Dirty Deeds #1 : 15th of July 2012

Time for round two of the National Cyclocross Series, this was kind of like a Cyclocross stage race, two races in two days. I could get used to this very easily, in America and Europe this is just about the norm. Round two was hosted by the fine people from Dirty Deeds, at the  Darebin Parklands.

A grade field lining up.

We really are starting to hit the big time, SBS's Cycling Central had a crew out filming the weekends action. I am no longer alone in my cyclocross passion, woohoo!

Officially big time!

As usual the Dirty Deeds Crew out did themselves with a course design that was even better than yesterdays. Some fantastic use of the available space and some mean course design by taking the course down next to the pond in the middle of the Darebin Parklands, probably the muddiest section of the park. Thanks for that guys.

One side of the course.

Another "Circle of Death", this is starting to become a Dirty Deeds trademark.

They also included another circle of death, this looks awesome in motion full of riders seemingly going every which way. Absolute chaos, fun chaos.

Not quite full here but it gives you the idea.

After the "Circle of Death", there was a little drop down a bank that sent you flying into a hairpin turn at 30+ km/h only to come to almost a dead stop when you hit the mud at the bottom. Then grind your way around the corner and try to accelerate for the climb up the other side only to have to get off half way up and jump a barrier. Good fun. 

This section was tough to hold any speed through.

You can see from this guy's rear tyre just how far down your tyres sank.

Barrier jumping.

After this section we got a little bit of respite as we turned back down the hill and onto a section of bike path. It felt so good to get back onto a surface more appropriate to ride a bike on. Strange that.

After the bike path section they sent us back up the hill again into a tight right hand hairpin that increased in gradient as the turn decreased in radius. This was tough to stay on your bike through but paid dividends if you were able to. 

Tough section to ride.

We then went down to ride beside the pond, right beside the pond, VERY SOGGY. Another tough section to ride even though we had gravity on our side to get through it.

See? Very soggy.

Going down to the pond.

Nice little puddle.

After the pond section, just for a change of pace, they sent us through another mud patch. What a surprise.

More mud, yay.

This led us into the final straight and the finish line ready for yet another lap. What an awesome course. If it wasn't so hard to ride I could have kept going for hours, top fun.

Finishing straight.

As far as my performance on the day goes, I think the less said about that the better. Not too well basically. But huge buckets of fun were had so that is the main thing, (that is exactly what all the back markers tell themselves I am sure). Basically mid field so not too bad but not the best either.

Muddy bicycle.

Thanks again to the Dirty Deeds crew for another awesome event and a fantastic start to the  National Cyclocross Series.

- Brad.

Cross Melburn #1 : 14th of July 2012

Cyclocross is getting pretty big here in Australia, only two years ago there was nothing to sate a hungry crossers appetite. You could ride a cross bike in an MTB event or put slicks on and do a road race but nothing truly "cross like". Now, in 2012 we have the inaugural National Cyclocross Series. A six round series taking in the cross scene from Melbourne,  Adelaide and Sydney. We are starting to get a few followers of this crazy cross thing, cool.

The first two rounds of the series were in Melbourne, Saturday and round #1 would be "Cross Melburn". This was held at the Melbourne Go Cart Centre in Port Melbourne organised by the fine folk at Trailmix and Full Gas Promotions. This was a brand new location for Cyclocross in Melbourne, held on and off the go kart track, it made for a fun and tough course.

Now THAT looks fun.

Cyclocross is meant to be a tough sport, it was originally intended as a form of cross training for professional cyclists to stay fit in their off season. So all cyclocross courses are a challenge , not only physically but technically and mentally as well. You really do need to be a good all rounder to do well at this sport. Seeing as how this course was around a motor racing track they really made the most of the terrain available. At the end of a fast straight on a track like this they have gravel traps to slow the cars down in the event of an off track excursion. So of course they sent the track through as many of these gravel traps as possible.... The gravel in these traps was like pea gravel, almost round, this meant that there was never a firm line through it. The gravel would simply slide back down to fill the divot  your tyre had just made, this made riding through it almost impossible. 

Gravel trap

It became clear quite quickly that running these sections was faster than riding them. 

At the end of the main straight they sent us off track and onto the grass leading into a right hand berm. Good fun. If you took a high enough line through here you could build some momentum for the following gravel trap.

Nice little berm

The fast line through here was up next to the billboard, on the other side of the tyres in the middle of the shot above. You could use gravity to get your speed up and bypass half of the gravel trap usually gaining a couple of positions in the process. This was a very cool course, very different to what I had gotten used to.

 Being the first round of the National series they also set a pit up, very Pro.

Practice

There were some obligatory muddy patches.

Yep, muddy.

Line choice.

A lot of the corners were like this one, two line choices. The inside line on the grass is shorter but much tougher while the outside line on the track is longer but much faster.

So, after struggling through the race with a heart rate above 85% of my maximum for 40 minutes or so I ended up finishing in 7th place. Not too shabby, one down from the last race but over a longer duration so at least I didn't lose any positions during the longer race. Lots of fun was had though so that is, as always, the main thing.

I finished the day sore, happy and excited for round two the next day.

Thanks to the guys at Trailmix and Full Gas Promotions for organising this series, you should come along to compete or just to watch the next one. I have been told that it is a great day as a spectator as well. If you are keen to try this out you can follow the above links to enter the next rounds.

- Brad.