One thing that I was most concerned about was a lack of sleep, being a new parent you hear the horror stories of endless sleepless nights spent soothing and feeding, and I will admit that in the early days it was hard going it that respect but very fortunately my wife has been amazing, she has done the night feeds and now the little one has been able to get some sort of routine sleep is better, still broken but better.
As my wife also likes to ride bikes and race we are also starting to get into a bit more of a routine so that she can get out, although mainly for her sanity I think at the moment, with me and the baby she is struggling for mature adult contact... and there is nothing better than being out in the wolds to clear your head, while it needs some tweaking it seems to be working okay, its about making it work with the baby not about making everything about the baby.
On Sunday it was the 3rd round of the Yorkshire Points Cyclocross series in Wakefield, a course i rode and enjoyed last year, broadly flat with some good technical sections, however before I get into that, a technical correction from my last blog, I may have been 47th overall but thanks to "pesky kids" and the veterans I was 13th or 14th in my age category, which I will take!
But before all that, a story about the nappy that couldn't, Sunday morning and the Sharp family had been up for 2 hours, the baby had fed and was due an hours nap before they headed en-mass to Wakefield, this was to be Erin's first sight of Cyclocross. Mum had just changed Erin and was putting her in her favourite place to nap, her sling, Dad was watching some telly and all seemed calm. Just then a cry from the dining room, this was not the cry of a baby but of mum, "ahhh there's poo everywhere" she exclaimed! Jumping to help dad rushed in to find mum, baby, the sling and the floor covered in delightful poo.... After cleaning up dad found that despite all your best efforts, sometimes nappies just cannot retain the required volume and it results in a full system breach, which is always nice.
So in the preceding hours to Wakefield I spent then using a hairdryer to dry the sling after it has been hand washed so that we could take it with us, knowing that without it my daughter would not sleep, and that would mean that I would be going alone. Parenthood is not without its challenges but, sometimes those challenges are messier and funnier than you expect.
Back to the race, I started in the 3rd row in the middle of the pack, better placed that normal so I was happy enough with that, the whistle blows and its all out sprinting to the first turn... where I basically bottle it.... not wanting to get tangled up I drop back allowing quite a lot of riders past me, still I am upright and now able to set about making up some ground.
The first few laps are pretty uneventful, I spend most of my time catching and passing people, trying to avoid the roots, hitting the roots, being convinced I have a puncture and struggling in the slow corners, not sure why if its the tyres or what but I have lost some of my nerve, my lines were not great and I was battling the bike a bit.
After about 4 laps it all calms down i find myself in open air and I am able to set my own pace, I see I am catching a small group ahead and target them as a goal for the race.
I am not sure when it happened in the race but inevitably the leaders caught me, watching them skip past is very impressive, it really shows the difference between me and them, fitness wise I am on a par, having raced against Jack at Malton Crits and been in the 3 man break for the whole race, but technical ability its quite something to watch.
Not far from the end, I was in the previously mentioned group, I was tagging on to the back wheel of one of the stronger riders, when at a technical section where the course went down and back up round a tree, he fell off this left me with no where to go, I also could not get unclipped and somewhat unsurprisingly I fell, hitting my head off the tree as I did. Taking a second to check all was okay I tried to jump up to find I was trapped by a bush, I was flailing about like a fish on land, I am hoping it was entertaining for everyone watching!!
So after my normal "off" I set about finishing the race, Tom Ramsey lapped me and I was able to stick with him for half a lap before again technical ability won out over brute force.
Another good race for me 45th overall and 18th in age category and the other York Cycleworks riders, Tony Mills, Craig Gath and especially Andy Johnson who was just outside the top 10 overall, just need to check my helmet, took a fair hit so I want to make sure its okay, otherwise its off to York Cycleworks for a new one!
Not quite so good was for a couple of friends, Paul Goulden who apparently decided that his face made a suitable brake, luckily no lasting damage after a good checkover, the same cannot be said for Richard Hamilton who managed to break his collarbone and will no doubt be spending more than a few uncomfortable days and nights trying to heal. All the best to both on a rapid recovery.
Quiet week for me with no racing now until Round 4 on the 4th October, although you may see a blog pop up in the week.
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