EKCX Round 1 in Sandwich - Race Report!
Sept 10, 2018 13:34:04 GMT
Joe R Booth, Pete Owen, and 2 more like this
Post by Olivia Campbell on Sept 10, 2018 13:34:04 GMT
So round 1 of the East Kent CX league, took us to the playing grounds of Sandwich Technology colleague. The grassy (no mud) course was packed hard, making it a fast course with many a sprint. There were some lovely sweeping corners and long straights but then to curb the speed, there were some very twisty bits, a corner featuring a bush with lots of bees…we should have felt at home…some pesky hurdles which we all agreed were a couple of inches too high and a few roots here and there…oh and a long jump sandpit!
With no vets sadly in tow….I was first up in the Ladies race. Louise from Les Filles went off like the crackers and left a handful of us sprinting behind. I manged to work my way up, have a good little tussle with a Bowl Fish lady and was closing in on Charlotte from Les Filles when time was sadly up…well actually not so sadly, I was cooked. I was warmed to see that the WD40 still featured for the podium prizes!
So, after the Ladies had prepped the course for the men and shown them how to ride the sandpit…take the hurdles, advise on the tyre pressure, scare off the bees etc. etc. It was time for them to zip up their skin suits and give it a go.
The gridding for all was fairly entertaining….”so I think you might have been good last season up you come…oh and maybe you few…then who else thinks they are good…right job done…off you go”.
With a nice long start straight, the race went off like the crackers. Michael Butler took the lead and made himself a nice little gap. Then we had Dave and Eddie in a group of maybe 6 chasing with Alex and a couple of others on their heels for about 3 laps before a little gap became apparent.
Eddie then started to have a good tussle with Mr Rees, before pulling away. Also, another X-youth was in the mix before he had a little rest and Eddie got away. Talking of little rests, Alex had a number which might explain his little gap which grew ahead of him. The new single-speed went too fast that when it came to stopping, this ended up with him in a hedge or other resting places around the course!
Eddie too was a little too strong for some of his equipment. Both top buckles on his Dulwich blue shoes decided they had had enough and popped off. Leaving Eddie half out of his shoes and his Mother, me and another friendly bloke out on a reconnaissance for said clips. With Mum in the pits with one clip and a zip tie ready for the other badly-behaved shoe…Eddie in 2nd with a 10s gap on the chasers including Mr Rees rode valiantly on.
Pro tip from Eddie “I usually duck-tape my clips on my shoes”, if only we all had legs as strong as Eddie!
Stu also had a good race and being his first time back on the CX bike since last season, had his own good tussle with his group. The last lap hurdle was just one too many and the bike took the brunt of it. More suitcase lifting required for Stu before he returns to the East Kent (unusually high) hurdles.
So, on they kept going for the full hour whilst the spectators enjoyed the sunshine and then finally, it was time for Butler to cross the finish line, not far behind was Eddie taking 2nd and Mr Rees fought off his little group to take 3rd. In the top 10 we also had Alex in 10th and not far behind was Stu!
What was left was to devour some fish and chips, wave to our friends in France and head back to the big smoke. Oh and perhaps Mr Rees as last year’s winner took the opportunity to head to a local common ground and herd some sheep…who knows!
So, next weekend is very exciting as its London League Round 2 in Crystal Palace…not only for being in Crystal Palace but also because we can all roll home after a proper recovery (session)!
Get signed up, one not to miss…even if you’ve not given a race a go before! And once you’ve raced, time to heckle/support your fellow CXers in blue…led by Coach Codrington no doubt!
URGENT REQUEST FOR HELP: Max and Caroline need your help to set the course up on Sunday for the CP race. There's very limited site access time so it all needs to be done early Sunday and they're a bit short of helpers. So if anyone can lend them a hand it would be greatly appreciated - it's 06:00 - 09:00 and we plan to have a good slap up breakfast locally afterwards! Contact Max on 07963 340090 or Caroline on 079063 73509.
With no vets sadly in tow….I was first up in the Ladies race. Louise from Les Filles went off like the crackers and left a handful of us sprinting behind. I manged to work my way up, have a good little tussle with a Bowl Fish lady and was closing in on Charlotte from Les Filles when time was sadly up…well actually not so sadly, I was cooked. I was warmed to see that the WD40 still featured for the podium prizes!
So, after the Ladies had prepped the course for the men and shown them how to ride the sandpit…take the hurdles, advise on the tyre pressure, scare off the bees etc. etc. It was time for them to zip up their skin suits and give it a go.
The gridding for all was fairly entertaining….”so I think you might have been good last season up you come…oh and maybe you few…then who else thinks they are good…right job done…off you go”.
With a nice long start straight, the race went off like the crackers. Michael Butler took the lead and made himself a nice little gap. Then we had Dave and Eddie in a group of maybe 6 chasing with Alex and a couple of others on their heels for about 3 laps before a little gap became apparent.
Eddie then started to have a good tussle with Mr Rees, before pulling away. Also, another X-youth was in the mix before he had a little rest and Eddie got away. Talking of little rests, Alex had a number which might explain his little gap which grew ahead of him. The new single-speed went too fast that when it came to stopping, this ended up with him in a hedge or other resting places around the course!
Eddie too was a little too strong for some of his equipment. Both top buckles on his Dulwich blue shoes decided they had had enough and popped off. Leaving Eddie half out of his shoes and his Mother, me and another friendly bloke out on a reconnaissance for said clips. With Mum in the pits with one clip and a zip tie ready for the other badly-behaved shoe…Eddie in 2nd with a 10s gap on the chasers including Mr Rees rode valiantly on.
Pro tip from Eddie “I usually duck-tape my clips on my shoes”, if only we all had legs as strong as Eddie!
Stu also had a good race and being his first time back on the CX bike since last season, had his own good tussle with his group. The last lap hurdle was just one too many and the bike took the brunt of it. More suitcase lifting required for Stu before he returns to the East Kent (unusually high) hurdles.
So, on they kept going for the full hour whilst the spectators enjoyed the sunshine and then finally, it was time for Butler to cross the finish line, not far behind was Eddie taking 2nd and Mr Rees fought off his little group to take 3rd. In the top 10 we also had Alex in 10th and not far behind was Stu!
What was left was to devour some fish and chips, wave to our friends in France and head back to the big smoke. Oh and perhaps Mr Rees as last year’s winner took the opportunity to head to a local common ground and herd some sheep…who knows!
So, next weekend is very exciting as its London League Round 2 in Crystal Palace…not only for being in Crystal Palace but also because we can all roll home after a proper recovery (session)!
Get signed up, one not to miss…even if you’ve not given a race a go before! And once you’ve raced, time to heckle/support your fellow CXers in blue…led by Coach Codrington no doubt!
URGENT REQUEST FOR HELP: Max and Caroline need your help to set the course up on Sunday for the CP race. There's very limited site access time so it all needs to be done early Sunday and they're a bit short of helpers. So if anyone can lend them a hand it would be greatly appreciated - it's 06:00 - 09:00 and we plan to have a good slap up breakfast locally afterwards! Contact Max on 07963 340090 or Caroline on 079063 73509.