The first round of the Scottish Cyclocross

Our very own Colin Bain will be participating in the Scottish Cyclocross Series this winter. Read on to see how his first outing went...(pictures to follow hopefully)

Sunday 3rd October 2010, the first round of the new Scottish Cyclocross season and the day very much had the feeling of the first day of a new school terms. It was great to see all the old familiar faces again, most of whom I've not seen since Dec 2009 and the finals in Mull. It sa good family atmosphere and thats what I like about the series. Nobody takes it too seriously, unlike road racing.
Rather inconveniently my sister decided to have her 40th birthday part on the Saturday night so I was on my best bahaviour with Sundays race I mind and only had 2 pints at the beginning of the evening. Despite this I only managed 5 hrs sleep so off I yawned down to Meadowmill Sports Centre near Prestonpans for the racing. Due to the popularity of cyclocross in Scotland, the races have all been split up and my race, the seniors was off at 12:45 as Seniors have a race of their own now. Plenty of time to get used to the course, eat something chat to friends and warm up.

The wait was soon over and I managed to get a good spot on the second row of the grid. It was clear that some of the better cyclists in Scotland (and some from England) fancy their chanes at cyclocross this year as there were a lot of good riders lining up at the start. No chance of a top 10 this year for me! Nerves just about to kick in and the gun went off with the usual frenetic start ensuing as we hurtled towards the first corner and a sharp left turn onto a slippery grass decent. I managed to avoid the crashes behind and emerged from the first few corners sitting aroung 20th place. Meadowmill turned out to be a cracking course with fast flat sections and several steep hills just short enough to cycle up. Round the first lap with no dramas and it was time to try and settle into a rythym, heart pounding an lungs absolutely bursting out my chest. I heard the announcer tell us “6 minutes of racing completed” and I had to ask myself why I was putting myself through the pain. Don't we all when we're racing. Anyone got any answers on that???

15 mins in and the general order was pretty much established and it was a case of hanging on to your postion and maybe catching a few other riders. That I managed to do over the next 9 or 10 laps and apart from a scare on a slippery tarmac turn where I made a miraculous escape from a crash, the race was pretty uneventful but still enjoyable nonetheless. I made it to the finish in what I felt was a pretty good position without losing many places and also picking up a few as well. I just had to wait for the results to appear on the SCX website. The organisers are trialling a new electronic timing system (with manual backup). Thanks goodness for the manual backup as the results show I only did 6 laps and was 2nd last!! Hopefully my mail to the race organisers will resolve that problem. With a bit of judgement, I'm pretty certain I was 21st. Not bad considering the quality of the field. I don't have a hope of beating about the first 10-12 of those guys so I'm fairly satisfied. Anyway, it was a lot of fun.....roll on round 2 this Sunday at Stirling.