2013 CYCLOCROSS YEAH

2013 Scottish Cyclocross Series
6th  October - Auchentoshan, Clydebank
20th October - Callendar Park, Falkirk
3rd November - Knockburn Loch, Strachan
10th November - Strathclyde Park, Motherwell
24th November - Irvine Beachpark, Irvine 
14th December - Glengom Castle,  Isle of Mull
Best five results to count for series.

Scottish Cycling Cyclocross Championships
8th December - Foxlake, Dunbar

Non Series Races
3rd August -  Haughcross, Aberdour
21st September - Rothesay Cycling Weekend, Isle of Bute
27th October - Loch Lomond Shores, Balloch
15th December - Glengorm Castle, Isle of Mull - incorporating the Scottish Singlespeed Cyclocross Championships

National Trophy Series
13th October - Abergavenny
3rd November - Southampton
10th November - Inter Area Championships
17th November - South Shields
1st December - Milton Keynes
15th December - Bradford
5th January - Shrewsbury


British National Cyclocross Championships
11th/12th January - Derby

Auchentoshan by Shand Cycles

A great wee film by Shand Cycles.


Scottish Cycling Cyclocross Championships 2011 from Shand Cycles on Vimeo.

Goodbye Jake

For 3 seasons my fluro orange Jake the Snake has been my faithful mount upon which i've raced the Scottish cross series. I've had some very good races and lots of good times generally on it, as well as some not so great races. Auchentoshan last year stands out as my best cx race yet -i seemed to be going great and the bike just worked perfectly, repleat with spangly new tubs (thanks to Alan McLean for the pic).

Today though I sold Jake. Whilst stripping it down and cleaning it up I definately had some second thoughts, but with a new cx bike on the horizon and limited funds it needed to be done. Glad its gone to a good home too - Paul Newnham will be ripping round the Scottish cross races on it this autumn.

A few more weeks and I should have my new cx steed built up, can't wait! And yep, it'll be in an equally shocking colour!

new race weapon!

Just put a deposit down on a new cx frame/forks, an Ibis Hakkalugi frame and Alpha Q CX20 forks. Should be here within 6 weeks. Getting excited already.

A big thankyou to Ian P at Stif for helping us out.

Hopefully I might be able to get it below 16lb complete. Or maybe i'm dreaming. Pretty much convinced i'm going to shift over to Sram from Shimano - if I can get my paws on some of the updated Force gruppo in time for cross season. Going to keep my Tune/Reflex tubulars wheels and aim to build up a second set of the same, not sure about finishing kit - the bike tart in me says matching bars/stem/seatpin. Hmmm... Quite tempted to try eggbeater pedals - anyone use 'em and got any thoughts?

Got the small matter of trying to sell two bikes in the mean time. Think my Jake the Snake crosser and my Chameleon jumpy bike are going to have to fund all this...

pics from bikerumour.com

Now, if I could just get myself heathly again sometime soon..

can it be that is was all so simple then?

tell me?

would we?

could we ?

cowdenbeath cx

What a blustery day for cyclo-cross, but what an awesome venue!

The course was a mixture of the usual school playing fields, a hint of tarmac and some super slippy singletrack, considering the weather we have had over the last wee while, it was remarkably clean, though the aforementioned singletrack created it's own set of unique challenges.

A good turnout for a Saturday, with around 60 I reckon on the start of the open race. More blistering rides from Andy and Anja, Andy picking up a 3rd place for his efforts more importantly in front of Nimmo, who unfortunately punctured. James Fraser-Moodie won again making the top of the open league very much alive. 

Anja, got off to a fine start and quickly started to move up the field, comfortably winning the womens race finishing not far behind DrJon who seems to have refound his anger and is rampaging his way ever closer to a top 10 place. I felt a lot better this week and had a pretty hard fought race with several riders which always makes it more interesting, disappointed on my climbing and a massive front slide moment on the singletrack descent, no idea where I finished but hopeful I may have snuck some points in the Vets category. Marty seemed to firing today also, maybe it was a Fife thing, playing for the home crowd? again final results not available at time of writing. Hard luck to Davie Graham who punctured at possibly the furthest away point, your day will come, great moustache too!

Great race and it would be good to see this one a regular for the series. 

Glenrothes today for those who have it in their legs.

Photo credit to Grant Doig, plenty more here.

More Auchentoshan

Auchentoshan once more delivered a classic race, after a pretty decent start I was quickly passed by DrJon, when I tried to kick to put up chase nothing happened, bah, I quickly started to go backwards and was feeling pretty rubbish to be honest. Thank heavens for the arrival of arch nemesis Davie Graham, that was just the motivation I needed, we proceeded to race each other into the ground, it is pretty unusual to have such a good rivaled race from the middle of the pack but this was pretty inspiring stuff, the upshot though was that I started to feel pretty good and managed to get a wee gap which I held for the line finishing only a lap down on the leaders for the first ever time! Delighted. Good work Davie.

Also awesome stuff from Andy-W and Anja, both are firing on all cylinders right now, mighty fast folks.

BAd luck Marty, John, and Jac, spare wheels are needed all round I think!

Big thanks to Glasgow United for delivering a great race.

Pic courtesy of Alan Mclean and lots more quality ones here he really seems to have captured the spirit of the event, excellent work Alan, I couldn't find any contact details on your flickr page, so get in touch if you aren't happy about us using the pics.