This month I have been racing, with competitions in the UK and a trip Belgium for the Kerstperiode (the time between Christmas and New Year when there are daily cyclocross races). I want to say a massive thanks to Evo Devo and Ride for Charlie for the supporting the trip.
My first race of this month was the British National Trophy Series Round 5 at Kent Cyclopark. Cyclopark is always a challenging, technical course and this year was no different. The course included the classic long set of stairs, but also brought in some new features like the rollers, a set of ups and downs which were slightly of camber and slippy with ruts between each. The whole course was slippy with mud and it degraded before our race making some previously rideable sections unrideable. I was gridded second row and after an ok start I was sitting in a comfortable top 10. Throughout the race I chased people down until at the end of the last lap I got away from the people I was with and got into 3rd. Overall I am super happy with my race and how I managed to work my way back.
The first race of the trip to Belgium was the Heusden-Zolder Superprestige at the Zolder F1 track. The course was mainly flat and fast with some bumpy wooded sections and a few super steep descents. The course included features such as stairs hurdles and scary steep descent. All it needed was some mud. I started in 45th and after a poor start and getting caught in a few group crashes I had some chasing to do. The first few laps where not fun and it took a while for my legs to get going, but I eventually finished in 40th. I bit disappointed but still an improvement on my start position. The next day I was racing in Diegem at a Superprestige, a night race starting a 5pm and usually a hilly, muddy race. I was disappointed to find the although the big features like the off camber and the sand pit remained there was a very minimal amount of mud. The course also included a big road climb and decent and some hurdles. The race started super well, I was gridded 35th but was in the top 20 by the end of the first lap. It all went downhill from there, at the end of lap two my chain came off and I moved back to around 25th to 30th then after that at the end of lap three I completely bonked. I dropped places like a stone in the last couple of laps to finish with a very frustrating 40th. I pretty annoyed with this result especially after such a great start, but I’ve never done a race in the evening before so next time I will know how to fuel properly.
The next race was the Loenhout Exact Cross, it was a muddy race and it rained super heavily duringgridding and during the race. The course was extremely flat with only a few technical features but the slippy mud and all the ruts hidden under the made up for it. The course had a few bumpy bits stairs and hurdles. Although I was gridded 27th I started second row because some racers didn’t turn up. My start was annoying as the person ahead of me missed their pedal and I was held up and I ended up back around 35th. I felt really good though and felt I knew the course well so after a few laps of hard chasing I made it back up to 13th which I was super pleased with. Overall, I thought I raced well, and I am just frustrated by the start as I think I could have been top 10 otherwise.
This month has definitely been an improvement looking at results and I was able to enjoy and participate in an incredible experience in racing in Belgium.
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