Newnham by day, Newnham by night

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BY: Niall Frost

Published: 28th September, 2010

Well, I won't say my preparation for this event was the best.  I left home with everything I needed for a weekend's racing, everything except a bike and race fitness.  This didn't matter to me, I was sure plans would fall into place and the racing would be excellent regardless.

After sneaking out of work early on Friday I steadied myself for the 6hr drive and congratulated myself on loading several unplayed editions of the radio 4 comedy podcast (don't knock it till you've tried it).  The day got even better when I navigated the Leicester labyrinth to collect James H in record time and we made it to Plymouth before the team relay.  With somewhat dead driving legs I opted out of the xcracer.com/29ers relay team leaving the race duties to Lee, Mel, Phil and James.  After a terrific start by the big wheelers we were soon overhauled by the youthful BC team who went on to amass a grand lead going into the final lap.  Katy Winton took to the course for a final time to bask in the glory and roll to a comfortable win, or so she thought.  Billy-Joe Whenman had other ideas and on the final straight closed in fast and nearly snuck victory from the celebrating BC rider!  It had to be the closest finish this year and made for excellent spectating, the trophy going to BC for the second year in a row?

Saturday contained a packed schedule of racing with Mel returning to XC for the first time since March and rode a fantastic race to come back through the pack to take 9th behind some quality opponents.  You make it look too easy Mel!!  Meanwhile my earlier bike drama resolved itself with the appearance of Neil Richardson from the RAF and his "pimped" singlespeed, saving my skin if not my knees.  Before a full scale military briefing on tyre pressures and torque settings was dished out I had to point out that the front wheel was bigger than the rear, a design feature apparently.  I should probably have spent more time worrying how I was to get this up the hills than the various wheel sizes.



With familiar speed, my start time dawned and I took residence on the front row, much to the amusement of the rest of the expert field.  They weren't laughing when I took the holeshot into and out of the first river crossing, although if the majority hadn't been trying so hard they might have enjoyed seeing me struggle up the first climb however.  The remainder of the field began to stream past as I settled into my own rhythm at the back of the race.  I wasn't overly concerned by this as the course was a blast to ride/spin/gurn, and not even those damn rigid forks could spoil my enjoyment.  I can't say that I'm keen to singlespeed a National XC race again soon, but perhaps because of the circumstances it was some of the most fun I've had on my bike this year.  Thanks again to Neil Richardson for the bike loan, and many congratulations to race winner and expert series champion, Giles Drake, on an impressive season's racing.  Good luck in Elite!

After my successful morning scavenge for a bike I went back on the hunt for the evening's entertainment.   Mel's husband Mark, after a successful 4th in the afternoon Masters race proffered his brand new Ridley cross bike.  This was far too good an offer to turn down, meaning I could race the floodlit SW cross race and miss out on the free beer from the XCracer.com stand.  Certainly a different way to stay sober.

I think the most generous mention of my cross ability was that I looked, "uncomfortable".  There were also a few comments that it looked like I had forgotten how to use gears, comments which would certainly have had the ring of truth about them after my earlier bike choice.  The best representation comes from this picture of me leaping over the barriers; "pure fear" is the only description I can attest to.



Despite my relatively humbling experience at cross, the band more than made up for it, along with the beer and customary bottle of whiskey.  Where would a Scotsman be without it?  I was a failed bike scavenger on Sunday morning so while I left my tent to defrost (I'm sure it's not winter yet?) I could only drool over the 2011 Superfly 29ers on the Trek stand.  No demo rides yet though L


Fantastic weekend, thanks to all involved and Gary Fisher, exposure lights and accelerade.

Niall Frost, XCracer.com/29ers
Thanks to Joolze Dymond for my cyclo-cross pic and Giles Drake for capturing my short lived race lead.