..........................................................................................................................................................................................................

not drowning, but waving

in 1998, a cycling friend and i took a ferry from campbeltown to ballycastle in northern ireland, from where we cycled to just south of the border for an overnight stay, before continuing to dublin the following day for the start of the tour de france, famous for the so-called festina affair and subsequent victory by marco pantani, not exactly an innocent himself when it came to doping practices.

as a brief aside, i hadn't taken into account the fact that southern ireland measured its road distances in kilometres. having calculated that we needed to ride approximately 80 miles or so to our accommodation in dublin's fair city, i was somewhat aghast to note the first road sign indicated a distance of 130, which i took to be in miles. kilometres are so much easier.

anyway, we were due to stay in dublin for a couple of days, taking in the prologue time-trial, and the following day's road stage through the wicklow hills. on both occasions you quickly come to terms with just how much of the event you can actually witness from the roadside. for instance, despite having a clear view of every competitor passing at speed on their time-trial bicycles, at day's end, neither of us had any clue as to who had taken the yellow jersey (it was chris boardman), if only because our vantage point was too far from the finish line to hear the public address announcement.

and then, on the following day, we watched the peloton and road cavalcade ride over the bridge across the liffey, before we wandered around the city ainlessly for most of the day, before settling into our places near the finish line in order to watch tom steels' winning sprint for the finish line. following that first road stage, the event moved onto enniscorthy, and my colleague and i commenced our cycle north towards ballycastle and the campbeltown ferry, punctuated with a stop at the same accommodation we'd picked on the way down.

those were still the times of the northern ireland troubles, and an error in map reading while cycling well to the west of lough neagh, took us perilously close to a town in which there had been fatalities only a couple of days previously. irish net curtains are a lot more threatening than those in scotland. however, the only other matter of note during that return trip was being caught in a torrential shower only a matter of a kilometre or so from the ferry terminal, the floor of which we then all but flooded.

there's no real doubt that watching any cycling event on television (with the possible exception of track cycling) is likely to return a far better overview than standing by the roadside. the justification trotted out by all and sundry, probably including yours truly, is that of atmosphere, an intangible factor that simply can't be replicated on the telly box. however, when it comes to cyclocross, there may be certain exceptions to that contention.

though i doubt it's possible to witness every twist and turn of a cyclocross race, the fact that the parcours tends to continually double back on itself and the persistent raising and lowering of the topography, allows many of the spectators to witness a greater than average portion of the event. of course, that depends on which event we're discussing, and the effort put in by those at trackside. it has not been uncommon to watch attendees running across the enclosure in which they are situated to catch the riders passing a few corners later.

i can but admit that i have never attended any cyclocross event, whether in scotland or mainland europe, satisfied to watch every jump over the planks, bike change in the pits, and run through the mud from the comofrt of my armchair. that's why eurosport was invented. that said, when i see fans wearing bright yellow and blue bobbled x2o badkamers woolly hats, or those tucking into frites and mayo, i realise just what i'm missing, even if those would be outdone by the effort of getting there in the first place.

however, this year's various trophy series, of which every episode has been brilliantly broadcast by eurosport, with expert commentary from ian field, jeremy powers and helen wyman, has, from visual evidence, attracted substantial crowds, proving, if nothing else, that european cyclocross is as popular as ever it was. compare the crowds with those seen at the british championships in falkirk, and it's clear that we have a long, long way to go in the popularity stakes.

but what i don't understand, is why you'd make the effort to attend a championship cyclocross event, buy your frites and mayo, grab a badkamers bobble hat, and as the leaders pass your vantage point on each lap, you'd ignore your presumed heroes, and wave to the camera.

on every single lap.

monday 12 february 2024