Reflection on the CX Nat Champs and what comes next?
The cross season is always a blur and come January every year without fail someone goes “I can’t believe the cross season is over already!” and that couldn’t be more true for me personally this season.
A season that’s been full of illness, frustration and lack of forwards motion is always difficult, especially in a sport where mentally it is so important to be ‘on it’. Saying that, with a team such as Montezuma’s a cross season is never dull or boring and instead it has been one of the best ones yet.
I could quite easily give you a whole recap of the year, starting from the first round of the national series in Derby to finishing last weekend at the National Champs but no one is going to find that particularly interesting, especially when I have no results to write home about. The exception to that statement might be National Champs, the one race this season where things have just clicked and I ended up pulling out a result I was pretty dam chuffed with.
Going into the race ranked around 55th in the country and with only 1 UCI point to my name meant I was gridded a little further back in 17th, with one or two riders not making the start line I found myself on the second row on the wheel of the rocket ship that is Joe Beckingsale and so I was guaranteed to get a good start. Sure enough as we crested the hill for the first time I found myself a little out of breath sat 5th wheel, okay keep this together, there is still 58 minutes of racing to go I told myself as we dived through the puddle into the pits. To call it a puddle is maybe a little bit of an understatement, the rain from the previous week had flooded the bottom part of the course and maybe comparing it to a lake rather than a puddle is more appropriate. For sure it meant for some cool action photos. (See below)
Rain + mud = an ice ring for bikes and it wasn’t long before I soon found this out, as the course dived back down the hill for the second time there was an incredibly awkward open left hander, the sort you can take flat out but maybe advisable to take a little caution. Still less than 5 minutes into the race adrenalin was still pumping through my body and the caution side of things took a little bit of a back foot and instead both wheels slid out from underneath me, unbelievable I kept the bike upright but acted as just a little note of caution.
Soon things settled and I found my rhythm, a group of four soon formed consisting of myself, Bjorn, Callum and Grant. With wheels to follow and riders ahead we pushed on, battling inside the top 10. By this point Cameron had put in a big effort and was absolutely flying around the course so I knew we had to push even harder. To ease the struggle of all the running my camo Ridley canti cross bike was brought out of retirement (I have used this bike twice in the last two years, for the 2022 CX national champs and this years national champs so maybe its just my lucky charm) and with it on my shoulder I put in a dig on the run up over the top of the hill, putting in just a small gap to the riders I was with. With a TT saddle attached as I mounted the bike for the sweeping 180’s back down to the pits I landed slightly awkwardly which is always a pretty painful experience, but with so much lactic acid in the legs the pain wasn’t too noticeable.
The gap to the group I was battling with however did start to open and a few minutes later I was greeted by Kelvin holding up his 80% board. Wow, Cameron was absolutely flying and when he came cruising around a minute or two later with an outrageously big gap to the second and third place riders you could tell he was a man on a mission and that win was pretty well deserved.
Personally I ended up 10th, in my head that’s what I was hoping for (after finishing 6th at last years champs) so was pretty happy with how things went for the final race. Even if it hasn’t been the season I was hoping for, that result helps keep the fire fueled and means I am hungry to go again next season.
In the mean time there are some big announcements coming over the next few weeks which I am incredibly excited for so watch this space but it’s certainly going to be a good summer with lots of events already entered.
A huge thanks to everyone who has made this cross season possible, especially the Montezuma’s race team run by Helen and Simon for the belief throughout and helping to keep me going, as well as for getting the form back their with help from Simon in terms of coaching. The support Pedal Potential has provided, not only over the last year but the last few has been amazing and I can’t thank them enough and a massive good luck to the new 2023 Pedal Potential riders. Lastly all of my sponsors, including Spatz for keeping me warm during those freezing races. I’ve also been rolling around this season on some fresh hoops courtesy of EFS and they have been faultless and certainly made a big difference paired with the dugast tires. Finally Brown Bag protein for keeping my protein supplies stocked up with their sustainable protein powders, I would highly recommend the Biscoff flavour.
If you are after some new wheels or protein the code TOMC10 will get you 10% off both brands.
Just click on either of the photos below to be taken to their websites.
Thanks for coming
Tom
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