Ormeau Park was the venue for my first proper venture into Cyclocross, I was excited to get back racing after a long brake since the end of the road season. I hadn’t planned on racing any cross this off season however being the competitive person I am, I was missing racing a bike too much! I borrowed an Alloy Vitus Energie Cyclocross bike from work (Chain Reaction Cycles) the Friday before the race and got some mud tyres fitted, ready as I’ll ever be!

Vitus Energie with mud tyres fitted, ready to go!

Arriving at the course on Sunday morning I didn’t know what to expect, getting used to a new bike and a new format of racing was going to be fun! The course itself was a great mix of technical sections and standard grass sections to test both skill and fitness. After a few practice laps I was getting used to how much/little grip skinny cyclocross tyres provided and was excited to get racing.

Having not raced a cyclocross race this season I wasn’t gridded, which meant starting around 20/30 riders back. On the first lap I managed to make my way up to 5th or 6th and by lap 4 I was sitting in 4th place. After having some issues on lap 6 with tape getting wrapped up in my wheel and my legs slowly deciding they weren’t up for working any more, I finished up 8th at the end of the race & 2nd Espoir. Check out the full results here.

Overall I was really happy with how the race panned out and I have learnt a lot from it. I am hoping I can take what I learnt and try and improve on my placing at the next round.  Nothing like an hour in the red haha!

Check out the Strava activity here – https://www.strava.com/activities/437393071/overview

Next race for me is going to be the next round of the Ulster Cyclocross Series in St. Columb’s Park. Until then back to training 🙂 Thanks to Dany Blondeel from the Belgium Project for the photos, you can find the rest of his photos from the event here.