This course holds bad memories for me. Mud and climbing are the only things I recall as we drive into Lancing. Scrabbling around for bottom gear a few years back, the rear mech wrapped itself round the cassette and ripped clean off. As luck would have it, the incident occurred right next to the spare bike, an antiquated Trek MTB. After that, it was a matter of grovelling round without losing too many places, hard work on a heavy bike. A hard course in the wrong conditions. Slippery when wet.

Today, the course was dry and I felt much happier as I settled in behind Matt Seaton on the grid. The start took us up an horrendous climb, thankfully only used on the opening lap. The usual suspects hammered away from the line and there was already a gap to the leaders by the time we reached the crest of the hill. The single-track descent through the woods was great fun, wood chippings covering the worst of the slippery tree roots which wreaked havoc in previous years.

A nasty little run-up at the end of the first lap could lose you a few seconds if taken incorrectly. Dismounting early and running strongly saw me picking off several riders over the hour of racing. Mick Bell and Matt Seaton were over the hill and far away within two laps. Barring any major mechanicals involving the pair of them, I just had to settle in to hold onto third vet position and try and overtake as many seniors as possible. A couple of laps in the middle of the race spent working with two other riders were useful for a brief respite before they dropped away and I pressed on with Russell Short in my sights.

It was at this point that the race leader, national junior champion Alex Paton, lapped me. Smoothly, effortlessly and elegantly. Bloody kids.

Clinging onto Russell’s wheel as the bell rang, the last time up the climb proved too much for me and he pulled away. An uneventful last lap and I crossed the line for 14th place. Not bad, but could do better.

Matt came in 8th. He introduced me to Sean Yates afterwards-he was doing the prize presentations-who commented on my fine blocking work for my team-mate from the rear. The sort of thing only a professional would notice..

Showers are a rare luxury at cross races. A bar is unheard of. Hats off to VC Etoile for a fine race at a splendid venue. I relaxed with a pint of, er, energy drink.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 27th, 2007 at 3:30:46 and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.