Cyclo-Cross National Trophy Round 2 - Devon
By Ben Roff
After the drive down the day before I woke up on the morning of the race ready to
go and practice the course. It had rained quite heavily over the night but before
it had been raced on this was not a problem as the course drained well and did not
lose to much grip.
We watched the youth race go off first, they sliced the track up nicely for all
the other races after. By the time it came to the Junior race later on in the day
the track was much more sketchy than when I had pre-ridden it in the morning. Although
it was trickier, it was also more fun, and suited me better as I prefer the more
technical courses. It was a quick start, up a wide slight uphill straight.
Right from the start there were problems where people couldn't get clipped in and
almost caused a crash in the middle of the group. It then turned left and on to
some mud, straight away I had a chunk of mud in my eye and after starting at the
back after not being gridded I lost the places I made up on the straight, but luckily
as we went round the second corner there was a crash which held some of the riders
up as I managed to find a clean line round the outside and then was left to catch
the group ahead.
Over the first two laps I chased down the group ahead eventually catching them and
then on the end half of the second lap I made a break to try and reach the other
group ahead. Throughout the whole race I couldn't quite get on to the back of the
other group but was being chased down by another rider who had made a break from
the group behind as well.
As the race went on the group ahead became out of touch but the rider behind me
gained so I had to react and put in a quick lap to get away. It came to the last
lap and I was getting tired, and came off the pace knowing that I wasn't going to
catch the group ahead and had a secure gap on the group behind me. I came round
the final corner and put in a final sprint up to the finish line to secure 8th place
after a good solid race on a great course.