Dan Cook comes unstuck at Cross National Trophy

National Trophy Cyclo-Cross Round 3
Mallory Park Leicestershire, UK
Race report by Planet X Cross rider Dan Cook
All photography Andy Jones

Mallory Park was used for the 1970 World Championship. Starting half an hour later than usual, to enable Remembrance Day's two minutes silence to be observed, the start line felt like a cold, harsh place. Everything is relative of course, and the circuit certainly didn't look like the Somme.

The long straight climb meant I could reach the front runners and be part of the leading group of six which formed on the first lap,and began to distance the rest of the field. At the end of the first lap, I had the misfortune to roll my rear tub, meaning a long run all the way to the pits. To make matters worse, this section of the circuit was a fast, firm part resulting in me losing more time relative to everyone else.

Dan Cook Planet X Guerciotti X Crow

Rolled-tub nightmare

Managing to focus on the race itself and not my ineptitude at glueing tyres to rims, I recovered from the exertions of running following an excellent bike change (was I glad I had a second Guerciotti X-Crow) and set about returning to a reasonable position in the field.

Dan Cook Planet X Guerciotti X Crow

Half an hour of solid pulling other riders back saw me get back within sight of the back end of the initial leading group. Get any further up I couldn't though, capitualised by the fact I thought my bike wasn't getting too clogged up - with the pits being located in relatively fast sections, I elected not to change to my original x-crow with the offending rear wheel replaced with a training wheel. In fact, the grass and mud mix meant that I was carrying a lot more of the circuit remnants around on my bike than I realised (I discovered at the end of the race!).

For the last couple of laps, I could see I was riding just slightly faster than the three in front of, but with about 30 seconds between us, I wasn't able to reach them, despite a massive effort once the bell rang for the last lap.

Results

I ended up in a sprint for 10th place, just losing out having had to lead out up the long finish climb.

Veterans 40+
1 Chris Young JD Cycles Ilkley 42.37
2 Darren Atkins Coventry RC/Ridecov.co.uk @0.09
3 Philip Roach Coventry RC/Ridecov.co.uk   @0.31
4 Gary Lingard CC Hackney   @1.20
5 Dave Haygarth Wheelbase.co.uk/Cannondale   @1.55
6 Matthew Denby www.Zepnat.com RT/Kuota/GSG   @2.07
7 Mike Young Pedalsport CC   @2.26
8 Noel Clough Wheelbase.co.uk/Cannondale   @2.34
9 Jonathan Watson Charge Bikes @2.39
10 Kevin Knox Dulwich Paragon CC @2.52
11 Dan Cook Peak RC (Planet X) 4@2.52

Dan Cook Planet X Guerciotti X Crow