Eastern League CX, Rd 9 Hillyfields, 1 Dec 2019

On Sunday I completed my first cyclocross race at the Eastern Cyclocross League at Hillyfields. The course had lots of short, sharp hills and the terrain was mostly muddy and slippy grass. I fell off on my practice lap and hurt my hip before I had even started, which changed my mindset to just getting around the race and get the experience rather than going for a good position. I was gridded right at the back on the start line, which made it hard to get a good position within the field of riders. During the race, I felt like I paced the laps well and kept the same position for the whole race. On the last lap I fell off quite hard resulting in a cut and bruised leg and took me a while to get back on which meant riders behind me overtook and I lost my position that I had throughout the race. This was annoying as there wasn’t enough time to catch them up again before the finish line. Overall it was a good experience, which is what I went for, and I know now what to improve on before my next cyclocross race.

Izzie Johnson