Wrapping up the Cross Season in the Snow

Bury St Edmunds: My last CX race of the season, Jan 19th, 2013

I had longed all season for an ice-bound, snowy 'Cross race, and my wish was granted at the very last moment, for the last fixture of the 2012-13 Elmy Eastern League Cyclo-Cross League, held yesterday at King Edward VI School, Bury St Edmund's, promoted by West Suffolk Wheelers and Triathlon Club.
With a very keen south easterly wind, the worst of it was always going to be the  'warm-up', something of a joke because until you really start cookin' your extremities just go the other way. Despite Assos liners and neoprene outer gloves, my hands were numb within a single lap of the pre-race recce.
However, as ever, the race itself soon heated us all up and the real heroes were surely the stalwart supporters, who remained on their stations throughout and offered lots of encouragement.
It was a typically English affair: the course was not 'ice-bound'. It was infinitely changeable and different corners changed during the race. Out on the steppe-like playing fields, you were riding on snow with some underlying compacted ice. The racing line poked through as semi-frozen mud on some corners. These corners got faster as the race progressed, as long as you didn't lose the racing line and go off into the chuffy side-snow, which meant front tyre wipe-out or much reduced speed. I lost time on several corners for getting the line slightly wrong. I never crashed because I have a good understanding of snow. I did plenty of snow riding when I used to live in the US. But you have to respect the precise levels of available grip.
I lost my duel with Maldon District rider Chris Ridley, coming in 28th in the senior/elite vet race. But I secured my overall season goal of a top twenty placing among the elite vets, at position 20, having completed nine races, the best eight of which counted towards my points total of 246.
My main discovery this season has undoubtedly been the advantage of running tubular tyres on good, light wheels - but this will be the subject of a separate blog concerning my first year with a pair of Zipp 303s! The short version of that? They're brilliant, paired with the Dugast Rhino CX tubs that I've already blogged about.