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Have you heard of the phenomenon that is Cyclo-cross? Marvelled at the fitness and strength of the likes of Cyclo-Cross world champions Wout Van Aert and Mattheu Van Der Poel in the Tour de France, showing the ‘Roadies’ how to do it? Well, the Cyclo-Cross season is fast approaching, so if you want to prepare for next years Road Racing, there’s no better way than to race ‘cross over the winter.

Competing in the discipline is a great way to keep and build your fitness, improve your bike handling skills and have fun. PNECC are looking to encourage riders into the discipline, and so I, as the CX Sec, am looking to gauge interest, and offer my cross “wisdom” to anyone who’d like to give it a go.

Gordon Richardson will be giving CX coaching sessions throughout September, so look for his posts in the Members facebook group for details of times and places. Don’t be put off by what you might have seen on TV, CX is as serious as you want to make it. You don’t need a fleet of expensive carbon CX bikes with a full time jet washing pit crew. At local level just a mountain/gravel bike, or an old touring bike with a change to mud tyres, will suffice. A bucket of water and brush could be helpful too. Once you’ve dipped your toe, there is a whole world of tyre treads, pressures, frames, wheels, brakes, componentry, clothing and cleaning equipment that you can throw your hard earned money at, should you wish, but it won’t necessarily make you any faster.

The ethos is to have a laugh and enjoy yourself amongst friends. Races are age and gender categorised, so you’re up against your immediate peers, from Under 10s to Vet 50+. The mass starts are gridded by ability, and then you’ll find your place in the physical and mental battle against the course, weather and other fellow competitors. You’ll race around a ‘7 to 10 minute’ tape marked lap on varied terrain and surface textures, encountering several natural and manmade obstacles. Venues vary from school football fields to MX motocross courses. Depending on the venue and weather, you’ll tackle, long fast straight-aways, ascend/descend steep banks, steps, hurdle planks, technical wooded single track, slippy grass zigzags, sand pits, dusty gravel paths, boggy mud running sections, all designed to find the best bike rider. This makes it test of all roundedness, not just pure power. And if that isn’t enough to attract you, then there’s beer involved too! Preferably a Belgium brew, mostly consumed by the spectators, but a bottle of Leffe whilst relaxing/recovering on a Sunday evening goes down a treat.

Wessex Cyclo-Cross League oversees our regions events and their website www.wessexcyclocross.co.uk contains plenty of information about itself. They also have a social media presence on Facebook, Twitter (@Wessexcx), and Instagram (@michewessexcx) which disseminates pertinent information. This coming seasons calendar has 13 races with the most local to us being in Southampton, Romsey and New Forest.

https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/events/?series_id=741 PNECC are affiliated to the league, the points you accrue in each race are totalled for the season to give you a league position. If you are going to ride more than 2 events, it’s advisable to register with the league so you are given one number for the season, but this must be done before 1st September. No problem if you don’t though. It just means you get a different number for each race you do. http://www.wessexcyclocross.co.uk/2021/202122-season-rider-registration/

We could do with some assistance next year with running our time trials and would very much appreciate some volunteers. There are a number of roles and some of these can be done before and after the race, allowing you to participate and help at the same time. Job: Time Keeper – we will show you how to do the start first then you will shadow one of our existing timekeepers to practice doing the finish.

Pusher – hold the riders and bike upright at the start so the rider can clip in.

Putting out the signs – This involves putting out the signs as shown in the risk assessment and checking the course – it would be helpful if you can store the signs at home in a garage if you are going to do it regularly or you could pick them up from the start if doing it infrequently.

Collecting the signs – This is even simpler than putting them out. You would be required to pick up any riders that have punctured and be on the lookout for any riders that have DNF and not reported back to the HQ. signs are dropped off at the HQ.

Opening the HQ – our plan is to use Wickham community centre as our HQ next year. The HQ will be locked up once the last rider (me) has gone to the start line. I need a rider that is happy to be first off, that can collect the key to HQ from the finishing time keeper once they have finished, open up the HQ and turn on the coffee machine.

Marshalls – There are a couple of courses where we need a marshal. You would be required to warn the riders of oncoming traffic and make a note of each rider as they pass. First Aid – it would be helpful to know who is able to offer basic first aid and is happy to assist in the event of an accident. all volunteers might be asked to assist in the event of an accident, so any first aiders would also be much appreciated. If we get enough helpers then we can share the workload and you might only be required to help out once in a while.

Please respond to timetrials@pnecc.co.uk

PNE@125 combines the strength of our clubs long heritage and ambition of the club to develop together in next 3 years.

The sub committee is completing step 2 of the 6 standard Sport England Club Matters improvement guide steps.

Step 2 – “where are we now” was prepare through August using the standard Sport England Club Matters template using inputs from the committee, members experiences and reviewed by the British Cycling South team member. All the content was distributed to the committee in advance of the committee meeting and reviewed in detail for over 1 hr on Tuesday in round table at Mountbatten by the committee and the topic leads.Strengths and Opportunities for improvement have been identified, the outcome will be summarise and published in the next days. Early actions agreed include taking feedback from all members , and volunteers through an online survey, to complete and launch the updated website and prepare a budget plan for 2022.Sincere thanks to Fran Marshman, Gareth, Simon Littler and Harry for their work and flexibility to complete step 2 ready for the committee review. Also the committee members for positively engaging with the opportunities for improvement.

• Step 3 – “where do we want to be” & Step 4 “how will we get there” work will begin to identify priorities and targets, and phase the actions to deliver these over the next 3 years.
• Step 3 and Step 4 will be reviewed at the October Committee, and will be open to all members. Another update will follow this mtg.

The PNE@125 project team and committee are committed to presenting the plan at the AGM which will take place at the end of November.As ever for any more information or to become involved please contactVicechairman@pnecc.co.uk.Behalf of the PNE@125 subcommittee

Posted on April 18, 2021October 29, 2021

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