‘64 (don’t quote me, I made that part up, but I’m probably not far wrong) by the time race day came around the ground had drai ... |
Wessex Round 7 - The Prize Is Right(08/11/2009)Although this season was all about enjoying being back on the cyclocross scene after a few years out of winter skullduggery, I can sense that things are starting to get a little more serious when a mid week night ride on my fixed gear didn’t quite go ... |
Wessex Round 6 - 50 Miles & Running(01/11/2009)One of the things I find most fulfilling about bike riding is what it teaches you. I’ve had countless experiences off the bike that have been made all the easier to handle from experiences that I’ve had on it. Through the course of time it has taug ... |
Wessex Round 5 - It's All About The Curry(25/10/2009)Life is full of unknown obstacles and since bike riding is part of life, it’s only natural that the randomness continues in this vain. I wasn’t really thinking too much about the race this week. The focus was to nail a week of work in just under 3 ... |
Wessex Round 4 - Prospects Are Going Down(18/10/2009)Despite the incessant rain fall yesterday, almost to the point where I nearly had to hit the speed dial button to my main man Noah informing him to bring his magic ark back out to play, Reading’s Prospect Park had drained far better than expected lea ... |
Wessex Round 3 - As The Crow Flies(11/10/2009)After missing Round 2 of the Wessex League last week due to a pesky cycle show in London it was all eyes on the rough stuff once again, this time at the infamous tech fest that is Crow Hill, Ringwood. In truth, it was questionable if I should have r ... |
Wessex Round 1 - Cross Dressing In Swindon(27/09/2009)11.30pm, Saturday 26th September. Finally both bikes are together. It was touch and go in the week with a few, how shall I put it, surprises that looked like it could scupper my plans for a cyclocross debut after a full decade away from the ... |
