CYCLOCROSS race onboard with COMMENTARY: lessons learnt at eastern league CX

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Hey gang welcome back and welcome to my on board from our most recent eastern league race this time you might have seen the GoPro video we did of honors highlights if not go and watch it if not go and watch it you might have seen our

Full video from this race if you haven’t go and watch that too either way go and watch all three of the videos we’ve produced from this one Sunday and subscribe and definitely subscribe so this is as we mentioned my highlights we’re going to take you through our first lap

And then anything subsequent look at this start it’s amazing also the reason why Kieran got such a bad start he told me the other day is cuz he started in the little ring and so he got to about here and then just realized he had to

Change up into the big ring which why he sits back down so that’s why I’m with him I was very surprised to find myself alongside Kieran who I think he went on he went on to win right yeah he usually does yeah as he normally does he went on to win um

I actually let him in in front there I came alongside and realized it was Kieran and was like you go in front and he he told me off for that he was like next time don’t let me cuz he definitely wouldn’t be doing the same for me so following my absolutely incredible start

We go into the first few corners and of course I had to offset the great start with something I like watching the Shadows come together cute I um I got a bit spooked from someone on my inside um who was probably going to try and force the way

Up dive B me a little bit which was fine but I just wasn’t looking at where I was putting my front wheel there was a like a exposed bit of slippy mud there mud’s the wrong word dirt not sure call it there was some loose dirt there which I

Uh rode over and lost my front wheel thankfully I only lost maybe like four places or something like that nothing too crazy I managed to get up quite quickly get back on the bike quite quickly um so so I don’t think it affected my positioning in the race at

All really well yours start had kind of put you further ahead than you normally would be anyway so you just kind of ended up where you belonged deserve to be yeah I wasn’t when I got up and I seen that it hadn’t done too much to where I think I

Should have been I wasn’t that upset about it to be completely honest I’m quite upset about it that was embarrassing yeah the wor spit was um because I was still in a right position I came around a corner where you were and you were like yeah great start I was

Like oh you haven’t seen what yeah I didn’t realize you had actually got a much better start and ruined it yeah I was up in like fourth for a very brief moment um anyway we come across to the other side of the course the course was effectively two hills with like a river

In the middle of it um which meant that it was a climb up and then a descent twice on each side and then we come into this really really muddy really slow horrible section right to the top of one of the sides of it and then I jump back

On really nicely here and crash into someone’s ankle this is what I did to someone in my race so if you have watched my GoPro that was me that guy sorry so we come back out and we start The Descent in the open course that me and Onna did together we kind of

Hallmarked or highlighted the very bottom corner as one that you could really carry speed into um and really go quite quickly through so there’s a gap here in front of me but I’m not too worried cuz I know that corner is one using all the course there yeah yeah

Very much so what it’s there for um and then this very bottom one I think we both had a lot of confidence to go super wide cut in tight and just come flying through it and close up any Gap that existed at the top um which kind of

Meant that you could let gaps go at the top and not completely kill yourself um and then they of course kick out of it as hard as they can now it’s time to kill yourself and they have to chase um and then we very very quickly start to climb

Again this one corner very quickly climbing huh no we very quickly begin climbing in very slowly exactly yeah um and I was feeling really good at this point ignore my heart rate for the time being by the way something happened it was not 108 BPM it was more like 180 has

It said that since the start yeah something weird going we maybe should have mentioned that yeah here we are anyway I was feeling pretty good so I knew that I could try and make up a lot of those places that I lost and went really hard up here past two people past

Three people um out the sadle as much as I could be yeah I I was feeling great today on this day it was really weird I’d spent a couple weeks off the bike not feeling too good with a bit of fatigue maybe a little bit of a postv

Viral not sure what it was but I was off the bike for two weeks and I was really kind of going into this race expecting to not do well so pressure was off was just looking to have fun and I ended up riding really well I was feeling really

Strong maybe I was just very very well rested um but I I Came Out Swinging first lap did really well got into a really good position and at this point I’m thinking I’m pretty happy with where I am do you know where you are position wise I’m guessing I’m sixth okay because

There’s Kieran and the three people in front of him this guy and then me I think that’s six but I’m not entirely sure so at this point I’m like hey if the race ended now I’d be happy um so it was a case of I was so bad at that

Corner I was so I I couldn’t get it right okay no it was really bad I kept going too high like too wide which was effectively because it was you were turning up the hill I ended up going too wide and that meant I was riding up the

Hill more so I was losing a lot of speed I think the the way to Corner that would be to stay low and kind of minimize your uphill minimize how much you’re riding uphill which wasn’t good for me anyway back on to one of the other people who rode past

Me while I was on the floor’s wheel um this is back up the climb this is the second lap so I got onto this wheel um and because I was happy with where I was in the race um there was no chance I was going to ride away from these guys and

Catch the leaders and win the race so I was like is there much point in making a really strong effort to try and get past them or should I just try and chill a little bit and um I tried to chill a little bit and

Then it just I went around that corner I had a little bit more speed I was feeling good and I thought I would attack that’s good I like that sometimes your racing isn’t quite as reactive as I’d like it to be as a spectator and so actually just seeing an opportunity and

Taking it is good and if you’ve got the legs why not yeah I found on that section that little climb basically I I found it rode quite efficiently and quite well up until that like extra lump and then when you we were when you went over that extra lump

As you can see there’s the three of them just on the left there it was chasing me as you went over that extra lump you lost a lot of momentum and a lot of speed and I had to like go straight to my easiest gear and just grind the rest

Of it so I attacked into that and um yeah kind of kept that going as much as possible that’s those three again and there he doing that corner badly again doing that theme of the race it’s just going to be repeats of you doing Corner really badly Corner yeah and then if you

Look here um I think at this point they’re all on my wheel I can’t see them again so they’ve done um a big enough effort to get onto my wheel to catch up to me um I think I like checked over my shoulder on that last corner just to see

That they were there and then riders coming up on your right mate few of us nicely overtaking someone um I say there there’s Riders so they’re definitely on my wheel I know they’re there and at this point I kind of I typically I just always like to be

On the front and I always like to ride really hard and I think I’m confident in my lines and I think I’m I think I’m better than the people behind me and that’s always kind of come back to bite me that’s always left me vulnerable to

An attack or it’s meant that I’ve done a bunch of work oh no there we go that was doing an honor getting in the way of everyone fantastic yeah has always left me really vulnerable to be attacked and um I kind of I catch myself doing that

In this race so I actually found this race enlightening in like there’s different ways to race a race you don’t always have to be on the front so I think on this lap going up this climb I took all the speed out of it I just

Started to ride it super super easy to try and get someone else to come past me to try and get someone else in the front to try and follow someone um to try as well cuz this GoPro is getting pretty bland yeah it’s just a there we go

Someone comes past me and someone else went to come past me as well but I didn’t want to give up more than second wheel I wanted to be second wheel so that I could stay with someone um but I didn’t want to go all the way back in

The group just look at how rough this descent is we’re just getting rattled around the clicking and the rattling you can hear the whole way through the video is my chain Bouncing Around by the way not your fillings falling out no I think a few of them did though this point I

Couldn’t help it I like I really like this corner so I made sure I was in the front and we both did that didn’t we took it really nicely came on the outside this is pretty impressive the fact that you come up the inside of a lap reder and kind of took

That corner narrower than you would have I imagine liked yeah a little bit kept it up one there’s a little bit of um just a couple Ridges of dirt which you could kind of kind of rut so you could push into and use a bit of a bank this

Guy’s getting feisty huh I let I made him come through yeah I kind of eased up again um and then we get attacked by someone so I that that moment when I managed to follow this guy um I was really really relieved that I’ve kind of

Taken it a bit easier and then he is pedaling like mad on this descent and I was like fine you can have the Gap that’s fine because you got it back got it back straight away just taking it a little bit easier not being quite so ragged and previously I would have and

Then well when I watched your race I heard spectators guys on the side going don’t know why they’re not all pedling down that that and I was like it’s not really the smartest place to be pedling like there is a bit of a speed limit there it’s quite a hard corner and it’s

Super super bumpy and unpleasant so I think it’s best to just save your energy personally yeah 100% And you kind of proved that there I think yeah I couldn’t agree more um he really went hard over the top and then good try appreciate the enthusiasm and then and

It helped you massively cuz you were able to react and still be on a wheel and because I’d been second wheel and resting a little bit I then managed to counter him quite nicely in the same place that I attacked before so that whole like following the move and then

Being able to counter again I was it kind of proved why I was taken it a bit easier why I’d given up the lead why I was happy to sit because while I was in that second wheel I was like you know I I think I could be going hard right now

But if I had have been I probably wouldn’t have had the energy to follow and then to counter so it really it really worked and it really paid off and it kind of like is this the discovering race strategy yeah not just sit on the front

And ride as hard as you can and then get attacked and not be able to F follow God it’s taking you long enough it’s taken me a very long time someone else in that kind of group of riders that I was in managed to follow you can see his little

Shadow head there um and thinking how great it was to not been on the front for the first time I kind of I got him through and got him back onto the front and I regretted it quite quite is this where that new strategy of yours didn’t

Go so well I wouldn’t say that I think this is just where I realized that he was a lot stronger than me cuz we started to go up the climb and he really like like put the power down and is this accurate heart rate now this is more

Accurate heart rate see look there we go 184 much more accurate look how bad I was in that corner look at the Gap I gave interesting so this was kind of like the theme of the rest of the race was this guy Charlie he was the one that

Everyone was shouting for not me not the not what wasn’t me there was lots of common Charlie there was not a lot of common Theos um I just ask for them if if everyone’s shouting for someone else and not me I’m like what about me this

Was so painful we he like attacked a group of we went round a group of four laap riders in like the slow grass um and then there’s another one at the top and as you can as you can see as we go over the top I really really paid for

That cuz he just started to get a bit smaller and a bit smaller and a bit smaller yeah it was quite clear that I was going to be in for quite a rough time following this guy’s wheel um but we had gapped the two who were behind us

Then so I know that I wanted to follow the wheel as much as I could get any benefit that I could get from it uh it’s not going to be massive cuz we’re riding through a grassy field we’re going pretty slowly but if there is any

Benefit to be gained sort of a draft or kind of not having to think too much about lines cuz you’re trusting the person in front I was going to try and get those benefits this is where I really started to notice the unlike Anna who’s pretty consistent

Throughout all of her lap times I typically get slower towards the end of the races and there’s something that I would really like to try and work on that kind of consistent power throughout the entire race to be fair your races are a lot longer than mine they’re way I

Don’t think I can keep up for an hour and that was basically the theme of the rest of the race I I got gapped by Charlie he I never saw him again but I’d put enough of a enough of a deficit into the people behind me that I was kind of

Happy to let him go ride the rest of the course as well as I could without getting caught and I ended up taking sixth overall fourth senior man and I won5 which is nice so that was my onboard highlight to the race if you like the video make sure to

Like it please subscribe to the channel to see more of these go check out Honor’s highlights go check out the full length video and we’ll see you in the next one bye