London Cyclocross League 2 - All Downhill

This week I did crash and I did come last.

Cyclocross course design seems to me a peculiar expression of sadism, with sharp turns on steep banks being particularly powerful fetishes. On today's course at Hillingdon there were 3 sections that I found impassable on the bike.

1. A very steep descent ending with a dead turn right onto a steep climb. I was afraid of twisting an ankle just walking down.

2. Switchbacks up and down a steep bank. I could make it through the first up and down no problem, but the turn on the second crest had a near-vertical little kick at the top which meant that the speed and momentum I needed to get up it was more speed than I was comfortable taking into the banked turn at the top. Aargh! Lack of confidence let me down on this one. This wasn't really as difficult as it seemed. Especially in hindsight.

3. This is a silly little turn at the top of a grassy bank. On the 2-lap recce I walked over this blasted hump, Beelzebub's zit! Then I came off on it when I attempted to ride around it on the first lap of the race. After that, it took me a few laps to attempt riding around it again but I made it! Next time 'round there were faster riders passing me so I bailed and never did ride all the way around it again.

This course really laid bare one of my worst weaknesses: an inability to unclip and set down my right foot. I am extremely strongly "handed". I first discovered this when I learned to snowboard a number of years ago. The first thing you have to do when taking up any sideways-sliding sport - snowboarding, skateboarding, wakeboarding - is decide which foot is in front when you normally ride. I knew immediately that I was "goofy", that is, I ride right foot forward. No doubt about it. To have my left foot leading just feels wrong. I've even subsequently noticed that when I have to stand sideways on the tube or a bus or train I am always uncomfortable if I'm not able to stand so that my right foot is forward to the direction of travel.

Whenever I need to put a foot down off the bike, I always only unclip my left. This is a problem when I've ground to a halt on steeply-banked left turn. Twice I ended up falling down a hill - well, just a grassy bank actually, luckily.


How can I train myself out of this?


Well, just do it, you might say. Easier said than done, though. If I try it during my morning commute I'm liable to fall over onto a stopped car. That's actually probably safer than trying it somewhere in the open where I'd otherwise fall right over on to the ground. But the embarrassment of falling over in front of all those smug car drivers, not to mention all the other bike commuters - oh, it doesn't bear thinking about! I never get a chance to "train" for cyclocross. But then, I didn't start out thinking of these races as races in and of themselves; they're all just training - bike handling, confidence building, thigh-burning effort - for "proper" riding on the road next year. Aren't they?