2021 Newbury CX
Round 8, Miche Wessex CX League, Newbury
A gridded start provided a great platform to move up the field quickly. Sadly, I then cooked myself by going way too hard in the opening lap and slipped back down the pack.
Still, 11th, just outside the top 10 is still encouraging in my 4th ever CX race.
Result and time gap analysis
Result: 11th/81
Time from 1st: +3:04
Time from 3rd: +1:30
Time from 5th: +1:11
Lap time analysis
Time: 42:25.35
Laps: 7
Gap: +03:03.72
Lap1: 00:59
Lap2: 06:38
Lap3: 06:47
Lap4: 06:53
Lap5: 07:07
Lap6: 07:08
Lap7: 06:50
With the benefit of hindsight and without the stress of actually racing let’s have a look and the numbers.
You can see that after I had used up my 20 minutes reserve tank it took a couple of laps to recover and regain my composure. Lap 5 and 6 combined saw 40 seconds or so lost compared to my other lap times. As you can imagine, it is really frustrating to see when compared to my final lap.
As many racers will know and most far better than I, going way too deep and cooking yourself compromises your entire lap/race as you’ll struggle to concentrate on the simple things as you’re gasping to recover. Technical parts of the circuit, overtaking and basic decision making become a real chore and often impossible. Another fun part of this all out 40 minute effort in this situation, is the mental game when going backwards. This happens while the field seemingly sail past, as you’re in pieces recovering. It is all too easy to slump down in the saddle, defeated at your seemingly poor performance but you should pause and ask a few questions, quickly mind, as you’re in a race and should be concentrating.
Are these guys doing what I just did, are they going too hard and will pop in a few minutes or at least loose some time?
Are they just faster on this section? Can I pull them back later in the lap?
Are they just faster as I am gasping and I just need to chase back after when recover?
Did they simply start steady and wind up the pace?
There are many more questions to ask but whatever you do, in my most humble opinion, is don’t lift off the gas! It may very well come back. Just reset and keep pushing on. Recover but don’t be defeated, not yet.
So, negative splits next time out? Let’s see when the adrenalin starts pumping and I forget everything I just wrote.
