One day one photo - 16: Cyclocross is boss at Crystal Palace

Cyclocross is back for the 2018/9 season (in case you hadn't noticed), and the second round of the London and SE cyclocross league was held at Crystal Palace. Yes, Crystal Palace Park in South London, close to where I live. We are accustomed to seeing road racing on the tarmacced paths there on Tuesday evenings during the summer. But cyclocross on the Crystal Palace turf is something else. I had never thought I'd see the day that Bromley Council would allow this!

Crystal Palace was the site of cyclocross racing in years gone by, right up to the mid-1980s. In fact the World Cyclocross championships were held there in 1973 and you can find vintage footage of it on You Tube.

Addiscombe Cycling Club had attempted to revive the venue for cyclocross racing about 10 years ago. Bromley initially granted permission, probably thinking it would be just another road race like the Tuesday night criterium races, or even the Tour of Britain professional race, which was held there one year. But then when someone in their parks and leisure department looked up what cyclocross actually is, they changed their minds and asked for a huge amount of bond money that the club could not afford to pay. So the plans for a cyclocross race at Crystal Palace were abandoned and venue for the league round was moved back to Penshurst Off-Road Centre, in Kent.

So when we heard that Max and Caroline Reuter had managed to secure the venue this was met with much excitement and anticipation. And the race did not fail to disappoint.

Firstly, the sun came out for us, which is always a good start - even if it's not proper cyclocross weather! But that meant that there were quite a lot of spectators who had picnics while cheering, jeering and heckling us on the tough sections!

Negotiating a tricky corner at Crystal Palace (Photo: Phil Jones)

The course was long, and a real merry-go-round. There were a few series of off-camber zigzags to negotiate, plus a spiral of doom which at times made me slightly dizzy.

The long straight sections where you could bash the pedals hard and get up some speed were pretty bumpy and threw me about a bit.

As with most cyclocross races there were hurdles to run over, but these ones were especially high to stop the showboaters from bunnyhopping them.

One have-a-go-hero did attempt to jump over the hurdles while in the saddle, but embarrassingly faceplanted right in front of some Dulwich Paragon spectators - much to their amusement.

Another section had a steep descent followed by a sharp right-hand turn at the bottom, and a steep climb which all had to be done all on foot. It's not uncommon to run up a hill with your bike, but I don't know of a time when I have had to run downhill with my bike.

It was tough work, and a bit of a balancing act, as well as taxing on the knees. Then the uphill was even tougher work. This area was known as Penge CC corner, where my non-cyclocross racing club-mates took pleasure in shouting at us, sometimes cheering, but just generally willing us along as we crawled and heaved our way up the hill before tackling and another technical descent on a camber. Oh, and did I mention that we also had a flight of steps to run up as well?

Yes, this round of the cyclocross was not boring! Funnily enough, I didn't crash at all. I had a few moments of brushing up against other riders and somehow managed to hold my space even if it meant leaning into them to keep my balance!

My race progressed in the usual way - starting off pretty much at the back, despite being gridded further up the field, using the first couple of laps to get into my stride, while riding around with an anxious face, and then half way through I become emboldened and begin to catch people, finally finishing mid-pack.

The same thing happened today, except that I caught Les Filles rider Tracy Corbett, aka TC, and just couldn't get passed her. TC seemed to have that 6th or 7th gear, to put on a spurt and stay ahead of me. Perhaps, deep down I had a thing about overtaking her, and psychologically I didn't feel comfortable about passing this rider I have known for many years and have a lot of respect for.

Every time I got close to TC I would make a mistake in my gearing or something and that would set me back. So in the end she managed to use her explosive power to get ahead of me on the straight section in the closing stages of the race, and that was me done. But it had been a nice sparring match. (Mental note to work on my psychology for next time.)

It was a good day out though. London cycling legend and cyclocross aficionado John Mullineaux was there and he captured the day's events in his write-up. Lots of folks were out photographing us too, and I like this one that Phil Jones took of me just when I was negotiating a deceptively tricky spot, on which I am proud to say I didn't stack it! Thanks Phil!

Thanks also go to Caroline and Max Reuter, plus the guys from London Phoenix and all the other volunteers who helped to put on this event, as well as ID Verde and Bromley Council for granting permission to hold this momentous event.
 

London by Bicycle - Part 1

London may seem a bit of a scary place to be on two wheels, but when you get your kit on and start pedalling around, you'd be surprised how straight forward it is. At least that's how I felt when I first began commuting to and from work 6 years ago. Motorists are getting more and more used to seeing cyclists, especially at rush hour,
so they tend to be more aware. In recent times various factors such as the Congestion Charge, delays on public transport, and fear of terrorism have meant more people are taking to their bicycles.

Up until recently my commute would be roughly 10 miles - from Crystal Palace to Central London. A fairly straight forward route, up through Dulwich, Brixton, Oval, Westminster etc. In the summer it was like being on an unofficial organised bike ride, as masses of people were making that same South to North trip ! People would even get to race each other along the long straight stretches. As a girl on a bike I would suddenly find myself in a spa-ing match with some bloke who was a bit miffed I'd passed him - all you could hear was a clicking of his gears and heavy breathing as he went into power mode trying to catch me ! At the traffic lights he would sit there not making any eye contact, trying his utmost to look cool and unfatigued. But in fact he was knackered and mulling in his mind tac-tics on how to get ahead of me. All I was doing was just riding around at a steady pace trying to get to work ! All good fun.

I've now started a new job in Hampton Court. And now with a 16 mile commute I get a bit more of a work-out ! It's quite different to the Central London ride. Going East to West, through the suburbs has a more relaxed feel. Not so many people are riding that way, and they are probably not mad enough to ride that far ! I tend to see people riding in the opposite direction - especially around Wimbledon, Raynes Park and Kingston.

It took a while to find a route that I enjoyed. Some of the roads, especially around Mitcham and Colliers Wood get completely snarled up, and there are no bus lanes to use. But the Transport for London and the London Cycle Network maps take cyclists along quite a pleasant route, with most of it being on quiet roads and through parks. In fact, even though I now have further to ride I actually prefer it to the Central London commute. South West London seems to be a very cycle friendly area, with lots of direction signs for cyclists, dedicated cycle paths, and pelican crossings for bikes. And my journey always finishes on a high with the sight of the River Thames and Hampton Court Palace in all it's regal splendour ! It's very easy for me to say all this. The weather's been warm, and even sometimes sunny. The days are long, and I haven't had any punctures. Maybe I'll have a different opinion come November ! Ah well, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

Happy Heart, Weary Bones

Saturday continued

I had survived the first berg - it didn't seem so bad. Would I be able to do the remaining 16 ? A group of French cyclists passed by.
"Attention tu as trois mille metres de pavé." A 3km long berg ?? How would I cope with that ? In fact it wasn't a berg. It was just a flat cobbled section known as Kerkgate. I almost wished it had been berg. It wouldn't have been anywhere as long. Also as all my bones were jolted along and every bit of loose flesh wobbled at speed, I realised that going uphill was easier on the body than riding along a flat or even downhill section. It was alot less jarring.
On the flat I'd been able to hold my own in the group. However, as soon as I hit the cobbled sections I was suddenly going backwards. My pace slowed as I rode gingerly along the bumpy road, in a hope that there would be less impact on my body. Of course because I was tense my limbs felt the shock that bit more, as I was unable to loosen my grip on the handlebars. Everyone around me seem to fly over the cobbles. Even some riders, who were on nothing more than shopping bikes just glided past me over the cobbles ! I really couldn't get the hang of it.

Once the bike hit smooth tarmac I heaved a sigh of relief. Even the 15% climb up the Wolvenberg seemed a much more appealing proposition - simply because it was on a smooth surface ! There then followed a couple of other short and unchallenging bergs, before we reached the first feed station - at Oudenaarde.

I was impressed by the whole organisation and the methodic way in which everything was done. There were 4 channels, each with their own queue. One person to stamp the control card, one person handing exactly 4 biscuits and some malt loaf, one person handing out half a banana, then a bottle of energy and someone else to say have a nice ride ! It was like being on a conveyor belt. At least this made a change to the usual bun fight you get at feed stations.

Once out of the feed station we then left in large groups to hit the road. On the busy roads we had to ride in pairs along the cycle path, though thankfully the police had sectioned off part of a lane of the main road in order to give us more cycling space.
The pace by now had slowed a little as people wanted to save themselves for the various bergs to come. I was glad of this, as I was beginning to get nervous about the next significant difficulty of the day, the Paterberg. My aim was to ride up as many of the bergs as possible - including the real 20% stinkers. Paterberg would certainly be one of them. I could see the Paterberg from a some distance away - actually it wasn't so much the road, as the snake of riders meandering their way up above me !

Very soon I was on this berg, and I saw straight away why it had an infamous reputation. Two riders had fallen down half way up the hill at the steepest 21% section. Unfortunately for them they were right in the middle of the road and were blocking everyone's way. So not only did they suffer the embarrassment of falling down, but also the wrath of other riders who had to struggle their way around them and put themselves at risk of falling over in the narrow carriageway. I got round them by the way I knew best - shouting "get out of the way"!! Fortunately they scrambled out of my way, and I just managed to crawl my way up. It wasn't pretty but the fact that I'd made it up gave me a confidence boost for the future challenges.

Berg after berg followed. A couple of them such as Leberg and Berendries were just on tarmac. But their gradients more than made up for the lack of cobbles.
Half way through I became fed up of being thrown around, notably on the 2,000m section known as Haaghoek, which even had the cheek to jolt me on the downhill !
I was worried that I might have given myself a head injury - a bit like what you'd get after headbanging all night.
Feeling a little weary, I stopped for a breather after this one. There was certainly no shame in doing so. In fact that was definitely the order of the day. Cyclists would attack the bergs at speed, and then at the top would stop and rest or wait for friends. Sometimes there were so many riders at the top of the bergs that it became difficult for anyone to continue riding straight through without having to negotiate the crowd. This was definitely a social ride for many !

When we reached Geraadsbergen we had to ride up a steep hill through the town, before arriving at the place where Him Indoors and I had arrived yesterday. This time the street was packed with spectators willing us on - and this was before even reaching the Muur !
Once out of the town we arrived at the start of this renowned climb, only to come to a grinding halt. There were too many people on the narrow stretch of road, and it was impossible to ride up the berg due to the sheer volume of "traffic".
By coincidence I bumped into a friend of mine from TriSportNews, who was spectating, so I stopped for a chat for a few minutes. By the time we'd finished talking the road had emptied, and this gave me a chance to make a dash for it up the hill before the next throng of cyclists arrived. I had a free run, so managed to ride up the Muur completely unimpeded. It was great. The crowds gave me a special cheer, especially being one of the few women riding the event. I felt really uplifted and gave it my all. I needed to, just so that my front wheel wouldn't lift up on the 20% section ! Surprisingly I felt quite strong even though I'd already ridden 115 km.

Hoorah - I had conquered all the bergs without having to get off and walk ! All that was left was the short Bosberg, and then a quick spin back to the PTI.
And quick it definitely was. The run in was great - I grabbed a wheel and just held onto it all the way back - speeding along at more than 40kph. We arrived back at Ninove alot sooner than I'd expected. The final strait up to the finish gantry was far from a competitive affair. There was none of this machismo to win the bunch sprint to the finish line. No one could be bothered. There was just a cheer from the group that we had made it round. This was definitely not a competitive event.
And with that in mind, I can't say how long it did take me to do the 140km - and even if I knew it would be academic as we were held up a number of times - whether at the feed stations, at busy junctions, to allow a train or boat to pass, or just due to sheer numbers.

Back at the PTI I met up with some fellow cyclists from London Phoenix Cycling club, and had a few beers while swapping tales of our cycling adventures. Him Indoors later joined us and then we returned to Aalst for a celebratory dinner. My bones were weary, but I was happy !

http://www.rvv.be/2007/eng/deronde/index.html

http://www.trisportnews.com/

http://www.londonphoenix.co.uk/