'Cross In The Evenings - Have A Go!

If you have a cyclocross or mountain bike and fancy trying out a cross race there are some local evening races coming up. They'll be on a Wednesday evening starting next week (29th Aug) at Bethlem Hospital, Beckenham and at Herne Hill in later weeks. Four races in all. Start at 18.50 for seniors. Mountain bikes are welcome.

Cross races are brilliant fun and a brilliant workout. You'll be red-lining it for a full hour, challenging your bike handling skills and getting in some close racing. While the courses are off-road it's not very technical like mountain biking and the speeds are lower than road riding. As a result if you come a cropper it's usually slowly and into something soft.* There are kids races too, and it's a great way to get them racing in a safe environment.

If you get the bug (most people do) there's a full season of racing in the South East on most Sundays through the Autumn and early winter.

The vibe at all the cyclocross races that I have been to has been very friendly and welcoming. I'll be going to as many as I can.

Full details are here:

http://www.vcl.org.uk/cross/

A video of the Bethlem course is here:

http://ukcyclesport.com/cross-crazy-home/cx-news/6483-south-london-...

The SE series dates are here:

http://www.londonxleague.co.uk

*Some crashes might hurt a bit and I am not taking responsibility if you break your bike or yourself...

Tags: cross

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Permalink Reply by Bill Fitzgerald on August 21, 2012 at 11:36

Sounds like great fun. Will try to drum up some courage and join you on one and see how it goes.

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Permalink Reply by Simon Clarke on August 22, 2012 at 7:09

Good news - we'll have to have a chat.

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Permalink Reply by Johnny Edwards on August 22, 2012 at 0:40

Simon sounds tempting, but start time is tight getting back from work.

Are you doing 12:12 this year?
I might well be joining a team of 4 , as they are a man down.

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Permalink Reply by Simon Clarke on August 22, 2012 at 7:08

I am doing 12:12. As a solo. I don't think that I'll spend the full 12 hours on the bike, but will do as much as I can. Need a lift?

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Permalink Reply by Johnny Edwards on August 22, 2012 at 10:22

Solo? Good effort and ideal training for the K100!

I'd love to do this racing as a pair sometime - at least in a team of 4 we can go guts out for the 8miles lap.

I'm not heading down until Sunday AM (currently by train as the Mrs has the car + kids) but a lift back on Monday would be handy if at all possible?

I assume you are heading down on Saturday?

PM me your mobile number anyway as I seem to have lost it!

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Permalink Reply by Simon Clarke on August 29, 2012 at 21:31

The first cross race was tonight and it was a belter!

I was really pleased to see that Steve (Chivers?) of G2 and TT fame came along and gave it a go on his mountain bike. Judging by his grin at the end of the race he'll be back.

The course was a good mix of open field and tight single track with a few obstacles and ditches to ride through to keep things interesting. Surfaces were a mix of grass field, loose woodland track and tarmac. It got a little dark in the trees towards the end, but that just added to the interest.

As usual I was lapped after 35 mins or so and had some really good little mini-battles with a couple of Dulwich guys. I punctured 50m from the finish line and rolled over cursing my bad luck for the flat and blessing my good luck that it did not lose me any places.

I have no idea how well I did as I did not even count my laps - such was the intensity of the action. I suspect mid table as usual.

I might not make next week's race at HH due to being at the Paralympics Road Cycling (Come on Shaun!!!)