25th September 2022
Three of the team went to Highley, Shropshire racing CX and had a jolly fun day out by all accounts.
The problem with stripy tops for the youngsters is that they tend to win them when they are at the top end of the age criteria for their category so then move up a cat for the next season and can’t wear the jersey in competition. So it’s great to see Aelwen’s has been out and about in style.
Evie
My first CX race ever at RD4 of the WMCCL!! I was super excited to try out the discipline even though I hadn’t had the most practice yet.
The course was definitely not as techy as a mountain bike one but I enjoyed the off cambers and the seemingly never ending spiral in the middle of the lap.
I felt smooth on the bike and learnt a lot about taking certain lines and bike handling - also due to the course being really bumpy.
I had a good start and led off the line whilst leading throughout the first lap and starting to create a gap as I felt strong and pushed round. However, as I began my second lap my front tyre burped on one of the bumps and caused me to wash out. I got up quickly to ride again but had to run the rest of the lap (so lost a few places in the process) but this meant I could do my first bike change due to a friend luckily lending me their bike - which was quite fun and different since I had never done anything like it before!
I spent the rest of my second lap trying to gain back more places and keep the bike controlled, working my way up the field. I changed back to my original bike half way through the 3rd lap and was determined to make more places so I pushed on.
I’m happy with my 3rd considering the mechanicals and definitely learnt a lot about the sport throughout the race!! Can’t wait to try it again at Derby!
Becca
What a race for RR23! Picked up Daphne at 9:30 and made our way to Highley for R3 of the WMCCL.
It was a big outing with me and Daphne in the womens, Evie in the U16 and not forgetting to mention Dave Woodvine doing it for the dads!
Dave had a good race, 22nd which he was happy with. Also, Evie had a cracking race, unlucky with the puncture but rode super strong looking confident.
It was time for me and Daphne’s race. I had a good start and settled into a quick pace working with my team mate. Both leading the race at different moments, with 2-3 laps to go, we were caught by the super quick Ceris Styler. We held on for a lap with her, but the speed was increasing every lap. Both me and Daphne pushed hard to remain our positions, growing the gap to 4th every lap.
It came down to a sprint for 2nd, luckily I led into the spiral, and pushed out of it to the finish to win the sprint and grab the 2nd place Overall and 1st Junior. Super happy with my race, hopefully bringing a lot of confidence into the next couple races :)
Daphne
On Sunday me, Becca and Evie travelled to R4 WMCCL, this was my first CX race of the season so was looking forward to getting stuck back into racing.
The race was fast from the word go. I had good start and got myself into 3rd heading into the first lap. I then managed to slip into 2nd behind teammate Becca.
For the next 3 laps me and Becca led the race constantly swapping positions up front. Then we were caught by a rider behind who then managed to break away from us leaving me and Becca to fight it out for 2nd and 3rd.
The pace on the last lap was high as me and Becca headed into the closing stages of the race.
Becca led us into the final straight and it came down to a sprint finish. I just got pipped to the line being out sprinted by Becca to take 3rd. Overall I am really happy with how the race went but also have areas I know I can work on going into the rest of the season. Looking forward to going again on Sunday at R4
- Huge congratulations to Becca and Daphs and a ding dong RR23 battle against some of the older, possibly wiser, female racers. And big up for Evie trying something new, yet again, and having massive fun while doing it, yet again.