Crawley Cyclocross National series round 3

The third round of the cyclocross national series were held at another new venue, down at the South of England Showground near Crawley. After a week of heavy showers leading up to the race it was looking more and more likely that mud was going to be seen for the first proper time this season, which a lot of people including me were looking forward to.

After a fairly short trip down to the showground in comparison to the drive up to Irvine two weeks ago on Saturday afternoon I went for a little walk around the course to stretch the legs out and to have a quick look at the course to see what it was all about. It was clear that the course was going to be brutal right from the moment we got there, the corners were flowing very quickly and there was a number of tricky off camber sections as well as some steep banks that required you to run up.

After a little walk, it was into kit then out onto the course for a few laps of practice to dial in the lines and work out what sort of pressures to run. To start off with the course was fairly muddy which made it quite slippery but as the practice went on the it became drier and drier, which meant that it was even possible for me to ride the very steep banked section, even though I only managed to ride it once I still did it, along with Callum Macleod. The first impressions of the course were good and I was really looking forward to the race come the following morning.

However as soon as we got back to the hotel the heavens opened and there was a very heavy downpour of rain which made for some very different racing conditions the following day. After another night spent in a travelodge it was an early start to make the short drive back down to the course for some more practice laps before my race. The rain overnight created some very different conditions compared to those of the previous afternoons practice, the corners were a lot muddier and slipperier which even involved some sections having to be run in the race.

After making sure I had the correct pressures in both bikes it was onto the rollers for my warm up ready for the start, with the start straight only being a few hundred metres long it was vital that I was properly warmed up ready for the start as there was technical section featuring a number of switchbacks very early on.

After being gridded 10th I managed to get a very good start and was 3rd into the first corner, I pushed on and was able to keep my position alongside Ollie for the first two laps. As the laps went by the mud was becoming a lot thicker and many of the corners were becoming cut up which meant that some of the switchback sections were quicker to run as the laps went by, but this also meant that with the running the energy was soon sapped from your legs making for a tough last few laps

Going onto the 3rd lap of 6 I was still fighting it out with Ollie, however I made a few mistakes which caused me to drop back a few places after losing time sliding down the banking after not being able to get enough grip with my left foot to get all the way to the top, which was entertaining for the spectators but not so much for me. After finding my rhythm again I then managed to hold 7th all the way to the line, which is my best cyclocross national position to date so looking forward to see what the rest of the season holds, hopefully we will see some more mud.