It has
been a while since my last entry here, so let’s visit the last event first, the
Dirty Deeds Cyclocross round two on the eleventh of August. This event was held
at Darebin Parklands in Alphington. This was held the day after the
National Cyclocross Championships and would be the first event for the newly
crowned 2013 National Cyclocross Champions, Lisa Jacobs and Allan
Iacuone.
Personal
commitments and an accident that destroyed my Cyclocross bike kept me
off my wheels for a month. I got my replacement bike built before race day
but my first ride was actually at the National Championships on Saturday,
(the less said about that event the better), so hardly an ideal
preparation.
Upon
arrival at Darebin Parklands, I was struck with the usual sight of a massive
line for registration followed by the not so usual sight of a fly over in the
middle of the course.
Fly Over
Fly Over
This is
a fairly regular addition to courses overseas but it is the first time I had
seen one here in Australia. The course was the usual work of art that the crew
at Dirty Deeds are now famous for, excellent use of the available elevation and
great use of the existing track network.
Just
after the start of the course we were sent through an increasingly soggy
section of grass / mud that led into the one barrier on the lap. This section
got to the point that I was sinking almost to my ankle as I got off to jump the
barrier, tough. We then ran over to
climb the stairs up the fly over, remount at the top and fly down the ramp,
Woo Hoo! After the fly over, we went around a couple of off-camber corners
before dropping down a hard pack track full of rocks. Holding your speed
through this section meant a great lead in to the next descent which led into
the biggest mud pit on the course.
Probably
the best place to spectate and heckle from, there was a huge crowd there and
each lap I was going harder and faster into that mud pit. This seemed to keep
the spectators happy; the bigger the splash, the bigger the cheer. This lead
into an off-camber left hand bend that saw most riders drifting and/or crashing
around, great fun!
Mud Pit
Left Hander after the Mud pit
After coming around that corner we went
around a few hairpins on the flat before climbing our way back up away from the
mud pit. This lead into a tight right hand turn on a climb that lead to a quite
a few more interesting stalls and crashes and another hot spot for the crowd. A
few more turns and we started heading up again past the pit area, a fairly gentle
climb but on soggy grass that was very bumpy meant it was tougher to ride than
it probably looked. Then we went along a nice hard pack section of dirt, ah
relief, before coming back into the start finish area to go and do it all
again, Yay!
This
event marked the first Cyclocross event for a friend of mine and it was
fantastic to see him racing with such a huge smile on his face.
First Time Cyclocrosser
I have
managed to convince a few people to try Cyclocross out now and am pleased to
say that everyone who has tried it seems to agree with me about just how much
fun this sport is. It is a very special type of pain that you go through in
these events, you learn a lot about yourself and what your body is capable of.
You
also remember why you ride your bike in the first place, to have fun! Slipping and
sliding around in the mud and just generally doing all the things you have been
told to never do on a bike you remember what it was like doing these things as
a kid.
I think
that anything that helps you connect with that side of your personality is a
good thing. When you see the smiles on the faces of the other competitors even
though you know that they are in pain, tells you something about just how much
fun this sport is.
Well
that is it for now, until I write about the next event, get out there and try
something new, something different just to see if you will enjoy it. As they
say, don't knock it until you have tried it.
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