Bike Curious

I am a huge fan of Twitter, and have met lots of great people through this medium, and learnt of many events which I would not otherwise have known about.
This blog entry came about after seeing a tweet from Gavin.

I have been a fan of Cyclo cross for a while, and at last had the chance to dabble in a bit of racing last winter.
When I saw Gavin’s tweet mentioning the White Chalk Hills 1066 I immediately wanted to find out more, and more importantly, compete.




Photograph stolen fro : Philip Griffiths.

I now know, compete, is not a word that should be used in UCX, as there is no starters gun, or anyone waving a flag at the finish.
The following account will hopefully give you an idea of what UCX is all about.

After a few tweets and getting in touch with Mark, one of the UCX promoters, I hauled Tim, (one of my riding mates and Cross Bike owner) into the fray.

Firstly Tim although keen, was not so enthusiastic about the 7am pick up time. Muttering days before about the fact that he would not be able to get a coffee beforehand, as Eastbourne in his eyes, did not open until 10am.

Now, with over 150 events and races to my name, I know a thing or two about event preparation, The main one is get to the start in plenty of time, to get yourself organised.
The second is always take a loo roll with you, as wiping your arse with a race programme is 1) Bloody painfull, and 2) Not very effective. I found this out to my cost in the 1994 North Kent Duathlon!

So we trundled up to the meeting point at the Tri Store in plenty of time to wander off and get a coffee.
My research the day before showed a Costas nearby, which to my team mates delight, was shut. However we found another one close by and got our Caffeine hit.

So back at the van we unloaded the bikes and got our kit sorted.
I had most of mine on anyway, but Tim, to my horror was naked from the waist down, in the middle of Eastbourne.
Luckily the poor chap is not that well endowed, (he blamed the cold weather) and the passing shoppers did not seem to notice.

Now being deaf, I really struggle with race briefings, but Mark’s involved pointing at the map selotaped to the shop window, he mentioned something about a pub, some Jelly Babies, and that was it, we where off.

So after about a mile of road work we where starting the first climb of the day.
I will not mention the place names etc, partly because Tim had loaded the course onto his Garmin, and I had not got a clue where we where
After about 15 minutes we stopped, as one of the other guys had punctured.
This was to be a recurring theme throughout the ride, as most riders put comfort before pinch punctures. Tim and I manned up, and rode on about 65psi, whereas the others chose half that pressure, and paid dearly for it.
The route chosen was fantastic, Downland, Marshes, Woodland, Muddy bridleways, the lot.

As I said earlier Tim had loaded the route onto his Garmin, and took great delight in telling us when we had deviated from route.
On one such occasion he informed us we had strayed 70 metres from our chosen path, unfortunately a barbed wire fence, now stood in our way. The sensible guys rode on and found a route around this obstacle.
Myself however, seeing 2 other rider scale the fence with ease, thought I would do the same.
For the record standing on top of a barbed wire fence, looking like a comedy tightrope walker, is not a good look.
In the resulting fall I caught sight of my right leg getting snagged on the top strand of barbed wire, and thinking to myself “this is not good”







After making the necessary checks after such an incident (Phone and kit , undamaged), I saw the blood running down the back of my leg.
Now Tim is a very caring bloke, but he was making it very hard for me to get back on the bike, as he was trying to wrestle me to the ground, and get me in the recovery position.
After a few minutes of reassurance, I managed to get him off me, and we set off again, I could hear him behind me grumbling “will need stitches” and something about an Air Ambulance!
So, many more punctures later, we rolled into Battle and stopped at a pub for lunch.

Now as ‘Roadies’ first and foremost, this was an alien concept for Tim and I.
We stop at cafes, where we drink Earl Grey, and eat Victoria Sponge.
In UCX however different rules apply.
Alcohol is allowed, indeed encouraged.
So while we sat outside in the sun with a cheese sandwich and coke, we watched in awe as the other guys drank pints.
One chap had 2 pints in this short break, a Lasagne, and a side portion of chips! Respect to you sir.

So we now left on our final leg back to Eastbourne, up to this point I felt pretty strong, but with a couple of hard climbs and a strong headwind, I was glad to see the Welcome to Eastbourne sign.
After a quick blast along the seafront we crossed the unmarked, and unmanned finish line, and that was that.

We all met up afterwards in the Belgian Café, where more beer was consumed ( sadly not by me, as I was driving) and we eventually said our goodbye’s with a promise to return for the next event.

So in short UCX is a grand day out, with great riding, no rules, no feed stations (apart from the Jelly babies that were not nicked) beer, and some more beer.

So Big thanks to Mark, Sam, Lois, and Jo.
And all the riders for some good riding and good company