River Queens - Bike Hutt Cyclocross Round One

Mint photo - Craig Madsen

Cyclocross is a wonderful thing. Its short and painful. You get no rests, no relief. CX racing has plenty of fight and close contact. You can see your marked rider up ahead. The challenger behind has eyes on you. You must chase your next rider faster than the hunter behind can chase you. You must hit the gas hard from the gun, and keep your foot pressed to the floor. No mistakes. Start freewheeling too far from a barrier, or waste time on a remount and your challenger will rip precious seconds out of you.

Its great that Mike and his team from The Bike Hutt are such ardent cyclocross fans. Mike is putting on a four round series in Upper Hutt based at California Park and Trentham Memorial Park. We'd been looking forward to it and for round one, Bushlover's Waghorn, Burgess, Crossling and Aldred lined up in their ravishing new team strip.


Mint photo - Craig Madsen

Ashley represented in the fantastic new BLR kit and had custom made some BLR CX Special Socks to go with it. She even rolled out in a spankly pair of POW gloves in a suitably pink and black chequered flag design. Ash won the women's race in the 30min event with a fine ride. We know from the Revolve Womens MTB Series held earlier this year, that there are tons of lady offroad racers in Wellington, so hopefully more will come out for the next three rounds.



Mr Crossling was so desperate to spend time on his freshly painted Turner Flux, that he rode out to the race from the city (and back again) which took the razor sharp edge off his shanks. It was a tough course to start tired on and Al suffered like the proverbial dog, but represented well with Bushlove battle calls across the field of dreams.


Mint photo - Craig Madsen

Waghorn and Davo ran singlespeeds. Davo modified his with a slightly taller gear and slightly narrower tires. But Waggers ran his 'as God intended' with burly tires, shocks and a regular ratio.


Mint photo - Craig Madsen

Off the line the Crosstafarian himself forced the pace and gave everybody a bit of a shock - Had he been training? Can he maintain this pace?!? Davo edged past to lead into lap 2 and then Mr Houltham rolled past him in the big ring which Dave didn't have. Davo's chain then derailed and he could only watch with despair as the whole pack rode past while he removed his wheel to reseat it. It came off again on lap 3 much to his frustration as all those he fought to get past, read him the good news as they shot past.

Everybody found their rhythm and settled into the epic grunt fest. The stream crossings were a magnificent addition to the course. Several skilled riders rode the crossings both ways including Stu Houltham and Waggers on his SS. Davo ran them like a proper roadie.


Mint photo - Craig Madsen

The effort of keeping the foot nailed to the floor told on everyone and positions were gained and yielded in the second half. Eventually Davo pipped Waggers and led him home. Davo 4th and Waggers 5th. Although they both got upgraded after a results adjustment, meaning a fabulous 3rd and 4th for the boys. A great start for series points.

A mint day, a great hard course and grand company. Everyone is looking forward to the next three rounds where hopefully new riders come and try this commanding code and much merriment, vomiting, drifting and hurdling will be had.

Here is a link-fest:

Ashley lap 1 helmet cam footage. See how she represents well with thank you's to the marshals
Owen's Facebook photos of round one.
Katie Morgan's photo's of round one (much hotter than Owen. Sorry Owen)
Bike Hutt blog with results.
Vorb thread.
Good CX on Youtube

For Sparta.

Leonidas - BLR Press Sec.