April Newsletter 2009

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Cyclo-cross 2008/09

All the club competitions run from September to September so that means the hard riders are already well into 2009 competitions. Cyclo-cross starts under the autumn sunshine, sloshes through the November mud and skates into the new year. This year was no exception. Paul Buckley and David Bishop have been pushing, dragging and carrying their bikes right through the winter - and have even ridden them occasionally.

Favourite events ? Well David liked the hillier events at Stanmer Park in Brighton - his first experience of rubbing shoulders in closer combat than happens in mountain bike racing or time-trials and the other hilly one at Penshurst. I was surprised at him going over to a known muddy venue on a wet day. Although he tends to loiter at the back of the starting grid, he soon overtook many riders on the long climbs and got his best placing of the winter, Paul particularly liked the mud of Deer’s Leap Park where many people (including David) were unable to ride through the mud, but he was really flying for the race at Herne Hill Velodrome which was a smooth, flowing course in spite of the obvious running sections and hurdles. Most foolhardy ride was riding the best part of 25miles on icy roads to then race in the South-Eastern Championships at Wilmington. Thanks to Clin for coming up to this one to give moral support.

It's also a good test of bikes. Paul’s one year old Felt “F1X” is pretty much how it came out of the box (a very big box). It got new tyres in the Autumn, needed a new bottom bracket after Deers Leap Park and Paul has a standing order at Victory cycles for new brake blocks once a fortnight. It feels like it needs new headset bearings - but all of those things are “consumables” in off-road racing. The stiff aluminium frame and carbon-fibre forks are really stiff and it gives very precise handling, easy controls and efficient riding. The extra brake levers on the tops don’t seem so useful in competition but are just the job when pottering on Saturday morning rides. On the subject of brake blocks, replaceable shoes have been re-invented and it is only a few moments work to slide out the worn block, slip in a new one and replace the split-pin without disturbing any adjustment or toe-in.

The same applies to David’s 3 month old Voodoo “Limba” apart from customising with a lighter seat-post and saddle and red Quick releases. The “Scandium” frame and carbon fibre forks also give a good ride and corners as if its on rails but perhaps the ride is a little “harsh” as David favours slightly lower tyre pressures to compensate. It is probably fair to say it is still factory spec. including some nice looking ‘cross tyres. One sees so many people who buy a new bike then change all of the components to get it as they want it. But here are two bikes that seem to have the right equipment to race them straight out of the box.

There are lots of photos on LondonCycleSport.com in the gallery. If you find the gallery then you can’t miss the Wigmore colours in the thumbnails. There is also a brilliant video which was linked from WigmoreCyclingClub.org.uk last time I checked. Although it is edited to show a particular London Phoenix rider, it happens to be a really good edit for David and me.