Another cyclocross report from Dave Goodhew:

CXL6 Hitchin Nomads - Standalone Farm Letchworth

I thought I would clarify that you only need bronze, silver or gold British Cycling membership to enter these races. This will run for a year from when joined and starts at £21. Mountain bikes can get a good result and you won’t be last.

Getting our money’s worth, me and Tim were signed up and looking forward to the veteran class of approx. 40 minutes racing. Fantastic day and some post Halloween fog in-between the sunshine.  Adriana was spectating, taking photos and taking on Soigneur duty. Warm up laps in the vast flat field were bumpy and a constant hard effort. Not technical but the MTB was made for faster cornering than the slippery conditions could allow, plenty of sliding but caught easily with the wide bars, touching the brakes was mostly bad so I tried to ignore them.

I was gridded behind Tim with a fair few behind us. Start was far beyond my fitness with my first lap letting a few riders through; I could see Tim was quite close so knew I was really pulling too hard. Second lap was a mini battle with efforts not to go backwards but I think I may have blown slightly mid-way! Reining my efforts in keep the legs grinding through the sticky terrain, bumpy even with shocks and fat tyres things got slightly less painful. This week’s training was one ride to the bowl and back, not enough! Settled onto wheel of Kingston Wheelers rider with the gamble that nobody else would come past, rested slightly for maybe two laps and this time made sure I was ahead of him by the line to get 1 sec ahead.

Sprint to the line killed me but was totally needed. Came in 21^st, which is so much more pleasing than 22^nd! Was certain Tim was in top 10 but the bumps have battered him. Confirmed later as 9^th a lap up on me and getting rich with another £5.

56 finishers in this class, I think this was a good effort for NBRC. Fantastic effort as always from all the organizers, think of all that tape to peg out for starters.

Please come to spectate even if not riding to see what these active clubs and riders are achieving. Next week’s venue is moved to LU55PX, a club run could sample Sundon hill, pull a cake raid at the school and return via Chalton, Toddington, Tingrith and Eversholt.

Cyclocross 2015-2016 reports by Dave Goodhew

https://www.strava.com/routes/3603290 is a route guide, less than 40 miles. Some fresh roads to NBRC.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=787516254690364&set=o.355335127881758&type=3 Change of venue

http://centralcxl.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Hitchin-Nomads-V-40-49-result.pdf

http://centralcxl.org.uk/

http://centralcxl.org.uk/calendar-201516/