Wearing the colours

Having not particularly been in a cycling team before (well, not since the Mint Sauce Race and Flowers team back in 1994 or so...) I thought I might as well make the plunge as I often found myself in the company of VCM riders at many of the races I went to. And being one of the non-Scottish lot, I figured that it might be cheery to ride in the colours in the well-organised Yorkshire Cyclocross league. Besides, it was a cheap way of getting a 'cross skinsuit.

My last three races have been good, bad, then good again as I snatched a good start at the first race in Huddersfield and valiantly battled for 30-oddth with my pal Simon on a smooth and very fast playing field course.

Pic by 'Here Come the Belgians'...

Next time out was the Bradley Woods round that featured a lot of woody singletrack. A real mountain bikers' course. Unfortunately, after a bad start and some frankly rubbish legs and lungs, I was presented with an excuse in the form of rolling first my front tub, then, as I was limping back to the finish and waiting for the winner to lap me, my rear. Don't rely on last year's glue folks!

And then this weekend: Bingley - a race where I've had mixed success. Two years ago I crashed my car on the way to the race, just made it there on time and then my crank fell off - but not before I'd worked my way into last place. This year, fate was a little kinder to me. I showed up to sign-on eight minutes before the start, just managed to pin my number on and get to the start for the start - which went well and I found my way somewhere up the top half. Then a combination of low tyre pressures and low (34T) gearing kept me riding when others were bumbling, giving me my first top 30 for a long time (out of a sizeable 81 in Vets)

Anyway, here's to the next lot... Oh, and my own race that I'm running on January 2nd if anyone's looking for some New Year resolution riding to do in Yorkshire...