Summer Series

[Neil]

For Info. Starting next week.

http://the5thfloor.cc/cxsummerseries/

[Stuart]

Entered

[Chris Clague]

I have a busy week ahead to make this happen

[StevenDrew]

Still in France so won't be back in time. Have fun. Will try and make at least one.

[BruceMackie]

Many thanks to Chris and Neil for being Comms last night rather than racing so the rest of us could all have a go, heroes both. Managed to end up on my backside before even completing a lap but the guys from Stayer straightened the bike up and put a beer in my hand whilst I waited, so I was able to get back in. Tight short circuit made for lots of overtaking and being overtaken and was nothing if not exciting. Here's a pic of Mr Newman taking the fight to Jeremy Durrin.

[andrewnewman]

If "taking the fight to" means "getting lapped by," then well spotted.

I thought it was a great course. So many fair weather races are fast and boring, but they made the most of the features available to make it technical. Thanks to Chris, Neil, Aiofe, and everyone else who made the event happen.

[Stuart]

That was fun. More after than during as it was a real shock to the system. By far the hardest thing I've done since, well, last time i did a cross race which was last summer. It was a technical but fast course which got more and more fun as the lines got honed. I managed to make up time and gain places through the technical sections only to lose it back in the open sections. Plus ca change! Happy with 4th in the V50's, but need to work on speed and endurance. I plan to ride all 4 races so hopefully that will come.

Big thanks to Aoife, Sophie, Chris, Neil and all the others who worked hard so we could have fun.

First race on new Ridley X-Fire with all mod cons and I liked it. Initial impressions:
- not as fast as the old X-Night. It's a bit heavier and the single chainring doesn't pick up as fast my old 46. Takes longer to get up to speed. I just realised its a 36. Isn't that a bit too small??
- It handles really nicely. Its just well balanced and maybe, just maybe, the disc brakes give extra confidence. It's definitely more stable and less skittish than the X-Night was
- Disc brakes. Nice to have, and no doubt cleaner in heavy mud, but they' don't make you any faster than cantis. I don't think they're a big deal either way tbh. Being able to stop suddenly isn't always a good thing in cross, but there again there was a lot of argy bargy in the first 2 laps so they just might have kept me out of trouble.
- Di2. This is fantastic. Perfect for cyclocross where you're changing gear literally every few seconds. It is great to have absolute shifting precision and to be able to jump 5 or 6 gears in one instantaneous move.

Of all the mod cons, its Di2 which I think offers a significant improvement.

Looking forward to next week...

[Chris Clague]

Yeah 38 definitely more suitable for a 1x setup. And your bike sounded rubbish towards the end

Also a surprise to see Mr Newman on a bike - who knew he rode?

I wore too many hats last night - Neil basically did all the comms apart from standing in the line of fire for the senior race start - thanks!

I mainly wore my other hat trying to get a result. Handily our timing rig attaches to a custom built wooden trestle and we've had absolute 100% hit rate at the Tuesday tens which were definitely faster than you guys out of a dead turn on the grass last night. Unfortunately somebody who finished well inside the top 10 last night "forgot" to bring the trestle along so the timing antennae ended up duct taped to a metal edged table which caused all kinds of havoc with the read rates. Bit of a headache sorting that lot out and the results are all done now. Not sure they're published yes though.

[LeonardDelicaet]

OK crossers take note, it's your time to look like a proper pit-pig with your new cordless air-compressor: https://www.lidl.co.uk/en/Non-Food-Offe ... cleId=4905

As Steven, Bruce, Neil, Stuart and anyone who's seen the pits at a european race know this is the must-have implement.

Max, with at least 4 bikes to manage you defo need one!

We should get a phoenix one for London and Eastern leagues if we have the means. They actually make a lot of sense.

[Chris Clague]

You do know we only take air out, right?

[Stuart]

Rode the final event at Herne Hill last night. Beautiful warm summer evening, a lovely technical course, barbecue and beers. Great fun had by all.

No Phoenix apart from me. I know its the summer holidays but many other London clubs were well represented. I guess Herne Hill is a long way from the Bald Faced Stag.

[Chris Clague]

I shall be there in spirit for the next couple of days sorting out the results

[Stuart]

Still waiting for the V50 cat

[Steve Hanks]

Apparently the Vets ran into the back of the previous category on the start the other night, It's been mentioned to me that I might be able to highlight this annoyance to someone who may be of any influence in the starting order / gap.

You're welcome.

[Stuart]

Apparently the Vets ran into the back of the previous category on the start the other night, It's been mentioned to me that I might be able to highlight this annoyance to someone who may be of any influence in the starting order / gap.

You're welcome.

Yeah we did. Shit happens. Its a symptom of squeezing 130 people racing cyclocross into a tiny and popular venue like Herne Hill. We queued politely. Sort of.