Genevieve Whitson Elite Road Cyclist

I am becoming addicted to cyclocross racing. It’s a chance to dabble on the dirt again, but I think its mainly to do with the mud. I LOVE riding in mud (I thank Scotland for this) and that seems to be the essence of a decent cyclocross race – so I am more than happy to sign up for as many as I can.

There was a local event here in Oxford on Saturday organised via the Oxonian club/Wessex Cyclocross League. The course was awesome and extremely fatiguing. If you weren’t climbing you were descending and it just never let up. It even had a small single track section along with some pretty narly descents for a cyclocross bike – suspension would have come in handy at times. Unfortunately the arms took most of the load and are now very sore. It was also very muddy and you could feel the tyres doing a ‘slow dance’ under you every time you blasted through a steep section. That was cool.

Cyclocross races are very short. Usually between 45 minutes to 1 hour, but it always feels like you’ve been out there for ever…I think the lap mentality plays havoc on the brain. Even though the laps are only 7-10 minutes long, because you end up doing around 6-8 it feels like a much much longer race than it actually is. I also always feel absolutely broken at the end of these races and that isn’t always the case at a road event. Hence cyclocross racing is an extremely valuable high intensity workout if you don’t fancy a sweaty turbo session over the winter months.

There was a massive turn out with 110 riders. Sadly only about 6 women showed up, but NZ MTB Olympian Rosara Joseph was racing so it was good to see that the bar had been set high. We all squashed in together on the start line ready to roll for 1 hour at max heart rate and then 110 bikers tried to squeeze onto a 1.5 metre trail. It didn’t go very well and the first lap was a pretty slow.

Rosara basically lead from the start and I spent the first few laps chasing but had to settle for second place 2.5 minutes back. I also had a nice tangle with a branch that I managed to wrap around and through my chain/front mech in the 2nd to last lap. I couldn’t believe how intricately it had decided to ‘latch on’ to my bike. It seemed to be determined to join me for my final lap. After firm words it finally decided to let me go and I was the last rider to sneak through for the cut off with the ‘one lap down’ rule.

The other Swindon women (Claire and Andrea) rolled in at 4th and 5th. Crispin did the club proud in 2nd place overall and then Luke not surprisingly dominated his field. The Oxford boys had a mixed day after Ben managed to get his seat mangled beyond repair and Henry and Alistair were caught in the traffic backlog in the first few laps.

So it’s back to the gym over the next six weeks with weights and circuit training alongside more yoga. I will also be on the prowl for more cyclocross races to do in between the National Trophies –hopefully with lots more mud to tackle as well.

Results at: http://www.wessexcx.org.uk/2009_2010/Oxonian311009.htm