Cyclocross 2019-2020 - The CXy thread

For anyone over 35 still on Facebook Sean Rowe has a list of the races


For anyone using google calendar Gareth Gibbons copied Sean Rowe's list
https://calendar.google.com/calendar?cid=c2VnM3M0aXIydWxsZDFoa3I2c3JuNW9kdGNAZ3JvdXAuY2FsZW5kYXIuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbQ&fbclid=IwAR1IKoQ1lgw5oSKajNcbr2kX3REMcA3NdOXJVU5xpd0lsE0M24GVD4T1lnU

Supercross Cup entry open - great coup getting Specialized on board I would imagine

https://fs25.formsite.com/twracing/specialized01/index.html?fbclid=IwAR1DEJNiE1f_7HF3Kq6brtEvNY8VN8DtNd99WzMNcTusGUkbgW0kA11vdB4

Last year they made them available in advance of each race although the timing was erratic so just a case of keeping an eye out on social media for updates - B race entries sell out very quickly from experience of last year

Did anyone get an entry to the Three Peaks Cyclocross on Sep 15th?
It's part of EF Education First's Alternative Calendar, so Lachlan Morton could be racing it.
GCN might cover it again this year. Last year Niall Davis (of CX World Cup fame) was in the group with Simon Richardson (of Rás winning fame).

Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/513490152743525/


There's also the Lakeland Gravel Grinder on October 12th in Fermanagh.

Website: https://lakelander.co.uk/

lukegjpotter wrote: »

There's also the Lakeland Gravel Grinder on October 12th in Fermanagh.

Website: https://lakelander.co.uk/

This looks awesome!

Next years thread can be called "I'm too CXy for my bike, bikes going to leave me"

hoping to do the gravel grinder.

MUNSTER CX LEAGUE '19. RACING / ‘LC’ LICENCE REQUIRED.

6th Oct. St. Finbarrrs, TEMPLEMARTIN, Co. Cork
20th Oct. Clonmel CC, CLONMEL RACECOURSE,
27th Oct. Greenmount, LIMERICK RACECOURSE (non-league)
3rd Nov. Revolution CC, MALLOW TOWN PARK
17th Nov. De Ronde CC, TRAMOVE VALLEY PARK
1st Dec. UDCC, UPPERCHURCH, Co. Tipperary
8th Dec. Over the Hill cc, WATERGRASSHILL
25 Dec. Santa CC, LAPLAND, North Pole (non-league)
29th Dec. Youghal CC, CLAYCASTLE BEACH

And for those of you still wondering about preparing for the season:

https://www.cxmagazine.com/ireland-old-velos-seven-stages-cyclocross

Grange Castle today for 1st CX race in quite a long while. Happy enough with how it went despite starting way back but that was more choice due to fitness. Massive numbers today, and good individual battles throughout. Have always liked Grange Castle as a first race, nice course to get ya back into the hustle & bustle of CX racing. Prefer a more 'flowy' course but all in all good set up from the organisers as usual!

lukegjpotter wrote: »

...
There's also the Lakeland Gravel Grinder on October 12th in Fermanagh.

Website: https://lakelander.co.uk/

There's a round of the Ulster CX on the Sunday after this, not far from this if anyone fancies a weekend on the CX bike in Fermanagh.
That's out plan anyway. Not be too much speed on the Sunday though I'd imagine

Was that the one inTymon park ? How was the course after the heavy rain ?

Meanwhile in the Munster Cx League there was ...

Another Ambush at Crossbarry

Confusing enough that the opening round of the Munster CX league in Ireland was called Crossbarrs, located near Crossbarry and hosted by St. Finbarrs CC, but that it was won by Richard Barry who ambushed race favourite Richard Maes, and the whole field, means I must name him first. Anything else would leave us discombobulated

‘St. Finbarrs’ Richard won the St. Finbarrs Crossbarrs cross race near Crossbarry.
“Which Richard?”
“Amn’t I after tellin’ ya? …. Barry!”
“Hang on, who’s Barry?”

Let’s get back to the field. The Atlantic’s ‘Storm Lorenzo’ brushed past Ireland two days before the race, and while its wind did not blow as hard as foretold, the rain that followed left us in no doubt that something was in the air. Sheets of rain bounced off the garage windows as I prepped my bike on Saturday, while torrents of run-off water washed down the saturated field onto the motocross course our laps would share. The organisers were worried, ‘would the event even go ahead?’ Met Eireann suggested it could, so on Sunday we all turned up for a race in a field only a drowning man would call land.

My ‘OldVelos’ 1981 Alan Super Cross hadn’t seen the light of day since last year’s national champs, so as I checked cables, chain and tyres I had made a mental note about mud-plugging gears. I had already made a bold change to my trusty antique by fitting STI levers. A difference they do make, cute and all as bar-end levers may be. Good too, as this was a course that would require many gear changes.

The drenched field was not the only challenge of the course. After interminable switchbacks, which allowed spectators witness the sticky progress, the ground eventually hardened, and a lip brought us on a nosedive to a track more used to motorised bicycles. Our acoustic versions couldn’t quite enjoy the higher burms on offer, but with a little effort and extreme concentration the course allowed riders make decisions on which rut to follow. This was without doubt the fastest part of the course and gave enough hard ground and pools to disperse some of the brake and bottom bracket encrusted mud. The freed wheels induced even more whizz in some, no more so than another Richard, Cleverly, who treated his many fans and event photographers to table top bunny hops.

Those airborne wheels would soon find themselves levitating again as riders returned to the quagmire. The jump-offs were coming earlier and earlier as the ground got chewed up, better to shoulder the bike in motion than to come to a sudden soggy halt. Good runners profited from fitness and studded shoes and in this field there are few to match the men, women’s and junior winners Richard Barry, Blarney CC’s Fiona Meade and Fionn Desmond. Richard was easy to distinguish in his distinctive helmet, Fiona’s outfit was more subtle, like the former Irish champion bands on her sleeves, Fionn emblazoned MBCC. All could be found 2 minutes ahead of their field.

There was no matching these riders today, so our eyes were drawn to second places and other age category match-ups. Trevor Woods excelled himself in 2nd, profiting from a long triathlon season. He would also take the M50 title, ahead of Midleton’s AJ Murphy, National Hill Climb Champion. Nessa Rochford, of the colourful De Ronde van Cork CC, took second in the ladies, Dave McCarthy in the pink of the new Pi Cycles-Verge outfit. Third place in the seniors and ladies was shared by Strata3 riders Aggie Wozniak and a coughing, spluttering, Richard Maes. Their teammate Patrick Clifford took 4th, and along with it the M40 jersey.

In the B-race, where I had been embedded, a convincing display and first B-league jersey for race sponsor McCarthy Cycles’ Luis Mota. This league and novel jersey will be worth watching as novice CX riders ride themselves into the A race. There they must prepare for even more mud-slinging and surely another ambush, possibly as soon as round 2 in Clonmel in a fortnight.

boomdocker wrote: »

battling for 50th

I was 51st.....

:mad::mad::mad::mad:

i finished similar position to you lads , very enjoyable course , i ran the forest section last lap , felt so much longer once off the bike !

I was thinking that looks bunny hoppable, until I saw people bunnyhop it......