As the Cyclo-Cross season has finished now I felt I should do a blog on my experiences. I thought to spice things up a bit, instead of just talking about my races I'd ponder on the 3 most important things I've learnt from this cross season.
So, drum roll please, at number 3 we have: The Weather Can Change Everything
This lesson was learned heavily during the Mull weekend in mid December. The whole weekend looked in jeopardy as the weather gods were attempting to blow the ferries over, or at least that's the image I have in my head. But with more ferries cancelled than you can shake a stick at, just getting to the island was a challenge. Anyway onto the races. Saturday saw the wettest, windiest and coldest race I think I've ever experienced. In the first lap along I lost count of the number of times I got blown off my bike or decked it on the mud so from the start it was gunna
be an epic for sure! I had led the girls from the start line but a crash put me on the back foot and chasing hard, I got back into second and then coming through a sliddy muddy section I lost my line and while going rather fast crashed into what I can only describe as a plastic lamppost and was 'stylishly' sliding through the mud having flipped over the bars. I was soon up and then had to set about freeing my bike which had in my absence formed a deep attachment with some tape and it took me the best bit of 3 minutes to drag in away like a child being dragged from a sweet shop. Paul Oldham I feel your pain mate! By this point I'd slipped out of contention and had to give myself a serious talking to just to finish the race. If that hadn't taught me about the weather my trip to the British Championships in January reinforced the lesson. For those who haven't heard my tale from that field in Englandshire, the brief synopsis was almost crash off the line, lots of crashes in the race as the 'grass' was more like a mud bath. I ended up running more than I rode, actually at one point I managed to dismount onto the wrong side if the tape, and if you've ever seen me running, you know how bad that makes a race for me! With the pretty dreadful conditions I managed 2 laps of the course and had to bike change every half lap as the bike clogged up with mud. So in all not a great trip! So lesson from those races: if the weather is against you be wary of posts and take lots of water to clean bikes.
And so onto the second lesson of the cross season. Nothing would be possible without the amazing people behind the scenes.
This was found out over the entire season stretching from October to February. When I say the people behind the scenes I mean the organisers, volunteers, commissars, marshals, kind people who let us wreck their grass, anyone who has helped in any way to do the almost thankless task of putting on cross races. There are too many to list but the ones who have stood out this year are as follows. Jammy Johnson without whom the racing is not the same, the endless slagging and wrong names being called never fails to make you smile so for me he is the soul of Scottish Cross! John McComisky who has given me so much encouragement and always believed in me. And showed his faith by he invited me to race the fabulous Dig In At The Dock and I was so happy to
repay that faith with a podium finish and some very bad champagne spraying! The commissars are a different class of volunteer. Standing out for me was Guto Williams, purely for his efforts on Mull as commissaring is hard enough but on your own in those condition, well I take my hat off to you sir! One group of people i owe a huge thank you too is the entire Tri Centre team and staff (including Matthew). You guys have being so supportive and have put up with me being in and out of the shop with broken bikes pretty much ever week. I've been honoured to race in your colours for the cross season and hope I've done you proud. And last but definitely not least, my parents who have been endlessly supportive. They have put up with so much during the cross season: muddy bikes, shoes, kit and a very muddy and cold daughter on several occasions! My dad is the only person I could ever want pitting for me. He can calm me down when I am nervous and puts up with my bizarre little requests and things I'm rather OCD about regarding my bikes and kit. I don't say it enough but thank you, I'm so grateful and I know I don't seem it sometimes but I honestly am. And so to all the people I've named and the countless others, thank you, from me and all cross racers. You are the people that make the sport so friendly and one of the reasons for its ever growing popularity. You help to make the rain and grit bearable.
And finally the most important lesson I've learnt. Life isn't fair.
This is a lesson I've learnt before and will continue to learn. That sometimes things just don't go as you think they should and no matter how well you prepare, sometimes things don't work out. This could be easily seen at the Cyclo Cross Champs at Foxlake. In both the under 16 girls and boys several main contenders had mechanicals or problems. The powerful Rhona Callendar never made it to the start line through illness which made the girls race lose a strong set of legs. From the start I led but had competition from Jenny Holl straight
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| Team 1-2 at the Champs |
away and well fate wasn't on her side and she snapped her chain mid way through the race just after passing the pits and had to run almost a lap which seems little compared to the almost 3 laps Joe Nally ran after multiple punctures. But I guess that's just how cross goes and, as I always say when people say that so and so had the race won from 2 laps in, you never know what can happen and it's never over till the line. And as the rules of the universe dictate, I had a better race (only breaking my saddle so it was pointing vertical but still rideable... just... remounting was tricky…) at the Champs so I paid elsewhere with my bit of a disaster at Mull and my epic failure of a British Championship. But I guess you've gotta have bad days to put the good days into perspective.
So that's was my cross season in 3 lessons. Needless to say I'm still over the moon with my results, defending my under 16 titles was a dream come true, 3rd in the women's race at Dig In At The Dock was fantastic
especially as I led the women for a lap and was probably 20th out of the start loop thanks to some masterful positioning on the grid, if I do say so myself. And finally a win in the womens race at the John Muir Winter Carnival which was my last race of the cross season so I could bow out on a high!
Some of you may be reading this and be thinking "that sounds grim why does she do that?!" and my answer is simply because i love it. Cyclo-cross in 3 words to me would be mud, sweat and smiles - a slight change from the phrase I know but cross is so individual, an over used cliche would not do it justice. Its a discipline I've grown to love and will always love. So despite the freezing conditions I always seem to smile as i stand in a field in the middle of nowhere in wellies and about 3 jumpers. So roll on next season! And remember people, Keep Calm and Do CX!
