Fixx SuperCross Cup 2015 Round 2: Glencullen

Long Story Short

• Finished 84th/95,
• Cumulative time was 43:59.
• Lap times were 10:24, 10:27, 11:37 and 11:31,
• Crashed on Lap 3,
• Lapped on Lap 3,
• I would've finished 15th/20 in the Women's race,
• I would've finished 74th/77 in the A-race.

Strava

View the race on Strava: Fixx SuperCross Cup Round 2: Glencullen Golf Club B-Race. This crashing into other people is becoming a trend.

View the race on Strava Flybys: Fixx SuperCross Cup Round 2: Glencullen B-Race. I enabled;

• Myself, sure why not,
• Karl, who would finish third,
• John, he was the highest placed Orwell rider on Strava, Barry K was not selectable,
• Barry, we had a tiny battle.

The course segment:

Multimedia

Alek had his handlebar camera: 2015 FIXX Supercross / round 2 / Glencullen Golf Course / B race.

Sean Rowe has albums for the A-race, the B-race and Women's race,
Adrian McLeavey also has albums for the A-race, the B-race and Women's race.

Short Story Long

Build Up

I got back from a week on a Spring Core course in Poland. I've been trying to keep animal products out of my body. After watching scenes from Earthlings, animal exploitation not something I want to support anymore. From my experience, Poland specialise in putting animals, into everything. They'd probably make mortar out of eggs if it wasn't against EU building regulation 310-B-46.2. They settled for painting buildings egg shell instead. I had a good time and learned a lot about South American politics, Indian traditions and MicroServices.

Pre-Race

I checked my Instagram's Discover Feed as I was taking my first of three Bathroom visits. Cormac from Cycle Sierra Nevada, was liking pictures of a CX event in Norway. My feed was full of Edvald Boasson Hagen ripping it up on Norway's CX races. Norwegians love two things, cutting down trees and Eddie The Boss.

After I arrived, I would meet Lenny, from Boards.ie. He was sporting a snazzy new rear derailleur. Phoenix Park had claimed his previous one. This course would claim a few derailleurs. Lenny would be hoping for a "Buy two get one free" deal that afternoon. I would meet Daragh, also from Boards.ie, during the race. But as he made his introduction, I was looking like WWE's The Undertaker. My eyes rolled into my skull as I recovered from the hill run up after the bunker.

I lined up on the startline 1.2kg heavier than the previous week's race in Punchestown. 72kg Luke vs. a massive uphill slog, there would be only one victor this day. Still, I asked for no quarter and none was going to be given on this abandoned golf course. The sandy bunkers were going to be tricky. I was very nervous in the practice laps. especially the drop into the second one, which was ridable.

Courtesy of Fixx SuperCross Cup Facebook Page.

It was the first time that a women's specific race had been held. So getting to the venue early to get in at least three practice laps was my aim. Siobhan and Brianne were riding their first CX race. The sand pit provided the first bit of entertainment. Just like a Whale driven insane by the sonar of US Submarines patrolling the Pacific, Brianne ended up beached. Unable to unclip, Barry aided her. She lost a load of time there. The horrible part of the the lap was the attrition on the final uphill section of the lap. The women's faces on the second lap showed the toll it would be taking on me. Fran took out Orla at the top of this section. Orla would be in the wars again when she got trapped in the bluey-green netting. Robin Seymour was on hand to free her and repair the netting. There was a few more slow speed falls. I went back to my car with thirty minutes to go to prepare.

Race

The start procedure was a bit quiet, from the back of the grid. The race was hard. Really hard. I ran up the hill from the first bunker and was able to keep pace with the lads cycling. Every time I did run, my heart rate would spike to 184bpm. Which is my ticker's top end. Only once had my heart rate gone higher. I almost missed a hairpin when descending from Trevelez. I hit 195bpm as I rescued myself.

The running and high heartbeat was the CycloCross equivalent of Premature Ejaculation, as the next part of the lap demanded power and concentration. The off-camber 180º corner into the bunker requested that I focus on making the turn. There was a badly placed stake that was very close to my chosen exit line. It was just about not looking at the kneecap dislocating pole as I cornered. The first lap passed off without incident, well if you call being fourth last as "without incident".

Starting the second lap, I reflected that I loved the green area that comprised the start - finish complex, I enjoyed flowing through it. I bantered a guy on a Mountain Bike about having "CycloCrosser's Crack", the cycling version of "Builder's Bum". He was wearing baggy shorts and a tight jersey, think Gwen Stefani in "Hollaback Girl". I passed Barry, as he untangled the course tape from his bike. Barry quickly regained the place.

Towards the end of that second lap, I dug deep to power passed a Foyle rider on the final uphill section. I held him off until the sand pit. I entered it and heard someone shouting "He's on a great line, he's on a great line." I had a mare of an exit and I fell over. On my way down, I felt his wheel being swayed by my hip. I took him out. The photo was picked up by StickyBottle. It was my first time on there, hopefully not the last. I'm hoping for a Rowan-esque rise on that publication. Where he went from "Unidentified" to headlining their Season Ending A4 Results post.

It was the second race in a row that I had collided into another rider. I said sorry, in person and on Sean Rowe's picture. Conrad took it pretty well. He also wakes up slightly earlier than me, as I had some Facebook notification after my 06:45 alarm went off.

Courtesy of Sean Rowe.

The power required to complete the final uphill section without doing The Walk of Shame was fast deserting me. The second last lap, I had to run the second half of it. The last lap, I had to run it all. I was glad when the race was over.

Post-Race

Eamon, who discovered that I was not a figment of his imagination when I caused him to crash the previous race, was waiting at the finish line. We discussed the race. I wrapped up warm, enjoyed my complimentary Fixx coffee and watched the A-race from the side lines. Eric Phillipe and, debutante, Sean were the Orwell representatives. I noticed that Sean had a large brown mark on his kit. I wondered where he could've come off. Turns out he quickly discovered that CX is a full contact sport. He was on the receiving end of a Luke-ing from one of the series sponsors.

Courtesy of LuccaSports Race Report.

Meanwhile, Eric kicked some A-race ass. I noted how I should've been riding the bunkers. I was hitting them under braking. I should've been smashing into them. My legs were very drained for that evening and Monday.

When the results came out, I was very disappointed to be so far down the order. After the uphill slogs, I was happy that I pushed the guys in the shop for the 32T cassette. Anyone who says that "a 39x25 will get you over anything", needs to be locked up with the other wankers who say that "wheels are a better investment than a power meter" and "saddle bags have no place on a bike", so they can all have a big circlejerk.

What Was Learned

I felt that I lacked the power on the uphill sections, but I was very sound on the technical sections. I largely ignored this performance, as I put it down to a week of eating and drinking shit.