Sean Lamberth
Appearances
The Planet Reigate Podcast
46: The second annual CycloCross Reigate, the history of our local heathland … and more
Cyclists tend to find a bit of a challenge after the seventh lap. Seventh lap? Boy, oh boy. It can be, yeah. Seventh, yeah. Most of the really, really strong ones will do it very, very quickly and they'll ride it. Some of the weak, well, say weak ones, there aren't weak, there's no weak cyclocross riders. They'll probably carry their bike.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
46: The second annual CycloCross Reigate, the history of our local heathland … and more
Okay, so the start area, which we like to call the start of the village area, where there's music and there's food and that sort of stuff, and where they all line up, is kind of in the middle of the park, opposite the main priory school, I would say, which is a bit up the hill. Then the course goes out towards Bell Street.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
46: The second annual CycloCross Reigate, the history of our local heathland … and more
up the hill and then it picks up the tarmac path which we're on now all the way up to the top and then we dive in, in through the woods lots of off cambers and sticks and trees to avoid you will see in a second as we dive into the woods It's a fairly steep hill this. This is probably the easiest part of the course.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
46: The second annual CycloCross Reigate, the history of our local heathland … and more
They should get lots of traction, and the fast ones will tend to use this as their getaway point, because when it comes into the woods, which we're coming up to now, basically it's very, very tricky. There's lots of very sharp turns, off camber, Which means your bike can slip away at any time, because we're going to cut through there. Cut through here, through the bracket? Yeah, normally.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
46: The second annual CycloCross Reigate, the history of our local heathland … and more
Oh, there's a track there, is it? Yeah, we just cut through there. But luckily for us, we've been supported very well by Rygate and Baxter Council, who help us with the clearing and stuff just before the race. They've actually been amazing with the whole event, just really helping us out. They're really trying to encourage the sport in the borough, so...
The Planet Reigate Podcast
46: The second annual CycloCross Reigate, the history of our local heathland … and more
This will be clear. Believe it or not, there's grass under there. They're picking up a bit of speed. They're coming into the woods now. Got a few sort of little obstacles they're going to worry about.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
46: The second annual CycloCross Reigate, the history of our local heathland … and more
how much do you clear the track of of small tweaks and so on that could get caught in spokes or don't you worry is that part of the jeopardy there is jeopardy but no the week before we'll have like a raking crew right and we'll go through through the woods on the course we'll rake probably about a four meter course so there will be a few bits that are falling down in the meantime but it will look different than it is today today it looks a little bit like a
The Planet Reigate Podcast
46: The second annual CycloCross Reigate, the history of our local heathland … and more
wooden floor, although it is quite clear. Where are we going?
The Planet Reigate Podcast
46: The second annual CycloCross Reigate, the history of our local heathland … and more
Actually, this woods, I think people do tend to respect it. It's actually very tidy when you walk around. Most people do tend to pick up their rubbish and don't generally see a lot of...
The Planet Reigate Podcast
46: The second annual CycloCross Reigate, the history of our local heathland … and more
rubbish so we're coming down to that main wide sandy track between the two kind of hills at the back of priory park that's right and you're heading then they'll be heading back down we're going to take a very very tight right here if you can imagine the speed we're actually heading down now they're picking up speed yeah what they call an off camber so it means you you will be turning but also but this is very slippery yeah because all the dead leaves yeah yeah this is um it's like beach beach mulch i would think
The Planet Reigate Podcast
46: The second annual CycloCross Reigate, the history of our local heathland … and more
Now it's not too bad when it's dry. When it's a little bit damp, it gets very slippery. And a lot of bikes will sort of tend to drift, I think is the word, off to the left. And it's quite a tight turnaround. It's almost like a 180 turn, isn't it?
The Planet Reigate Podcast
46: The second annual CycloCross Reigate, the history of our local heathland … and more
This, as you can see... If you've got five riders together, it's probably a three-and-a-half-metre gap. They're coming through here.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
46: The second annual CycloCross Reigate, the history of our local heathland … and more
Yeah, everything's marked out with course tape. They know exactly where they're going. These guys are very skilful. But even so, they've got to work their way around. There's a first tight bend, picks up a bit more speed.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
46: The second annual CycloCross Reigate, the history of our local heathland … and more
It's an obstacle, and you'll find that on... such cross courses like that sometimes happen in fields they will put logs to make that sort of thing which we've actually got naturally yeah so there's there's lots of very tight bends so there's actually five up and downs in this bit alone so again we go around another tight bend up again or slippy
The Planet Reigate Podcast
46: The second annual CycloCross Reigate, the history of our local heathland … and more
up around this one this is like it gets progressively bigger so you've come around a big 180 you've come around a short bend then you've gone around a longer bend you're picking up speed again what kind of speeds we're talking about on the faster through the woods they're probably doing 25 mile an hour, I think. Pretty quick. That's pretty tasty, isn't it?
The Planet Reigate Podcast
46: The second annual CycloCross Reigate, the history of our local heathland … and more
Pretty quick, yes. And you could, well, this is not grippy. No. Luckily, it doesn't hurt if you fall over on it. It's just like wood bark or mulch, isn't it? Yeah, it's mulchy, yeah, I'd say. I mean, it will be cleared, so all this, what I was saying before, this will be raked, so you won't have all the sticks and stuff.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
46: The second annual CycloCross Reigate, the history of our local heathland … and more
And you can actually see, this is part of the course that was laid out from last, if you look carefully, you can actually see the arch. Oh, OK, yes, yeah. So there will be people overtaking. So how did you come up with this course? Is it just a matter of knowing the woods like the back of your hand?
The Planet Reigate Podcast
46: The second annual CycloCross Reigate, the history of our local heathland … and more
So I teach, well, I coach junior cycle racing for Red Hill Raiders in Woodhatch, in the Surrey County Council car park on Sundays. And a lot of the younger kids were getting really... excited by the sort of new wave superstar cyclists so we've got like Tom Pidcock and Matthew van der Poel and sort of Europeans and they all came from cyclocross so they said what's cyclocross?
The Planet Reigate Podcast
46: The second annual CycloCross Reigate, the history of our local heathland … and more
teach us cyclocross so we As it happens, my daughter goes to school at Priory and every morning I'd walk the dog through here and thought, this would make a really good cyclocross course. Surrey have been really good. They're in control of the tarmac path at the back. So they've come forward and said, look, They'll close it off for the duration of the race for us.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
46: The second annual CycloCross Reigate, the history of our local heathland … and more
So Surrey County Council, Ryagate, and then some local sponsors as well. We've got Pilgrim doing the beer and prizes. We've got Maison de Velo, the bike shop. Schoolhouse, the massage, sports massage people. We've got a company called SOS Maintenance, which is like a local rescue DIY company. They're providing, like, the course tape, which is ridiculous.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
46: The second annual CycloCross Reigate, the history of our local heathland … and more
But something like that, when you've got four kilometres of course tape, comes to a few quid. You know, we're not making a lot of money. It's literally going into the next race, you know. And people like that are really helping us, you know. And then we've got a new sponsor, which is... a company called Yellow Jersey Cycle Insurance, and they're coming on board and helping.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
46: The second annual CycloCross Reigate, the history of our local heathland … and more
In Red Hill, yeah. Yeah, just up by Memorial Park. That's right. They've just jumped on board, which is really nice, really helpful for us. So it's all looking really good. Yeah, so it's a lot of goodwill, a lot of local goodwill. It's going to be a great event. We've got another cycle club from Shepparton called... I've got to get this right. This is Sicli Artiginali, which I've got that right.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
46: The second annual CycloCross Reigate, the history of our local heathland … and more
Is that Italian?
The Planet Reigate Podcast
46: The second annual CycloCross Reigate, the history of our local heathland … and more
yeah yeah it is italian but they are they are london cycle club it's a vintage bike club they're going to come down and they're going to put on a like a display of cycle racing not so much cyclocross but it's all built up so that's going to be there there's going to be beer there there's going to be belgian fritz and mayonnaise there because it's a cyclocross it's it's a belgian sport you know although it's summer you know there's always room for chips
The Planet Reigate Podcast
46: The second annual CycloCross Reigate, the history of our local heathland … and more
And coffee, so, you know, and, you know, there's going to be lots of noise. Hopefully people will bring cowbells.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
46: The second annual CycloCross Reigate, the history of our local heathland … and more
Yeah, they make as much of Vuvuzela as anything. Symbols, I've seen everything. I've seen people turn up with drums, you know, like proper drum kit drums, you know, just anything they can.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
46: The second annual CycloCross Reigate, the history of our local heathland … and more
So the more noise you bring, the more the cyclists go to.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
46: The second annual CycloCross Reigate, the history of our local heathland … and more
so let's have some stats so how many cyclists there could be up to 300 wow okay how many different races there will be an under 12s race which obviously everyone up to under 12 not so much the really little ones because but the the under 12s races is mainly on the grass area up front because they they can't really manage this course then there's the under 14s under 16s
The Planet Reigate Podcast
46: The second annual CycloCross Reigate, the history of our local heathland … and more
And then there's under-14s, under-16s, women's race. So there's girls in what they call open race. So open race, anyone can enter. Girls, it's a girls race. Then there's the women's seniors. They all go in different durations. So the longest race, the senior race, is 50 minutes, I believe. But that's subject to change to the commissaires, according to...
The Planet Reigate Podcast
46: The second annual CycloCross Reigate, the history of our local heathland … and more
environmental conditions i mean if it if it gets like really dark or starts raining or someone's way out in the lead like you know three laps ahead or something like that which you know can happen because we've had some national champions we've got some some people that race in the worlds come to this because it's we're really lucky in a way because it's a standalone trophy rather than a series and it's in between the end of the summer series and the beginning of the winter series
The Planet Reigate Podcast
46: The second annual CycloCross Reigate, the history of our local heathland … and more
So it's kind of like a little bit of a fun thing for them. They haven't got to worry about getting points for the season. They can try new stuff out and no one's going to worry, you know. There's a lot of smiles. It should be a really happy event, you know. Excellent.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
46: The second annual CycloCross Reigate, the history of our local heathland … and more
So the racing starts about four o'clock on the afternoon and the last race is due to finish at eight because after that it gets a little bit dark in the woods. Then at 8 o'clock, Pilgrim are then putting on an after-party in the brewery. So it should be a good night and a Friday night.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
46: The second annual CycloCross Reigate, the history of our local heathland … and more
Cyclocrossforrygate.com. There's loads of information on there. There's loads of frequently asked questions, that sort of stuff. There's some banners around the park as well. There's one outside. There's one at the tennis court. There's one at the tennis court with the QR code on it and stuff like that. So you can find out.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
46: The second annual CycloCross Reigate, the history of our local heathland … and more
and again it's all free it's all quite a spectacular bring your camera bring your vocal cords or a saucepan and a wooden spoon or something like you used to do during Covid and come down and enjoy yourself absolutely yeah and it'll be good fun yeah you definitely will love it and it could inspire you to bring your bike next year as well and it's open to everyone really you know if you wanted to bring a tandem