Cyclo-what?

I’ve been around on the bike, trying my hand at road racing, track racing, touring, mountainbiking, orienteering, endurance/brevet riding and numerous other semi-disciplines constructed around the two wheel and pedal design. I’ve owned a number of bikes throughout my time too. Some would consider the quantity ridiculously large (I can still remember them all), whereas other keen cyclists would probably consider it a modest sum considering the number of kilometres I’ve put them all through. When it comes to cycling I’m always looking for new challenges and doing things a bit different to what I am used to – albeit based on the same principal of pumping pedals. I guess in this way, I can still use the strength and ability built up over several decades and apply it to a sub set of cycling that at times can seem like a completely different sport. Ie. I don’t have to start at the bottom, which can be rather nice when time is limited. However the big advantage is that I still get the thrill out of doing what I like doing the best – simply riding a bike.

The latest incarnation of my varied cycling career (I guess I can call it a career, I have made a small sum of money out of it – just don’t ask about the expenses!) is cyclocross. Cyclo-what? As an avid cycle fan for many years I have always heard of cyclocross – ‘an exotic sport undertaken by Belgian racing cyclists in winter’.  Cyclocross involves hurling bikes not too different from road bikes around muddy circuits including over wooden barriers, through sand traps and up and down impossibly steep slippery slopes while drunk fans line the course hurling abuse and making noise at the slinky lycra clad riders. It was of course invented before mountain biking, suspension, indoor trainers and other much more practical means to 1. Stay fit in winter, and 2. Get a two wheeled machine around a bumpy off-road course. Mountain biking should theoretically have been the death of cyclocross, however no one told the Belgians and in recent years cyclocross is at a somewhat of a resurgence around the world.

Roll back a few years to February 2011. My home town Chirstchurch is devastated by a series of large earthquakes. The roads are literally littered with pot holes and cracks, and our office is relocated from the city to the airport. With a 25 km commute on pretty average roads and winter around the corner, I looked at my options for a commuting steed. The road bike would be destroyed, the mountain-bike too sluggish, the single speed too damned slow and the touring bike still in bits and needing a major overhaul apart from the fact it’s a reasonably slow and sluggish beast too. Think… cyclocross. Light and fast, with the added benefit of being able to put up with a lot more abuse than the road bike. Combine this with the news that cyclocross racing was coming to town in the form of the Southern Cross Cyclocross Series; it was a no brainer really. A few weeks after deliberating on which make/model, a box arrived at the front door and minutes later the new addition to the Mulliner/Bayer bike collection was ready for a thrashing.

I enjoyed some surprising success in the Southern Cross Cyclocross series in 2011, took myself to the Nationals in Queenstown and despite snapping my chain in the ‘hot lap’ and crashing heavily mid way through the race, picked up sixth spot overall. OK, cyclocross is hardly huge in New Zealand, but I was still stoked to pick up a top ten at the national champs. The following year, I helped organise the Southern Cross Cyclocross Series and my form abandoned me somewhat… or maybe everyone else got faster? But I still loved it. What could you not love about pushing your body to the limit for 45-60 minutes across a lumpy field on a bike with no suspension, in the cold, quite often in the wet – if your lucky in the snow, crashing a lot (I have crashed in nearly every single cyclocross race I have participated in), and half destroying your bike in every race you do? I can’t think of any things I don’t like about it.

So, I was excited to ride cyclocross in Sweden where the scene is a lot more established and the course / competitors completely unknown to me. The first step was to purchase a new stead. My former one had been sold off in New Zealand. I took delivery of a sleek looking Boardman after a few weeks of landing. It has definitely been my bike of choice in Stockholm so far. I took the jump to disc brakes (only legally allowed since last year) but interestingly note that most people still run the old style cantilevers… the difference in weight no doubt the decisive factor.

Karin soon steered me in the right direction and I started attending the regular Sunday jaunts with the local club, keeping on eye on their Facebook page for upcoming events. They seemed to meet up training practically every night! The Sunday races were held on an old golf course at the southern edge of Stockholm and provided good blow outs when I could make it over the summer. It felt odd racing cyclocross in summer, however as the days started to cool, the Stockholm Series began. We were lucky in that close to where we lived were a lot of large open areas and large forests that were riddled with trails. So I had begun training quite regularly in the local forest and back rounds in the mornings before work and had ‘discovered’ some sweet cyclocross riding there too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eELJrLefes&feature=youtu.be (Racing in Stockholm Cyclocross Cup)

I was starting to get plans in my head for the pointy end of the season – November. The season has to be early in Sweden as there is just too much snow and not enough light in the middle of winter. A national series culminated in two races in mid November in Stockholm and I wanted to give them a good nudge, with maybe a trip to one of the closer races a little earlier. Training started off well. Turning up to the Sunday club events and basking in the hot sun while whizzing around the various course on offer worked my motivation a treat. I enjoyed myself immensely; however it felt odd in the middle of summer. Therefore I was looking forward to some real cyclocross conditions – cold and wet.

 

Barriers are part of the deal in cyclocross

The courses on offer as part of the Stockholm Series were fun and with 30-40 riders at each event, it was great to be part of the scene. My form was struggling a bit, but I managed to squeeze into the top ten at the two races I made it to. I just couldn’t seem to get my body to push itself as I know it can. I knew I was capable of it and knew if I trained well, the form would come. Then came September and my biking trip to Bergen. That would really force the cobwebs away and after I recovered from that the form would surely come then? The trip went well, and although I was reasonably shattered at the end, I knew two weeks later after I recovered I should start to fire. Well, that was the theory anyway. About a week after I returned, the sickness came. To call it a sickness is a bit extreme, it was a light cold. But combined with plummeting temperatures and wet stuff falling from the sky I took it pretty sensibly so I didn’t get really sick.

 

Slow shutter speeds can make anything look fast!

At any given time there were two out of three of us sick at home. The slight cold would get better and then worse and then better and then worse. But we just couldn’t get rid of it! By this time, the only exercise I was doing was the easy ride to work and back. One month later, then we all got quite sick. That was this week. The final weekend of the national series in Stockholm is on this weekend. Needless to say my great plans came to nothing.

But that’s any sport I guess. Managing your health is part of it and it just didn’t work out for me this time. I went and watched the Men’s Elite race this afternoon. The conditions were perfect. An evening of rain followed by a cold dry day. Karin and I did a hot lap (more like a cold lap) of the circuit which weaved its way around one of Stockholm’s parks and couldn’t believe how slippery it was. The circuit was fun though with lots of short sharp punches and tight off-camber corners. The local band stand and its embankments had been used to good effect and a bridge that spectators could wander under had also been constructed. Of course this was nothing compared to Belgium, but to me, it seemed crowded with spectators. I’m not particularly fond of watching cycle races; I’d rather be doing them but I enjoyed watching the field slog around for a good hour. Being a spectator and hour seemed a very long time. No wonder it hurts!

 

Elite Field take the course in Stockholm

The winner was a long way ahead and rode the text book race. I’m under absolutely no impression I would have been competitive, maybe mid-field if I was on form, but I would love to give it a nudge next year. Watch this space. And if you are a cyclist and haven’t given cyclocross a go, do it. It is serious fun!