MSG Warm-Up Round 1: Hylands Park




Joe Pitt in the Juvenile race (image courtesy of Flying Tigers Studio)

 The first of the somewhat optimistically entitled Warm-Up races failed miserably to live up to it's name as a wind that could only have originated in the Arctic pierced to the innards anyone foolish enough to spectate wearing anything less than the garb of a Polar explorer.
Slimy, vile, strength-sapping; just some of the words used to describe the terrain which in drier conditions will become super fast, flowing singletrack. An intelligently laid out course made the most of what Hylands Park's South Woods had to offer.
   

Olly Ford, an U12 taking on the Juveniles (image courtesy of Flying Tigers Studio)

 A large contingent (relative to the number of entries) of CYCC MTBers went into battle off the back of the previous days Bikeability training and club ride to Felsted. Top placed Juvenile (12-14) was Joe Pitt who came second in category. Lapping less than a minute behind the eventual winner, just a little extra training could see Joe make up this very bridgeable gap to contest the category win. Jordan and Harvey could have ended up reversing their positions if the race had gone on longer when you compare lap times. Jamie came in in fifth place to complete what were very creditable early year (and early career) CYCC performances.

1	3	00:53:52		1259	Will Kearse	00:18:53	00:17:29	00:17:30
2	2	00:37:46	1 Lap	1290	Joe Pitt	00:19:27	00:18:19
3	2	00:40:27	1 Lap	1257	Jordan Beighton	00:20:32	00:19:55
4	2	00:40:29	1 Lap	598	Harvey Jennings	00:20:40	00:19:49
5	2	00:47:17	1 Lap	581	Jamie Murphy	00:23:58	00:23:19
6	2	00:57:27	1 Lap	1293	Tyler Minter	00:27:13	00:30:14

Olly Ford doesn't appear in the results this time because he was registered to race in U12s, the category in which he'll be making his presence felt hopefully this Sunday.



Kurt at the start of the Vets race (image courtesy of Flying Tigers Studio)

 CYCC coach Kurt Rothmann rode convincingly to second place in the Vet male cat, held off the top spot by a determined ride from Antony Bensley. Both riders should do well in this years MSG series.
 This weeks race is at Danbury Outdoors, familiar territory for CYCCers, and I've been told the U12 course will include a descent down the BMX track, crossing the unrideable ditch of doom (actually rideable), and a tough climb up through the trees, SMALL GEARS!

See you Sunday.