In Episode 7 of Season 8 Neil, Matt and Xan catch up after a memorable few weeks… and Xan tells us how she is after her TV-time and horrible incident on the Namur bank.

They catch up on what happened and what didn’t at Clanfield National Trophy and Cabras / Namur World Cups. Neil raced day 1 of Clanfield (25th and fun had 😊) as did the regional champs crews in a very welcome and successful return to regional competitions.

The main winner of the Clanfield / Cabras UCI weekend seemed to be the weather.

Namur World Cup was certainly a huge challenge and saw a whole host of riders ejected off the front of the bike. Do they deserve a special memento like the Martin Baker Ejector Seat club membership?

They also give a full preview of Kerste Part A - the famous five, Hulst Zonhoven Mol Loenhout and Gavere.

Set your alarms and take a recovery day off CX on the 25th.

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To support the show pop over to https://www.buymeacoffee.com/crosscast to make a donation towards our hosting fees - every little helps! Follow us on Insta and Facebook, and share to your networks! Neil Mansfield is part of Grity Sustainable Sports Apparel @gritykit, and Matt Payne runs Full Speed Events @full_speed_events. Xan Crees races for Team Spectra.

In Episode 6 of Season 8 Neil and Matt are joined by Xan after her adventures at the World Cup that kicked off in Antwerp and then in Dublin.

Xan gives us all the details of the course from a rider's view with insights on the course, the atmosphere, the (lack of) grip, and we have to say it is awesome to see that Xan has got the top 50 World Ranking that has been a target for a while - ace job! Meanwhile Matt gives us insights on what they were doing to the sand that he could see while on the mic for the UCI World Coverage.

They reflect on the start of the World Cup and how Nys has not been having a nice time, how Iserbyt has not been looking relaxed and the fantastic form of Brand. Of course, they talk through the lap 1 incident when Boros' nose wheelie caused chaos behind.

Closer to home, Neil reports back on the Yorkshire league, and the destiny of his wheels that were lent to a newcomer after the sticky mud made gravel tyres a disaster.

In the Laatste Ronde they look forward to the upcoming National Trophy from Clanfield, a new venue for the Trophy and a place with a reputation already, of technical, hilly, and a rewarding race.

They also look forward to another newcomer, the World Cup from Cabras where there is not a lot of detail currently available; while there could be elements reminiscent of a Mediterranean version of Antwerp... who knows. Sadly, it seems that many of the front runners are choosing to take a break, but of course this opens up opportunity for others to show their potential.

Also coming up there is Namur - a superb classic. Just watch it.

Matt gives some early info on the UK National Champs; don't forget to save the date to race or spectate!.... watch this space for news.

Support the show

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To support the show pop over to https://www.buymeacoffee.com/crosscast to make a donation towards our hosting fees - every little helps! Follow us on Insta and Facebook, and share to your networks! Neil Mansfield is part of Grity Sustainable Sports Apparel @gritykit, and Matt Payne runs Full Speed Events @full_speed_events. Xan Crees races for Team Spectra.

In Episode 5 of Season 8 Neil and Matt (and TheGrityKitty) catch up on Round 3 of the National Trophy that came from Torbay and delivered an unexpected fast and dry(ish) course with technical flow. They talk through the tactical racing and even dip into a few stats comparing this year to last year. Neil corrects an error from last show and educates himself on Pearson Bikes and DAS.

They reflect on the grim course from Niel, and talk about how individual features like ‘the Hamme bank’ can affect racing.

After a slight interval to put the cat out, Neil explains how this season is going to be like a classic serial, with 3 volumes. Volume 1 is coming to an end… Volume 2 will be the World Cup starting shortly, and Volume 3… well, listen to find out 😀.

Questions from listeners are ‘answered’ - did you do better in remembering who won Hamme in 2016?

Looking ahead there is a superb GB squad heading to Antwerp including Crosscast regular Xan Crees (Spectra p/b DAS). Good luck all!

Support the show

--
To support the show pop over to https://www.buymeacoffee.com/crosscast to make a donation towards our hosting fees - every little helps! Follow us on Insta and Facebook, and share to your networks! Neil Mansfield is part of Grity Sustainable Sports Apparel @gritykit, and Matt Payne runs Full Speed Events @full_speed_events. Xan Crees races for Team Spectra.