London Cyclocross Summer Series

[Stuart]

Summer Series 2014 - dates announced!

http://www.summerseries.co.uk/ 4 week cyclo-cross series. Thursday evenings, end of July and start of August.

July 24th - Bethlem Hospital
July 31st - Addington Park
August 7th - Bethlem Hospital
August 14th - Herne Hill Velodrome

[StevenDrew]

Summer Series 2014 - dates announced!

http://www.summerseries.co.uk/ 4 week cyclo-cross series. Thursday evenings, end of July and start of August.

July 24th - Bethlem Hospital
July 31st - Addington Park
August 7th - Bethlem Hospital
August 14th - Herne Hill Velodrome

Excellent!

[andrewnewman]

Mmmm.... File treads.

[Stuart]

Have sourced Reynolds deep section wheels with Clement LAS file treads. Will be good to use them

[MaxReuter]

Summer Series 2014 - dates announced!

Great! Will only be able to make the two Bethlem dates, but looking forward to those!

[MaxReuter]

Have sourced Reynolds deep section wheels

That's 'sourced' as in 'taken off Hetti's bike', if I remember right?

[Stuart]

[LeonardDelicaet]

Heard some interesting noises emanating from the first round of the summer series.

Does anyone care to summarize for us?

[MaxReuter]

First round of the Summer Series at Bethlem Hospital yesterday. Beautiful weather, golden evening sun and a hard, dry and fast course, mostly over grass with a few twisty section through the woods thrown in.

We had planned to attend this as a family outing, with all four of us racing (Caroline for the first time). We managed, but only just. I turned up at Peckham Rye with the boys at half four, only to find it impossible to get on the packed train with our bikes. Change of plan, emergency Zipcar hire and off we went by car. Caroline did not fare much better. Jumping on my old Giant to cycle down the lever broke and she had to change to (and race on!) her heavy commuter bike. But we all made it in time and had good fun. The conditions made for great racing and all of us made it round the course well. And with the Crawley wheelers and Kevin Knox apparently already off to the beach I even managed to take the win in the old men's category.

Stuart was in attendance as well, looking to get his legs back into race shape. Not sure where he placed, but he looked intact and content afterwards!

We'll miss next week, but are looking forward to be back at Bethlem for round 3, hopefully with working bikes and more relaxed!

[Stuart]

Seemed strange racing on a hot summers evening and a bit of a wake up call as its the first time I've ridden properly hard for 5 months - since the Team champs.

There was just enough time to do a recce lap then join the grid at the back. But I wasn't having that so managed to jump in at the side - on about the 3rd row. It was a big field with the seniors and vets all mixed in together. I got a good start but it was a shock to the system reminding me just how fast a cyclocross start is, especially in dry conditions. I was in about the top 15 when Max shot past me, looking very strong. It was bit of a roadie course, tbh, with lots of racing across and around open fields, encouraging bunch racing. I found myself in a bunch of 4 with 2 DP riders and stayed with them for most of the race until it splintered with 2 laps to go and I dropped back after the 40 min mark. Wonder why that was But on the last lap, I found a 2nd wind and caught one of the DP riders, stayed on his wheel over the last field section then sprinted past him at the entrance to the wooded single track. I knew I was faster through here, so gave it all I had left, taking some risks on some of the off camber twisty turns, emerged into the finish area and he was gone. Nearly caught the next rider but not quite. Neither were vets so I don't know where I finished but I think well inside the top 10 vets.

I felt stronger than I thought I would but still struggled on the sloggy open sections and faded a bit after 40 minutes. But the 2nd wind was a good sign and my sensations were good Plan is to ride all 4 of the series and that should set me up nicely for the coming season.

Well done Max for a stonking ride and a well-deserved win.

[StevenDrew]

Great stuff, Max. Fantastic!

[EdwinBurden]

Anyone riding down from the West End tomorrow? I'm leaving from mayfair, guess about 5:15-5:30 though need to check the route

[Damian Robertson]

I might Edwin. Let me know a good spot to meet in Mayfair. I'd be coming from further west. Where is tomorrow's race?

[Stuart]

I'm 50/50 for tomorrow and won't know until about lunchtime. Hope to make it tho.

[EdwinBurden]

Similar to stuart there is a slim chance I'll get hijacked by work, but assuming all goes smoothly we could meet at the bottom end of Berkeley sq by babble bar? Alternatively can meet you further down if it's easier, say Victoria.

Google suggests 15m via vauxhall bridge- it's just east of Croydon.