KCC rider, Josie Simpson (Total Rush team) races mountain bike, cycle cross and on the road.  Her dirt skills certainly came in handy last weekend as she finished 3rd in the elite women’s Cycle Cross State Championships.  Well done Josie.  Here is Josie’s report of what the race as like and how she raced it.

Josie Simpsons race report:

We arrived in Seaford for the CX state champs not knowing what to expect as we’d never raced there before. Upon arrival the first thing you noticed was the incessant sound from the motor-cross course located next to the BMX track we were racing on, Ah the serenity! This went on all day. Anyway, I digress.

The CX course was quite flat, yet varied terrain. There was grass, gravel, mud, mulch, barriers to jump and a BMX track to negotiate, as well as many tight corners on a loose surface, and howling wind. This course was definitely more technical and generally favoured the mountain bikers in the field. The BMX track was particularly fun because we dropped in and out of the track through swooping and technical corners, riding on grassy sections between . On higher points of the course the wind was a real battle, and de-celerating and then accelerating in and out of corners kept heart rates high as we wrestled our bikes through them. All in all it was a great course which tested many aspects you’d encounter in cycolcross races.

These races are a real threhold session from the gun. We were all lined up at the start line and the starter told us 15 seconds to go, about 2 seconds later off went the gun which took many girls by surprise. My reflexes fortunately kicked in and I found myself in 3rd wheel behind the eventual 1st and 2nd place-getters.

My strategy was to try and hold their wheels, this lasted a grand total of 1 lap. After losing the wheel it was just a matter of riding as fast as I could for the next 45 minutes.  Because the course doubled back on itself you could see how far in front (and behind) you were of the girls around which provided extra incentive to keep going hard, particularly when I saw Jenny Mac moving her way through the field towards me on the last 2 laps. Fortunately I managed to hold her off and cross the line in 3rd place, very happy to have podiumed and equally as relieved to stop!

Josie looking to see who is coming

The sport of cyclocross has really grown over the past three years and this year we have seen many roadies take up the sport and do very well. It’s a very friendly and social crowd, the racing is serious yet you have kids on the sidelines spraying you with water guns and your mates heckling. As this was the state champs the crowd was instructed that they were not allowed to hand beers to the competitors, however at many of the other races this is permissable and encouraged. With the momentum the sport has gained, I expect it to be even bigger and more competitive next year.