Recently in Cyclocross Category

Great video of the race, see if you can spot me. Blink and you'll miss me. In fact it's probably not worth the effort trying not to blink.

Enjoy instead how much fun cyclocross is. Despite suffering like a beaten dog in every race, attacking the furthest depths of the finishing order and generally not being very good, every race has been fun.

My back flared up again this week and I had to take my usual mid-race pause until the pain subsided and my lungs started working again. It cost me a good few places and I must stop putting off seeing a specialist about it.

But I really enjoyed what was one of the toughest courses of the year. It had everything: fast twisty woodland, strength-sapping uphills, nerve-jangling descents and DEEP MUD.

Not quite as insane and testing as Hog Hill was but definitely more tricksy than the brake-abusing Penshurst filthfest.

There were a couple of heavy crashes on the descent which were apparently quite nasty and resulted in the air ambulance being called out. Hope it's a speedy recovery for the injured parties.

The organisers were great in dealing with it all and making sure they got the assistance they needed.

It's been a great season and once again, it's a testament to the efforts of the countless organisers that it happens and so many people take part. Thank you all deeply.

It was epic, it was cold, it was helluvaheckalot of fun. Riding the frozen wastes of the Herne Hill velodrome certainly made for something different from the usual "mud and iron" of the London Cyclocross League.

(Photo: John Mullineaux for Londoncyclesport.com)

I haven't trained for nearly two weeks so was planning on taking it a bit easier than usual at the back. Stay out of the way and stay upright seemed order of the day.

After one lap, the advice from Rene was "there are too many people behind you". This was probably down to me running some of the worst affected sections which seemed to be quicker than tottering along in the inevitable traffic jam of nervous riders.

Soon solved that by going too hard in the wrong places - running up steep hills, corners, that sort of thing.

Once I'd worked through the rush of blood and settled down, it was a case of seeing how far back I could finish. The results have me down one from the back of those who actually finished. Plenty of DNFs tells you how tough it was.

I probably went easier than I needed to and took fewer risks than I could have, but better to finish in one piece than not in two.

I still haven't cleaned the bike due to the freezing conditions and sheer laziness on my part. Still it's nearly Christmas, so these things can be forgiven.

With London struggling under the weight of a bit of light snow, the place has ground to a halt. It's pretty embarrassing that it took me an hour to complete a ten minute journey on the bus in one of the world's major cities.

Lots of people will probably be leaving their bikes at home or at work tonight - I left mine at the office - as all but the main routes haven't been treated so are essentially nothing more than sheet ice. It's not just that the roads are impassable, it's that other traffic is entirely unpredictable.

So, here's a big hat tip to Andy Waterman for flagging the amazing conditions and riding at the Cyclocross World Cup race in Kalmthout

We both rode the London League race, he finished third, I finished about third from last. But it was a lot of fun, if really tough on the concentration and bike handling. to be honest my mind's still a bit fried from it.

Last week was Penshurst and one muddy hell that usually isn't surpassed in the season. Hog Hill is new this season and now goes down as the muddiest fixture in the calendar.

As London Cyclesport puts it "The first cyclo cross race at this venue was held in some truly atrocious weather that brought heavy downpours in each race through the day."

I was pretty darned rubbish this week, despite a newly-trued rear wheel and fresh brake pads. either my handling is getting worse or I need to believe in it a bit more.

Quick recommendation here for my LBS, Woolsey of Acton who did the wheel in a couple of hours for 15 quid at short notice (I walked in and asked).

Actually what did the damage was the heavy, heavy mud and how many bits needed to be run, including getting back up the Somme-like section about halfway round. I'll admit to sitting down at least twice on a opportunely positioned stile to catch my breath. Matt Seaton was most bemused and James Wilson has suggested next time I should bring a briar pipe and some loose shag to make a proper job of it.

A few times I got into a good groove and was OK, but others it was red line/white line/blurred vision panic.

Of note is that the lap was much longer (or felt like it) than most of the ones we are used to. I wasn't so sure beforehand but now I'm convinced it's a good thing. It's more distance for riders to spread over, fewer pinch points for lapped rider/leader conflicts and generally a bit less repetitive.

The next London League race isn't for a few weeks so I'm switching back to road a bit for the Imperial Winter Series at Hillingdon. I'm going to be putting to the test Ridley's marketing claim about the Crossbow: "Call it an entry-level cross bike if you want. We call it the ultimate backup racer here in Flanders, where a broken bike is never an excuse to drop out."

I'm assuming they mean you can race on it in road races rather than as a backup cyclocross race bike. If I've misunderstood, Saturday will be "interesting".

This is always my favourite race of the London League season. The course is challenging, muddy and interesting which is always better than grassy parkland.

It's a proper offroad riding where handling matters and mine was really lacking through lack of practice cornering on loose mud. Still the results suggest that I might have lapped at least two riders which counts as a good result for me. Lovely shot of me suffering by John of Londoncyclesport

There were a few lots of times when I pushed way too hard and hit my limit. But I kept chugging on as the brake pads wore to nothing (which made the ride back to Tonbridge "interesting") and I got increasingly muddy.

The good news this year was the presence of a hose and spray attachment to clean down bikes after the race, an essential need well served.

My big problem was getting the bike to go where I wanted. Not sure if I was fighting the conditions too much or not enough.

Still I wasn't alone in finding it hard work. Ben Spurrier admits to getting " got progressively down-hearted, cold, bored and fed up! " and I gave him a motivational push. If he'd stopped on that lap I was fully prepared to stop as well as much out of frustration as anything.

As ever my mild gripe is how much of a day going to London League races consume. I left the house at around 10:30 and didn't get back until 18:30 or so. If you've got commitments of any sort or just want to relax at weekends, that's a lot of time to be spending for a one hour race.