Few sparks on display in the mud at Gunpowder park

Andy after paying close attention to the ditch

The boys were out riding in the London League last weekend for a change - it made sense as the race was up the River Lea at Gunpowder Park near Waltham Abbey. The rain that has been flooding the rest of the country must have been paying particular attention to this part of the Lea Valley making this the wettest cross of the season so far and thats without rain actually falling during the races.

It's fun really- no really

The wetness meant the mud wasn't so grippy more slippy - in fact it was like riding through a lake of clay slip. This meant if you held your line in theory you should stay upright. Frank Ramsay and Artie O'Regan handled it well in the U12s race coming in a very creditable 5th and 8th. Ned O'Regan and Louis Byrne rode in the Youth race both hanging in there on the relentless grind of a course to finish 22nd and 27th. 

Harry with mud attachments

 As is usual with the London Cross League a huge field started the senior race and surpringly given the conditions only 13 riders failed to finish mostly due to broken bikes, like our good friend Stephen Adams  whose top ten finished seemed assured until his cranks realigned themselves. Having snapped a rear derailleur here on previous race I was keeping a good eye on mud build up - this wasn't so much of a problem as the amount of standing water meant the bike got washed off two or three time a lap. Still it took about an hour to clean my bike properly afterwards. Andy finished 66th, Harry 93rd and I came in 81st or 25th, 43rd and 35th in the vets.

I'm smiling as this means that's one less time I'll have to go through that particular 100 metres of torture

Full results here.
More photos here.

London Paris Brussels Amsterdam

LPBA - Pre-flyer ready

This weekend a small group of Hackney cyclists (youths & adults) are going to work in Brussels & Gent in Belgium. They will be visiting local bike shops there to promote CC Hackney's Super Track Race on 1 June 2013; London - Paris - Brussels - Amsterdam. 

On Sunday the main attraction will be the 'Gent Six' professional track racing event, for which they have tickets in hand. 

The start-up for this project is funded by Hackney Council via the Youth Opportunity Fund (YOF) 

Mid Winter Festive Party Friday 14th Decenber 2012

Dear CC Hackney and Interlinkx CiC memebrs, supporters and associates

See the invite above and go here if you want to reserve places for our fund-raiser jam.

CCH cross riders getting deeper into the mud / season

Bart about to hit the beach at Grafham Water.

 The Cyclocross season is now in full flow and its been a while since I wrote up any of the races CCH has been at, and there have been a lot of them - and a lot of rain. Whilst the rain hasn't been falling too heavy during the races its been doing its best to soften up the courses and riders. This was most evident last weekend at Grafham water - the St Ives CC round of the Eastern Cross league.

Bart negotiating a ditch at Grafham

 The course had more than its fair share of Somme like landscapes - perhaps appropriate the day before Remembrance Sunday - and included two sections of beach, with many riders making use of the reservoir to clean their wheels on the move.

Andy and Harry after their visit to the spray booth

Sometimes you can be too busy racing to enjoy the view

Andy and Harry both had good races in the vets race followed by Stanley, Harry G and Frank R in the U12s. Ned, Frank M, Louis B and Logan then rode in the youth race. All the races had big fields with many racers coming down from the midlands to compete and London Leaguers looking for a race as they didn't have one on last weekend. Unfortunately for yours truly and Gary this meant our 80 mile dash following Saturday morning training was in vain and we didn't get a start despite arriving before the half hour cut off time and being league members. To say we were less than pleased would be an under estimate. Still at least we didn't have to spend the rest of the day cleaning our bikes and kit. Bart had to ride in the over subscribed senior race by himself Results here.

Logan at the Rapha Super cross before he got coated in foam.

The weekend before Harry and Frank took part in the Cross by the Sea near Llanelli in South Wales, both of them enthused about the sandy nature of the course and did pretty well in their races. The day before this Gary, Harry G and Stanley were racing on the opposite side of the country at the Mistley Cross near Manningtree - results.

Honestly I haven't just nicked that guys bike....

The weekend before this the whole crew were out at Davy Downs near Lakeside on a tight little course that had more than its fair share of technical sections - two flights of stairs, ditches, muddy forest sections and a wooden bridge that was extremely slippy in the drizzle. I'm not sure if any rider ended up in the pond or the river that followed that section but I saw some come pretty close. Results here.
This however was the second race of the day for myself and Logan as we had hot footed it over to Lakeside from High Beeches where we had taken part in the Beacontree Wheelers/ ELV Hill Climb at Mott Street. Possiblt not the best warm up for a cross race. A fair number of CCH riders took part and watched as we made this the 2012 CCH club Hill Climb championship - the results were 1st Keir at 2min 47 seconds, 2nd Daichi at 2.52, 3rd Mostyn at 2.57, 4th Neil at 3.00, 5th Logan at 3.31, 6th Alan Wood at 3.40, 7th Henry Stewart at 3.42 and 8th Tyrell at 3.53 with a puncture. I'm sure we've all gone up Mott Street quicker than that in training but the results stand so lets see more out there giving it a go next year. Personally I put my poor time down to forgetting to take the bell off my bike ....

Sadly this was the only photo Robbie took
of the racers at the ELV Mott  St Hill Climb

Be Safe

Track selection going out to Wiggy and all threatened cyclists on the road, this one's you:

Lulu James - Be Safe

Lulu James

Tao is 2012 Hackney Under 25 Sports Personality of the Year

The Hackney Empire became a full house last Wednesday evening 7th November. The great, good and not so good had all come to see Hackney's sporting individuals, teams, volunteers and staff achieve recognition for their excellence, dedication and commitment to their sport in 2012. MC and funny guy Kat B hosted the event while the guest of honour was Olympic boxing champion Anthony Joshua.
Many awards were presented including the volunteers medals for which three of CC Hackney's coaching team were called to the stage; Isobel Siddons, Prosper Watts and Harry Moore.

Our own Mostyn Taylor Crocket was on stage to collect his Hackney Sports Fund envelope. The last trophy to go out was the 2012 Hackney Under 25 Sports Personality of the Year shield. And the winner was...Tao Geoghagan Hart - yay, well done Tao!

Bradley Wiggins

Bradley Wiggins: 'Kids from Kilburn aren't supposed to win the Tour'

Guardian interview - here