2011 Ulster Cyclocross Round 2 - Lady Dixon Park

This weekends cyclocross race was Round 2 of the Ulster Cyclocross League held in Lady Dixon Park just outside Belfast. As Sean and I arrived at the venue, other than the beauty of the park the big thing to hit me was the number of kids around for the earlier races – there were hundreds! As we walked over to sign-on there was a party atmosphere with kids racing, screaming, whistles blowing and parents cheering – you could not do anything but smile...

We rode a lap – it was a cool course, the weather was dry and warm (for October) but the corners where all damp enough to make them tricky. There was more singletrack than I would like, but you really can't fault the course – it even had a long, fast, muddy, off camber corner (with nettles - see video!) that acted as a perfect spectator focal point – there were many many crashes there, fortunately I kept it “rudder side down” throughout the race.

Photo of start from here

At 1pm we started and Matt Adair took a flier! I'm really impressed with how explosive he is from the start line and he left the rest of us in his dust...

I was second into the singletrack but I could already tell it wasn't really going to be my day. My body was fine but it lacked any snap that I had the previous weekend – I was going to be in diesel mode for the day :( The opening laps were pretty tight but it spread out a little eventually with Matt fading a little and Roger taking over and powering off for the win. I didn't catch Matt (who took second) and I claimed third.

I have to say, Roger seems to be the man on form at the moment.

A good big competitive field, nice weather, party atmosphere and TV cameras... Now all we need are the beer tents and it will be perfect!