After my disappointment of Saturday, I was determined to make sure I had a better race on Sunday for Round 4 of NCXS. The tough thing with having the National Championships as a goal to do well in is that most of the other racers have the same goal and by that very nature someone has to miss out! I have always raced better on the 2nd day of any double-header weekend, I’m not sure why but it has always worked out that way for me since I started racing cyclocross.

I spent the morning relaxing and cleaning my bike (despite knowing it would get filthy again) because a clean bike is a fast bike. We arrived at the course just before free practice and had some time to watch the end of the Masters racing. My teammates finished racing and came back to the tent with smiles you couldn’t wipe off, cross racing (especially in the sloppy mud) brings out the kid in everyone.

Before I continue, I wanted to do a quick review of the FMB Super Muds which I got glued up for Adelaide. This definitely isn’t a sponsored post as nobody is going to give me free tyres especially not François Marie! Anyone who has used Super Muds raves about them and now I understand why! The grip that the tyres provided was phenomenal in the rubbish conditions and even more impressive was the way that they cleared the tread. Even the tackiest of mud was no match! I am going to keep them glued and use them for the rest of the season to see how they handle other terrain.

In previous years mud has been a nemesis of mine, always finding a way to make me fall off my bike. I surprisingly didn’t struggle around the course during my two practice laps as much as I thought I would, things were looking promising for the race. The course for Sunday was basically Saturday’s course in reverse so there was no swing tree this time.

Whilst I was warming up on the trainer watching the Elite Women the weather took a turn and it started blowing a gale and pouring, there was also hail! A muddier course got a hell of a lot muddier.



Warming up on the Feedback Omnium. Photo: Jeff Curtes

I was on the 2nd row of the grid and despite the bitter wind chill there was a genuine air of excitement amongst the racers about the prospect of racing for an hour in “proper cross conditions”. There was a little confusion with the call ups as the under 23 racers, who had their own separate championship race but race NCXS as “Elite Men” were left off the call sheet. Most of the young hitters are in the top 10 of the NCXS standings so a few people shuffled around to let them claim their spot.

When the gun went off for the start of our race I could tell everyone had the biggest smile on their face as cries of “yewwwwwwwww” reverberated through the group down the straight and through the corner. I had a good start and settled somewhere around 12th-14th behind Alan ‘Alby’ Iacuone. My plan was to stick on Alby’s wheel for as long as possible as he is very rarely outside of the top 10. That plan lasted about 2.5 laps before I crashed and Alby was gone.



Riding solo, covered in mud. Photo: Riley Wolff

For the most part I rode a smart race and didn’t make too many other mistakes – this was surprising considering my usual lack of skill in the mud. I have JBlood to thank for that as our early season bike handling session has really helped this year. It’s not second nature to me yet, but hopefully one day it will be.

It was a really tough slog out on course with the rain continuing to come down. One of the craziest bits of the course was next to the little lake. Every lap the lake seemed to eat more and more of the course and by the end of the race it was hub deep and you only knew where to go by following the floating bunting!

Just behind me is the course getting eaten by the lake. Photo: Jeff Curtes

I ended up rolling into the finish in 14th place, exhausted, cold and about 6 minutes down on JBlood who backed up his National Championship with another NCXS win. I was happy with my race especially considering mud has never been a strength of mine and I am looking forward to the last two NCXS rounds (which are also UCI C2 classified!) in a couple of weeks.



Post race face, still finding dirt in my eyes. Photo: Harry Dennis

Until you find me again,

Scott.

Massive thanks as always to Giant Bikes Australia, Over Yonder Racing, Attaquer, POC and Suplest.

Also thank you to all the photographers who risked their health and electronics to capture the epicness of Sunday’s racing.