Welcome to the season proper - with mud, and lots of it.
Another long trip, this time into West Wales and a showground on the outskirts of Carmarthen. We were sharing the venue with a car boot sale, which apparently had been in full swing since 6am. 6am!! Now, I know racing bicycles around muddy fields in the Welsh winter may seem a pretty eccentric way to spend your Sundays, but the fact that some people are prepared to get up at 5am on a Sunday for the chance to buy some bric a brac just proves that, well, to put it diplomatically, everyone is different...
It was a blustery day, but bright with just the odd light shower around. It soon became clear that the wind would be a bit of a factor, but the mud more so. The course was flat apart from where it snaked up and down one small section of banking. The lower lying sections were more or less under water, and the parts being used for the junior races were already getting very churned up. I don't mind it when the going is heavy, but changing every scrap of your kit and washing your bike after warm up is a bit of a drag.
The start was 200 metres or so of unmade road, and then straight into the mud. It was impossible to move up on the straight, but I was on the inside for the first few turns and managed to brake late and pass a good few riders down the inside of corners. The first lap was crazy - there were lots of tight switchbacks in the mud, and everyone was passing and repassing into them, rubbing tyres and bodies while all the while looking for the least worst line through the quagmire. Add to that a couple of riders crashing in the pack and you have a recipe for mayhem. Wonderfully fun mayhem.
It seemed like I was managing to gain more places than I was losing though. After a lap things began to settle down, and I soon got into what would be a race-long battle with two other riders, the three of us sometimes locked together, and never separated by more than a few seconds. Another thing I love about cyclocross is these battles. You try to work out where another rider is weaker or stronger than you, all the while pushing to the limit. Indeed, I learned from my fellow competitors that the muddiest section of the course, although rideable, was quicker to run, as they both passed me doing just that as I turned my pedals slowly through the mud. In the end I came second in the three way battle; one rider opened up a gap that I couldn't close on the last lap, while the third pushed me hard all the way to the line. It's good to race all the way to the end like that; it certainly keeps you motivated!
This was one of those solid but unspectacular races. Despite the race-long fight for places, I struggled to find that extra gear and really push hard at times, particularly on the faster sections of the course where I grasped an opportunity to recover from time to time. I finished 26th, which I suspect is more or less where I will end up in the championship.
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