Sweet, Sweet Mud

Well as with most of the country I woke up to snow on Sunday morning and possibly unlike alot of the country giggled out loud. I have no idea why I like racing in nasty conditions but the snow appealed and even when the temperature rose and it became rain racing still seemed the best thing to be doing on a Sunday morning.

And so it was that round ten of the London 'cross League hosted by Addiscombe cc came to be held at Penshurst offroad club (PORC) in Kent. After enjoying breakfast number two, plenty of coffee(cheers Raluca) and collecting my riding compatriot James from the joys of unpacking (they moved house the day before) we loaded up the van and set off.

Upon arrival we signed on and I had the treat of getting the number one plate we slipped back to the van to strap on the Lycra. Looking at the clock it appeared to be time to get a view of the course just before the race start. It was at this point we discovered the race start had been delayed by an hour. So back to the van we went to amuse ourselves until we could go and taste the mud. Despite the soggy condtions the course was fast with a treat of a loose fireroad descent a disproportionate amount of climbing in comparison to the downhill! and as expected more than a fair amount of mud which proved to have alot more grip than mud would be expected to provide.

The course and condtions proved to be hostile to a number of riders with more than a couple of people puncturing on the first straight. And the mud and climbs appearing to take thier toll on a few more. George Brent riding in the hosts colours made an impressive recovery from a front flat to earn himself 2nd place. Somehow i managed to escape the puncture demon mostly due to deciding on a firm 120psi in the tyres and the demon deciding not to pick on some of my more monster truck style riding moments on the descent!

Not alot else to say other than it was a top days racing and i cant wait for the next one!

Photo borrowed from londoncyclesport.com