Lloyds Cyclo-cross National Trophy Series 2025/26 Round 3 - Sat, 1st Nov 2025

Strap in, it's a long read.

‘Forgive me Father, it has been 3 months since my last race’.

On the 8th of August I crashed during a pre-race training session and smashed my right wrist and hand – spectacularly so given the interest it generated in two local hospital’s emergency departments. Lots of drugs, lots of X-rays, lots of appointments and two surgeries to follow (2 screws and 3 pins).

It’s been a long, slow and occasionally painful process coming back from it – 53-year-old me doesn’t bounce as well as the younger version, and I certainly don’t recover anywhere near as quickly as I used to. I broke the same wrist at 17 (that stopped me learning to drive for a bit), but two weeks later I learnt to windsurf (arm still in a cast). This is my third (I think) break on that wrist, and I wasn’t even fit to hold a cup of coffee for the first 2 weeks!

I spent the first post-crash week walking and got back on the turbo on day 9 having cleared it with my coach and surgeon. There was no chance of me using my right hand so the next month or so was all about Endurance riding; rides I didn’t need to be pulling through my wrist for, or changing gear for that matter – the cast and pins prevented any wrist movement. I also added 2-3 strength sessions into my programme, something I’d never really done with any consistency before. Mid-September and the coach started to build in some light interval work and stepped it up again in early October once the pins were out. First real-world ride in the second week of October, including a cheeky test ride of the Wadebridge SWCX course once we’d finished taping it. Since then I’ve been riding on the road a lot, on low pressure gravel tyres to kill the road buzz.

Legs ok, lungs ok, head-space ok, wrist stiff and complaining every time it gets jolted – that’s enough boxes ticked to get back to racing. I knew I hadn’t ridden the CX bike in race conditions in months, and I knew I’d be riding within myself to avoid a right-side crash and heading back to hospital. I just had to have a word with myself about my expectations and how to approach the first race. The next race on the CX calendar was Round 3 of the National Series, a big race, but timings worked for me, and I really wanted to get back into the races. I’d pulled out of the warm-up for this race last year with a Belgium acquired stomach bug so there was also some unfinished (un-started in fact) business here too. Maybe counterintuitively, there was less self-imposed pressure with a National than there would be for a local race. I know almost nobody at the Nationals, most of the local SWCX races don’t race at that level (even though a lot a faster than me) so I wouldn’t be trying to hold wheels I didn’t have the fitness, or currently, the skills to hold. In short, I could bumble around near the back of the pack, expecting to be well beaten, not crash, and any progress through the field would be a bonus.

Race day rolls around, and the weather has been pretty awful the previous day and looked set the same for race day. I’m like ‘Bambi on ice’ on rollers at the best of time, but on wet rollers on a two-direction slope with a dodgy wrist I’m nothing short of comical – no need for caffeine today, the adrenaline of the warm-up was enough. Gridded second to last, a row behind the only other SWCX rider who had made the trip, I started carefully when the flag dropped. I’ve seen riders break their collar-bones before even crossing the start line at CX races and I didn’t want to end up a crumpled heap somewhere on the first straight – a few riders did go down. Clanfield is a lot of switchbacks and in the wet the track is super-greasy. The two fast, right hand sweeping corners are both off-camber, and again, greasy in the wet – not ideal for me. I rode carefully, stayed upright and gradually picked off a few riders. Nobody rode the traverse, so I didn’t feel bad about not riding that bit, but there were places I could have been faster. With no real CX training this year my brain wouldn’t let me pedal through the fast corners, which gives you grip, and made me coast through instead, which definitely doesn’t. It wasn’t fast, it wasn’t pretty, it was nowhere near what I’m capable of, but I got round, I didn’t get lapped, I didn’t crash, I didn’t scream or swear, I gained 13 places, and I still had (type 2) fun. Bring on the next round!

Good to catch up with the few SW riders who did race on the Saturday, and hopefully see some more at upcoming races.