My first cyclcross race on the Charge Filter ‘Apex’

Before this weekend, the only cyclocross race I’d ever done was the excellent ‘Muddy Hell‘, but I rode that course after a beer, having a chat, in the dark, in fancy dress and on a fixed gear bike.

This weekend I entered my first cyclocross race on the Charge Filter ‘Apex’ and decided that I wanted to WIN! I’d got a little practice in over the last few weeks and was feeling reasonably fit, so I lined up at the start with all the men and the lone other woman and set off sprinting as hard as I could.

About half way round my first lap, nearly everyone overtook! What the hell? Turns out I’m not as tough as I thought, and serious cyclocross races are really intense! For the next hour I was riding at my absolute limit, at no point were there any ‘easy’ bits where you could have a rest, the whole race was very hard. I have to admit that at points I wondered why on earth I was putting myself through such hell, it seemed totally devoid of fun. But an hour later, I finished and realised that in some weird way, I’d kind of enjoyed the whole horrible experience. Sort of. A bit.

I ended placing second out of the ladies. Which I’d be more than happy with if it weren’t for the fact that there were only two of us. So looks like I’m going to have to train a little harder!