An Unholy Trinity - cross, sand and wind.

Race face on ...

The Eastern and South Eastern regional cyclocross championship was held at Trinity Park in Ipswich on Sunday. The venue is brand new to cross - its the Suffolk show ground so pan flat and usually covered in farmers selling sheep or the like. The organiser Steven Grimwood from Elmy stepped into the breach only three weeks ago to put this event on and surpassed all expectations by putting on a tremendous event with a great course. He mixed up the flat road and grass sections with technically demanding sections of woodland, a four by four course with a six foot hurdle and a portable beach - more of which later.

Having raced previous eastern champs' in the snow it was pleasing to see the sun come out on the lovely course however the wind was whipping down Dedham vale and over Ipswich onto Trinity Park making for a couple of hard headwind sections where a rider might have normally expected to get a breather. I imagine the same wind hit Belgium a little while later as that's what the course most resembled - Belgian style cyclocross - that sand again.



Cycling Club Hackney provided riders in most of the categories racing - unfortunately Ned and Andy were out due to illness and with some of the rest of us suffering from colds it wasn't looking too clever. Could we rise to the challenge?

Molly in the U10s at Trinity park.

Stan in U10s

First up in the Under 10s were Stanley Boyd and Molly Gregory (under 8) riding on a shorter course that included a difficult section of woodland with thick sandy soil and lots of lumps and tree roots. Stan took a couple of tumbles but battled on to finish in 8th place. Molly finished 3rd in the girls.

Harry on his way to a great 7th.

Harry Gregory was up next on the same course for a tough looking Under 12s race, whilst the winner pulled away from the start behind him a close race developed and Harry was reeling them in lap by lap finishing in a great 7th place - much to the chargin of his dad who had promised him £2 per place he finished above where he normally finishes. A pro in the making there.

Frank on the lumpy bit.

Next up was the eagerly anticipated Youth race with a field of 40 riders all pushing hard in the Eastern and London leagues. Frank Moore and Logan de Monchaux-Irons were in the Under 14 boys category  with Molly Lloyd in the girls under 14 race starting a minute behind the boys. Starting on the 2nd row of the grid Frank seemed to have a good start only for a buckled wheel to slow him forcing him to change bikes twice in the pits. Logan steadily reeled in those who had started ahead of him whilst in the girls race it looked like it was going to be a close thing with Molly right in the mix until the eventual winner pulled away from the rest.

Molly chasing the podium spot.

Molly however finished on the podium in third place Youth girls and 2nd Under 14. Frank finished 6th under 14 boy and Logan 10th. A great showing by all the CCH youth.

Logan finishing Sagan style.

Molly on the podium.

Harry with some traces of dirt hitting visible.

Following this was the over 50s veterans, juniors and women's races. Harry Moore and Dave Carr were there looking like old hands whilst lining up behind them on the grid was newcomer Judith Philip in her first cross race - there's nothing like jumping in at the deep end- especially when its a sand pit and you're on a bike.

Dave after the world's slowest wheel change in the pits.

Judith on her first outing looking for the exit.

Off they went with Harry and Dave holding their own and Judith looking unfazed by the competition. Dave unfortunately punctured again - it was a day of much tyre pressure debate - dropping him down the places. Harry finished 19th and Dave 25th in the 50 -59 category and Judith was 9th in the senior women.

Neil in the lumpy bits with the other mamils.

Next up were myself and Gary Boyd in the biggest field of the day - the mid-life crisis category or Vet 40-49 to give it its correct term. It took me just half a lap to realise I'd left my legs back in Hackney - that's when the headwind got me. Gary struggled in the sand pit each lap but at least he stayed on - seemingly there were plenty face planks into the yellow stuff - check out the photos here. Anyways I struggled on finishing in 57th and Gary was 69th.

Gary coming to a halt in the portable beach.

Unfortunately we didn't have a rider in the senior race but Ben and Matt over at our friends Hackney GT finished 2nd and 4th. It was a great day out and a well run event - next time at Trinity I'll bring my legs. Full results here.

Its a serious business cyclocross...

Youth Xmas Party Saturday 14th December

Cycling Club Hackney and Fawcett Youth & Community bike club are having a joint xmas party on Saturday 14th December from 2- 6pm at Core Arts, Barnabas Hall, Homerton High Street E9.
There will films and and DJing - bring some cds if you want to give it a go. There will also be some dancers strutting their stuff as well as food and drinks. Free to CCH youth members. Adults may wish to accompany younger members and lend a hand - thanks - please let Keir know if are attending.

CCH - Cross Crazy Hackney - a round up of the cross season so far.

You don't have to be crazy to race cross - but it helps ...

 Nearly advent and the cyclocross season has passed its half way mark and we've not blogged on it at all this year - so this is a way of making amends. CCH riders from all categories have been battling it out in the Eastern and London Cyclocross Leagues, mainly the Eastern.

... You do have to do a lot of running ...

 If you don't quite know what this entails here's a quick guide to cross racing CCH style -
You need a bike - you won't always be on it - or even able to stay on it -  a cross bike or an mtb will do - weight can be a factor if you have to carry it for a lap or so.
Mass start - up to 80 riders all start at once - with faster riders gridded at the front depending on previous results - and good looks sometimes.
Charge! Once the commissaire says go - you go - and don't stop until the chequered flag. Sounds easy eh? Well when you get to the first corner or obstacle the course usually narrows to the width of two or three bikes so that start is vital if you don't want to hang around in a bottleneck.

... Occasionally you can ride your bike....

 The course - this can vary but can involve some if not all of the following surfaces - grass, mud, tarmac, sand, short grass, long grass, slippy mud, sticky mud, deep sand, broken tarmac, gravel, tree roots, leaves, nettles, acorns, rabbit holes, water, ice, snow.

.. just not on that smooth bit of tarmac though...

 The course can be flat, hilly, some very steep short hills, bumpy, lumpy and generally torture. You will have to race from anything between 15 minutes for Youth C and under to an hour for seniors and with laps averaging around 8 minutes you get to revisit the scene of your latest crash many times in a race.

.. it's not cross dressing - it's Cross...

Kit - of course you'll be wearing CCH kit but you may need to add extras such as gloves, scarves and tights - see above. If it all sounds pretty easy and a laugh - you'd be right - it is easy to get involved and catch the cross bug - ask this season's newcomers - Mike Mooney, Dave Carr, Tom Lloyd, Molly Gregory and Judith Phillips, - and we do have a great laugh doing it. However it is racing and we want to do our best for Hackney.

.... concentration is vital if...

 Currently CCH are sitting in 9th position in the Eastern league out of 27 teams competing. The following riders are all giving it their best effort - Molly Gregory - best result so far 2nd under 8 girl currently 4th in league; Stanley Boyd - best result 2nd U10 boy - currently 3rd; Harry Gregory - best 10th U12 boys -  currently 16th: Molly Lloyd best 3rd U14 girl - currently 6th; Louis Byrne - best 33rd U14 boys - currently 24th; Artie O'Regan - best 30th U14 - currently -22nd; Frank Ramsay - best 21st U14 - currently 20th: Logan de Monchaux-Irons - best 6th U14 boy - currently 11th; Frank Moore - best 2nd U14 - currently 2nd; Ned O'Regan - best 4th U16 - currently - 7th; Mike Mooney best 40th E vet currently 57th: Gary Boyd - best 61st vet 45-9 currently 65th; Neil Irons best 25th vet 45-9 currently 44th;  Dave Carr - best 24th vet 50 - currently - 57th; Harry Moore best 26th vet 50 - currently - 21st.

... you want to be star of the season - so far...

So thats what we've been up to - if you want to join us we train on Hackney Downs Tuesday nights - 6pm at the club till 7.30. Coming up we will be running a series of Go-Ride cross races for all those youth riders who have never given it a go yet - these are planned for the 22nd of December, 8th and 22nd of February. These will be on Saturday mornings instead of youth training. Medals and prizes await those who want to test themselves against the mud. Details to follow.

2014 TdF - a Tourist's bottle throw away from Hackney

It's official; the 2014 Tour de France stage three run in is on our roads and so close to home - oh my gosh
More information and links for all three 'Grand Depart' stages next summer can be found here.

CC Hackney kit & membership now available on-line

 

Please note the images are are not the new issue kit as we don't have it yet. 

There may be logo changes and a slight design/colour variation.

Club kit and membership is now available on-line here. 

Buyers best not delay for too long as our current order will be going out soon.

When you place an order for kit it is added to a group order and then these will be sent to our supplier once sufficient numbers are reached. We will aim to place orders quarterly throughout the year. 

CCH riders complete Cycle maintenance course.

Frank Bede and Logan with their certificates plus Keir standing in for Isaac.

A few weeks ago me (Isaac), Bede, Logan and Frank attended a bike maintenance course at Cycle Systems in Islington where we learned key basic skills including how to repair punctures and setting up and adjusting gears, cables and brakes. We could work on bikes provided by Cycle Systems or our own bikes. The day started off with a very thorough M-check which covered the basic M-check but in much more detail. With M Checks complete we learnt about punctures and how to fix and replace inner tubes a skill we perfected with some practice. We then shifted our focus to brakes and were taught how to replace brake shoes and brake blocks which led us up to lunch. We followed lunch perfecting the skills we learned setting up brakes correctly. These skills took some of us a while to master! We spent the remainder of the day's course adjusting gears and gear cables.

This course really helped build my confidence with bike mechanics and I'm sure the same goes for everyone else who took the course. Thank you to Cycle Systems and Interlinkx for giving us this fantastic opportunity.


Isaac

There may be more opportunities coming up for our youth riders to take part in a maintenance course - let the coaches know if you are interested.

Safer cycling in Hackney - it didn't just happen

Time to appreciate the great work done by Hackney Cycling Campaign (HCC) to improve conditions for cyclists in the borough. HCC has been around for a good while longer that Cycling Club Hackney (CCH) which btw, is why our club was named in this way.

Have you ever tackled ye olde Old Street round about in anything other than an armoured car? Fancy a change (?) then how about this proposal from the team at HCC; go here