UKC

Anyone else watching this - live on the UCI you tube channel 

It’s just mental - I reckon I could just about ride half this course on a mountain bike, and very little on skinny tyres. Amazing skills of the riders. Really thick mud in places, it’s a bit like the cross-country runs I did at school. And with such deep ruts there’s a real risk of breaking a derailleur.

apparently there’s snow forecast for tonight, which should make it even harder.

Meanwhile looking great for the British juniors - Ben Tullet won the male junior, Evie Richards leading the women’s U-23 by some distance

In reply to Chris the Tall:

Just seen Ms Richards fall off her bike at the finish line and get carried away!! My god - clearly she put some effort in!

In reply to TobyA:

Crashed a couple of times during the race and had to do half a lap stuck in lowest gear - no wonder she was a bit exhausted at the end. Brilliant ride by the 16 year old (Hayden ?) to finish 4th

definetly a sport I love watching but have absolutely no desire to try !

In reply to Chris the Tall:

Jesus that looks grim, hard work...

In reply to Chris the Tall:

great couple of races so far . elite races will be blocked in the uk though . bit different from last year when it was very icy. if you havn`t seen last years junior race it well worth watching . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BofMvMgToo0&t=3125s

In reply to Chris the Tall:  Harriet Harnden . very impressive race . looks like they are running a womens junior race next year too .

 

In reply to Chris the Tall:

Awesomely impressive - if you don't faint when the bike stops you weren't trying hard enough! And the 16 year old; hard to explain to your schoolmates on Monday morning: "yeah, came 4th in the world cyclo-cross champs (U23 natch)"!

Strangely compelling though. Get your best bike and carry / push it round a muddy field as fast as you can until you're allowed to stop.

Thanks for the heads up.

In reply to tim000:

the geoblocking is a pain

My Eurosport sub ran out on Friday and I haven’t got round to renewing it. Then again I had to go out this afternoon and will be out on the bike tomorrow. Might delay my ride to see how young Pidcock gets on though

In reply to Chris the Tall:

You can watch it through the British Cycling web site.

In reply to Chris the Tall:

use this to by pass the geo blocking . https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/unlimited-free-vpn-hola/gkojfkhle...

In reply to Chris the Tall:

Mentalists, every one of them!

Cyclocross must be up there in the top ten of most arduous sports. And then you need to add the bike handling skills on top. Amazing.

And you can watch it on eurosport, so buy a sky subscription, Mr Murdoch needs the money!  

In reply to Chris the Tall:

I’ve trudged around in the slow lane of events a few times and done the Peaks several times. The difference between those of us getting round and those nailing it at the front is like night and day. Great skills, great athletes.

In reply to steveriley:

I did my first cross race last September. in the over 50s race . they set the elite women off a minute later and they were passing me before I had done half a lap . they were flying passed . hard work , but loved it .

In reply to tim000:

I see you’re local to me, I was in the V50 at Pignut Hill. Did you make it there?

In reply to steveriley:

yep , that's the one . live in Northwich . weaver valley member .

In reply to tim000:

You’re braver than me ! Found lots of that deep claggy mud around Sheffield today and didn’t enjoy it one bit.

In reply to Chris the Tall:

Depending on where you are definitely go and give a local league race a go, as a comparison a World Cup/Champs course is like a double black mountain bike run and a league race will be like a Blue, National Trophy courses are a red. 

Its a great sport, league races get big fields but very friendly. 

In reply to tim000:

Hah, small world and all that, your club always puts on a good show

In reply to steveriley:

did you do the macc supercross ? went to watch . looked a good event . will have to give it a go next year.