Snow Cross
Kings Park SCX Rd7 27/11/10
Another week another round of the Scottish Cyclocross series rolls on, we now only have two rounds to go on Mull so this weekend it was about getting a solid result and if the win was on then go for it.
Awaking in the morning there was a blanket of snow which was going to make things interesting, once warm up on the turbo was done I had a pedal round the course which was in good nick considering the snow. The legs were not feeling the best but you never really know till the hammer goes down!

Off the start I got the holeshot and held the front for the first few laps settling into a comfy pace with no one passing and just four of us left at the front, after about lap three a few passes started a bit to close! End of the day Hope we are there doing it for enjoyment :(



The froing and tooing continued for the next half dozen laps until with about three to go Ross Creber of Endura Racing went for it and I did not have the legs to go with him, Rob Friel stuck with him for a bit but then got dropped, on the last lap Mr Murray pushed on and I settled into forth knowing that the top three were not a threat to the series points.



I did enjoy the course although it probably felt a bit harder than it should have been due to my legs being a bit flat, I tried to keep Cowbell corner (great encouragement) entertained with jumping the planks most laps :) If you can't win then put on a show is the motto lol!

A mention to my pit man Graeme for helping out, thanks dude :)

1.Ross Creber Endura Racing
2.Keith Murray Hope Factory Racing
3.Rob Friel Raleigh

Thanks to all the peeps that organised the race on a freezing cold day for standing about.

Some cracking pics via Neil Hassan: http://www.flickr.com/photos/neilwheel/sets/72157625479162096/
After today's race I was off to the Highland Games dinner to pick up the Highland Games Cyclist of the year award at night. A great night had by all with award winners and plenty Gay Gordon's strutted :)

Onto the Scottish Cyclocross Champs this weekend at Irvine after a bit of rest. Looking forward to the Snow commute this week into work :)

More stuff @ www.scottishcyclocross.org.uk

Hat Trick!!
Auchentoshan SCX Rd6 21/11/10
Another round of the Scottish Cyclocross series today and what a cracker it was :)
Going into this round I had the plan of getting a solid result to keep my lead in the series going but if the chance of a win presented itself then I would go for it!

Off the start I missed my pedal and had to make my way through to the sharp end in the first few corners which was a bit off for me, once up to third I could see Davie Lines of Endura Racing ripping away so made sure I kept him in sight. Andy Wardman of VC Moulin had tagged on to the back of Davie so I just bided my time watching and waiting, after a few laps Andy got dropped from Davie and I then moved up to Davie.
For the next few laps I tagged onto the back wheel of Davie watching James Fraser Moodie of Pedal Power RT making in roads in to the lead of the two of us, after James had collected Andy the two had made a good effort to get up to the front so at this point I attacked Davie to move on and get a gap, Davie unfortunately had an off bending his mech and had to have a bike change :(

At this point of the race I pushed on and consolidated my position knowing that James Fraser would be hunting me down in the second half of the hour. The gap held about 20 seconds for most of the last half of the race so I could get my third win in a row of the series :)
A cracking bonus was the trophy for getting the fastest lap on the day! this trophy was put up by Glasgow United CC celebrating 25 years of running the Auchentoshan Cyclocross, has it really been 25 years? Wow! Here's to the next 25 :)
1st Craig Hardie Hardie-Bikes.com
2nd James Fraser Moodie Pedal Power RT
3rd Andy Wardman VC Moulin 

Thanks to all the Glasgow United CC crew for putting on a brilliant race, thanks also to theSprocketman.com for the fantastic Trophies :)

A wee vid from "The Bank" via M. Martin  http://twitvid.com/A9J4E
Another wee vid via Michael Martin http://i996.photobucket.com/albums/af88/Aquamick/a6b0e385.mp4

Photos from Neilwheel

Auchentoshan report: @ www.scottishcyclocross.org.uk

Bingo Bango!!!
Win number 2 of the Scottish Cyclocross Series for me at Lochore on Sun past :)
Going into this race I was pretty confident which is a great way to be, on the morning of the race I had headed down to North Queensferry under the iconic Forth Rail bridge for a photo shoot to do with the 99...100 event which will be at Silverburn Park Leven.
Great to have Cycling sport promoted in events like this but even better as I compete in non mainstream Cycling disiplines like Cyclocross and GrassTrack :)
It also gave me a chance to practice for part of the race at the end (more on that later)

The race conditions were going to be very muddy going by the weather we had been having leading up to Sunday, I was getting more confident as the rain started to fall leaving North Queensferry for race HQ. Today was the day to crack out the spare bike and have a change on a few laps with some helpers getting the worst of the mud off in between, thanks to Hardie Snr, Sean, Graeme, and I think Franco even helped at times, you did a great job :)

The start went well with myself Dan and Davie getting a small gap on the field and then disaster for Wavie Davie when he took his mech clean off on a post meaning he had to run a lap to get a spare bike!
Once Dan and myself started racing each other trying to get a gap on a few bits of the course but either of us getting away, both of us were watching each other for a few laps and I had an idea on a couple of places to try and go. One of these was on a very boggy slightly uphill section you really had to attack to get through at speed, this is where I got a gap and then pushed on to increase the lead over Dan to about 35secs which stayed till the end where I came over the finish holding my bike which funny enough I had been doing for the photo shoot in the morning :)

Pic via Dougie Shearer
On to Auchentoshen this weekend for one of my favorite courses on the circuit, cant wait!

Result:
1st. Craig Hardie Hardie-Bikes.com
2nd. Dan Whitehead
3rd. Neil Walker Walkers Cycling Club
A mention to 4th Davie Lines of Endura Racing, great ride after breaking his mech off!

Full results and info @ http://www.scottishcyclocross.org.uk/



Photos from Stevie Turbitt

Build Up
So after being away from a race for two weeks I am pumped to start racing Cyclocross again this weekend in Rd6 SCX on Sunday @ Lochore Meadows Fife, on the Sunday past I had great ride out on the Fixed wheel with the DunfermlineCC crew. Nothing to hard with just a spin around to Falkland for a coffee and home, about 65miles all in.



Managed to sneak in a bit of Cross practice on the way to work today to hone the skillz :) from now it will be about active rest till Sun where I will hope to carry on where I left off with win number 2.


Till Sun then....come on!!!

Back to it
After the hols come the blues but its something I dont suffer from, the weekend past was a bit different though after back to work and the e-mail box I had a blues attack!
This consisted of a dodgy stomach and a few days taking it easy to rid my self of it, there was meant to be a Cyclocross Scottish round on Sunday and pretty glad that it was not on as I probably would have been going like a bag o spanners!!

So after a few days taking it easy have felt a lot better today getting out to smash my wee training circuit on the Fixed wheel in the dark. :)


I have not got a race this weekend at the mo with the next round coming up on the 14th of Nov, cant wait to get back to the Cyclocross.