Welsh Cyclocross League round 4, Aberdare Country Park

An unexpected four week gap between my first and second races of the season, thanks to injury. I felt like I'd lost a little ground, both in terms of scoring points and fitness, having not been able to train as much as I'd like. On the other hand, I was fresh and rested and my bikes were clean and perfectly maintained, as I'd not been able to ride them all that much! Dare Valley Country Park was another new venue on the calendar, or at least one not one I'd raced at before. Despite a very dry first half of October, the course was only 80% dry, traversing low-lying boggy ground twice each lap, one section of which required a long dismount and run, and dragging steadily uphill on either side. Attending one round out of three meant no gridding for me, but fortunately the start was wide open and I got away fairly well from the third row, slotting into the lower reaches of the top 20 at the end of lap one. I then made slow but steady progress for the first half of the race, picking a few more riders off; I was holding my own or losing only a little time on the fast, dry downhill sections of the course, and making up time in the muddy sections and particularly the long drag uphill. The course finished on top of the hill, and in the second half of the race it became clear that I was going to have to make the most of this. Once again I had settled into a group of three riders, becoming two of us in the later stages: just me and Adrian from Forza RT. He was slightly quicker than me on the fast downhill section, so I was pleased to make it to the bottom of this neck-and-neck with him as we entered the long, muddy run. Then, I thought I'd blown it: I stumbled in the mud, bike on my shoulder, and landed on my knees in the mud! Somehow I bounced straight back to my feet and managed to stay with Adrian. There was nothing for it then but to go full gas for the two or three minutes to the finish, and I managed to get a gap of a few seconds and hold onto to it on the uphill drag to the finish line.

Last lap. No pressure. Photo by Helen Breese.

I hung around for coffee in the cafe and post-race presentations, and was pleasantly surprised to earn some prize money for only the second ever time in the Welsh League. I'd come 8th overall, my first top ten finish since 2009. A nice way to get back into the swing of things after injury.