CXO European Correspondent

As some of you know I am spending the year in Ireland for work purposes.  I am on a sabbatical from York University to do a research project with faculty at University College Dublin- which means we are living and working just south of Dublin city centre.  The key thing to this job is that it gives me lots of flexibility, which means lots of time for non-work adventures on the cross-bike.

And at least one of you actually requested that I occasionally post about my adventures while here. So here goes.

I know that my key – cycling – interest at this time of year is cross racing. So I will confine myself to that topic for now. If anyone really cares I can post at some later date about descending a sheep-shit covered mountain road in the rain.

So the first major cross race of the year in Ireland (and second overall) was last weekend in Lurgan – which is a village with a large park SW of Belfast. Lurgan is in Northern Ireland (the part of the Island that is still legally part of the UK).

Rules of the game in general  –at least based on the first race. It will be interesting to see if this holds for all races or if there is some variance.

1.       Mass start – all at once.

2.       No call ups- start position is first come first served- I am thinking this might change?

3.       Plus one format- races last an hour plus  a lap (for the winner)

4.       Lapped riders do not get pulled

5.      There are prizes for the top 5 overall, as well as the first woman, junior and vet (over 40) who do not finish in the top 5. So if the first woman, junior and or vet finishes in the top five they get the prize for being in the top five, but they do not double up and get the prize for  being the first in their category as well – that goes to someone else.

6.       Officials are pretty low key.  No posts about not being allowed to wear a helmet cam on the web forums here

7.       They run kids races and a mountain bike race before the cross event. And for the “this would never happen in Canada element”- the cross racers warm up during the mountain bike race. I kept expecting to get kicked off the course but no one cared.  And I was not alone- pretty much the entire cross field was warming up during the MTB race.

8.       The cross race is cross bikes only.

About this specific race:

OK for a bit of confusion this was the first race in both the UCX (Ulster cross series) http://www.dromaracc.co.uk/ucx/UCX_Series2009.htm  and Super Cross series. Ulster cross is all in Northern Ireland while Super Cross is in both the Republic and the North.  In Ontario terms it was like getting points for both the Southern and Eastern series in the same race.

The course was mostly flat, had lots of power sections, a nice bit of single track and mostly followed natural contours of the park.  Up till this week, fall in Ireland has been reasonably dry so most of the course was fast. Big ring almost all the time fast.  But it rained the night before and the morning of the race so there were some slick corners- that got really greasy as the race went on.

Not a lot of twisting around in artificial course-tape circles. Closest thing in Ontario is probably the Hamilton Venue.  Anyway you can see for yourself in pictures here: http://www.dromaracc.co.uk/ucx/UCX_Series2009_Round1.htm , here:

http://www.mitzelphoto.fotopic.net/c1770822.html  and here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/34727847@N04/sets/72157622612933946/ .

Lap times were just over 6 minutes for the leaders, and if you finished on the lead lap you did 10 laps which according to unofficial GPS readings from others was right around  25K. So a 2.5K lap.

A couple of thing to note in the pictures.

First, a boatload of kids participated in the kids’ races. This was great to see.  And lots of them in their matching kit and so on which warmed even my Grinch sized heart.

Second, about 55 people raced the cross race, plus 20 something mountain bikers and the previously mentioned boatload of kids. Not huge by any stretch. But this is for an island with a population that is similar to the population of the GTA.  Anyway 50 something folks in a mass start was plenty.

Third , the coursed was well marked without being silly. There was no pavement, there was no ugly running section, and the barriers were rather low by North American standards. Only a few folks were bunny hopping but it was a viable option. Anyway with the exception of the low barriers this was totally in line with a top notch course in Toronto. The organizers did a great job.

Forth, almost no mud on people or the bikes. As noted previously it had been pretty dry for the previous week. There were only a couple of boggy spots on the entire course. I am not expecting dry courses to be the norm.

OK a quick race report – from the perspective of someone who is usually M1 pack-fill.  With no call-ups everyone just sort of migrated to the start area about 10 minutes before the race and took spots.  I get behind a guy I usually ride at about the same pace with at the Tuesday night practice sessions (that will be a separate post). I am in the third row.  The start is blazing fast – or at least it seems that way. Hit the first barriers in a large pack and it is a total mess. This continues to the single track section were passing is hard. And on lap one no one is letting you by.

People fight for their line / spot much harder here than in Toronto.  It is your job to hold your line and contact happens.  And yes I am aware of the fact that I sound like every other North American racing in Europe for the first time.

 After the single track the course opens up into a wide flat out section. Pass a few folks and finish lap one (based on Megan’s Calculations) in 20^th.  

Through a tricky section (for me) in the woods and then back out onto the grass for another long flat-out section before the barriers. Pass 5 or 6 people before the barriers and then almost crash watching the guy next to me bunny-hop when I was expecting him to dismount. A twisty grass bit, an up-hill barrier and another couple of corners and it is back into the single track. Guy ahead of me “bins” in into a sapling that was at the apex of a turn. Sapling gets the worst of it – turn is much faster on subsequent laps.  Again exit the single track and go flat out to the start-finish line.  End of lap 2, I am around 12^th.

Much of the rest of the race follows a similar pattern.  Flat out big-ringing it on the open sections, recovering a bit on the twisty bits and then back at it. Pick off a few more folks in the middle laps, and get passed by a guy who had an early mechanical.

By lap 7 I am in a group of 4 and we are all about the same speed over the course of a lap. I am fastest on the open stretches but getting dropped in the technical bits.  So I try getting ahead of them into the single track and then hammering them on the exit. This gets rid of one guy but not the other two. And now it is lapped traffic time.

In fairness lapped riders were totally cool – people might fight for their line and be far more willing to bang bars here, but lapped riders got out of the way as fast as possible every time – even in the single track. That said the downside to a one category race is that by the end you do have a lot of traffic to negotiate.

Anyway I can’t drop the other two guys who figure out my plan and get ahead of me into a tight section and then I am screwed. They get away and although I get close to catching them back it never quite happens.  I do manage to avoid getting lapped which is almost always a moral victory. And I finish 9^th which makes me first vet (over 40) not in the top 5. But as far as I can tell that meant second vet. Regardless, I get the first vet prize which is 20 pounds. And that cash buys a reasonable amount of beer in Northern Ireland (much less in the Republic) so we leave happy.

Final thoughts on a way too long post

1.       Great course – could have been anywhere and no one but a total ass could have complained

2.       People race hard here –harder than Toronto.

3.       A mass start is mostly good and makes the racing much better. That said when you have 50 people ranging from  the national champion to a newbie in their first race the later laps have the potential to be ugly

4.       Seeing lots of kids racing is great

5.       Guinness may not be an official recovery drink but....

Ok even my very flexible job requires some attention. And there are dogs to walk. I will try and check in when interesting-stuff cycling -wise happens. And if you really are interested in some specific aspect of cycling over here just ask.