I rode to Rhyl yesterday on the cyclocross bike. It was a nice quick ride, a bit too quick as it turned out… I went to Rhyl for the NWCCA cyclocross race that was taking place there but arrived almost 2 hours early. Luckily Dave and Angela were already there so I huddled as close to the back of their car as I could and commandeered Dave’s coat as an anti-hypothermia measure.

I’d figured that a nice 80 mile warmup followed by an hour of mud, snot and screaming lungs would be an interesting training exercise. Deb would be meeting me there with the kids, the dog and the car and we’d all go for a play on Rhyl’s (surprisingly lovely) beach afterwards.

Eventually Deb did arrive and I got on with the job of changing into ‘racier’ (and not as warm) clothes, paid my tenner, pinned on the numbers and made my way to the start.

The course in Rhyl’s Glan Morfa country park had apparently been reduced in size due to much of it being covered by ‘sharp rocks’. By the looks of the parts of the course we did ride I suspect ‘sharp rocks’ actually meant ‘half bricks and shopping trolleys’, however apart from the fact that the laps were very short it was reasonably good fun, the multitude of dog turds to dodge and the rolled-up carpet partially-submerged in a puddle only adding to the excitement.

I managed to make it to the halfway point of the race before being lapped by the lead riders, 58 minutes had passed before Dave came past (who eventually finished in 8^th) and I eventually finished in 28^th place, comfortably mid-pack and not too bad for my ‘explosive and belated return to cyclocross racing’ 😉

After another quick change of clothes, some food and goodbyes to Dave and Angela, off we went to the beach. The girls loved it despite their faces going blue as a result of the freezing temperatures so then we warmed up by fleeing back to the car and eating bags of chips.

Next week’s cyclocross hilarity is at Leverhulme Park, a mere 4 miles from home in Bolton. There’s a fell race in Darwen before the cross race starts though….hmm…