Yesterday was a welcome change to my normal schedule but also a return to a familiar scene. I was back at a cyclocross event.
Before Christmas, I had helped Bruce prep a bike for his son, Barny, who had been getting into ‘cross. After completing in a couple of regional events this season, he was tackling the National Trophy series.
The first round was an eye-opener and some post race debriefing had found the bikes needed a bit of a technical makeover. So I set about replacing some cables, indexing some gears and generally giving everything a once over. Unfortunately, the race did not go to plan with some over enthusiastic overtaking putting Barny out of the race.
Round 3 took place in Bradford, and I was invited to the trip, not sure if it was on hand mechanical support, coaching advice or good old-fashioned motivation. Whatever Barny and Bruce got out of it was one thing, for me, I got a kick just being back in the race environment, and it really has got me thinking about 2025.
After signing on we took a walk around the course and I stood with Barny watching the riders session the technical sections. We broke down the technique and discussed various options he could deploy during the race.
After a quick warmup, you could see the nerves were beginning to set in, I left the father and son pep talk and made my way back to the pits. Once there, I made sure the spare bike was ready and the power washer prepped.
Barny was outstanding. Never letting up, making some clever decisions and staying upright. He was picking riders off and crossed the line in 19th place; his best race to date.
Whilst the day was all about him, and I was only there as a supporter, I cannot help but feel that they gave something back to me. Maybe that fire for racing that, I thought, had extinguished a couple of years ago shows some embers.