London Cyclocross League 1

I didn't crash and I didn't come last! - A great result from my first ever cyclocross race. (Although it was touch and go on both counts at times.)

A very civilised 13:00 start time meant I was able to have a lie-in and a leisurely cup of coffee before realising that I had to shift if I wasn't going to miss the last possible train that would get me to the race venue on time. As I sat studying my scrap of Googlemaps trying to memorise the chain of streetnames that would lead me from Rochester station to Temple School, Strood, another cyclist boarded the carriage and asked did I mind if he secured his bike next to mine. "It looks like you're going to Strood, too," I said. "You'll want to steer well-clear of me - it's my first ever cross race!" We exchanged a bit of chat and then he went off to find a seat. It took me a few minutes to realise who I'd been talking to. There was something familiar, not about him, but about his bike - an Indy Fab Planet X in baby blue and chocolate brown with pipe lagging duct-taped to the top and seat tubes for comfortable shouldering. Aha! It was Matt Seaton - one of the UK's foremost writers on cycling.

He was good company for the short ride from the station to the race venue, and it was nice to be absolved from navigatorial responsibilities even though he wasn't much cop as a guide. Up Frindsbury Road I clung to his wheel, too breathless to point out that we'd missed the turn we wanted until it levelled off and, to my horror, instead of turning around and going back down the way we'd come, he turned left up something-or-other Hill Road and we entered an Escher-esque landscape of streets that only went up! By the time we got to Temple School, my thighs were burning with lactic acid and I made a mental note to slip a Salbutamol inhaler in my saddle pack when I got home. Bah, it wasn't really that bad - a good warm-up actually.

I had a nervous natter with most of the other 6 or 7 'Mos at the race, signed-on, and rode 2 slow laps to recce the course. It was a warm, dry day and the wide, flat, grassy sections of the course were blessedly easy. But if the easy sections were easier than I'd expected, the difficult bits were more difficult.

1. A narrow section of switchbanks. On only 2 of my 10 laps did I manage to steer through here without unclipping. The only way to do it, I decided, after watching many more-skilled riders negotiate it, was to let the bike slide out around the corners. Hmm. I haven't yet got my head 'round the concept of doing that on purpose.

2. 2 planks on a gentle uphill. The race winner, Glider Boxercross-rider Darren Barclay effortlessly bunny-hopped over these. I, on the other hand, had to inelegantly stop, get off the bike, carry it over the tiddly barriers and remount - usually pausing in awe to watch more-skilled riders managing the same sequence of actions in a much more flowing manner. In this photo, I'm even taking the time to chat to a clubmate, optimistically asking whether, as he passed me, he was off the front of the race. No, turns out he'd had a puncture just at the start and was catching up from behind.

3. A very sharp off-camber turn between a tree and a bench that seemed to change every lap as the tape was frequently ripped, blown off, and re-attached in different spots. Joking with some of the others after the race, we proposed that this could actually become the purposeful work of the race organisers in a new-format magical mystery maze cross race - move the markers to create a different path every lap!


The results? I ended up 62nd out of 64, and 3rd out of 4 female finishers. It can only get better.

This weekend's race is at Hillingdon where I've done a few circuit races in the Quest Women's Series in the last two years. I think the course will be more technical (and more muddy if the current forecast for the weekend is correct) but at least I know the way.