Cyclo-cross

Last night was the last night in the Tiviot Dale series I went to the other month in the rain, so I headed over again. This time there was a lot bigger field, I think there were 42 starters in total.

Here you can see me right in the middle of things as we start.

Soon we were on our way, those cyclo-cross riders do start fast!

The course started the same as the last race but then went a slightly different way including down some steps and reversing one of the climbs to a downhill. To get some height a new off your bike and carrying section was introduced.

It was so steep they had cut steps into the climb to make it possible to get up.

The whole way round the course I was pushing hard, I could just see Charlotte Goldsmith, who came 2nd female, at various points in the course but I couldn't catch her. While behind me was another girl who was staying a steady distance behind me. On the last lap I could no longer see either of them but I kept pushing as hard as I could. I finished 3rd lady this time, but really enjoyed the race as I was pushed to work hard by having people around me all the time.

In total I completed 5 laps, I was only lapped once by the winners and actually lapped a couple of people myself.

As can be seen from the graph my Heart rate stayed quite steady, and high, throughout.

Average heart rate 170bpm

max heart rate 194bpm

Average Speed 9.4 mph

Breakdown of laps:

lap1: 9.1mph

lap2: 9.4mph

lap3: 9.5mph

lap4: 9.7mph

lap5: 9.0mph

I'm really pleased with those speeds considering there were four occasions when you were off pushing/carrying the bike. I need to start running again as I'm sure it'd help me get faster in those sections.

Thanks to Ali for coming and taking pictures, all her pictures will be on her flickr site later today.