The training and tribulations of a Budding MTB'r

2012... setback number 1

2012-01-25T22:12:00.001Z

Got some weird head cold / sinus thing. Has totally flattened me since last Friday. And things were going okish too.

Had a few good spins on the road. Tried to keep the pace high and stay on top of the gears. The times were nothing to write home about, but it was a good start. I also managed a couple of hours on the mountain bike (wheels holding up nicely - could turn out to be the bargain of the year!) I'd not started on the Turbo trainer, but was planning on doing a bit this week.

Then Aidan starting coughing...a lot. After about 3 days I started to get a head cold. Tied in with 4 nights on the trot with a combined total of 15 hours sleep, things went from bad to worse. I got the first symptoms last Thursday afternoon, but cycled into work on Friday as I was only hurting above the neck, but by Saturday/Sunday was in bits. I had to just go to bed early. But despite getting about 8 hours sleep over the past 2 nights I wake up feeling like I've not slept at all.

I don't think I can do much more than put the feet up and take it easy (well as much as you can with 2 kids). I won't be stressing about not hitting my training plan that's for sure :)

FOR SALE - 2011 KTM Myroon Prestige

2012-01-14T21:29:00.000Z

I’m selling my 2011 KTM hardtail XC bike. Its got approximately 14 hours riding on it since I got it in July. The bike is as new with the exception of a couple of cosmetic scratches (all highlighted in the video below). Its a truly pro XC race bike decked out from front to back in top end kit and coming in at 9kgs with pedals, there’s no excuses!

I used the bike in a couple of rounds of the Irish NPS series, the Bull Raid (2nd place in 12 hour pairs) and Bontrager 24/12 (2nd place in 12 hour pairs). The 2011 KTM catalogue can be found here -http://www.ktm-bikes.at/service/online-kataloge.php?lang=EN. Pics and a video of the bike below also.

I’m based in Ireland but in my mind the bike is well worth a trip over if you wanted to try before you buy.

KTM Myroon Prestige (19" medium)

Original factory spec:
-DTSwiss XRC Twin Shot Race 100mm forks with remote lockout
-Full 2011 XTR Groupset 2x10
-DTSwiss XM1550 wheelset
-Ritchey carbon finishing kit
-Schwalbe Rocket Ron tubeless tyres

Size: 48cm/19"
Seat tube length: 480
Top tube length: 587
Seat angle: 72
Head angle: 70
Head tube length: 150
Chainstay length: 430
WheelbaseL 1070

Looking for £2200 (€2700). The original list price £4780 (€5700)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQOSQvg9wmA

More Pic's of bike here https://picasaweb.google.com/115351469741901001464/KTM02?authkey=Gv1sRgCPK-r7eSioi61wE#

2012 Weeks 1 and 2

2012-01-14T21:25:00.000Z

Despite all the distractions I've managed to be fairly productive so far in 2012. Starting off was a first... the climb up to Turlough hill. I've never been up there before and chose a particularly crappy day for my first attempt - a gale and freezing conditions. But was good to try it out once, and I'll be back.

I've also managed to get a couple of spins into work and my first Wednesday night Naas spin last week, so that if I can get those 3 spins going regularly, I'd be happy enough.

I got myself a new set of wheels for the Cube (well overdue), so plan on getting out a little more on that. I've only done a couple of spins so far and a big one up in Hollywood. Plan on doing something tomorrow around Seehan.

my new wheels (yes taking a chance, but great price for tubeless)

My Tacx Swing Turbo trainer has finally bit the dust - not that I was using it much, but a few months in the shed seemed to have got it a little rusty and the resistance part is... well not putting up much resistance. So I got a Cycleops fluid trainer during the week. The plan would be to use it if the weather turns bad, but also get on it at least once a week for a sneaky 45min session if all the kids are asleep. Well I can dream :)

Happy new year!

2012-01-01T09:04:00.001Z

Howdy

Been keeping a very low profile over the past 4 months. Work has been very busy and with the arrival of baby number 2, there's not been much time for anything else - certainly not cycling!

The biggest disappointment this year was not managing to do the Cooley Thriller and National Marathon champs, but even heading out on social spins and even cycling to work have been sorely missed.

The plans for 2012 are a little hazy right now. I've put a training plan together for the first couple of months and will see how that goes. I hope things ease up in work enough to get commuting again, after that it'll be trying to make the most of any time I've free. There's going to be plenty of racing next year, but I only plan on doing XC racing relatively close to home. I'll do a few road races also if they are local. But with no bike for the Gravity Enduro or funds/time for the races that take up a whole day, the first half of the year could be quite enough.

I'd like to do the Mountain Bike Challenge in Lough Derg, but again its about figuring out if I've the time to take 2 days away from the family or can bring them along with me.

The marathon bike series looks great and is on later in the year which will suit be better. I think 2 of the rounds will be the Cooley Thriller and the National Marathon Champs so a couple more would make that a great event.

Not sure about Bontrager this year.... its not looking good especially as Oisin will have a 4 month old baby to keep him busy too, so we'll just play that by ear.

So, I'm not giving up on the biking, but it'll be more a case of picking and choosing what to do.

The Bull Raid 2011

2011-10-09T20:06:00.002+01:00

Forgot I started this post :)

So, I'll keep this short. Myself and Oisin decided to have another crack at the Bull Raid. Last year we were meant to do it but Oisin got sick so I went out and did the 12 hour solo instead. This year the course was a little different, the field a bit bigger and a lot more organised so it was building up to be a fun day.

Oisin camped out the night before but I decided to travel up on the morning of the race... which was fun. When I arrived there was enough time to get unpacked and prepared for the race. We decided I would go first and then we would alternate for a couple of hours before doubling up around lunch time - same plan as in Bontrager. The weather was great - overcast but dry which made it ideal for the racing.

The biggest competition was going to be Ray O'Shaughnessy and Aidan McDonald and it was always going to be a big ask to keep up with these guys for 1 lap, never mind 12 hours! But you never know what can happen in racing so we had to push it all the way just in case.

Once the whistle blew we had to run to the bikes and then sprint off from there. By the time we got to the first section of single track I was in 2nd position desperately trying to hold onto Ray's wheel. Which I managed to do for about 3/4's of a lap. I made it back about a minute behind Ray who continued on for another 3 laps which I pitted and let Oisin off. And that was pretty much how the race played out. We gradually lost time throughout the day on the lads finishing in 2nd place. It was pretty uneventful in a good way - no accidents, knocks etc, so we were happy with the results.

Bontrager Twentyfour12 2011

2011-08-14T20:32:00.007+01:00

Myself and Oisin decided to give this another crack after getting second in the 12 hour pairs in 2010. Last years race was my first taste of endurance racing and I was hooked on the discipline and on this race in particular. The location, atmosphere, and a podium finish made it one I was always going to come back to.

This year with time being at a premium, and not wanted to repeat the 14 hour trip through England at rush hour on a Friday, we decided to fly to Bristol and hire a car for the 2ish hour trip down the A38 with Sean and Agata. Conor had got the lend of a van which carried the bulk of the bikes and kit.

We arrived on Friday evening and after doing a bit of work at the site, myself and Oisin went to the nearby B&B. Another lesson learned from last year was a good nights sleep before the race was essential and something we did not have in 2010. So after a sound sleep and a nice breakkie we popped down the site to give the KTM's the once over, decide on the race plan and relax in the summer sun.

Like last year, Oisin was to go first then we would alternate 1 lap on / 1 lap off until about lunchtime when we would do double laps so we had time to eat and (semi) digest a decent meal. So on the stroke of 12pm, the whistle blew and they were off. Oisin had got himself near the front before the start of the race, but his foot slipped off the pedal and a good few riders passed him. That was not a major problem in a 12 hour race! Apart from that his first lap went smoothly and I dropped down to the transition zone to wait for him to come in. Then I was off. the course was a little different to last year with some sections in reverse. so instead of lashing down the grassy descent at the end of the race, you were going up it at the start! A tough start to every lap was guaranteed.

The rest of the course was very familiar from last year, with some savage climbing mixed in with tricky technical sections and an awesome final descent which was guaranteed to put you in a good mood at the end of a lap. All in all, I think it was a better course than last year as it kept you alert and aware the whole way through.

We kept a steady pace the whole way through the race, alternating one lap on / off until lunchtime where we did 2 each, then back to one on / off. Unlike last year, I kept off the energy drink until the last few hours as I usually get bad cramps after too much of the stuff. I also tried to each as much real food as possible, but kept taking a steady supply of High 5 iso gels which were super.

About 6 hours in we did the dreaded position check... and it turned out we were in 2nd place. I was both relieved and disappointed at the same time. Relieved that we were not lower than last year, but disappointed we were not better! Though, when I remembered we still had 6 hours to go, I was a little more relieved.

So the hours rolled by and luckily for us there was no downpours or mud-fests. As we came into the final hour we were in a solid 2nd place, with the 1st place guys 30 mins ahead. Our only goal/motivation at the end was to stay on the winners lap which we tried but failed to achieve. Like last year, I was standing at the transition zone at 11:45pm hoping that Oisin would not make it back before the clock struck midnight and the end of the race. And he came up trumps again, coming in at 12:05 :)

And that was 2nd place wrapped up, for the 2nd year running. I really enjoyed the weekend - apart from the racing there's a great buzz around the place. My only regret was not being able to spend a bit more time before the race to chill out, but that's life.

So that was the race done. I enjoyed it, and felt a lot more organised due to last year. The whole operation ran with military efficiently thanks to Aine who once again was our key 3rd team member.

It was also a great weekend of the other members of our troop with Sean and Agata coming in 2nd in the mixed 12hr pairs and Mick coming in 3rd in the 24 hour solo race.

The official video below

TwentyFour12 2011 - Official Event Movie from XCRacer.com on Vimeo.

Strava data below.

2011 National XC champs

2011-07-31T15:37:00.002+01:00

Right, lets get this one out of the way. This was a disaster weekend. It was a disaster even before the weekend!

First off there was the whole - S1 rider racing masters. Not going to go into this but an Elite I ain't and while some people seemed to think it was a case of trophy hunting, that was far from the truth. Anyway, it annoyed me a lot and did not help preparing for the race.

So the day of the race rolled up and we made it down to Kilruddery in plenty of time for getting setup and doing a lap of the course. And it was a great course - lots of swoopy, technical single track with a few little kickers thrown in. Also added in was the tombstone. More on that later. It was a course you could really enjoy riding or racing on. But not one that I could say I'd be strong on as there was a serious lack of climbing - fireroads or the techy type.

There was a new section put in to allow the feature dubbed Tombstone to be included. it was approximately a 5 foot slab of rock at an 80ish degree angle before it transitioned into the trail. It scared the shite out of me and Gene and standing there for 15 minutes looking at it and watching other riders take it comfortably did not help. So we decided to take the chicken run and then spin around that section to go at the drop at a race pace.

As the lads rolled off I decided at the last minute to give it a go. There was a line to take - start on the left and as you were on the rock slab, work the bike slightly across to the right. I started on the left and was down the rock section in a flash, but I made a couple of simple errors. The main one was my weight was centered in the middle of the bike, which meant once the fork hit the transition, I was going over the bars. The other mistake I made was with the fork, which I had been fiddling around with over the preceding few days. It was down a few PSI and it only aided my flight over the bars.

I landing head first into the ground with the top/back of my skull. That pushed my chin into my chest and stretch my neck further than its ever been stretched before. The crash was over in a flash, but I still had enough time to think about how far my neck would bend before it broke. Once I came to a standstill with the bike on top of me I wiggled all fingers/toes and was relived to feel them move as commanded!

The lads got the bike off me and I sat there for a minute trying to get myself together. The body was fine, but (in hindsight) I was concussed with serious pains in my neck. But I got back onto the bike and made it back to the car in one piece. I was chatting away to the lads and felt OK, but as the adrenaline faded, the splitting headache kicked in. To compound matters another fella ended headfirst into the ground at the same spot which held up the start of the race. The organisers also decided to remove Tombstone from the race... feckit, wish they decided that the day before!

Anyway, I went out for a warm up on the singletrack and I did not feel right. I was flying along on the technical stuff, but it seemed like my brain could not keep up with my legs in terms of processing where I was and what I should do next. In my delirious state I chose to just take the positive out of it (that is my legs felt good).

So we were called up to the start. I was on the second row on the outside which was a bit tricky as there was a sharp right, then left before a run down to the singletrack entrance. The whistle blew and we were off. The outside line did not work out too good at the start especially on the greasy grass section, but I tried to just keep it together until the straight open piece. I was probably in 10th place when we got into the singletrack and was rightly stuck. It was impossible to pass so all I could do was sit in and wait for a point to get through. And that was half way through the first lap on a short fireroad section.

By the time we came around to the start/finish I was 4th and feeling great (I think). Despite, Kev, Mark and James being miles ahead I thought it was a great challenge/nothing to lose type situation. That lasted about 200 metres into the singletrack when on a sharp left turn (I think), my foot came out of the pedal and into the front wheel! The wheel locked and I took my second trip of the day over the bars. This time landing on my shoulder/head. No damage done to me this time, but when I took a look at the bike I'd managed to break a spoke. At this point I just thought I was a danger to myself and the other riders on the course so called it a day! It was a miserable end to a pretty shite weekend all told. Well done to Kevin and Mark who had a great race on the day with Kev winning out. James came in 3rd.

The headaches lasted most of the following week which meant crappy sleep most nights. And 3 weeks later as I write this I still have pain at the base of my neck - but its getting better with plenty of stretching.

But I a lot of ways I feel lucky as it could have been a lot worse and with just 1 broken spoke on the bike to show for some pretty hairy racing I can't complain. Glad its over tho!

Detour Camper Vans

2011-07-16T13:06:00.009+01:00

Non(ish) bike related but worth posting!

Met up with a mate of mine today and turns out he's setup a small business hiring out campervans. Not the smelly old kind, but brand spanking new ones with the standard essentials (fridges, cookers, chemical toilets) and bonus gadgets (secondary sound systems and USB ports for charging your laptops, ipods etc).

The company is called detour.ie and have a fleet of converted Nissan Primastar vans which have room for 2 or 4 adults. The vans can be picked up at the airport or an agreed location around Dublin.

If you like to keep your holiday plans flexible without compromising on comfort, this is defo the way to go! Personally I'm ragin' as this would have been perfect for the trip to Bontrager... though might also be perfect for the Singlespeed world champs and/or Marathon Champs in Ballyhoura in a couple of months :)

www.detour.ie

Facebook: www.facebook.com/detourcampervans

Twitter: @detourcampervan

hello@detour.ie

1890338687

Assorted pics of the vans

Teaser for MTB Champs course...

2011-07-14T12:39:00.001+01:00

Nice!

Kilruddery Preview 1 from StuArt galloway on Vimeo.

Mondello Park Road race

2011-07-06T12:10:00.003+01:00

Decided to head over to Mondello park for the Crit race hosted by Naas cycling club. I did the open race last year which was great fun and a lot of hard work. I raced A4 last year and we managed to hold of most if not all of the other cat riders. This year I was in A3 and we were racing the shorter club course as opposed to the international one.

The weather was great when I left the house, but by the time I got to Mondello there were very dark clouds blowing in and spitting rain. There was a good turn out across all the categories. The A4's headed off and the commissionaire gave them at least a minute, which seemed a lot considering how short the course was, but we headed off at a good pace. Of the 20 to 30 odd A3 riders I'd guess about half wanted to make a real effort to stay away and we pushed the pace on, but very quickly we could see the A1/A2 group catching us. I could tell plenty of riders just sat up at that stage as they probably felt that it was only a matter of time before the cruised up to us. I was optimistic (read, foolish) and continued to push on the front, wasting a lot of energy in the process.

Heavy rain started falling at this stage and despite the concern that the track would get treacherous, it remain surprisingly grippy on the corners and I don't think anyone took a tumble.

Then the A1/A2 group came through at (what I thought was) full pace. My fellow A3's all scrambled and grabbed the nearest wheel they could find and the enlarged group got completely strung out. Unfortunately for me I had pushed things a little too hard and could not grab a single wheel, and before I realised it the train had left the station without me on it! It was quite demoralising watching the group gradually move away from me down the main straight. I kept it going for a few more laps before realising there was no chance for catching them. I decided to pull in at that stage as all I was was going to catch was a cold!

But while it lasted the racing was good craic so I'll be back more determined in early August for the next race. Race data below:

Slade Valley NPS Video

2011-07-01T11:41:00.001+01:00

Me and Marks sprint finish is in there :)

Slade Valley xc NPS on pinkbike.com

NPS Round 7 - Report

2011-06-28T08:08:00.002+01:00

Very enjoyable race on Sunday - despite all that mother nature could throw at them, for the second year running IMBRC came up trumps with a great course and event in general.

I had no goals for this race as I'd been putting in some pretty dismal performances to date in the NPS. All I wanted was to put in as strong an effort as I could and just play it by ear after that.

Got the pre-ride of the lap done early and back to the car for some chill out time before a good warm up. It was the first time with the new bike so was a little nervous especially with the newly tubless tyres and also the headset, but everything held together nicely so was happy enough. Well until I was heading down to the start of the race when I noticed the front wheel deflating again... Luckily Conor had his hand pump with him so a minute or two of blasting it seem to do the trick.
Once the race started no one was full on sprinting up the fire road (well apart from Gareth Mckee), so it gave me time to think (bad idea) maybe I should blast off meself, but in the end I decided to hold off as it was a long climb up to the entrance of the single track. So I was happy to get in there in the middle of the pack, though in hindsight, blasting it up might have been the better option as a few of the guys ahead of me were struggling through the first half of Rabbit ride. I tried to pass a few in the singletrack but nothing stuck (ended up smacking a tree after a tussle with Matt Slattery - totally my fault). Those mistakes just made me want to push harder which in turn led to more mistakes. On lap 2 I took a nasty tumble on the rooty stuff in Rabbit Ride which cost me a couple of places. The air was blue around me after that one, but a little further on I found Oisin on the deck, so it was encouraging to see that everyone was having problems (sorry Oisin!).

And that was the pattern for the majority of the race. I'd pass guys, then crash/dab, they'd pass me, then I'd pass them again. At one point near the start of Rabbit Ride, I tried to pass someone on one of the steep climbs, choosing to ignore the wet roots crossing my path. So I hit the roots, and get sent off the trail. I was really pissed at this stage, so just pure anger kept me spinning the pedals and I managed to cycle over a tree stump and back on course cursing and spitting as I went - not sure that Evan Ryan made of it all as he was sitting right behind me. :) I did manage to make up on most of the mistakes by pushing hard on the fireroad sections and the last piece of singletrack before the start/finish line, but I'd love to have gotten one clean run through the course to see what kind of lap time I could have managed.

On the last lap, things had settled down. There was no one behind me in sight and only Mark ahead but I could only see him on the long fireroad sections so looked to be un-catchable. But I kept pushing on, knowing that anything can happen in a race. So, when I exited Chomper I noticed that Mark was just coming up to the entrance of the next section. That was enough for me and pushed it hard for the last section. Coming down towards the field I was right behind him and tried a couple of moves but could not squeeze past. It was clear at this stage it was going to be a sprint to the line, so I started to get into the right gear and once I got into the field I moved to the outside and pushed towards the line, and managed to get in ahead of Mark by half a wheel I'd say. I almost took down the IMBRC gantry but that was a chance I was willing to take! As it turned out Mark had a mechanical and was stuck in the granny ring for most of the last lap, so it was not such a glorious victory after all :)

After a bit of confusion it turned out that I'd came 4th in the race, which was surprising as I did think there were a few more riders ahead. I was nice to get a decent result finally (think it equals my best ever XC race finish) but there were plenty of better riders not out racing on the day and some of the guys who were out seemed to be not firing on all cylinders. But all you can do is race who's around you.

I felt pretty good through out the race. I was worried about not getting enough fluid and energy during the race, but I kept downing a high5 gel in per lap and drinking as much fluid as possible, so no cramping for any of the race which was great.

My new bike - KTM Prestige XTR-2 is just a dream machine - simple as. Without doubt the best bike I've ever ridden.
Its super light (weighs less than the road bike I do the occasional race on!), the DT Swiss XRC100 carbon fork is amazing - very plush straight out of the box and very bling :) and the Tricon wheels are both super light and easy to get a tubless tyre onto (a regular bugbear of mine). Finished off with the 2X10 XTR drive train, its the XC hardtail race bike.

Again, IMBRC did an awesome job running another cracking race and its great to see all the other competitors on the day feeling the same way. Also big thanks to Aine for bottling duties and photography and too all the other photographers out on the day. Looking forward to seeing the video!

Next up is the National Champs in Killruddery. Should be an interesting one, but I'm not expecting much results-wise. But like the Slade race I will give it 100% on the day and see where that gets me.

NPS Round 7 - Strava data

2011-06-27T16:29:00.004+01:00

Report coming soon.

National champs 2011 preview Vid

2011-06-27T10:41:00.000+01:00

That time of year again....

Kilruddery XC 2011 from StuArt galloway on Vimeo.

Where the magic happens....

2011-06-22T13:12:00.001+01:00

Video: Chain Reaction Cycles â€“ how do they do it? from chainreactioncycles on Vimeo.

Strava update

2011-06-16T17:47:00.001+01:00

How the Pro's train

2011-06-16T15:58:00.000+01:00

Interesting little vid about training...

Untitled from XCRacer.com on Vimeo.

NPS Round 5 - Lady Dixon Park

2011-06-05T15:46:00.004+01:00

Back up north again, this time to Belfast and Lady Dixon park. I really enjoyed this race last year. The course was a mix of singletrack and park land with nowhere to rest up. More of the same this year with a little more single track and parkland and definitely nowhere to catch your breath.

We arrived to a breezy but sunny park about 90 mins before the start of the race. After getting signed up we headed out for a pre-lap. there was the same start/finish straight with a sharp right and left into the singletrack. Then you gradually worked your way down through the forest on a twisty trail. You popped out into open parkland for a full on blast for a few minutes before diving back onto the trail which descended first and after a sharp left on a bridge you had a nice little climb. It was a little dryer than last year so no fear of pushing this time - or cycling into any trees :)

The singletrack continued on into a tricky benchcut section which had a couple of trick blind turns which tightened up so if you hit them with too much speed you were over the edge losing time. after that section you had a super swoopy descent out into the park before gradually working your way back up to the start/finish via some kickers and short descents. All-in-all I really enjoyed the course and the little changes from last year were an improvement.

The start of the race was delayed due to an accident on the course, so there was plenty of time for a good warm-up. About 30 minutes after the scheduled start we were called up for gridding. I was surprised to be called up on the 3rd row (which was essentially the 2nd last row). The race started and a savage sprint for the singletrack. I was second last leaving the start line, but made up a good few places on the left turn into the singletrack by staying out wide. After that it was just sitting in on the train through the singletrack. Everything was going fine until near the end of the second section of trail. There was a switchback which turned into a very steep kicker. I was still in the big ring and in a desperate attempt to drop to the middle ring and also down the gears I managed to drop the chain. There was no way to fix it and get back on the bike there, so that meant a run up to the top of the hill. By the time I was back on the bike I was paddy last with some of the S2's coming up fast. It was very frustrating, but no one to blame but myself.

But I was not going to give up and raced balls out for the next 2.5 laps. I made up a good few places and came up to about 12th place on lap 3. However, coming into the benchcut sections I was so eager to get past a slower rider I took pretty much all the corners too fast, ended up off the trail more than on it and ended up losing more time than I gained by passed her. By the time I got to the last lap I was out of steam and Mark McGauley passed by me. I was catching Rob Tobin, but I ran out of laps and ended up in 14th place.

Looking back on the race I only the 2 mistakes I mentioned above, but they cost me 4 places. Based on the last few races 8th, 9th, 10th is around about where I should be finishing if I make no mistakes. But thats not happened yet and in S1 any mistakes will cost you positions, much more so than last year in Masters. Still, despite that I really enjoyed the race and again had plenty of close tussles all the way through.

Now with the cancellation of round 6, we've only IMBRC's race in Slade left. I'm really looking forward to that race. The course is going to be a little different to last years, with some cracking new features thrown in to mix things up a little :)

More pics from Joanna M (Picasa) here

Strava

2011-05-27T20:40:00.004+01:00

I've been trying out Strava for a couple of weeks now and I like! Ryan Sherlock has been using this for a while now and its huge in the US. While mainly a roadie website, but nothing to stop it being used off road too.

The idea behind it is simple - you upload your Garmin spin data (or a .gps file creating using an Android/iPhone App) and it does the usual stuff (displays route on google maps and usual data on distance metres climbed etc). But what makes it interesting is that you can create segments, which are basically sections of the route which you or other users have designated. So Strava will give you a time (and power data based on physics calculations) for that segment.

The fun bit is when someone else cycles along that segment on their spin and they upload the GPS data, Strava sees this and then figures out who was fastest on that section. This adds a bit more interest to the spins as you can target a route and look to post the fastest time up it.

This is an example of a segment that myself and Sean are duking it out on.. http://app.strava.com/segments/655133

Updates

2011-05-27T20:05:00.002+01:00

Yeah, its been a while Srivo...

Since Davagh forest I've been doing a few bits and pieces. The familiar 'work' and 'home' interruptions have been playing havoc with training and just about everything else. But here's where its at:

IMBRC Club League
The league kicked of again last month up in Slade. I did a few races last year, but this time I wanted to take it a bit more seriously as its great training for races, plus its all done in 35 mins. The first race up there was a bit of a disaster. Well, I was happy with the laps, but as I was entering the final section of singletrack I came unstuck from the bike and landed head first into the group. Can't say exactly how it happen as it was so quick - one second I was hammering down the trail, and the next I was picking myself up off the ground. In the process I cracked my helmet and had a killer headache for about 3 days, but I also manage to feck up a rib. Just bruising I think but hurt a lot for about a week. The following couple of races up there went a lot smoother and were great craic. Missed this week, but plan on getting back out next Tuesday.

New 3Rock trails race

Now this looked like it could have been fun. To coincide with the opening of the new trails, Niall Davis had organised a race using the trails and fireroad. Fairly straightforward route - up the tarmac road, around the aerials and onto the new trails, then back up the fireroad to the aerials and down the new 2nd section of singletrack. Nice and simple. Lots of strong riders were out so it was going to be a hard race, but a good challenge. Very soon after the race started the field began to spread out and by the time we reached the first trail there were just 5 riders in the first group... and I was the 5th! I figured if I managed to keep it together I could get a good result here. Well, that was the plan, unfortunately as I was about halfway down the first section of singletrack I clipped a rock and ripped my front tyre to the extent that the the sealant could not do its job. Needless to say I was raging and had plenty of time to wonder 'what if..' on the long walk back to the start line.

Ticknock Trail Opening from Morgan O'Connell on Vimeo.

NPS Round 4

Another NPS, another trip up north. This time to Tollymore. A lovely part of the world and my first time up there. The course was great - plenty of tricky singletrack - made all the more tricky due to a good soaking in the week leading up to the race. There was a couple of small climbs but nothing too hectic. The race started and I was quickly dropped down to the back. But started to make up time in the single track pretty fast. The biggest problem was trying to pass guys and make it stick. The first lap and a half was hard work doing that, but on the drop I made a mistake and 4 or 5 of the guys I had passed cruised by me, which was very frustrating and I ended up back at square 1 again.

me not crashing (Photo: Mike Armstrong)

The rest of the race was spent attempting to pass these guys again. There was some close racing and it was good craic, but finishing 15th was very dissapointing. To be honest, I think the best I could have done there was 10th, but that would have required me having a race with no mistakes... something thats not happened yet!

NPS Round 3 - Davagh Forest

2011-05-02T16:43:00.004+01:00

Another 5 hour round trip to a race... but this time it was well worth it.

For round 3 we headed to Tyrone and Davagh Forest. It was my first time in that neck of the woods and I was mighty impressed with the scenery. Myself and Stuart left at 9 and pulled in about 11:30 - perfect to get signed on, setup and on the trail. I got back into my normal routine of showing up when the car-parks were already full so down the road a bit, shoved the Primera into a ditch and got unpacked.

I was cautiously optimistic when I saw a catering van in the car-park and when we got down tot he main start/finish I was well impressed as Carn Wheelers had laid on bouncy castles, and a couple of marquees with other bits and pieces. I got signed on with no hassles and picked up by chip before heading off pre-lap. The course was amazing. Lots of variation with single track, double track, rooty forest bits, narrow bridges and some kicker climbs thrown in too. The most fun was in the final kilometer where there was a narrow sandy sweepy trail that brought you back down to the river. It was a cracking course and poles apart from the last race in the Nagles.

For a change I started warming up 30 mins before the official start of the race. Its one thing I never do right and wanted to be ready to go from the whistle. Unfortunately the race start was held up for about 20 mins but I kept cycling about to keep warm.

I messed up the start line. I should have went to the front and then let the gridding happen, but I ended up down the back on the inside. This was a problem as shortly after the start there was a left turn onto a narrow bridge. So the whistle went and sure enough I ended up paddy last just after the bridge. We started climbing and I got myself back into the group. I was keen to push up further before the single track but the road was so narrow there was no chance. We took a left into the single track and again had to wait while everyone streamed in. Another lesson learnt - get into the singletrack first!

We came around for the first lap proper and I was already 30 seconds down on the leaders. Then I made my second and last mistake of the day. Coming over the finish line there was a sharp right turn up into a singletrack climb. As I came up to it I thought it could be cut and there was a chance to make up a few places. However when I got over the bank it dropped down into a ditch and I was stuck. Off the bike and running up the hill I was wondering how I get myself into this situations. Anyway, I was on a mission then and powered my way up the first section and managed to pass 3 or 4 of the S1 riders. Then it was full blast into the first lap proper. Until I got to the second section of single track where I was held up a bit by slower riders.

(Pic: Mike Armstrong)

We exited the trail onto a long section of fireroad and I got a 1 or 2 more riders there. On the start of the 2nd lap I managed to pass Vinny and Dave from Team WORC and also passed James McCluskey (who shortly afterwards realised he was in a race :) and ended up in 4th place). I was feeling great during the mid-race and pushed on. I passed Ciaran from our club also but he looked like he was having back problems. Things were going fine until the start of the last lap, I was happy enough the way things were going on the 4th lap and slowed up a little (or so I felt). But when I looked back on the start of the last lap I saw riders coming up to me. First I thought I was being lapped but as they got closer it turned out to be Ciaran, Vinny and Dave! They had paced their way around the previous lap and were closing in on me. The 3 passed me about half way through the lap and all of a sudden the legs felt dead. But instead of trying to go balls out to get on their wheel I just upped the speed slightly and slowly worked my back.

In the last Kilometer Ciaran and Dave were out of sight, but Vinny was close, so I pushed hard enough to force him to up his pace, and as we came into the singletrack before the bridge Dave was also in sight. As he crossed the bridge he hit a wet patch and the bike went from under him. Vinny and I got by and I monstered the bike up the kickers onto the final piece of single track before the finish line, even managing to get into the biggest gear to see if I could make the last place up. Unfortunately it didn't happen and I came in 3 seconds behind Vinny.

Despite coming 9th out of 14 finishers I was happy - mainly cos' I managed to finish a race! But also that I got some close racing too. There was only 30ish seconds between me and 6th place and a podium was only 2.5 minutes away, so very happy with how it went and looking forward to the next race.

The KTM Myroon was running perfect today also. I've almost got the setup finished, just one more tweak and I'm happy. But I'm especially happy with the SID XX fork. I was never a huge fan of Rock shox forks, but once I got the SID dialed in I've found it amazing. The lockout was pretty handy too on the less technical sections.

NPS Rounds 1 and 2

2011-04-18T16:34:00.005+01:00

NPS Round 1 - Belurgan

I did not want to be at this race. I picked up my new bike and goodies on the Tuesday but with work and other stuff only managed a cycle out on green in font of my house before the race day. On top of that I felt tired and run down and SLOW. I'd not managed to get out to do proper high intensity training and while I felt like I could get around the 5 laps at a steady pace, I'd not be setting any land speed records. All these things were weighing on me as I headed up with Gene and I was probably doomed from the start.

We arrived up and after getting signed on did a lap of the course. It was mostly the same single track that was used in the Bull Raid, but with a load of work done to weather-proof them and fair play to the Cuchulainn lads for the huge effort put in. There were some technical pieces added - the big ones being the drop which I did not manage to try before the race and the gap jump. Given my state neither were very appealing to me and I planned to avoid at any opportunity. Yeah, I know, I'm supposed to be a mountain biker, and the drop was handy but without trying them first I did not fancy my chances.

The race started with a long section in the field which allowed for the S1 group to break up before hitting the singletrack climb. Again I did got get a proper warm up in and once the race started I was struggling to keep up. I got into the singletrack and things settled down. I started to increase the pace and began to catch up with some of the S1 riders, however not taking the drops/jump lost me huge amounts of time and I struggled to catch up. This was really annoying me and took the fun out of the race totally.

After the first lap I felt warmed up properly and got into a good rhythm on the singletrack, however I slapped a tree stump with the front wheel which forced it one way and the bar another and that was the final straw for me. I'd not even managed to check all the bolts were tightened enough! I re-aligned everything as best I could and tootled off back to the start/finish area for a DNF. Now if I had the race head on I'd have just got back, grabbed an allen key and did a quick tightening up of everything before heading out and finishing the race, but I just needed any excuse to throw in the towel - the shame!

There is really not much to be said after that. It was a terrible race for me - mainly because of the attitude I had going into it and the lack of time I put into getting me and the bike setup. Only myself to blame, I made a conscious effort to get more hard riding in (on and off road) and get the bike fully prepped to for the next race.

NPS Round 2 - The Nagles

I seriously considered not doing this race as I had just traveled back from a Mayo after a weeks holidays and a 2.5 hour drive to Cork was not appealing. But I decided to go as wanted to get a to finish a race.... full stop - I did not care where I came, I just wanted to finish! There were various threads on MTB forums discussing the quality of the course and it sounded a bit extreme for XC. I was having a few problems getting my tyres setup for tubeless and in the end stuck a trusty Crossmark on the front. I had considered sticking one on the back also, but it was getting late on Saturday night and I needed sleep so decided to take a chance on it....

So Gene and I packed up and headed off at 9am down to Fermoy. We did'nt get lost and also managed to get the last parking spot close to the sign-in area so I thought things were on the up.

That was until we got on the course. The layout was a bit nutty with the start line down near the car park (OK), the finish line further up (fair enough), but the technical zone another 5 min cycle down a fireroad, which did not make sense to me. The loop itself was just a couple of fireroads linked together with rocky fireroads and a little bit of rocky singletrack.

The location of the technical zone messed me up a bit on the warm up as by the time I got back to the start line from dropping the bottles up they were calling us for the start! I was on the second row and once the whistle went I once again struggled to get up to speed due to the lack of a warm up, but despite this I managed to get into 5th or so before the left turn and up the hill. A few more guys passed me and actually got a little held up for the second half of the climb but I just wanted to get the first lap done without losing too much time so did not want to get off the decent line.

Things went OK for the first lap, but the final descent was nuts - you needed a long travel bike to go down it at any speed, and I was dreading the thoughts of doing that 4 more times. Oscar, who races S2 passed me on the descent, so I was not sure if he put in a savage fast lap or I was pig slow. Anyway, I was not too pushed as finishing the race was the plan.

I caught up with Oscar pretty quickly and half way up the first climb I spotted 2 WORC riders about 30 meters ahead. Now with my traditional first lap warm up out of the way I was feeling pretty damn good and put in an effort to bridge across to them before the Kern and first descent. Just as they were dropping down I tagged on and managed to hold the wheel on the descent so I knew it was only a matter of time before I passed them and worked my way onto the next rider. Well, that would have been the plan had I not punctured. I pulled the bike off the course and gave the rear a blast of air. It seemed to take so happy days. I set off like a man possessed... That got me about another 300 meters when I felt the rim hitting the rocks again. I got off again and upon closer inspection I had a nasty cut in the side wall, so race over. Needless to say I was beginning to regret not sticking on the other Crossmark...

Max also punctured at the same location and we started back in the rough direction of the start finish line. Along the way we collected Richie Felle and a Racing 795 rider. A friendly Marshall eventually found a more direct trail for us to get back to the start line (which by the way would have been a much better route for the race loop!!!)

I was disappointed that I did not finish the race as I was feeling better than I did in Belurgan (legs and head!) Can't totally blame MBCC - I'm sure if I put the Crossmark on the rear I'd have made it around and had a (semi) decent finish - mainly down to the DNF's :) . It was more annoying in terms of the cost of getting down to Cork, having to get new tyres and a whole day away from the family for 30 minutes of racing, but its done now.

Its another long haul for the next race, but I'm going to head up. It'll be a hard couple of weeks on the bikes but I know if I get to a finish line I'd expect it to be in the top 10.

Race 2011 - starts now!

2011-03-16T17:05:00.011Z

Right, first real race of 2011 is this weekend. So, whats the story?

Well, the first this is I'll be riding for Team Cycle Inn / KTM in 2011. This team is Rob Tobin's and Mick Jordan's baby and I was delighted to be asked to join them. Super savages Oisin Boydell and Kevin Stanley will also be in the team colours. We will be riding KTM Myroon Prime X0's for the first half of the race season and then switching to the Myroon Prestige XTR-2's. Unfortunately for tomorrows first race I'll be on the trusty (and rusty and heavy!) old Cube Reaction as the X0 is on a container ship in the North Sea still. Should have it early next week tho - can't wait!

The Prime X0

The Prestige XTR2

On top of KTM, we have lots of other sponsors on board:

Catlike will be providing our Helmets and shades...
Continental will be providing now prototype Speedking tyres
High5 will be fueling us for the races
And after a mucky race day Piranha bike products will be used to clean up our bikes!

I'm really looking forward to racing with these bikes and products and hope I can do them justice!

And on that note, I've been training quite a bit, but over the past couple of weeks I've been feeling a little run down. Its been busy in work and I've a very active 18 month son who is intent on heading off down the road at any opportunity! So I've laid off the planned training and just been out enjoying biking on the road and off. Its not ideal preparation for race season, but my goals for the year are after June so I'm happy to use the NPS as training.

So what are the goals?

NPS - no goals here at all as I'll be racing the countries top riders and I ain't :). I guess I'll be using it as training and having a bit of craic.

I'd like to podium in the NPS champs. I got lucky last year getting 4th, so in some ways that result would be great again. Short course mountain bike racing is not my forte :)

Bontrager 24/12... myself and Oisin are doing the 12 hour pairs again and it would be amazing to go one better than last year and win it!

The Bull Raid, I won't be defending the 12 hour solo race title as me and Oisin will be racing the pairs. It'll be a tough one, but I'm hoping for the best here.

The Cooley Thriller - gutted I had the mechanical last year. This year I'll be racing it in S1 category (most likely) so a top 5(ish) would be nice.

The Marathon Champs - I'd be lying if I said I did not want to win this one again :)

There will be a few marathon races I'm still thinking of doing in the UK also, but I will see how I'm fixed time and funds wise. There's a couple of multi-stage mountain bike races in Ireland also this year I'm thinking about. Plus I'll stick in the very odd road race also if I get a chance.

So thats it - bring it on!!!

Road races

2011-03-14T13:41:00.016Z

As with last year, I've been trying to squeeze in a few road races before the Mountain biking takes over. This year I did the Cycleways Cup in Navan and the Newbridge GP.

Its good to do a few races where results are not that important as it gives you an opportunity to just get your head in race mode, its obviously also good for getting some seriously hard intervals in if you feel like it.

So we hit the road, got lost and eventually found Navan Rugby Club. I signed up for A3 and got myself changed and a final checkover of my bike (Giant TCR Alliance). The bike is nothing special, but I upgraded the wheels to Braccianos Pro-Lites this year and stuck on some Continental GP 4000 tyres (also a 2011 sponsor... more on that later).

It was a cold starting off with a little rain. The road to the loop was wide and rolling so it was a good time to get reacquainted with cycling in a large bunch. Once we got onto the loop and on the first climb Darragh Mortimer broke away. As usual I was struggling to stay close to the front but once I saw Morty so I decided it was a good time to see how I felt at maximum effort. 4 minutes later I eventually caught up with Morty, but I was in no shape to work with him to continue with the break, so just waited for the group to pick me up.

I hid in the group to recover for an hour or so when Darragh came up beside me and said another break was going to form in about 10 minutes! Sure enough I started to see a few riders stream off the front of the group on a slight climb, so I decided to have another go, as the alternative would be to just sit in the group to the finish. Soon enough we had 6 riders clear of the main group and it was looking good initially with everyone pushing on. We were away for about 20 minutes before it began to fall apart as a couple of guys did not come through for their turn on the front. After that the rest of the guys just sat up and the main group came back to us quite quickly.

And that was the race for me. I just rolled on to the finish, keeping clear of the bunch sprint. I was happy with the effort I put in, but would like to actually win a race!

The following week things got messy. I was very busy in work and also felt a little run down. It pretty much scuppered any training plans I had and I fancied the idea of a rest anyway. But things played out and I ended up doing the Newbridge GP (grudgingly). I got to the signon and it was bloody freezing with cold rain blowing in. I did not fancy the idea of racing in that weather at all and almost got back into the car to go home. I tried to warm up, but just got colder! So back into the car and I waited until we were called to the race.

It was a big A3 race - about 150 riders. I headed off in the middle of the group. It was 4 laps of a lumpy course which I like. The pace was very fast on the flat and I struggled to hold onto the last wheel of the group, but once we got to the climbs I managed to work my way up to the front. After 2 laps I felt a little better and on the second climb I went to the front to push the pace on, then I fell back into the group on the flat again. On the last lap I pushed to the front again on the last climb (with about 2km to go), but my descending leaves a lot to be desired and I was passed by a lot of riders who then dropped the pace and spread across the road getting ready for the brunch sprint, so race over for me. I was happy again with how I climbed and felt good after the big efforts I put in, despite the drop off in training.

No more road races planned, but if I've a quite weekend with no mountain biking I'll be out again, it is good fun and with no pressure, you can just head out and give it socks without worrying about the consequences. But it ain't mountain biking :)

Almost race season!

2011-02-27T09:30:00.002Z

So on top of the NPS and national champs, the plan this year is:

Road races - 2 in March planned. The Dublin wheelers race in Dunboyne and the Newbridge GP. The plan is to try to keep up with the A3's. Will try to get 1 road race a month in if I can.
The Bull Raid - going to do the 12 hour pairs with Oisin this year
Bontrager 24/12 - to be confirmed, but the plan is to race the 12 hour pairs with Oisin.
Also looking at a couple of 100km marathon races in the UK during the summer for the craic, but will play those by ear.
There are also a couple of multi-stage mountain bike races I might attend also, but will see how that goes

I'm training!

2011-02-11T13:33:00.011Z

Yes! Getting back into it now. Most of January was spent on the road bike just getting back the fitness I lost between October and December. I didn't even do the work commute during that time so the base miles had to be put in. I was happy with the amount of effort put in during January - it was the most I've ever put in at the start of a year and almost a record in terms of KM's traveled and hours in the saddle, so that's good. Mind you, all of it was slow and steady.

Then I went to the Biking Blitz last weekend... which was a painful reminder of (a) the anaerobic effort required for Xc racing and (b) technical skills needed (not that I ever had much on that front, but over 4 months off the mountain bike had them in a pretty shocking state).

I was late arriving and after a bit of pleading with the person at the registration tent, I got my number and legged it up to the start line. I got to near the front of of the starting grid, but I was sitting there wet and cold with no warm up. At that point I decided the first few Km's would be my warm up and go from there afterwards. The race started at 12 and a few of the savage boys pegged off up the hill. I tried keeping up, but at the same not trying to kill myself. Eventually I caught up with the lads on the climb and got ahead before the final piece of climbing singletrack. Things went pair shaped after that on the techie singletrack where I struggled to get any flow going at all. Oisin and Simon just cruised up behind me and passed, either on the singletrack or the next section of fireroad. After that I just did the best I could and finished the race about 12th. I was happy with that considering the lack of mountain biking I've been doing and no having any warm up. I went out and did another lap straight after and planned to do a final one, but the weather was so bad, I called it a day and went home.

Since then I've been doing some shorter road spins and some easy intervals - will start doing the hard ones next month. I've also to sort out a race bike for this year... but thats in hand and I'll have more info on it next week :)

The off season

2010-12-09T17:06:00.006Z

Right, to summarise in 2 words what I've been doing for the past 3 months... bugger all.

Well, I've been doing a few bits.

After the marathon champs, I pretty much stopped mountain biking and road cycling with the exception of commuting to work. I did not have much time on my hands with work and the little guy and after a busy end to the season I did not fancy doing much.

I did over do the cycling to work however, and ended up getting a bit run down. A trip to the doctor confirmed this and a course of iron and plenty of rest for a couple of weeks sorted me out.

Next came cyclocross in October. I did a few of the training session organised by Team WORC and really enjoyed it. Initially it was a case of swapping tyres on the Kinesis for the training, but once I decided to do a few races I bought a cheapo set of wheels for the road and used the old set for CX. I raced in the Tymon park and Corcaigh Park Supercup races and found them shockingly tough, but seriously fun. You were always chasing or being chased and it was all over in an hour - perfect. There were not many races in the Dublin area this year, but judging by the number of competitors out, there will be plenty for next season. And it gives me time to upgrade the Kinesis groupset and brakes :)

I then decided to sell the Pronghorn. Its a class bike - and it will be hard get a better XC race bike, but I'm working on something for next year so hopefully I won't regret getting rid of it!

Then the big freeze kicked in. So that meant no biking of any kind. I had been thinking about what to do training-wise this winter and one thing that came to mind was core training. Its something that I have never thought much about, but its seemingly pretty important. So, flush with cash from the Pronghorn sale I got a good deal in a local gym and signed up for some core classes. They mainly consist of planks, light(ish) weights, and press ups - plenty of those! I don't think it'll do me any harm, so its worth trying out.

But its no substitute for biking - on or off road. So Thats what I need to start doing. Today (Sat 8th) was to be the first day of training, but snow, ice and rain put me off, so todays my rest day :), will defo head out tomorrow...

I'm selling something

2010-11-23T13:00:00.007Z

[EDIT] Its sold! Sob :(

Know to figure out what do ride next year...

********

For sale - 2010 PRONGHORN PH1

I’m selling my 2010 PRONGHORN PH1.

This bike has ONLY been used in 2010 NPS races, national champs, and 2 endurance races. Its in excellent condition

The bike has roughly 300km on it so its in perfect condition, just about ridden in! There are 2 of these bikes in the country and this year between them they won: The Masters NPS series, The Cooley Thriller, The Bull raid 12 hour solo, The Marathon XC Champs (Masters), 3rd and 4th place National XC champs. They also grabbed 2nd place at the Bontrager 24/12 race in the UK!

The setup is as follows:
Size Medium
FULL 2010 XTR GROUPSET
MAGURA DURIN 80MM FORK
PRONGHORN SEATPOST, RISER BAR AND STEM (bike will come with flat bar also)
SELLE ITALIA SADDLE
PRONGHORN 1490 GRAM WHEELS

€2200 ONO

More info on the Pronghorn brand can be found here http://www.pronghornracing.dk/

Reviews of Bikes here - http://www.pronghornracing.dk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=10&Itemid=2

Drop me an email/tweet for more info

2010 Marathon Champs... The Movie!

2010-10-07T08:05:00.004+01:00

Marathon Champs 2010 Report

2010-09-28T21:36:00.019+01:00

The 2010 Irish Cross Country Marathon Championship was hosted by MBCC and was run over and around the Ballyhoura trail center on the Limerick/Cork Border.

I wanted to give this and the Cooley Thriller a really good go as it was the last 2 races of the season and I wanted to end it on a high. Unfortunately mechanicals put a stop to my gallop fairly early in Carlingford and the build up plans for the Champs were not going as I wanted either. A combination of bad weather (yeah I know), and being busy had reduced by training plans down to bare minimum, so I was not particularly confident going into the race.

We got down to the venue for 10:30 and after a bit of messing around found some decent parking. With the race starting at 11:30 there was not a lot of time to do anything other than get signed up and changed. The first climb would do as my warm up. So we all started gathering oat the start line. It was going to be gridded by category but it was to be a mass start. And considering in the first 4 km's we were climbing 250 meters, no one was worrying about being caught behind slower riders.

Myself and Oisin were chatting at the start and once the flag was dropped we were up the hill attempting to pass as many riders in front as possible and as the kilometers rolled by the fire-road began to empty of riders until all I could see nearby were Oisin, James McCluskey, Mick Jordan (Vet), Evan Ryan and Ryan Sherlock (both elites). There was also another guy I didn't recognise, but looked like he meant business - more about him later. It took me 15 minutes to reach the top of the first climb and I felt pretty good - even managing to catch Evan and get ahead of him for a short while.

However before the first feed station, Evan had pulled away slightly and James passed me and was just up the road, with Oisin just a little ways back. I tried to keep the James in sight while trying to take a decent drink. The plan was to stop at the feed station, but James didn't so I thought better of it as I still had enough in my bottle to get me to the next station at 26km. We dropped straight into the Singletrack section and I tried to keep James within sight. Oisin who would be much better at getting a good steady flow on the trails, got past me and pulled out a gap. Luckily for me, it seemed that at the end of every singletrack or techie section was a fireroad climb, so anything that the guys gained I could claw back.

A similar pattern followed for the next couple of hours, the guys would pull an advantage on the techie stuff and I'd get it back on the climbs. I pushed as hard as I could on the descents, but you needed your wits about you as they quickly went from being ridable double track to a strip of clay 6 inches wide with gulley's either side. There were also huge (and I mean huge) ponds of water to contend with. In fairness to the organsiers, they were marked well for the most part and you knew which was the shallow end! I did have problems with the mud/bog holes - one in particular on a corner which I went around the outside of only to find the front wheel sinking up to the axle!

Things went bad for me on one rocky climb. Very silly mistake had me over the bars and face planting the rocks. I damaged my finger which started to swell up straight away, but I also got some serious road rash on my left shin. It was the worst pain I've ever felt. I was convinced I smashed it to bits. Pretty sure I shed a tear in pain at that point and not to proud to say it either! I managed to pick myself up and hobble up to the end of the rocky section. Blood was starting to drip from my leg at this stage. My head dropped and was I was not sure about what to do - leg hurt, finger hurt, face hurt, halfway through a marathon race and I had no idea where I was. So after a minute or so I just got on the bike and tried to pedal. It hurt a lot at first, but the course flattened out slightly and each pedal stroke was a little less painful.

As we began climbing up again I could see a number of riders ahead of me working their way up the hill. As I got closer I could see another bunch stopped at the top and pointing in different directions, chatting away. Not normal behaviour in a bike race :) When I got to the top there was Ryan, Evan, James, Oisin, and a number of other riders. Turns out the course was not marked 100% correct and we had reached a dead end. The only solution was to going back down the hill to a turn which was marked off by ribbon. So we all went back down the hill and broke the tape blocking the correct route. A marshal confirmed that we were right and apologised. This detour added about 1.5 to 2km's onto our race and I think it was a good thing to happen for me as it totally took my mind off the pain in my leg.

So we were off again, descending at high speed, dropping in and out of singletrack and up climbing fireroads. I kept drinking and had a few gels and a bar (took ages to chew the bar but was a nice treat to have!) and felt pretty ok apart from on the kicker climbs which did take a bit out of me. At this stage of the race we had about 15 km's to go. Oisin, James and I were all together again and coming up on the last feed station. I went to get a bottle as muscles were starting to tighten up so cramp was not that far away. James did also, but Oisin kept going. James grabbed his bottle and chased after him. I just rolled up as I was sure there would be a hill soon enough to catch them on. There was sharp left turn shortly after which led onto a rough techie climb. I caught up with the lads fairly easily, so was beginning to thing they might be in a spot of bother (finally!). We rolled out onto a flat fireroad section and I decided to push things on a bit. Based on the distance traveled to that point I figured we had about 14km's to go with at least 3 of that downhill. So with some very fuzzy thinking and logical applied I picked up the pace a bit, passing James first and then Oisin. I had a quick chat with him and it turned out he was cooked.

We hung a left and onto the final climb of the day. I could hear a bike right behind me so kept increasing the pace gradually - there was no way I was going to jump out of the saddle and sprinting at this stage, would have ended up cramping my entire body! A few minutes later all I could hear was my bike and my heavy breathing, but I kept the pace up as it was all or nothing at that stage.

I got to the top of the climb and was directed down the singletrack. I thought I was only a kilometer from the finish line, but it ended up being closer to 3. I kept pushing it on the descent but did not enjoy it that much as I was hurting at that stage and I was also starting to think about the fella I saw at the start and who had been up front for most of the race. I began to think he was a master and I was just racing for 2nd place. So by the time I got to the finished I had resigned myself to that and was happy to settle for the podium. As it turned out he was a master, but was racing under a day license. It was afterwards I found out it was Anthony White, a top UK endurance rider. He came in 3 minutes ahead of me so I was quite chuffed with that.

So, in total I covered 64km's, had an average HR of 153 with a MAX of 167.

So, once it was confirmed that Anthony was not eligible for the title it was relief for me and I could relax finally. We had 2 podium appearances - one for the overall race and one for the national champs. So that meant a 1-2 for MAD in the masters champs with Oisin coming in a few minutes behind me. James DNF'd - I'm not sure why as he seem to be ok spinning back when I left him, and seemed fine when he rolled in.

To be honest the whole thing was a bit of a surprise - not just winning on the day but coming from starting mountain biking 4 years ago, or from 2 years ago when I started to take it seriously and train properly (well, when training could be fitted in) - its just been an interesting journey. And just in case I don't get me anymore of those national champ jerseys, this one is being mounted along with the medal!

Course profile for Marathon champs

2010-09-21T10:05:00.002+01:00

http://www.mbcc.ie/marathonchamps/index_files/champs_route_profile.jpg

Just up and down! No flat bits! Its a lot of climbing in 60km's - bring on the pain!

Updates

2010-09-18T20:21:00.003+01:00

I've not managed to do much since the Cooley Thriller apart from the race in Mondello park. I came down with a head cold shortly after, so that along with my dodgy knee kept me off the bike for another week.

Last Saturday I thought I was on the mend so went off on a 70km south through Kildare along some rolling hills. It took a lot out of me but felt I could do a long one the following day. So I got myself together and headed off with a plan to do my usual 120km by Enniskerry, Djouce, Luggla, Sally Gap, Wicklow Gap, Hollywood. However when I got up that morning I knew it was not a runner - felt totally exhausted. So Another easy spin around the lake and a new plan which consisted of gradually getting back onto the bike.

So this week I did the commute to work again. Monday was disaster, got caught in the mother of all downpours and to make matters worse I punctured.

Tuesday I decided to head over to Robin Seymour's Cross training session in Ballycullen. I'd never ridden the Kinesis off road before and was not sure what to expect. There were plenty of people out and it was good craic. It's a lot more intense than I was expecting. Probably down to full on speed, jumping off, running up a hill carrying a bike and hopping back on and up to full speed again. I did enjoy it and will try to keep making the training and will defo do a couple of the races for the craic. I will need to get a 42 ring for the bike and a cheap set of wheels so I can keep using the bike for commuting.

I kept on cycling to work for the rest of the week, and on Friday morning I got up early for the big spin into work via the Sally Gap. It was a hard climb from Kippure House to the Gap. pretty cold and foggy, but the sunrise over the hills made it all the worth while.

Today I just took it easy and spent some time with the family... but also managed to replace the drivetrain and bottom bracket on the Giant. Tomorrow will be big spin day, then commute to work Monday, cross on Tuesday and maybe one more spin into work on Wednesday. Then its resting up for the Marathon Nationals. I'm not sure how I'm fixed for them to he honest - the time off was not planned and I think I could have done with another couple of big spins. Plus, by race day it'll have been 4 weeks since I've been on a mountain bike! Thats just the way it is right now though - where I'm based makes mountain biking time consuming and I don't have much of that to spare these days. Anyway, once this race is done, it'll be mtb fun times :)

Almost end of season...

2010-09-04T20:48:00.007+01:00

...but not quite...After the Cooley Thriller the plan was to take a week off and see if the pain behind my right knee cleared up. However while browsing irishcycling.com I saw that Naas CC were hosting an Open race at Mondello Park. It was too much to resist, so Thursday evening myself and Gene cycled out to the race track (its only a 20 minute cycle from the house so it would be a good warm up too). As usual I had not prepared for this like I usually would for an mtb race, but wanted to give it a good lash all the same.

When we arrived there was a good crowd already out on the track warming up, so after signing up we were out on the track. It was great to be out on the race course - nice surface and no oncoming traffic! The track was essentially flat with lots of interesting corners - some hairpins and double apex turns which would make for interesting racing. The race was for 50 minutes plus 3 laps and with the laptime at about 5 minutes it was going to be more like a criterium race.

Pretty much back on planned starting time we were off. There were about 40-odd A4's out with about 7 or 8 guys from Naas CC. I was not too sure how the race would play out - I was maybe expecting a few breaks, so wanted to try stay up the front just in case. However, the Naas CC guys went to the front from the start and kept the pace very high which, on the negative side removed any chance of a break, but on the positive reduced the chances of the A3, A2 and A1 cats catching us.

Despite my best efforts to stay up in the front 7 or 8, I kept finding myself slipping back down all too easily. One of the main reasons was my hopeless cornering. Pretty much from the start I could feel the front of the bike sliding away in the corners due to the speed. This totally freaked me out and I tiptoed in and out of the bends, which would then mean I had to put the hammer down to catch up with the bike in front. And that was pretty much my race in a nutshell - early and excessive braking following up leg burning sprints straight after - the perfect workout!

The 50 minutes went by pretty fast, and it was hard work - for the 67 minutes of racing we averaged 40 kph! My average heart rate was 164bpm, which is 2 bpm lower than my all time high in a race. In the end only 2 riders from the higher cats bridged across and the top 3 were all A4's. We wheeled in with the lead group 10-odd seconds behind the winner.

It was a great evenings racing/workout. Having access to the race track was fun but also added to the race also and I hope the guys will be able to host more open races there next year.

Photos here and here and race finish below

The marathon champs is still 3 weeks away, so now its a case of getting back on the bike after my weeks "holidays". The knee pain is still there, but I'm pretty sure its a minor problem and have had some physio done on it too so I'm happy to start kicking out the watts again :)

The Cooley Thriller XC Marathon 2010

2010-08-29T19:25:00.006+01:00

This will be a short one :)

The Cooley Thriller is an MTB XC marathon race. I entered last year and won the Master category so was really looking forward to getting back up there and having another go this year. The course spanned 52km's across the Cooley Mountains with plenty of climbing thrown in to keep everyone honest. When we arrived the place was buzzing and it looked like a much bigger entry than 2009. The weather was not too bad - blustery and a few showers coming in but nothing too bad. As I was on holiday for the week leading up the normal pre-race preparation was out the window so I was not sure how the race would go.

After registration we got ourselves together and after the pre-race briefing we were escorted out of the sailing club and up through Carlingford village before starting the climb into the forest. There was no official start, but once we hit the wide fireroad the pace went up. Myself and Oisin got a little caught in the narrow lanes, but made up ground quickly - both of us were keen to be as far up front as we could for the first singletrack section.

We made it through easily enough and then hit the road for the climb up the masts. This was aserious climb - 6 or 7 km with the gradient hitting the mid teens on the top sections. Once I figured out the best gear I got into a comfortable rhythm. To be honest I felt crap for most of the climb and it was not until the top did I start to feel properly warmed up and a bit of go in the legs. As we progressed up the hill we began passing riders and close to the top we got a time check of 90 seconds from the leaders which was great to hear. I had no plans on competing against the elite riders, but it was still nice to hear.

Unfortunately that was the highlight of the race for me. Coming down the first descent I took a bad line down a super steep section. I managed to keep it together until close to the bottom but ended up sliding out on the wet grass. It was a nothing accident, but I think it was at that point I managed to break two spokes on the rear wheel. One of them wrapped around the wheel causing the freewheel not to work properly, so basically if I stopped pedaling, I'd get a chain suck type effect and it would lead to the chain dropping up front.

I kept going not realising what the source of the problem was, but on another descent when I did freewheel again, the chain hopped off the chainring and got lodged between the granny ring and the bottom bracket, totally locking the cranks, and in the process twisting the front dérailleur around by about 45 degrees. So I stopped for a bit to pull it out and set off again, but I knew there were big problems. So a little further on I stopped again and fixed the dérailleur. I wanted to quit as this point as I noticed a missing spoke and a buckle in the rear wheel, but I had no idea where the nearest road was! So after about 10 minutes I decided to follow the course and drop out at the nearest road. That turned out to be the Windy Gap - about 3/4's way through the race! But thats what I did and cycled back to the car park on the road.

I'm still gutted about dropping out especially after a good start and feeling good after the first climb, but thats racing. It was the first major problem I've had all year so when you look at it like that I can't really complain. I did some more investigation on the wheel when I got home. On top of the problems mentioned above, the locking nut for the cassette had also come loose with only the quick release keeping everything together! Total disaster really.

But on the plus side it was a great 1-2 for MAD in the masters category with Oisin winning and Mark coming second.

The Cuchlainn lads put on a great show again and I plan to get back up next year to try again.

There's a whole month before the next (and final) race of the season - the XC Marathon champs. So my plan is to take a week totally off all bikes and try to sort out my knee thats been acting up a bit since The Bull Raid 12 hour race. Then one last push before cake, beer and social spins!

The Bull Raid

2010-08-20T17:34:00.003+01:00

It took a good week to recover after the twentyfour12, but I was still not feeling super. Did not do too much on the bike – a couple of spins to work, an evening mtb spin and a big road spin at the weekend – but the tank never felt full. But myself and Oisin had planned to compete in the first Irish MTB endurance race – The Bull Raid – hosted by Dundalk cycling club. Unfortunately, Oisin had come down with a cold which left me in a dilemma – try to find a partner to race pairs with, OR try the solo. I had sworn not to do another endurance race again after the twentyfour12, but as the pain receded I began to warm to the idea of doing it solo. So, with very little thinking I decided to go for it.

Preparation did not need to change – I just did very little. Unfortunately I had plans on the Friday night so instead of camping the night before at the site, I decided to head up very early on Saturday morning as the race started at 8am. To be honest I probably got a better nights sleep, even though I was getting up at a ridiculous hour. I had cooked up a mountain of pasta the night before and a quick zap in the microwave I had the perfect pre-race breakfast - well fueled for a good few hours anyway. Car loaded, and I was up the M1, making it to the race venue in Belurgan at about 6:45. I met up with the rest of the guys from MAD and began sorting out our pit area. I also had to re-register as a solo rider with the organisers. There was no time for a pre-ride and the only info I had on the course was from the guys who did the Leinster League race back in Feb, and that was not great. Basically there are serious amount of schlomp on the singletrack. The week leading up to the race was dry enough, but it had rained the night before so I was not too optimistic.

As we got everything organised in the pit, we got the call for the pre-race briefing. All commonsense stuff and straightforward enough – cycle for 12 hours and the person who’s cycled the furthest wins – simples.

The first difference from the twentyfour12 was the running start a la Le Mans.
So we all pushed out bikes halfway down a field, dropped them and walked to the ditch where we waited for the start. Once the bullhorn went we were off, trotting across the field to our bikes (sprinting was not on as all my tools and food would have been fallen out of the pockets and scattered across the course). I hopped on the bike and the race was on. Again, like twentyfour12, I had no plan in terms of pace setting, but thought it would be good to get a couple of fast laps in before settling down to a comfortable pace for the rest of the 12 hours. And that’s what I did, managing to keep with the 2 and 4 man team riders for the first couple of laps before dropping the pace. I had not planned on stopping much either. I was going to stop on every lap to pick up a bottle and around the 4^th and 8^th hours pull in for some food.

The course itself was very impressive. Technical singletrack, tricky drops, tough singletrack climbs with switchbacks, tricky bridges and not much fireroad. Oh and a motocross track thrown in for good measure! The course did start out wet, but within a couple of hours the trails were dry. The land owners did a great job laying hardcore on the wetter areas of the initial singletrack climb, so my concern at the start of the race proved to be unfounded.

To be honest the hours slipped by pretty fast and before I knew it I was in for my ‘lunch’ which Aine got for me (free pasta all day from the organisers). I tried to steer clear of the gel’s and energy drink as much as possible but at about 6 hours in I was running out of steam, so started to take a gel every second lap, and alternate between water and energy drink each lap, with the odd energy bar thrown in. And even tho I was using them sparingly, after a few hours the familiar tummy pains started to kick in.

As far as the race went for most of the it I had no idea where I was. I had a feeling I was up near the front, but after a few pit stops it was hard to tell. Again, team manager Aine came to the rescue and after a chat with the time keepers she had the info I needed to hear – in 1^st place up 1 lap on Paddy, my club mate, who was in turn a lap up on Declan McCabe. At this stage it was 6:30pm and using my feeble maths I came to the conclusion I just needed to do 1 more lap, and I could take it easy doing to too! I was delighted as after 10 odd hours I was hurting. I crossed the finish line 40 minutes before the 12 hours were up and after a quick chat with the race director I handed over my timing chip and made my way back to the pit. I had completed 13 laps. If I had to I think I could have managed 2 more, but there was no point in putting myself through that! I starting feeling pretty sick as I sat down and in general I felt like I was run over by a steam roller. It took a good hour to summon up the strength to stand up again. I managed to pick up my belongings and pack the car before heading up to the BBQ. At this stage I still was not up to eating so got a cup of tea instead! As we sat around the blazing bonfire waiting for the prize giving I started to feel a bit better and managed a burger. Later I felt much better and went to the local chipper for battered fish, half pounder and chips!

The prize giving was great – it was my first time on the top of an actual podium and we go some great prizes too. Unfortunately for me I left my winners jersey and other goodies behind, but did manage to hold onto the cash and trophy!

I went home that night and got to bed pretty late. But I was feeling OK the following morning so decided to do the Kildare 100 – bit silly, but I was at a loose end and had paid up a few weeks earlier… plus there was a t-shirt and burger at the end!

Again, the Pronghorn was perfect. This was a real Irish course, plenty of rocky technical stuff, but the bike did not have a problem - its rider on the other hand had the odd off the bike moment, but for the most part I managed to keep myself attached to the bike.

More info on the race and results on the official site http://twelvehourmountainbikerace.wordpress.com/

And race video:

Bontrager Twentyfour12

2010-08-19T11:37:00.008+01:00

Myself and Oisin had signed up for this earlier on in the year as neither of us had ever tried an enduro event or had raced in the UK. We decided to gradually ease ourselves in and go for the 12 hour race - as opposed to the 24 hour pairs.

But the first job was actually getting to Plymouth. Some of the guys from the club were planning on taking the ferry from Rosslare, but due to time constraints we went for Holyhead and then the M5/M6. In hindsight I think flying might have been a lot easier, as it took us 9 hours from getting off the Ferry to pulling into the camp site, totally shattered. We pitched out tents and had some food/beer before hitting the hay. Unfortunately we were located by the toilets, showers and floodlights so there were generators going like the clappers for most of the night. I probably got 2 or 3 hours sleep. It rained too, which had be worried as I did not fancy having to switch to the Toro in the morning.

We were up early and got signed in - getting our goodie pack also. Then it was lots more food, and preparation. We had not put a huge amount of thought into tactics apart from we would both do a couple of 1 lappers full on and see how things went. Next was the race briefing by the organisers and Keith Bontrager himself. Before we knew it Oisin had to line up for the start. As we had no time to do a pre-ride it was going to be a steady first lap and the see what happens after that. The first lap was a little longer to stretch out the field before the loop began proper. Oisin stayed up the front for the mini loop bit and came through the start/finish proper in a good position. I wandered back to the MAD marquee and sat around for a few minutes before I just decided to go to the transition area and wait for the hand over.

Before I knew it I could see Oisin dropping down the hill overlooking the arena. I got myself together waited for him to come in. After a couple of minutes he came into the transition area and I grabbed the baton (which was a headset spacer on a necklace). I trotted over to my bike and exited transition and off on my first lap. After leaving transition you had a short section in the camping area before crossing a small river via a narrow bridge. It brought you out to a small section of fireroad and through a field. Then a nice little drop, sharp right and onto a disused fireroad which had you climbing for 3 or 4 minutes.

You then hit the first singletrack section proper. It kicked up sharply up to the right and worked its way through a mature forest. Lots of roots and swoopy turns before dropping out and across an embankment which led you onto the only road section. It was a sharp left turn into a climb. Unfortunately, the start of the climb was greasy as you exited the singletrack and I came out a big fast, so as I turned nothing happened and before I knew it I was skidding on the concrete with my calf and finger getting a good old grating. I was not planning on getting road rash at an mtb race, but there you go. I quickly got myself back on the bike and pushed it hard up the hill into the next singletrack section and got back into a good rhythm. The singletrack flowed along and you were never on fireroad for long before you were back on swoopy, technical trails. The variation kept you alert all the time, and there were a few sections which brought you into the camp zone which was great also as you got plenty of cheers along the way.

I got back to the transition area and Oisin was waiting. There was no time to chat – just hand over the baton. We communicated with a notepad back in the marquee and passed on messages via Aine, our team manager/mammy J. I felt good after the first lap, as it was only a 35 minute loop so really was no problem. I stopped into the first aid tent to get my finger cleaned up and then back to the tent. I had some fluid, checked the notepad and before I knew it, it was time to get back to the transition area. Oisin came in and we agreed on doing another 1 lap stint each before switched to 2 lap stints. So after a couple of fast 1 lappers we decided to switch to 2 lap stints. This would allow the other person to have a good rest and get some food in or get bike cleaned up. So Oisin came in and I went out. The first lap was fast, but the second was tougher and I the pace was notably slower. I got back in shattered and had some food. Despite having over an hour to rest up, before I knew it I had to get back to transition for my second 2 lap stint. Same situation again, first lap fast, second lap a lot trickier. But despite the going getting tough meeting and passing people on the course took my mind off things. There were so many racing on the course you would be calling ‘Rider up!’ every few minutes.

By the time I got in after my second 2 lap stint it we were over half way through the 12 hours. And then it started to rain proper. Because it was a warm evening, it was less miserable than you’d think, but an hour after the rain starting the singletrack descents were getting sliddery and one rooty climb was just about rideable. At this point Aine told us we were in 2^nd place which came as a shock to me. I never really set any goals for the race and had been enjoying the race, but now we had something to defend it suddenly got serious!

It started to get tougher once it got dark. The rain had abated, but a freaky fog settled in the forest sections at the highest points of the course. And with lights on full power you could just about see 2 or 3 metres ahead. I guess it added to the challenge but it did not do my nerves any good. After a couple of more laps I was back in transition with the help of Aine trying to figure out where we were and more importantly were the guys in 3^rd place were. We had figured out that the guys were about 20 minutes behind, so 2^nd place looked good. Now the only thing I was worrying about was Oisin coming in before 12am and forcing me to head back out for 1 more lap, which I did not want to have to do! Luckily Oisin arrived at the finish line at 12:05 to my relief and 2^nd place was ours.

Over the course of the race the Pronghorns performed perfectly, they were great on the climbs and had no problems over the technical stuff. And when things got schlompy neither of us had problems with frames getting clogged up with muck or branches etc.

We were both totally exhausted and in the mud and rain we all trudged slowly back to our tents. Unfortunately the majority of the other racers finished at midnight also so there was a huge queue for the showers. So we just decided to dry off as best we could, pull out our celebration beers and get some food. However we were so wrecked we enjoyed neither so tried our best to get some sleep as we had to leave at 9am the following morning to get the ferry. Unfortunately due to the general nature of a camp site and lot of generators around there was very little sleep. So I got up an managed to grab a shower about 5am and found a few people to chat to in the tented area before getting another couple of hours sleep before getting up for breakfast and packing up.

Despite the long distance travelled, lack of sleep and mucky conditions it was a great weekend – not just because of the 2^nd place, but also to be a part of a big enduro event weekend. Ok, next year if we go we’ll be either flying or taking an extra couple of days to make sure we were not under any pressure. Plus, I think the night before the race I’d stay in a B+B to get a decent night’s sleep and then camp the following night.

More info on the race can be found on the official site http://www.twentyfour12.com/

National XC champs 2010

2010-07-27T16:25:00.009+01:00

Epic MTB hosted the 2010 National XC champs in Djouce wood on the 17th July. I had not done much leading up to the race - did a road spin the previous Saturday and a session in Glending on the Wednesday leading up to it - as I was busy in work and at home. I still felt OK leading up to the race. My only concern was the course itself as I had not seen any of it - in fact I'd not been in Djouce in 2 or 3 months and with Epic running the race, there was going to be techie bits - not one of my strong points.

We arrived early to an already almost full car park. There was a great buzz around the village, with plenty of stands, food stalls and a bouncy castle! We signed on and headed back to the car to get ourselves organised.

Just before the sports race started a gang of us from MAD got out for a pre-ride. The course after the start finish line the course moved into a singletrack section when brought you to the lower carpark before the climb up to a slightly extended XTC. Once you were out of that it was walking path over to some of the sections used in the races last year. But some of the sections were taken in reverse, such as the switchback climb up to the highest point of the course, After that you worked your way across to Toro, and out onto fireroad which brought you to GC, and then out along the new straight trail down to the river. Then a small fire road section which brings you to the single track climb up by the step and then across before dropping down to the main fireroad, and sprint back to the lower carpark where you drop to the left and into a bermy singletrack section before entering the field which contains the start/finish line. All in all, I actually enjoyed the course. The only real tricky section was a rough singletrack drop which was about 50 meters long, but otherwise I thought I could handle it ok.

I was gridded on the second row in roughly about 6^th place. The whistle blew and I started to lose positions again – but not as bad as usual so I felt happy enough entering the singletrack. However, as we were leaving the second section something happened and my chain dropped. Not sure what I did to make that happen, but it did, so I had to hop off and get it back on fast. I guess 4 or 5 riders passed me while I was getting myself sorted. But I kept my head and hopped back on the bike for the climb up to XTC. Over the course of the first lap I had Dave O’Shea and Mark close by and we were all together until half way through the second lap when I pulled out a gap and managed to get some slower riders between me and the lads on the single track climb. After that I just pushed on as hard as possible. Coming into the 3^rd and final lap I spotted Oisin up ahead, so went for maximum effort for the last few kilometers. Unlike the Dromara race I never got too close (maybe 50 meters at best) before the finish line arrived.

I was happy though - 4th place! I never even considered a podium in the National champs so to get it was amazing. I stopped setting targets for individual races and just focussed on getting fast, consistent laps in instead. Another thing I wanted to do was not keep something in reserve 'just in case' and instead leave it all out on the course. And I think my racing got better for it over the past couple of events.

So thats all the xc done for the year. The Nationals result more than made up for the very mixed NPS season and just motivates me to try to do that bit better next year. So just the enduro and marathon events left which will be a fun way to end the season.

NPS 6 and 7

2010-07-26T16:19:00.005+01:00

Work, family and biking have seriously limited my free time, so I'm going to bundle the last 2 race reports into this post.

Dromara CC, Dunmore MountainIt was pretty much the same course as was used last year for the Nationals - lots of kicker climbs broken up by flatish sections, and a few techie drops here and there. I enjoyed this course in 2009 and felt good leading into the race - all I needed was a decent start...

Which I got :) . by the time we hit the rocky single track climb the group had spread out and were moving at a good pace. I was close to the guys in front and kept pace for the first lap, but they gradually pulled away, while Damo Mulcrone gradually caught up with me. So it was going

to be one of those pressure races :)

Damo continued to close in and seeing him move closer distracted me a little from what should have been my main goal - catching Oisin who was less than a minute up the road. The second

and third lap were all out, and mentally I was ready to give up by 4th place spot to Damo as after all the effort he was still hanging in there. Then, finally the elastic snapped at the start of the last lap. I looked back and he was gone! I then looked forward and there was Oisin in the distance. So, with renewed optimism I chased hard for that first NPS podium...

Unfortunately I didn't work out - I got to about 3 bike lengths of Oisin at the highest point in the course, but on the descent to the finish he pulled away, finishing about 40 seconds ahead of me. Still after the horrors of Killaloo I was happy to be back up the front(ish) again.

Full race report here.

MAD, 3 Rock

After Dunmore I was feeling a little better about racing, and looked forward to my own clubs race - despite the techie layout.

The race kicked off and I had my usual rubbish start which left me in or around 12th position (starting from 2nd on the grid). There was a fireroad section shortly after which allowed me to get back up the field, but again a poor start left me with unnecessary work to do - something to improve on. The race settled down with Oisin, Rob, Andrew and Adam pulling away, and a right battle for 5th place building up with Mark, Kev, Dave and Aaron, Damo and me. The course was great - it had the balance of super techie, with challenging climbs and swoopy singletrack. The only problem was the hurricane blowing into the racers face when they reached the aerials after a killer of a fireroad climb.

The race was going fine for me until about halfway into the second lap. Up until that point I was within touching distance of 5th place and felt that on the 3rd lap I could get past the guys and not be under too much pressure. Well that was until I found it difficult to stay attached to my bike and found myself over the bars twice in the space of 3 minutes on the 2nd lap and once more on the last lap.

I can't figure out the cause of the first crash. I had caught up with Dave O'Shea and another rider on Sprint and was happy to wait until the next fireroad to pass him. Then all of a sudden I was over the bars and sitting in the furze. I'm guessing I hit something but no idea what. No damage to me or the bike, but as I looked back down the trail I could see Mark and Damo catching fast. So I was back on the bike and pushed hard.... ...only to hit the dirt again in the last singe track section. Again, no idea what I hit, but it was enough to send me flying. This time Mark and Damo

passed me.

So, back on the bike and off I went chasing. I caught the lads at the entrance to MX and got ahead of them. Mark had a mechanical/crash in Rock and roll and I felt like I might be able to hold on here. I passed Damo on the last fireroad climb and could see the rest of the lads battling for 5th place ahead. I gradually closed the gap and just near the top Mark passed me after putting in a serious effort on the climb. I just got ahead of him again before entering T-connector. However, things went pair shaped again in sprint when, for some reason I decided to go off the nice line and onto a schlompy mud pit where I promptly fell off. So as Mark passed me by all I could do was laugh. Back on the bike one last time and I tiptoed it to the finish line and 9th place

The mad thing was I was still only 40 odd seconds from 5th place. Its quite frustrating, but I had few off the bike moments this year, so to get 3 in one was was probably just balancing out things.

So that was the end of the NPS. I finished joint 6th with club mate Mark McGauley. To be honest, I doubt I could have made it to 5th place - all the guys ahead had either won races or were on the podium in pretty much every race, so can't complain there I guess.

New post coming soon

2010-07-08T11:00:00.001+01:00

Been a hectic few weeks with work, biking and the little guy, but post on its way covering Rounds 6 and 7 of NPS...

General updates...

2010-06-13T20:50:00.002+01:00

I've done very little since the last NPS race, and I feel it. Monday I went out with Gene to Slade for an hour, just to loosen slightly sore legs and also to keep the quickly forming monster scab on my knee from reducing movement. The whole spin was nothing to write home about.

Tuesday was supposed to be IMBRC club racing. I went up to Slade straight from work with the plan of getting in a couple hours between the race and a few sneaky laps beforehand. But a rough night with the young lad had be shattered so after 2 laps of the club course I threw in the towel and went home before the race started.

Did not do anything till Friday, when I cycled into work via Blessington lake. A good 2 hour spin with lots of rolling hills. Then got my easy 40 min cycle home after.

Saturday was an hour in Slade. Yeah, should have done more but felt tired. Plus I had big plans to head out today, which didn't happen!!!

Training is getting harder and harder, and I need to be more disciplined in order to fit it in along with work and the family - not as easy as it sounds.

So for this week, its big cycle into work tomorrow. Tuesday I'm thinking of cycling in with the mountain bike so I can get the club race on the way home, and then as much cycling in and out of work as I can for the rest of the week.

NPS round 5 - Killaloe, Co. Clare

2010-06-08T08:52:00.009+01:00

Sunday was the 5th round of the Irish NPS, held in Killaloo, overlooking Lough Derg. The course was always going to be tough. A long fireroad climb, with a slight drop to give you a breather, before climbing up again, then a sharp right up onto a singletrack climb which levelled out before, yes, you’ve guessed it, another climb. The final one being the toughest and the slightly wet conditions making things tougher.

Then, completely out of breath, you enter the forest and a rocky single track section, which climbed up and down over and around various obstacles. A very technical section followed with 360 turns on the descents followed by drops through gulleys. Less hairy descended followed, but not before you were heading sharply up again before a chicken-wired drop (!) and then onto a fireroad section. Then a sharp right and descend down to the last singletrack section and onto the start finish line. Jeez, even writing that description is exhausting me, so you can imagine it in a race.

I was seeded in this race (7th), so was on the second row. To be honest it didn’t really matter where you were as you had almost a mile of climbing so there would be no sprinting for the first section of singletrack.

So we were set off. Rob Tobin set the initial fast pace and with a few hundred meters the lead group was whittled down to about 6, with me hanging on by their coat tails. It was fast, but I did not feel too bad. I’d defo done harder sessions so was happy to hang in. As we got to the top of the climbing section the main guys moved away and I had only had Andy Newman and Kevin Stanley in view. The singletrack was tough, but going through it the first time I was happy enough.

The second lap was ok too, it was slower and I was making a lot of mistakes on the singletrack, but I had said to myself to get through it at my own pace and get a slow, steady flow the whole way through rather than trying to keep up with guys who were much stronger and messing it up.

Things started to go pear shaped at the end of the 2nd lap. After the chicken wire drop I ended up in the ditch due to taking my eye off the trail – very dumb., but it got worse. While still cursing myself for the first crash, coming off the drop onto the fireroad at the start/finish section, I somehow managed to slide the bike and ripped a layer of skin off my knee cap and elbow. Really stupid thing to do caused by a lack of concentration. I lay there for a few seconds just to see how bad the pain got. Once I figured out it was at a bearable level, I hopped on the undamaged bike and pedalled off.
Lap 3 was hard, on the climbs the knee hurt and I could not get any flow through singletrack and would have been faster walking it. I lost count of the number of crashes – one of which twisted the seatpost/saddle 90 degrees off.

The 4th lap was hilarious. I had slowed to a crawl on the climbs and walked large parts of the singletrack as I had lost all confidence on the bike. I had totally given up on racing to the extent when I saw a bike computer on the trail, so I stopped to pick it up thinking it was Gene’s and it would be the sound thing to do. Turns out it wasn’t his and because I stopped he passed me a little further up the trail!

14th position sucks. It’s very disappointing as I should have been more like 6th or 7th worse case. But if yer not making mistakes (and learning from them) you’re going nowhere.

So where did it all go wrong? Well....
• The previous couple of nights I did not have great sleep – between the little guy on Friday and a party being held in a nearby house on Saturday, I didn’t get my usual not much 6 hours. But there’s I can do about that.
• Tyre pressure wrong – so wrong. There were probably close to 30 psi as I was thinking about the long climbs in the race and because the rims were not UST I was concerned about rolling them off and game over. It was a complete disaster, as the damp, rooty sections needed plenty of rubber on them to keep you upright. I was in Slade yesterday and dropped it closer to 20psi and it made a huge difference in the rooty singletrack section.
• Maybe went off too hard from the gun – not entirely sure about this. I felt good on the first couple of laps and took the gels, but I had dropped right off on the last 2 laps. But I think that might have been a combination of normal tireness and just mentally already being in the car, driving home.

Thanks to Conor for the pictures

NPS round 5 - Killaloe, Co. Clare

2010-05-28T12:26:00.004+01:00

Preview video - looks like this could be a fun loop for the race...

NPS Round 4 review and training plans

2010-05-25T12:59:00.009+01:00

Myself and Gene headed off from Naas at about 8.30 and made good time getting to Magheramorne at 11am. It was a long drive but the motorways and great weather made up for it.

After getting signed up, we headed out for a pre-lap. Starting the entrance of the quarry there was a left turn into the open area across a sandy, dusty area before the first drop. At the bottom there was a 90 degree right turn across a very dusty section. Before entering grassy singletrack. Again, another 90 degree turn and a tricky little kicker (which in the wet would not have been ridable).

The course then consisted of sections of open singletrack with short draggy climbs, tight singletrack with swoopy turns, and plenty of big swoopy drops. You then crossed over the Larne road and into the quarry proper, dropping down to the lake and crossing through a water feature before climbing gradually back out and following a red, dusty trail back to the start/finish. On the pre-lap, the course seemed very long and that was confirmed by one of the lads who clocked it at 7kms. Still, as there were not many long, steep climbs, it was going to be fast.

We lined up for the start and I had managed to get up just behind the first line of top riders (about 5 of them). So I thought it was looking good for getting a good start and trying to stick with the lads. However, I had another disaster of a start and before the first drop a good 10 to 15 riders had passed me. I’ve not got the foggiest why I can’t get away from the line quickly, but I will have to work on it before the next race. A bad start puts you at an huge disadvantage as you spend the first lap at least attempting to past riders. So that’s what I ended up doing – chasing and passing riders when I got a chance. There was plenty of spots for overtaking so you were never held up that long in the Singletrack.

After the first lap I didn't have any head-to-head's with fellow masters riders. The race basically became a time-trail - pushing as hard as possible. I did pass people but I was never sure what categories they were racing in, and just assumed they were not masters and scooted past as soon as I got the chance.

About half way through the 3rd lap I spotted a MAD rider ahead with a WORCie following, as I got closer I realised it was Oisin and the WORCie was a vet. This gave me the extra kick and I pushed on for the rest of the lap. I had closed to about 100 meters but about halfway into the last lap Oisin looked around, saw me and switched on the afterburners. As I entered the last section of singletrack I thought I had a chance of catching him before we crossed over the road, but when I exited the trail, Oisin was nowhere to be seen! I probably should have kept the hammer down but lost the motivation when he was out of sight so sat up and spun the last 3rd of the lap.

So I ended the race in 4th place, 41 seconds behind Oisin and just shy of 3 minutes behind the winner Kevin Stanley. I'm really happy with that - I know a few lads had mechanicals, and there were plenty of punctures, but I've not felt that good in a race since early last year. Hopefully it was not a once off and I can keep it going for the last 3 races of the season.

Monday, I decided to cycle into work. Should have had a rest as the legs were sore after racing, but the weather was so nice it would have been criminal not to. Did take it handy tho, and a great tail wind had be home in record time.

Tuesday, IMBRC club league. Was great craic. I set off 1 minute before Mark McGauley so the pressure was on! Legs were still sore but after a few minutes of riding I didn't feel a thing - apart from the pasta and meatballs I ate and hour earlier trying to get back out. Mental note - don't eat your dinner an hour before balls to the wall racing. In the end Mark caught me in the last 50 meters and it was a sprint finish between us and Ben Marchant. I won that but was tough. Great racing and organisation. Looking forward to next Tuesday all ready!

Wednesday, Ok, knackered today, but again with the weather so nice I cycled in - very slowly. And another nice tail wind to look forward too on the way home.

Planning on cycling in via Slade tomorrow and if I'm not on the road bike on Friday I'll be out in Slade or Glending with Gene. I'm busy over the weekend, but hope to get out for a couple of hours on the Road bike on Saturday morning or Sunday evening.

And then the following Monday will be spin to work and IMBRC club league on Tuesday. Yes, I've planned out the next 6 days and its fairly crammed with different types of biking, but I'm keen to make the most of the coming week before kicking up the heels from next Wednesday

Weekly update

2010-05-22T19:44:00.002+01:00

Monday - after the Hammond race I wanted to keep things up, so cycled into work, and left early to get a nice 60km spin home around the Blessington lakes. It was a perfect day for cycling - pity I had the backpack on tho.

Tuesday - finally made it out to the IMBRC club race. Its held up up in Slade with the start on the Kildare side of the hill. The its a 10ish minute loop that you do 3 times and takes in just one section of the NPS course - the rabbit ride. There was a good turn out - 20 plus - despite the not ideal conditions. Its run in the same way as the Epic club league in that its a handicapped race, so you just go hell for leather from the start and try to pass as many people as possible. My handicap was 17 minutes and my understanding of the course was a little hazy so I followed on the of guys who knew it for the first lap, after that I passed him and pushed on. I finished in 6th place just as the rain really kicked off. I was happy enough with that considering it was my first time doing the race and am really looking forward to next weeks.

And thats it! Since then I've not done anything apart from an hour on the road bike this morning which ended up with a puncture on the way home. I probably should have done something handy on Wednesday, but the previous few days had taken a bit out of me so decided to rest up.

Tomorrow is round 4 of the NPS series and its going to be pretty hot - the racing and the weather. The only drawback is the 6 hour round trip...

Hammond Memorial race

2010-05-16T17:35:00.006+01:00

Quick post about this one.

It was a 40km, 2 lap race starting in Roundwood, Wicklow. It was a challenging course - tricky, very fast descent followed by some draggy sections, and a tough climb back up.

I had planned on making a proper effort at this race, but had not done the usual preparation I would for an XC race. The legs were a little tired from the week and I was hoping to sit back a bit in this one and try to do something later in the race.

However once the lead car tooted it horn to notify that the race had started the speed went well up. We quickly reached the descent and everyone was well spaced out. I hit 65kph with people passing me.

About 15 to 20 regrouped after descent and 3 or 4 guys kept the pace going. As we got to the climb proper the pace pushed up another notch and on the climb the 4 guys just cycled away. It was the type of climb I enjoy doing but I found it hard going today. On the second (and last) lap after the descent, about 4 of us got organised and we attempted to bridge back to the leaders who were about a minute ahead. But despite our best efforts we did not get them before the climb. And at this point my legs gave up. I lost contact with the chasing group - they were never more than 20 second ahead of me, but it might well have been an hour - I wasn't going to get back to them.

So I rolled in a minute or 2 behind the winners. The race was only a little over 1 hour in duration, but it was hard, probably the hardest one this year - there was absolutely no letup. Can't complain about the result, but I am a little disappointed I got dropped out of the chase group. There are plenty of road races left this year and I will make a proper effort for one of them!

NPS Round 3 - Lady Dixon Park, Belfast

2010-05-10T13:27:00.010+01:00

Sunday the 9th of May had myself and Gene head up to Belfast for the 3rd round of the Irish NPS series. It was a 2 hour drive to the race venue, and the venue was easy to find thanks to some good sign posting by XMTB - the hosting club.

After signon we head out for a pre-ride of the course. The race was held in a typical city park - rolling, grassy hills in the middle (with the odd rose garden) and a tree lined perimeter. Not exactly the first place you'd think of holding a mountain bike cross country race, but in fairness to XMTB, they made use of every scrap of the park to make a challenging course.

25 meters after crossing the start/finsh, you had a 90 degree right turn which then switched quickly to a left hander and into the forest / single track section. The single track doubled back on itself quite a bit, so there was plenty of hard braking and accelerating. There was also plenty of options for the odd suicide manoeuvre into a corner. We had a laugh at the thoughts of the moves being made during the first lap in the singletrack section... little did I know later on I wouldn't be laughing...

You left the forest and got into the rolling grassy hills. This was pure CX territory. There was no time to take a breather here as time could be made and people overtaken before the next singletrack section. This bit was a bit more tricky as you had some tricky off camber rooty corners which even though it was a dry course were still a challenge.

After a couple of kickers and swoopy drops/climbs you were out of the trees again and up a kicker which transitioned into a draggy climb. But before you knew it you were diving down into a little hollow and then climbing, before a taking a roller coaster of a drop which - if you got enough pace, allowed you to free wheel up the other side.

After that you had a long grassy climb back up towards the start finish. But before you got there, a final single track section had to be tackled... then feed zone and start finish.

We lined up for the race. I was expected the top riders in the series to be called to the front, but it didn't happen, so with that and the fact it was a nice wide starting area, I found myself up towards the front of the field. The race was started and I had a decent enough start, probably in about 10th heading into the single track. It became a bit of a procession then and things were going ok, apart from some numpty shouting "who's losing the wheel?!!?". I hoped he was having a laugh. Anyway, we started in the second singletrack section, climbing up a narrow trail section. I had two riders in my sights who where slowing up after the initial high pace and decided to over take them off the single track... in other words a suicide move. I managed to pass them but I was slowing up too and lost control of the bike and headed towards the low lying branches of a tree. I rolled over them hoping I could power my way out - I couldn't and came to a standstill. So as riders passed I got myself together and ran up the hill till I could find a spot to remount and get moving again.

It was a silly mistake that cost me time and plenty of places. So it set the tone for the rest of the race - chasing. I started passed riders where I could in the next 2 laps. Then I came up to a Team WORC rider. He was not the fastest in the single track but could climb like Contrador, so I caught him in the forest section and tried to hang on for dear life outside it. Looking back at the lap times over the course of the laps he was holding me up, so in hindsight I should have passed him straight away. But for some reason I decided that chasing this guy would be my little race. Everything was going well until the 4th lap when a mistake on off camber turn had be off the bike and the competitor pedaling away. I got my head down and chased on - getting within a few bike lengths, but it was not to be and he crossed the finish line ahead of me.

I got 9th position, which is fair enough, but I really think my rush of blood on the first lap cost me a good 3 or maybe 4 positions. The course lent itself to close racing - there was about a minute between me and Mark in 6th place. While you could have run a CX race on exactly the same course, I think even the hardened XC'er enjoyed the racing. Still was nice to break into the top 10.

The Pronghorn was well suited to the conditions - the lightness allowed for quick acceleration and the xtr brakes stopped me in plenty of time before I could do any real damage to myself :) Oisin, the other Pronghorn rider came in a great 4th place after some close racing with another Team WORC rider.

So thats the 3rd race already finished - the season is almost half over! Next race is up North again next Sunday, but I planning on a road race this Sunday as I'm keen to try one where I actually go out to try and win it as opposed to using them for training/having a laugh.

The week since the xc race has been tough. Works been very busy and the little fella is teething - STILL! This means tough days in work and sleepless nights. Still, I managed a few commutes into work, but no off road which is annoying, but you've got to make the most of the time you have!

Thanks to Uberdog and racing795 for the pics!

XC NPS Round 2 and other things

2010-05-02T20:01:00.011+01:00

Killarney CC hosted round 2 of the 2010 NPS series on a whole new course just outside the town. My plan was to tie this race in with a family break in west Cork and on the map they did not look too far apart. I did not realise how much of an impact the mountain range (or 2) would have on the time needed to get there. What I thought was a 1 hour trip turned into 2 each way... ah well, lesson learned.

I got there with plenty of time to get organised and squeeze a couple of pre-laps in. The course was set overlooking a lake and rugged valley - definitely the best backdrop for an NPS course I've ever ridden on. The course itself started with a double track flat section before a steep 4ish minute climb before hanging a left - still climbing, but not as steep, onto a boggy singletrack. Then you took a left into a mucky drop, which, if you watch the video below, you'll get an idea of how tricky it was for everyone. I tried it a few times in the pre-ride and failed miserably on every attempt. Then it was through a couple of fields with plenty of surprise drops, rock gardens and single track before coming back to the finish line.

I got up towards the front for the start, but was still about 20th when we got moving. Once we hit the climb I started to make up ground, but despite it being an old lane / double track, overtaking was still tricky and I ended up getting into the line for the descent. Oddly enough I stayed upright for it (and for every lap) as I found a line way out to the right which had decent grip. Over the course of the first 2 laps I pushed on hard and was about 6th or 7th before my problems arrived. In the final wooded single track some of the marking tape had come loose and it got wrapped up around the non-drive side of the bike. I did not mind too much but hopped off the bike to get it cleared which took a minute. I was back on the bike and pushing again to make up for lost time/positions. However on the next lap, after the descent, I had another encounter with marking tape. This time it was on the drive side. I saw it wrap up around the crank and cassette but decided to chance cycling on. I did not get far before the whole drive train seized up. It was everywhere - on the cranks, the chain and cassette. So again I hopped off and started the job of unraveling the mess.

Luckily Phil was not far and while I worked on the cranks he cleared out the cassette. Another couple of minutes lost. As a plus I did get a breather, but a good 5 to 10 riders passed me so once I was cleared of the striped menace I pushed on again.

I started making good inroads again on the remainder of the 3rd and 4th lap and made up a fair few positions, but on the 5th, with no master riders ahead of me or behind, I eased off and coasted to the finish in 13th position.

While the final position was nothing to write home about, I felt great throughout the race. The rest helped a lot - my average HR during the race was 172 whereas in the first round in Slade is was 158. So I'm thinking I was over doing the cycling or I was just a bit run down / sick. Also, if it was not for my problems with the marking tape I'd be fairly confident I would have finished comfortably in the top 10, so happy enough overall. Well done to Killarney CC who put on a great show. It was another well organised race and I'm already looking forward to heading back down again next year.

Another 2 hour drive and I was back in West Cork. The plan was to have a nice relaxing week with some good cycling. Unfortunately my 9 month old son had other plans and was in considerable pain teething. That meant 3/4 hours sleep a night for us and days wondering around like zombies... ah well. Needless to say there was not much cycling. I did manage a 2 hour road spin, but that was about it.

We were glad to get back home the following Saturday and just relaxed for the weekend. Monday was a public holiday so I decided to make amends for the week of eating and no cycling and went on a 4.5 hour road spin. I really fancied a spin with a lot of climbing but more importantly one that I would be in considerable pain afterwards! Starting in Naas, I went through south Dublin, Enniskerry, and up by Djouce woods and Ballinastoe. After that I hung a right and climbed up over Luggala and up to the Sally Gap. From there I took a left and worked by way across to Laragh. I met up with another rider and together we climbed the Wicklow Gap, picking up an Usher lad also. After that it was a dash across to Holywood and the last tough climb of the day. Then a very easy spin back to Naas. Was I in pain afterwards? I was in considerable pain by the time I made it over the Wicklow Gap! My legs were in such a state that if I stopped pedaling in order to rest them, I would get horrible aches building up in my quads immediately, so I had no option but to keep cycling!

I was really happy to have done the spin as it was the route I had planned on doing and although there were many escape points/short cuts home, I did the whole lot - chuffed with that.

The following day I cycled into work, but I was feeling what I thought was a head cold coming on. It turned out to be my sinuses acting up again and they have been getting gradually worse as the week has gone by. Belfast is looking very doubtful which is a bummer, but there's not much you can do when you get sick. So its the Xyzal for me and hopefully I'll get back on track during the week as there is a road race next weekend in Wicklow I'm keen on competing in.

What else has gone wrong this week??? Oh yeah, my beloved Fox fork on the Cube are trashed - a full rebuild of the uppers is needed - arrrragh!

Holidays (and a little racing)

2010-04-23T17:16:00.003+01:00

It been a quite week. I made a conscious decision to do less biking as between lack of sleep and a lot of cycling to work and mtb spins, I was shagged. That said I had planned to go out to Slade on Saturday but after getting up at 5am with the young fella I was not fit for much.

I did make it out to Slade for an hour on Sunday morning though. Did a few laps on a very dry NPS course. Sunday was non riding and Monday I managed to cycle into work, but took it very easy. I skipped the spinning class on Tuesday as part of my taking it easy plan, and Wednesday was a gentle road spin for 40 mins around Naas.

Nothing done either Thursday or today. I don't necessarily feel full of beans by not cycling, but I don't feel any worse for it either, so its worth taking the odd break I think.

Tomorrow will be spent driving the clan down to Baltimore, West Cork where we'll be on holiday for a week. I'll drive up Sunday morning to Killarney for the NPS which should be fun. Then back down for a week of rest and relaxation. I'll have the mountain bike and road bike, so if I feel like it and the weather is good, I'll do a couple of quick spins, but the main plan is to just relax with the family.

Won't be doing much updating of the blog either as the nearest internet connection is in Skibbereen!

Weekly update

2010-04-16T16:05:00.003+01:00

Monday - really should have stayed in and rested. I was a bit spent after the weekend ordeals, but Gene was keen to try the Slade hill climb so my arm was twisted. I'll leave out the gorey details but basically no records. It was a lovely evening for a spin tho.

Tuesday - Spinning class cancelled... woh hooo. Chilled out

Wednesday - Myself and Gene went back to Slade to try out the NPS loop. It was much drier, so was running much much faster. Managed 2 laps at full blast on the Cube but they were very messy laps, lots of overshooting of corners etc. Going to head up over the weekend to try the loop again, just a little slower this time!

Thursday - Spin into work the easy way

Friday - Spin into work. Decided to take the most country route to work, so to avoid all towns and villages I hung a right from my estate and heading to Punchestown, left at the junction and crossed the Blessington road and across towards Slade.
It was depressing to hit Rathcoole after all that nice quite countryside. The weather was a super morning (maybe a couple of degrees below perfection) and made me feel very lucky to be able to cycle into work at all, never mind on such a nice route as that one.

This weekend is going to be quite-ish. I hope to get back up to Slade at some point on Saturday for a couple of hours, but Sunday is eating and hanging out with friends.

I've been feeling a bit run down the last week or so. Between the lack of sleep, and lots of cycling I'm thinking I might just ease off on things a bit, so might end up doing some easy stuff the start of next week before resting up for Killarney.

NPS round 1/Leinster League round 3 review

2010-04-13T13:50:00.010+01:00

Well that was an odd race. Things did not go too great for me on the run up. My son has been sick with a tummy bug / high temperature which had him (and invariably his parents) up for large amounts of Thursday, Friday and Saturday night. So I felt pretty spaced heading up to the race. The weather was glorious that morning and got there about 11am. Its great having a race only 15 minutes from my house! We got signed on and out on the trail for a pre-ride of the lap.

The loop started on a fireroad which climbed upwards for 200 metres or so before dropping down to the ride for the first section of single track which was a fast descent into a swoopy forested section before popping out for a quick fireroad sprint before hitting the rabbit trail which swooped, climbed and dropped down the side of Slade valley for an age before you started to climb up to the next small section of fire road. It was only long enough to get a glug from the bottle before a short sharp climb up a loose rocky trail when then veered off to the left with the terrain changing to grass. We crossed over a bank via a wooden bridge, hung a right, and finally started to descend through more single track. We then took a left, up a trail I actually helped build about 4 years ago, before jumped off it to the right and descending down into a new forested section which was extremely tricky as it was a maze of roots, stumps and tree’s. Up over the specialized bridge and back into the sun with some schlompy bits to remind us we were not in Spain. Back into the forest via a very tricky fallen trunk and exposed roots and then back onto a gently climbing fireroad – more glugging time. Right turn into the next single track section lots of rough stuff with sharp rights, lefts, pallets, muck etc. A nice little drop onto the fireroad and sharp right. Then a sprint to the next single track section in the forest which starts straight before swinging left and further into the darkness. Some tricky, rooty corners before you move into deciduous forest and other some of the original trails. Then you drop into a bordering field to the start finish line. After that you’ve a kicker climb back up to where we started.

As in the Bunclody race, Masters would head off last, and as this was the first race of the season, it was un-seeded so it was a free for all on the start line. I thought I was maybe 10th or so from the front, but it turned out to be about twice that. And it turned out there were close to 80 in the masters field – probably the biggest I’ve seen in a single category ever.

So we were brought up to the start and set off. And I had my first problem. The lads on either side of me decided they wanted to cycle the line I was on so that was not going to end pretty. I came out the worst and had to come to a complete stop before starting off again. I sprinted up the fireroad trying to make my way through the backmarkers where the gaps allowed. But when we got to the first section of singletrack more frustration as a bunch of lads decided to hop off their bikes to walk down the slight incline! To be honest I was too tired to care and just got in the queue of riders for the rest of that trail and the rabbit trail.

Because of the numbers things moved slowly through the singletrack, especially on the sharp, rooty turns. Once someone in front had to walk it, it became very difficult to not do the same yourself. There were a few lads getting stuck into the fellas who were walking certain sections which is a bit much as it’s the nature of xc races that you’ll end up having to run/walk some bits.

We exited the rabbit trail via a nice kicker out onto the road where I got by a few riders. And this became the routine throughout the race – pass people when you could. However there were a few guys taking suicide lines into corners (out of frustration) which always had them losing out. I had an ok time in the singletrack but was being (even more) cautious than usual due to being feckin’ knackered. The second lap was pretty clear, but I ended up getting onto the back of a train of riders in the rabbit run on the 3rd so I was starting to lose interest fast. And on the 4th lap when Robin passed me half way through the last lap I threw in the towel and just spun home, which in hindsight was dumb as I think 3 or 4 masters riders passed me! I was just mentally shattered at that stage and I was just thinking of bed. I crossed the line in 17th place which was nowhere near where I thought I would finish, but that’s racing – everyone out there ahead of me wanted to race and be competitive – I didn’t (on the day).

Another factor was the amount of singletrack – there was a lot and some very technical sections, with corners which seemed to change on every lap.
Again, its something I need to keep working on, but it’s the usual problem of getting the time to practice them on.

It was a great loop though and a credit to the hosting club IMBRC who put in a huge effort building the trails and putting on a great day - they even got the weather sorted :) .

I was glad to have fitted the Pronghorn riser bar – it made a huge difference on the tricky sections and with some more practice should improve things. I bought a cheapie riser for the Cube just so the two bikes are setup more closely.

Again the Pronghorn was great, on the fireroad climbs it was fast and I felt I could rest, while catching people! On the techie stuff the riser made a big difference and as mentioned earlier will be out getting more practice when I can. In general the bike is going really well – for such a light frame its incredibly stiff and the power transfer feels more like a road bike, so can’t blame the bike for the poor form :(

And how could I forget that Pronghorn got their first win on Sunday! While I was wondering around the trails mid-table(ish) Oisin was powering his way to first place in Masters. A great result for him and a great testament to the Pronghorn hardtail!

Gene had me out last night doing the Slade hill climb, no record breaking times but was good to get out and loosen the legs. Nothing today (Tuesday) but hopefully I’ll be out on the Mountain Bike again tomorrow night. Then I’ll be back on the commute to work for Thursday and Friday. A quite weekend is in store as there are family events planned.

The next race will be in Killarney on the 25th of April. We’re on holidays in Baltimore in West Cork starting the previous day so it’ll be fun packing the car for an XC race and 9 month old baby (and 2 grown ups)!

Training log

2010-04-07T19:53:00.005+01:00

Right, after the race on Sunday, I took Monday off as fancied a rest. I'd been doing quite a bit over the past few weeks and the legs felt very tired. So Tuesday was spinning class which was the toughest one ever. Different instructor and just meself and 1 other guy in the class so we were pushed hard all the way. And right at the end just as we were easing off he throws me 2 dumb bells to hold up in the air for 2 mins while spinning at high resistance! I was shattered. So took Wednesday off too :)

I cycled into work on Thursday, but went the easy route. As we both had Friday off Oisin dropped down and we went out on a spin to Glending. The weather was poor, cold and snowy, but we made the most of the trails and Oisin enjoyed himself. Rain started to fall as we figured out our next move. I was thinking home, but Oisin was keen to head over to Slade. So we decided to chance cycling over. The pace on the road was brisk to say the least, but we made it up there. At this stage the rain was bucketing down, hands and feet had lost feeling and we were cycling on snowy trails - not exactly fun. We met a couple of IMBRC lads working on the trails for the NPS race, but couldn't hang around long as we were freezing. We did get in some of the next sections of trail specially built for the NPS, but getting home and thawing out was the priority, so a blast down the hill and the fastest route back to my gaff to dry off and get some food.

It was probably the most miserable spin I've had in years, the wet and cold just sapped all will to keep cycling. But was a good old workout all the same.

Saturday – sitting on my ass and bike cleaning / maintenance

Sunday – Decided to give my hill climb a proper go with the Giant and without the backpack. Up until now my best time was 17:26 during one of my spins into work so I was curious to see was the difference would be. In the end it was considerable - 15:13 is now my best time!

Monday – Sneak spin up in Slade for an hour to try out the new sections of single track – yummy!

Cruagh hill climb

2010-04-07T19:45:00.004+01:00

Was not sure whether to do the hill climb, spinning class, or neither and just have and easy day – in the end I did both. The spinning class was tough, not as excruciatingly painful as last week, but probably the 2nd or 3rd hardest of the year in terms of perceived effort and average HR/max HR. I got the jelly legs so that in conjunction with the miserable weather had me thinking about skipping the hill climb. Gene was on about an easy road spin in Naas so I was just about ready to throw in the towel when I started getting stick off of Ryan and the weather started to improve. Feck it. I decided to go for it, so armed with a bottle of Coke and a banana I set out for the starting point.

The course itself was 5.98 km’s long with 325 meters of climbing. Compared to my Slade climb its shorter and steeper, so not much to compare. Ryan had thrown out the idea on boards.ie and a bunch of guys from various clubs were interested.

So, I parked up in the Merry Ploughboy, got myself together and tootled up to the start at the bridge. There were a few boardies there all ready and after a bit of chat we started to set off at 1 minute intervals. I went about 5th or 6th out of the 11 or so who were out. Just before I started the rain started to come down, but as the first half of the climb was fairly sheltered I was not too concerned about a bit of rain/wind. I had done a practice start in the big ring, but after a couple of hundred meters in you had to start dropping down the gears fast, so decided better to start in the small ring – something I’d regret a little later.

Anyway, I got my count down and off I went, the first section was a ‘nice’ gradient with some kickers thrown in. I stayed out of the saddle for the first few hundred meters (something I’m trying to do more of as it’s the only way to get my heart rate up these days) and then settled in for the long slog. Things were going ok in the first few km’s – did not feel too out of breath and was regularly getting out of the saddle. Before the viewing point at the top of Cruagh I could see some of the guys who started off ahead of me so I had targets to chase down. I was still in the small ring but gradually moving up the gears as the gradient dropped off. However the chain started slipping in 3 or 4 gears which impacted my momentum (and annoyed the bejaysus out of me as I have had a replacement drive train the my CRC basket for weeks now but have not actually bought the bloody thing). So coming up to the turn at the viewing point I starting shifting gears, only to find the chain dropping off the crank. So queue 10 odd seconds of trying to get it back on and back up to speed.

After that that I put more of an effort in knowing that the worst had passed. The rain shower had cleared and we were greeted by a pretty impressive rainbow as we came out of the forest. Then it was an all out effort for the last bit. I finished up doing the distance in 18.02 which was the fastest time of the evening, but I think I could be closer to 17 if it were not for the mechanicals and I did not do the spinning class. I’m looking forward to doing more of these hill climbs during the year and I understand there might be a mountain bike equivalent up Killmashouge in the next week or so.

It was an enjoyable way to spend an evening and nice to put faces to boards names also. Looking forward to the next one.

Round 1 Leinster League

2010-03-28T20:32:00.012+01:00

The first round of the Leinster league happened on the 28th of March. The day was unusually Spring like (after all it is Ireland in mid spring) and myself and Gene packed up and set off for Bunclody. With the newly opened motorway it took just under an hour from Naas which was great as I had imagined the drive would be much longer. The course was located in the shadow of Mount Leinster in a very scenic part of the country. Racing795 were the host club and had organised good parking for the racers (something which not all clubs get right).

A group of us followed the sports race to get a pre-lap in. The course started off with almost 1km of fireroad climb which hit 10% in places. After that it was a drop in on the right into the first section of singletrack which was only a little muddy in places. It was flowy with some nice kickers and techie bits. But there was plenty of line options so a lot of time could be gained if you strung them together. After exiting the first singletrack there was a relatively gentle double track climb which gave great the riders views of the surrounding countryside (not that you'd be looking of course). We then dropped into the second singletrack which was a much steeper descent with plenty of rocks to roll over or around. You then exited this section and into a tricky rock garden you had to climb up before dropping into a swoopy trail. You climbed back out of that and down a rutted singletrack section before getting back out on the main fireroad and the start/finish line.

I'd done a couple of pre-laps and with about 10 minutes before the start myself and Oisin went for a final cycle up the hill. We got back to the start to find the various categories already lining up. Masters would go last so we were done the back. I started at the front of the masters line, but by the time we'd shuffled up to the start I somehow ended up on the 3rd ish row. I keep doing that in unseeded races, something to fix for future races. So the whistle blew and the race was on. I was expecting a sprint to the first section of single track but thought it would not start until closer to the entrance. But I was wrong, the first row of riders blasted away from start. I did not go after them as thought the would slow up - but they didn't. So I was already 10+ second behind them after the first kilometer! And in about 10th place maybe coming into the single track. I doubt I could have kept to the guys pace for the whole first climb anyway.

I did get a fairly clear run on the first singletrack section and kept things running pretty smooth. However, exiting the second section of singletrack and into the rock garden I walloped the nose of the saddle with my ass and it shifted down at a tough angle to sit on. So I got of and gave it a couple of punches with my fist, but would not move! I was only doing this for about 10 seconds when I decided I would just have to live with the angle. However about 20 yards later I hit the back of the saddle and it came back up too far - nose up! At this stage I didn't care too much and just kept pedaling.

After that the race got a bit boring in a way - with no other masters near by, I did not have the motivation to go that bit faster (although I probably did pass a few in my category), and spent the second half of the racing chasing down the faster vets and experts.

The only other drama was getting a branch in my nice shiny, carbon rear derailleur which restricted the amount of gears I had. I could live without the gears, but didn't fancy having to replace the derailleur so was happy to just pedal that bit slower on the climbs.

I ended the race in 5th place which is where I expected to be. I was less than 1 minute from 4th, but a whopping 3 minutes behind the winner, which is a lot on what was a short course. In hindsight maybe I should have buried meself in sprinting up to them on the first lap, but I'm not sure I'd keep it together in the singletrack that followed. Alfie, Oisin and Damo are the guys to watch this year in Masters. Those guys put in serious laps all the way through and I don't think I'll be getting anywhere near them. But if I keep plugging away 4th's and maybe 3rd's could be possible.

All in all, it was a great day out. Racing795 put on a super job and you could not fault anything. Really looking forward to heading down there again. Everyone enjoyed themselves, especially Morgan and Paul.

Last but not least, the Pronghorn performed flawlessly - and a lot better than its rider! It felt great on the climbs and even better on the descents which at times and in the latter stages of the race resembled a DH course. I might make some tweaks to it though. The main thing will be changing the bar - and get a riser instead of the flat one I have now. The bike is in getting a few components tighten up with James @ OC tuning and should be running even better when I get it back. I also have to mention that Oisin won Pronghorn racings first silverware of the season (and first ever!) by coming in 2nd on the day - fair play!

Next week is round 2 of the Leinster league in Bellurgan Park and promises to be a great day out. Cuchulainn Cycling Club are hosting the event and it will be run on a brand new course. More info here. Can't make it myself, but will be out the following week for round 1 of the NPS.

My hill climb

2010-03-25T21:08:00.006Z

I'm taking a new route into work these days over Slade hill, down the other side, and back over it again before dropping into Saggart. The climb from the Castlewarden junction (first roundabout on the Kill road) to the entrance of the forest is what I'm using as a test. Its 6.25km's long and has 229 meters of climbing. I like it a lot as it starts off easy before getting really tough towards the top, so you can get a good tempo going and when to get the steep bits its a real challenge to keep the pace up. I've pulled out the times for that section of the spin to work over the past couple of months and there has been a steady improvement, but today I pushed it and got a new time of 17:33. I'm already looking forward to trying to beat that one :)

Whats highlighted is the actual climb. Defo looks like I'm taking a breather halfway up, but its needed :)

2010 Goals

2010-03-23T21:08:00.004Z

Well, better get them written down...

Last year the plan was to get regular top 10 finishes, and a couple of top 5's. I kinda achieved those, but missing 3 or 4 NPS races due to injury messed things up a little. Still, I got a 4th place in Killarney, and made it into the top 10 for a couple of NPS's. I also got a 7th and a 4th in the K-caps and won the Cooley Thriller (Masters), so not a bad first serious year.

But I ain't going to get carried away with myself for 2010. Without doubt this will be a very tough masters season. I can think of over 10 riders who on their day can win races, so any goals have to be realistic.

So, with that in mind my NPS goals are:

5 top 5 results, and the rest top 10 (barring mechanicals)

2 or 3 podiums would be great

1 win - if I get lucky and others very unlucky

Not sure about the national XC champs, getting inside the top 10 comfortably would be nice, and same goes for the marathon champs. I'd like to go out and win the Cooley Thriller again, but I was a little lucky last year, so top 5 finish there would be good too.

Continuing on...

2010-03-22T19:17:00.008Z

Tuesday - Back to Spinning class. I had grand thoughts of cycling up, but I was knackered after the Glending spin the previous day. Had a really really hard session. It made me realise how much more of these types of training sessions I need in the weeks leading up to the start of the NPS...

Wednesday - Paddy's day and totally spent after the previous 3 days efforts. So I decided to skip the road race in Dunboyne and head off with the lads from the club for the craic around Djouce. It was good fun - plenty of thrills and spills. Glad I dumped the road race.

Thursday - Back to work after a week off 5 straight days off - arragh. Drove in as needed a break from all this biking activity.

Friday - 1 day is plenty break-time! Back on the bike into work, did my usual spin via Slade. Going to use the climb from the Castlewarden junction to the Slade entrance for testing. Its approx 6.25km's and it gives you 221 metres of climbing, with the gradient hitting 14% at points, so a good tester. My best time (set in this run) was 18:04, so getting under 18 minutes is the big goal for me.

Saturday - Disaster, brought the PH out to Glending and ripped the rear Nobby Nic within 10 mins - went flat as a pancake almost instantaneously. Needless to say I was ragin'. Called it a day as had crappy nights sleep previously and just needed to relax. Was in bed at 9.30pm :)

Sunday - Decided last minute to do the Bohermeen road race. Not sure why I decided to go for it - the road quality was supposedly not up to much (which turned out to be somewhat true) and it was flat as a pancake which would almost ensure a bunch sprint. The only reason I ended up going was because I agreed to give Mel a lift so there would be no backing out :)

We got up there for about 12 and got signed on. While in the toilet of the pub I overheard a competitor and paramedic talking about the race last year and the number of accidents that occurred. Not exactly what I needed to hear.

There was a huge turn out of riders and I was glad to hear the A4's were getting their own race. I did a quick warm-up on some of the roads being used and the were very narrow and rough in places - and on the aptly named 'Bog road', it almost disappeared for 50 meters.

They sent off the A2's, and A3's ahead of us with a 4 min gap between each group. We were up next and rolled out at a nice pace down the bog road. Again, despite getting close to the front at the start, a messy clipping in moment had me down towards the middle/back for the first few Km's. This meant a long battle to work my way back up front. Eventually we got onto a wider, smoother road and I got up to the front of the bunch and pushed it on a bit - same 'tactics' as in the Newbridge GP - just out there and get some exercise :)

Despite a few guys who were eager to get a break going, and a few attempts being made, none stuck, which was annoying and I had put a couple of efforts in myself to string things out and get a few people to pop out of the group. After a lap and a half of that I was pooped and dropped back into the group for a lap before pushing back up to the front for the last lap. Things started to get hectic towards then end. I heard one crash behind be with about 4 km's to go. I came very close myself to coming off with about 1km to go when a fella grabbed a huge amount of brake right in front of me. But luckily I remained upright and was in the top 20 with under a km to go. I was on the outside (waaaay on the right hand side of the road to boot) and we were coming up to a left hander on a slight incline. All of a sudden a gap appeared on outside of the bend as all the other riders pushed in to the right to find the shortest route around the bend. My fear of getting clobbered before XC season started disappeared as I pegged it around the outside and got to the front and starting sprinting. I had not put much thought into the sprint tactics as I never thought I'd be in this situation. My problem was I went all out with about 400 meters to go and when we reached 200 meter marker I was spent. About 10 or 15 guys blasted through and I just rolled over somewhere in the top 20.

I did enjoy it and was glad to have did the race. If I had the time I would do a few more as they can be fun once you stay up the front. However, they can also be pretty dangerous also and the finish of the A3 race proved with 6 guys going down hard. Pics here.

Plenty of other mountain bikers out - Cait, Richie Felle, Les, the Epic roadies etc - all made it around safely too.

Monday - Lashing rain, leg sore, drove in to work - nuff said.

My going's on

2010-03-14T17:50:00.004Z

Beats calling the post 'training log' for the umpteenth time...

Monday - Another freezing morning - will this winter ever end? Spun into work the long way - up and over Slade. I'm pushing the on the climbs now and everything is holding together! My injuries seem to be clearing up nicely now so fingers crossed that'll be it for the year. Cycled home the quick way, but took it handy enough.

Tuesday - Spinning class with @wearepureclass. Again, felt I could push along harder in the session.

Wednesday - Went out with Gene to Glending for an easyish night spin. Met a few IMBRC lads who were out enjoying the quickly drying trails. Better get out and enjoy them before the rainy season kicks in. Despite it being my first mtb spin in a good while, managed to not do too much damage to myself.

Thursday - Not-as-freezing morning for the long spin into work. The route has some nice long climbs which are perfect for climbing (apart from the 50 meters @ 14% that is).

Saturday - I had a busy day in work on Friday so could not cycle in, so just took the day off. Friday night myself and Gene drove the Newbridge GP course to get an idea of what it was like. 2 nice drags and some rolling bits summed it up. On Saturday Sean D dropped out and we cycled out to the loop to get a better look at it. Funny how it seemed totally different in the daylight and on a bike! I still liked the look of it tho and was looking forward to the race.

Sunday - So race day arrived. Weather-wise the day was perfect - dry and cool. We headed over to race HQ at Newbridge to find quite a few people already milling around, signing on and tweaking some very fancy bikes (some were a bit too fancy for S4 if you ask me :) ). We signed on and hopped back in the car for 30 mins getting ourselves sorted.

As I was seeing this race as training, I had no plans on sitting the group and popping out at 3 km's to go. The plan was to push things along, and get the legs heart pumping good.

The call was made for the S4's to group at the entrance behind the main escort car. The Commissaire for the day gave us the low-down on the race and before we knew it we were on our way to the starting area. We had a few miles behind the escort car to get to the 10 mile race loop so I decided to get up close to the front and not repeat what I did in the Dublin Wheelers GP where I started down the back and stayed stuck there.

It was a rolling start once we got onto the loop and I ended up leading the group for most of the first lap. I was not pushing things hard, but just keeping a nice speed up. As we came to the first climb, riders started to push forward trying to get a good position and not get boxed in by slower riders as they made there way up. I was half expecting someone to make a move there but nothing happened. I think the whole race regrouped on the way back down the other side. Shortly after we hit the second drag - not as bad as the first but tricky enough. I went up the front again and tapped out a steady pace. And I pretty much stayed front until we came around to the main climb on the second lap (boardsie/Orwell rider also got stuck in too). This time I decided to push hard the hill and see what happened. An Usher rider was also putting digs in too and the group started splitting - unfortunately I started running out of steam near the top and got swallowed up by a good 15 riders. 'Game over' I thought, but as we reached the top they too also started to run out of puff and I wheeled up to the back of them and caught by breath on the way down.

Last lap, 4km to go, and on the last drag. Things slowed down again as everyone was getting prepared for the finish. So, again, I went up front and cycled away from the group (can't say I sprinted away, they were just going so slowly it looked like I was). As we hit the steepest part of that climb I could heard big efforts behind me and before I knew it I had 7 or 8 guys blast past me. This was it! Unfortunately I was slowing down and this stage, but I was determined to be a part of the winning break away, so I buried myself for the last 2 minutes of the climb AND descent (which was even bloody harder). It was a nice drop down after the climb. Not too steep and bends you could pedal into. I hit 58kph trying to catch the group and still had the McCabes passing me! Eventually I got the last wheel of the breakaway only to see the eventual winner sprint away with about 500 meters left. The break seemed resigned to letting him go and it became a sprint for the lower positions. I decided I had done this much I might as well just give it a lash and see what happened. So I pushed on again got past a few riders slowing up and ended up in 13th position. I was pretty happy with that considering the effort I put in during the race. And the best bit was when we went back to the start/finish line I got to see myself in the race photo-finish - which was a first!

Monday - The legs were feeling a bit tender on Monday but with the weather being so nice (and having a day off), I hit Glending for a couple of hours of fun. The place is drying up nicely and as long as the Spring does not turn into the rainy season there will be plenty of good riding up there.

In general its been a good week - leg feels better and I've had a couple of sessions where I feel like I'm making progress, so all good.

Training log... with actual training in it!

2010-03-06T21:04:00.004Z

Yes, things are getting better on the old leg front. After a couple of physio sessions and some of my own patented massage techniques things are looking up. It turns out the IT band was just a symptom of a problem with the muscles around my hip. So some vigorous massage later, things are on the mend.

So for this week that meant just a couple of spins into work (the easy way), and a night spin with a few sprints with Gene. I hope to get back to the spinning class next week.

I did take part in the Dublin Wheelers GP today. I thought it would be a good way to get some top end fitness back, but in hindsight, it was probably just a good way to get mangled.

I went out in A4, which is the lowest cat on the roadie side of things. There was a big turn out, but the organisers decided to run the A3 and A4 together, but giving us A4's a head start - now I did not realise this till the A3 came storming through into the second lap. Anyway, the race starting off at a nice pace, and the first lap - apart from the sprints out of corners and roundabouts was pretty handy. When the A3's turned up, things went bananas. All of a sudden there was a main group of 80-ish riders, and all of them were trying to get to the front and in doing so were coming dangerously close to oncoming traffic. One guy took a tumble in front of me while doing a decent speed but he was ok after. I think the after the race the general consensus was that the mental braking for no reason and large group was an exception rather than the norm in road racing - which is good to hear!

A group of 7 had broken away just before the A3's had arrived and stayed out to the finish. I just kept out of trouble in the main group and was happy to get around in one piece. In the end the route was 55km and I had an average speed of 38.5kph with a max of 57. It was not much of a workout to be honest. Had I gone in the A3 group or made it into the breakaway I might have managed to get the heart rate up, but stuck in the main group, my average HR was 20 BPM lower than it typically is in an XC race. I do plan on doing 2 more in the next 2 weeks and plan on doing more than just sitting around. For me, the next race will be about staying up front and pushing the pace where possible. I'm not too pushing about winning races, but if I am going to put time into doing some road races I want to get something out of it fitness-wise.

But I do plan on getting back on the mountain bike next week - some hard sessions are required after being off for a couple of weeks.t

Training log

2010-02-27T15:59:00.002Z

Training log is.... empty!

Nothing done this week at all - got physio on the IT band on Tuesday and was asked to stay off the bike for a bit (not too hard considering the weather we're having). So, I've basically just been eating and doing DIY.

Yesterday I had a second Physio session. Things are definitely improving but Eoin is not keen on me going back out too early. I did go out today though - about an hour at a very easy pace around

the flatlands of Naas and Newbridge. The first 30 minutes the leg did not feel that good, but on the way back in it was improving. New cleat position also means that there is less pressure on the band.

I did feel pretty slow though, and I was getting out of breath very easily. I guess thats what 2 weeks off the bike will do to you. But the plan is for a couple hours tomorrow at an easy pace in the morning, then the commute into work on Monday. Eoin also suggested skipping spinning for this week. So the plan will probably be to just do some commuting into work and seeing how it feels. I still want to do the Mick Lally memorial race next Saturday, but I do want to be able to keep up with the main group, so we'll see how the week goes.

Training log

2010-02-20T13:49:00.004Z

Monday - Was still a bit sore after Saturdays spin, but the long route into work loosened everything up - freezing cold again. Getting into attacking the Slade climb... now I'm not coming to a complete standstill on it.

Tuesday - Spinning class. Paul kept pushing the resistance up all through the session. Was hard, but not brutally so. IT band very tender after it. And stayed that way for the rest of the day.

Wednesday - IT band definitely inflamed. Its very tender/sore standing, sitting... you name it. Stretching ain't helping. Still, went out with Gene for a handy spin around Glending. I timed him doing intervals. Booked physio for next Tuesday and will stay off the bike for a few days.... arrragh!

Thursday - Plenty of Ibuprofen and anti-inflammatory gels - leg still sore.

Friday - Same as Thursday, but IT band definitely getting better. Did some gently stretching. Also talking with Oisin and did some research on causes. It looking like cleat position. My left leg points out but even with the float in the cleat, its not enough. So did some adjusting. Also noticed the cleat was positioned WAY too far forward. Grand if you are a high-cadence, toe-down type of pedaler but I'm the opposite. So fixed that too. That should make a huge difference in getting the power down.

Saturday - 3rd day off the bikes - getting the jitters...maybe I might go for a tootle around the town... better not. Got stuff to do in the garden and the car is going in for the NCT. Tomorrow on the other hand....

Training log

2010-02-13T14:44:00.006Z

Monday - Cycled into work via Slade, but this time I went around the far side! Once I got to the top I hung a right and descended down to the N81 before taking another left and climbing back up the other side on the road where we used to park up for Slade spins.

It added some more time onto the spin and enough climbing to make it worth while.

Tuesday - Spin class. Not sure what was up but did not get the HR rate up as high as last week. T'was ok. Paul had us doing squats on the bike - truly the most painful thing you'll ever have to do.
Wednesday - Freezing cold. Would have gone on a road spin with Gene, but could not face it.
Thursday - Cycled into work straight. Sooo cold and I definitely did not have enough insulation in the basement (as Shane Stokes might say). The pain was out of this world. Lesson Learned.
Friday - had fancied the idea of a bigger spin into work via the Blessington lake, but a few things came up and I had to drive into work. I was not that disappointed - cycling around those back roads in the dark is probably not the smartest thing to be doing (but might try on Monday morning all the same).
Saturday - 4 hour super savage spin with @OisinBoydell. Starting near GOD, hit Djouce, Maulin, around the back of Ballinastoe, and then Downshill for good measure.

All was good till I broke another hanger. Thats 2 in 7 days. Up until last Saturday, in 4 years of mountain biking I've never broken one...

Oisin had his Pronghorn out. It took everything Oisin threw at it in its stride. Great on the climbs and sure footed descending (mind you Oisin may have had a part to play in that). I had some issues getting the brakes the way I like'em, but thats all sorted now so I should be out on it next week.

National CX champs 2010

2010-02-10T10:23:00.005Z

Some video of the champs held in Dublin last week - looks like fun. Ragin' I couldn't get involved this year.

MTB Development squads

2010-02-05T20:26:00.002Z

Cycling Ireland’s High Performance Unit will work with the MTB Commission and MTB managers and coaches to identify and establish development MTB squads in XC and DH during the spring of 2010.

Wish I was... er 20 years younger! More info here.

Training log

2010-02-05T20:08:00.004Z

Monday - tried the Time Crunched Cyclists field test. 2 X 8 minute sprints and you use the higher of the 2 average heart rates to use in your training plan. Did them on the turbo trainer. Result? I really don't go very fast on the TT. These are the types of tests you need to do on the bike outside I think. You always push yourself that bit harder. So instead of using the values from the field test, I pulled out an average from the races I did last year, which was significantly higher. While doing that, I also realized that for training, I just need to make sure that my training is pushing me as hard, or harder than I would go in a race - I'm a freakin' genius. Not that I'm putting down Chris Carmichael (some of the drills will be used), but after a while, you just start to know what you have do.

Tuesday - Spinning! Yay... er I mean ouch. Forgot how bloody hard they are, and more specifically Paul pushes you. As I mentioned in posts from last year, there's no hiding place, if he spots you are not in pain, he cranks up the resistance and shouts at you a bit... well worth the money. :)

Wednesday - Glending with Gene. Managed about 45mins of solid effort. The trails are in a bad way - I've never had the front wheel wash out so much. Did about 30 mins hard on the trails before giving up on them. After that it was 10 on intervals, which ain't getting easier (and unlike LeMond claims, I don't think I'm getting any faster).

Thursday - Is my scheduled rest day (or Friday, depends on my mood), so I did my commute to work via Slade :) . Mainly because I did not count Monday as training. After 10 mins warm up, I pushed it pretty hard. Felt it in the legs during the day. Tapped home the usual way.

Friday - Felt tired today, so didn't rest and instead commuted into work nice and easy. Have a sore throat, but hopefully it won't get any worse.

Saturday - Won't be out with Oisin tomorrow as he is not feeling the best. As long as the sore throat does not get any worse I'll head up early to Ticknock and do the same route as last week.

Then home to wash some bikes and sleep. I'm defo not doing a tap on Sunday (apart from eating). Though I might try to bleed the Pronghorn's brakes - still too soft for my liking.

Firesales and Demo bikes

2010-02-02T20:10:00.003Z

Pronghorn racing have updated their website with two new sections - Fire sale and demo bikes.

Some tasty bargains in the fire sale - a set of Magura Martha SL's for €296 or an ex demo DT Swiss EXC150 for €295. Also a few nice ex-demo wheel sets...

Some very nice ex-demo bikes for sale also. Race hard tail and full suss - carbon and alloy.

If nothing takes your fancy now, keep checking out the site over the summer - word is there will be plenty more great deals to come

XC Developmental league

2010-01-29T08:59:00.001Z

Round 1 of the Wheelworx XC Developmental Race series begins in Ballinastoe on Sunday the 21^st of Feb. It’s a great way for people totally new to the sport to give it a try in a fun and relaxed setting. There will be prizes for each race, donated by Wheelworx bike and tri shop in Clondalkin, and series prizes from the Off Road Commission. Round 2 will be held in Ballyhoura on the 7^th of March, with the final round being held in Derroura, Galway on the 21^st of March. Big thanks to Richie and Epic, the Off road-commission and Rob from Wheelworx for organising.

An intro to Pronghorn

2010-01-25T21:41:00.001Z

Quick background on the ALP's system...

Review of Pronghorn Racing PR-06 LT

2010-01-25T20:09:00.002Z

This ain't the bike I have - wish it was...the lad's speaking Danish, but you'll get the gist...

Test: Pronghorn Racing PR-06 LT from Fallline Productions on Vimeo.

New spin to work works out...

2010-01-25T19:56:00.005Z

Right, as mentioned earlier I've severely restricted time-wise these days, so its got to the stage where the spin to work is a training run and I'm getting up at 6.30am to do it. This better pay off...

So, I'm basically just cycling up and over Slade and back into Saggart and into work. No biggie? Yes biggie - Slade hill is a steep enough bugger. Its pretty much tripling the climbing I do. But thats not saying much really since I cycle through Kildare....

It adds about 3 km's onto the journey and about 10 minutes, so its worth the early rise I think.

Pronghorn special offer

2010-01-24T10:41:00.004Z

The folks at Pronghorn are have a special deal on their alloy PRS-XC bike.

Here's the kit:

Frame: PR6 XC Race inc. FOX RP 2 available in Black or White

Front Fork: Magura Menja

Drive train: X7

Rear Derailleur: X.7 Long Cage Black

Front Derailleur: X.7 High Clamp Dual Pull 28.6/31.8/34.9 Black

Shifter: X.7 Twister 9sp Rear

Shifter: X.7 Twister Micro Front

Cassette: PG-970 11-32 9 speed

Chain: PC 971 114 links PowerLink Gold 9-speed

Crank Set: Firex 3.3Team incl GXP BB set 175 Blast Black 44-32-22

Disc Brake: Elixir 5 160 Front w Left Leve

Disc Brake: Elixir 5 160 Rear w Right Leve

Handelbar: KORE Alloy Flat or Riser

Stem: KORE Alloy 100-110-120 mm

Seat Post: Kore Alloy

Saddle: KORE

Wheels: Pronghorn 1490

Tyres: Rocket ron 2.1

All this for €2,420. If interested, drop me a mail!

Bike build update

2010-01-24T10:37:00.008Z

Almost there - just the brakes to fit. But will be getting James @ OC tuning to finish the job off as I'm running short on time in the evenings and weekends (baby and trying to get out on the bike is pretty much taking all my time up these days). So, fingers crossed, I'll be out on it next weekend for a trail run.

Will stick up a post on my initial thoughts next week!

Training log

2010-01-23T15:03:00.006Z

The snow finally cleared at the end of last week, and for the first time this year I managed to cycle into work. For the most part the roads were grand - just the odd track of ice here and there. Myself and @oisinboydell had planned a long mountain bike spin in and around Kippure, but the snow was still pretty deep up there, so another cancelled spin. While its all nice having snow, it plays serious havoc with any routine / training plans. Still made use of Saturday building up the Pronghorn (more on that in another post). And on Sunday myself and Gene did a 3.5 hour road spin in the flatlands of Kildare and Laois, heading from Naas down to Portlaoise, across to Athy and back up to Naas. The weather was perfect and it was great to get a long, non-stop spin in.

Monday I managed another spin into work. I had hoped to get the commute in 3 or 4 times a week, but I've been scuppered so far. With seriously limited time, the work commute will become a big part of my training, so I need to get the most out of that time, especially in the morning. So by getting up a little earlier (arrgh), I want to extend it a little by heading up and around Slade. It won't add a lot in distance wise, but I do get a nice hill to climb.

Wednesday myself and Gene hit Glending for a nightspin. This was the first of the training spins. We started off easy with a spin around the trails, then ran a handicapped race. Its a great way to really push yourself - knowing you've someone in front of you or behind. After that we did a few intervals on a short section of fireroad. All in all it was probably only 40 mins of effort (minus warm ups) and the plan is to keep building on this over the next few weeks - longer 'races' and more intervals.

Yesterday evening was an hour on the turbo trainer watching Flashforward on the tv. Nothing to write home about - just a long TT run.

And today myself and @Oisinboydell hit Djouce for a hard n' fast 4 hours. It was good fun, lots of techie trails and hard climbing. Just whats needed this time of year.

Oisin mentioned that the Chris Carmichael book 'The Time-crunched Cyclist: Fit, Fast and Powerful in 6 Hours a Week' might be worth a look. I doubt I've even got 6 hours a week, but will probably get it. Now if someone could come out with 'The Time-crunched Cyclist: Fit, Fast and Powerful in 3 Hours a Week' - then I'd be interested... coincidently, Dave also has reviewed this book.

Mad 20th Anniversary spin

2010-01-06T15:45:00.004Z

On Sunday the 3rd of January MAD held their 20th Anniversary spin. The initial plan was to Start at the Yellow house and make our way to Powerscourt, however the weather put paid to that (ice and snow everywhere). Instead we made to with a big blast around 3 Rock.

There was a big turn out from all the major clubs and good fun was had by all. Hard to believe MAD started 20 years ago - back in 1989 I had just dumped (road) cycling for beer and smokes!

Here's some pictures from the spin on Sunday and some from back in the day.

Beer, Mince pies and plenty of ice

2009-12-30T19:20:00.006Z

Still doing my best to single-handily clear the house out of the Christmas goodies which were bought. Only a couple of mince pies left and a bottle of wine (or two) left. On Monday myself, Gene and Mark decided to do the Taylors to Powerscourt spin. The weather has been very cold over the past few weeks, so by the time we hit the boneshaker at Ticknock we here struggling to overcome the solid ice / frozen snow.

We did think about just bombing around 3 rock for a bit, but we all wanted a good, long spin, so despite the under-wheel conditions we decided to press on. When we got up onto the Wicklow Way the fun started - the trail was solid ice for 20 to 30 meters at a time, so it was fun trying to stay upright, even moreso when we were on inclines - yeah, cycling on ice going downhill :) . To be fair, I don't think the Maxxis Ignitors were not designed for ice, but they did a great job keeping me upright.

When we got around the far side of Fairy Caste (easterly facing) things improved slightly with the right side of the trail less icy than the left. we made it to the Wocca's without too many problems and onto the short road section.

When we got to the base of the Prince Willies climb, the icy conditions returned, and I had my first fall of the day. Cycling up hill I hit a spot of ice and fell like a ton of bricks. As I'm sliding uphill I hear a clatter behind me - its Mark, who after seeing me fall, braked and came off too. No damage - in fact Gene had a great laugh watching it all unfold. The further we climbed up Prince Willies the more ice/snow we had to deal with - it was easier to cycle just off the fireroad. But we made it to the top and had a quick break for some food and off again, dropping down the other side and away from the wintry conditions. It actually started raining at this stage, but only for about 10 minutes and we were lucky to have some shelter.

After that we headed across to Crone in the ice and onto Djouce. We were running out of light at this stage, but managed to get in the Best Descent (properly). When we were leaving the main gate at Powerscourt I went down again, getting some nice road/ice rash on all knees and elbows and bringing down Gene into the bargain. After dusting ourselves down we gingerly made our way back to Taylors on the road.

Post Christmas report

2009-12-26T11:09:00.003Z

Well, I survived it - plenty of food over the past 2 days, and a lot more today I expect. With time very tight due to lots of family visits I could only manage Turbo Trainer sessions. Yeah, you read it right - I was on the TT on Christmas day and today :) . Tomorrow though I'll be out on the mountain bike - not sure where yet, might be a long steady spin (Taylors --> Djouce) or Short n' fast in Glending.

I've also got to spend some chain reaction cycles vouchers - yay!

2010 Training starts........

2009-12-23T15:40:00.002Z

NOW!

Bit of a false start last week - went out on a spin around Djouce last Saturday and clattered the inside of my knee of a rock which put me out of action for a week. However, I got my Christmas holidays from work this week, so going to get everything back on track.

Monday morning I went up to Glending. Mainly to check out the knee, but also to reacquaint myself with biking (never mind off road stuff). It was a good spin - mastered the wall ride and finished off with a couple of sprints which almost had me throwing up. Definitely a sign of how unfit I've gotten. That evening I dusted down the Turbo Trainer and put in a 40 min stint (10 min warm up, 3 X 5 min full efforts with 1 min rest between. It was good to get the first TT session out of the way. It looks like I won't have my circuit / spinning class this year, so a fair bit of Jan will be on the TT.

Tuesday I went out with Gene for a night spin in Glending. It was minus something or other, but after 5 minutes of cycling it did not matter. We got a few good laps in, blasting the usual trails.

Today I hit 3 rock for a couple of hours. Again it was more just getting back into the off road thing really (not that I've been doing much on road recently either - the Giant TCR has been sitting in the shed for months). It was treacherously icy in places, but good fun. Rock and Roll was class (as usual), so did that a couple of times.

Tomorrow is Christmas eve, so lots of family stuff going on. But the plan is an hour on the TT. No plans for Christmas day, but I'll be either in Glending or on the TT on St. Stephens day for an hour or so before more family stuff. Next week is pretty open, will start to put more effort into the sessions and feel that burn :)

On another note, I'm lovin' my Maxxis Ignitor LUST tyres which I got a few weeks ago. They are perfect for the winter conditions over here - you know, ice, mud, snow, water, etc.

Awesome customer support!

2009-12-18T10:02:00.003Z

Over the past couple of week's I've had to return a couple of lights as I was having problems with them. I was not expecting much joy in getting the problems fixed, yet alone getting a reply before Christmas!

First off my Blackburn Mars 4.0, which I've been using a hell of a lot on road and off road for the past year. In the past couple of weeks, the on/off switch started to act up (not switching on, not switching off etc.) After checking out their website I discovered they offered a lifetime warranty for all products. The Mar's rear light is the best one I've ever had so I decided to chuck the broken light in an envelope and post it to their offices in Illinois, USA. To be honest I was not expecting anything back, but a week later, I get a box delivered first class with a brand new Mars light! OK, the Blackburn light is not cheap, but in terms of performance and customer support, its well worth the money.

Next problem I had was with my Hope Vision 4 battery. I think it got a knock or I dropped it, but the battery inside the battery casing was loose and a couple of times the light did not switch on. I was inside the warranty period, so I emailed Hope support explaining the problem. Within 5 minutes I had an email reply saying to send in and they would check it out. So again, battery in envelope and off to the UK. Again, within the week I got a package in the post which contained a new battery, and the newer version too (which is that bit slimmer).

Anyway, moral of this post is if you need a rear light go get a Blackburn and a Hope if you need a front light!

2010 Bike

2009-12-17T13:05:00.008Z

It's arrived! In parts mind you, so the Christmas holidays will be spent putting it together. So here's the deal.

Back in June I came across Pronghorn racing on the web - a relatively new Danish bike manufacturer who specialise in top end race bikes. The full suss bikes had a distinctive rear shock configuration, with the can sitting on top of the top tube, while the hard tail frame was coming in at a tiny 1.03 kg and the kit options were pretty class. I had been thinking about getting a new bike for 2010 at that stage, and after a couple of weeks of research I knew that the PHM1000 hardtail was what I wanted.

It was also at this stage that I noticed that PH were looking for riders to sponsor, so I got a mail together and sent onto the marketing manager Jez Crook. A week later Jez rang and after a good chat we worked out a deal for me (and subsequently Oisin) to ride in the Pronghorn colors for 2010. Yes, sponsorship!

After a bit of humming and hawing I finally figured out the bike kit I wanted and here it is:

PHM1000 hardtail frame (18")
Pronghorn 1490 wheels
Shimano XTR Drive train
Shimano XTR Pedals
Shimano XTR Brakes
Pronghorn handle bar, stem and seatpost (all carbon)
Pronghorn foam grips
Magura Durin Race 80mm
Selle Italia SLR saddle
Ashima AirRotors
Schwalbe Nobby Nic's
Cane Creek IS-3 headset

The Christmas will be spent putting the bike together. I'll be sticking up photos as things progress (right now its all still sitting in boxes in the spare room). Our racing kit will arrive in March.

I'm really excited to have gotten sponsorship - especially since I'm an old fella :) . Seriously though, it'll give me that extra motivation in training which hopefully will pay off in the races. Once the bike is built up I'll be sticking up a few posts on my initial thoughts.

Spendspendspend

2009-11-24T18:44:00.007Z

Been buying some bits and pieces over the past week, and a batch arrived today!

First off, my http://www.dealextreme.com/ goodies (minus the main light which is on its way). I went for a 900 lumen torch type light that I'll be strapping to the helmet. It'll mostly be used for commuting but will be good for night rights too when used with the Hope Vision 4. Its got about 90 mins on full power so its plenty for the spin into work. And if it turns out to be as good as everyone says, I might go get myself a second. I also got a couple of rear lights. They were about 2 Euro each and take 2 AAA batteries. Not quite as bright as the Blackburn I have now, but about 20 Euro cheaper!

Next are the Ashima AirRotors for the 2010 bike. These got a good review recently, and in general I don't hear too many complaints. I had Gusset superlights last year, which were light, but bugger all stopping power. These look that bit better (ie, more metal for the pads to rub off of!), so looking forward to trying them out with the XTR brakes.

Next, XTR pedals. Yes, probably feck off performance difference between these and XT, but I like them. I had them on last years race bike and never had a problem.

Got some XT rotors on the cheap as the Cube's are on their last legs (almost 2 years of continuous usage, can't blame them)

Another 2010 bike bit, Selle Italia SLR saddle. I had this on the Giant XTC also and thought it was the dogs - thats why I got the same model again. And they are about 30 Euro cheaper than last year too!

Finally, got a new set of Seal Skinz - only 24 Euro from Merlin - can't beat that! (tho I'm sure someone will)

Whats going on?

2009-11-22T20:03:00.002Z

November has been a quite month really. A few mtb spins - not many, and cycling into work a couple of times a week. The off road spins have be just for fun which is nice. And this was the first weekend where I did not get on any bike at all.

However, I am starting to plan a few things for next year. I'm figuring out a training schedule for a start. I did one of these last year too, and didn't follow it at all, but I think it helps you get thinking about the types of training sessions you need to do and how much time it'll all take up. So I'm going to include the spins into work as training, and maybe once a week have an extended spin home. I'll also be going to be Pure Class fitness for the spinning classes and also the circuit training. There will be one or 2 anaerobic sessions and a long (4 hour) weekend spin which will be on road or off road. Thats roughly the plan, but the devil is in the details so I'll need to be putting dates and times to all this stuff. I also pulled out the turbo trainer today. I found it pretty useful during the really bad days and evenings when I should have been out.

The plan is to start training proper in December, but to kick it off at an easy pace - it'll be almost 4 months to the first race so plenty of time to get into shape.

I'm also working on the bike for next year. I've already got XTR brakes (the best brakes bar NONE!) and a Magura Durin fork. It'll be my first time using Magura and I'm a little nervous about that as I do love my Fox forks, but I hear super things about the Durin's so looking forward to attaching them to a bike!

Finally I've been figuring out the races for next year. On top of all the Irish NPS's, K-cap (if its on), XC and marathon national champs, I'll also be heading to the UK for Sleepless in the Saddle and the Bontrager 24/12. Myself and Oisin will be racing as a team and I'm really looking forward to those races. What's also on the cards is the ROC in October. I'm interested in the marathon race and the ROC itself, so need to get my ass in gear and sign up.

End of year

2009-11-08T12:53:00.002Z

With all racing done for 2009, its probably a good time to take a look back over the year.

All the training effort seemed to have paid off at Round 1 of the NPS, came just short of a podium that day. I was delighted with 4th as my goal was top 10 - which I suppose was a little conservative in hind site.

Things went downhill the next week in the Des Hanlon Memorial race where I damaged some tendons. That put me out for about 2 months.

I mad it back for my own clubs race, and after zippy start, finished about 10th. And that was about the average finishing result for me for the rest of the NPS season.

Things improved in the K-cap series - some late season training resulted in 7th, 11th and 4th in masters cat.

I also won the master cat in the Cooley Thriller - my first race win. However I think the 4th place finish in the last round of the k-cap was more satisfying as all the big guns were out and I was less than a minute from 2nd place.

And thats 2009 in a nutshell! So 2010 plans are coming together. They'll involve a new bike (the Giant is gone, sniff!), a new training plan and oversea's races. And all to be done with even less spare time now I'm a dad. Still, I'm pretty confident I can push on from this years results - a few more podiums and maybe a couple of NPS wins maybe?

So keep an eye out for some important posts in the coming weeks!!

When's a banned drug a bad drug?

2009-10-31T19:01:00.005Z

With the last race done, its time to get off the race bike and just relax. Well, with a 2 month old baby, relaxing is not high up on the todo list. Plus work is getting busy again, cycling of any type is on the back burner. To top it all off, I've got a sinus infection (again).

Normally it would not bother me too much, but this one is bad enough to effect my sleeping, as its contracting the bronchial tubes a bit. Actually, it was a bit freaky as I was drifting off to sleep I could feel my breathing getting shallower and shallower until it just about stopped! Then I'd wake up with a jolt. This was enough to meet up my my doc who prescribed by xyzal (yeah!) for the Sinus problems and also Prendnisolone, a corticosteroid which is normally given to asthmatics. A quick check on wikipedia, it turns out its on the WADA banned list of drugs.

After some research, it turns out WADA have banned it because "When administered systemically (into the blood), glucocorticosteroids can produce a feeling of euphoria, potentially giving athletes an unfair advantage,'' their Web site says. There's a long list of possible side effects such as a loss of blood supply to the hip bone, which might necessitate a hip replacement, diabetes, obesity and a risk of infection.

It also turns out Barry Bonds was a big fan of its cousin prednisone, which it happens is not banned my major league baseball (nor is Prendnisolone). He claimed it was used to reduce swelling in his legs and in most professional US sports it used for recovery. So instead of it being used as a performance enhancer, they (people who use it a lot) claim its a performance enabler.

So, when does a drug become a performance enhancer? To be honest its a moot debate as its on the WADA list, and thats it, but at what point is it ok to take drugs to ease pain inflicted by the sport (as opposed to some ailment)?

K-capital Challenge round 2 and 3

2009-10-04T21:16:00.009+01:00

OK, going to lump the both of these in together...

Round 2 - Carrick Mountain, Wicklow

Carrick is a well known downhill spot (think it held a round of the nps this year). Its located in east Wicklow, a fair jaunt away from home, but with a t-shirt on offer for finishers of all 3 rounds of the K-capital, I was soooo going to be there :)

We found the spot easily enough, and parked up in a dryish field. It had been raining on and off for a few days prior, and when we arrived a mist/drizzle started to fall, nothing too bad, but the under wheel conditions could have been better. There was a good turn out again despite the less than ideal weather. After a quick warmup we headed for the start and after a pre race brief by Robin we were off. The first section was a narrower than normal fireroad which, once it started to head skywards it started to sort out the riders positions. I started in the middle of the group (I need to push myself up to the front at the start of these races!!) and by the first section of single track I was in the top 20. The single track was good fun, even if it wa

s a little schlompy. We climbed out and back onto more fireroad and then switched to rougher stuff, all the time climbing, which was taking its toll on me. We got to the first summit and then it was a steep descent and it was there where I had my first over the handlebar moment of the day. Probably my own fault, I was that 1% beyond being in full control of the bike and when I hit a deep, I was launched from the bike. After picking myself up an

d giving me and the bike a quick once over, I was off again. We dropped onto another fireroad, and hit an early water stop which I did not stop for.

After a lot more climbing I got caught by Sean and a few others. Up to that point I was out on my own with no sign of anyone in front or behind. I definitely drop my pace in those situations. So once I they passed me I tried hanging onto their wheels, which only lasted for a few km's offroad, before I lost contact on a newly created descent. When I got to the fireroad there was a headwind blowing and the guys where way up the road, so that was my chances of sticking with them blown.

We went off road again and began climbing the longest singletrack climb I think I've ever done. It was a good 10 minutes of rocky climbing - t'was great! Following that there were a few more over the bar moments also but it was a pretty lonely spin to the finish, which turned up about 10km's earlier than I thought (the race was shorted due to safety reasons). In the end I finished 11th in Masters and 21st over all. A bit of a disappointment really and I should have done better. Before you get seriously into racing you think its all about fitness - thats what gets you race wins, but its as much about having the right frame of mind (that is, you want to compete and win). It's something I need to work on for next year, as I'm a bit too nice in races I think :)

Round 3 - Kippure, Wicklow

The 3rd and final round of the k-cap was based in Kippure house and used some of the Marathon champs trails as well as some new stuff. Thankfully this was the driest of the 3 rounds. Another big turnout meant I needed to be keeping an eye on the start line to ensure I was somewhere up the front for the start. But I didn't so that meant I was at the back of a 100+ field. I was a bunch of guys turning up late and sneaking into the front - maybe I should have done the same...

But with a few km's of tarmac and fireroad climbing I felt pretty happy that I'd get up the front quick enough. And by the time we reached the first techie single track I was up in the top 10. At this stage the field had spread out and I was wheel-to-wheel with Alfie and Oisin. We were alternating going to the front, but that was mainly down to whether one of us missed a turn in the route. I was comfortable enough keeping in with them, but a series of 3 mistakes in quick succession had put me a good 30/40 seconds behind the guys, so then I was chasing. We started to climb off road before hitting some tarmac and a long 3ish km's climb. It was a straight section of road so in the distance I could see Oisin and ahead of him Alfie, who was pushed away. So I got my head down, upped the tempo and did my best roadie impression.

Within 3ish minutes I had caught Oisin, just was we were close to the top. I kept the pace up hoping to get Alfie, but we then hit some more single track. I lost track of him. To make matters worse, some horrendous line choices meant Oisin had caught up and passed me. I kept him in sight and as we crossed through a gate we passed Alfie who punctured. I kept chasing Oisin and caught his wheel on the tarmac section.

At this stage we were fairly certain that we were in podium positions, and with no one behind, felt we could ease off just a little - in my mind I was dreading the thought of having to go head to head with Oisin in a sprint! We worked around way along the final sections of single track and then onto the fireroad climb, when all of a sudden Paddy Daly powers up to us! The guy must have pulled out all the stops as every time I took a look behind the road was clear! So this made things interesting. What I should have done at this stage was make a break for it - we were on a steep climb, something I like, Oisin doesn't, and Paddy was trying to get his breath back. But I hung back - DOH!

I did do a quick sprint to the second last singletrack section - a techie descent. To be honest, I don't know how I kept the bike upright for the first 50 meters or so, but I had pulled out a gap on the guys. At this stage I was thinking to myself I could actually beat them! Unfortunately, while I was thinking this I totally messed up a kicker which had me running with the bike and the lads passing me. And that was that. The guys were always 15 to 20 seconds ahead of me in the last kilometre or 2 and there was nothing I could do (I had also mentally thrown in the towel at this stage). So I wheeled over the line, less than 30 seconds behind Paddy, and less than a minute behind Oisin, who finished in 2nd in Masters! I was ragin for a couple of days with the result - I had come close to a really good result there only to mess it up at the finish. Again, lessons for next year - work in techie skills and killer instinct :)

But coming in 4th in Masters and 7th overall was a good result for the last race of the year. A year that started pretty damn good, went pair-shaped in the middle, and came back good again at the end.

And BIG thanks to Mel for lending me Ryan's, then her Garmin :)

The Cooley Thriller XC Marathon

2009-09-26T21:07:00.006+01:00

There were no marathon champs this year, so we had to make do with The Cooley Thriller, and it more than made up!

The race was organised by Cuchulainn Cycling club, and the start/finish was based in the scenic Carlingford village. Over 150 entrants showed up and as usual the masters category was probably the largest, despite my usual rivals not making an appearance.

The weather was, again, misty and damp, despite leaving Naas in Sunshine. We got to the yacht club for sign-on and spent the hour or so sorting out our bikes and chatting about what would be in store for us.

At midday we were escorted out of the village up to the Slieve Foy Forest where the racing kicked off. Again, I was down the back when we left the village so by the time the race started proper I was chasing people. First person I caught was Oisin just as we reached the section used in the NPS. Knowing he'd catch me eventually I passed by him - and within a hundred meters of single track that happened. However a few hundred meters up the trail I passed him as he slowed up to repair a puncture which pretty much ruled him out of the rest of the race.

After the single track we hit the tarmac - which was flat initially, but quickly became a serious climb, all the way up to the top of Black mountain and into the mist. At this stage I met up with some with another rider (who picked up my water bottle on a descent - cheers!), and between us, managed to get a little lost. Thankfully, local rider Johnny McCabe passed by and for the rest of the race we were pretty much wheel to wheel.

Once the main climb was completed, we worked our way across various peaks, hitting some seriously fun descents along the way. I wish I could say the view was amazing, but with the mist hanging so low, I could just about make out 50 meters up the trails. Sean caught up with us about half was through (had a pedal malfunction earlier in the race - that is, one of them fell off!) and we kept pretty much together until the last 5 km's where he pulled away (with Johnny).

To be honest, the course was so demanding I was not thinking about where I was positioned - I had Sean and Johnny ahead of me and thats all I needed to keep the pace up. The last 2 kms were an amazing descent down from the mountain. I wished I had a bigger, full suss bike to really enjoy it, but for now it was 100mm hardtail. Also at this stage the clouds lifted and sun had come out. We had amazing views across Carlingford Lough and into Rostrevor - another mtb mecca.

But before I knew it, we were at the finish line. And to find out I came 8th over all - which I was happy with, as 6th place was probably only a minute ahead. But the best news was that I won the masters category - my first win! I was delighted to win the race, but the fact that the main players in the masters cat were not there did dampen this a little, but you can only race who turns up!

Kildare 100 (Martin Earley Tour of Kildare)

2009-09-21T18:36:00.006+01:00

Myself and Arek decided to give the Kildare 100 a blast again this year. Its a sportive in aid of the Marie Keating foundation with Martin Earley (an ex Irish pro) helping out. We did the tour last year for the first time, it was also the first time I cycled in a large group. We also found out that once the cop car left the pace jumped up immediately. We got left behind before we even knew the pace car was gone last year, so this time around we wanted to at least keep up with fast guys.

From the looks of things at the start line I'd say there was in the region of 400 to 500 riders at the start, which is quite a handful to manage considering they are all departing at the same time, but like last year, there were plenty of marshals that held up traffic when required. So we headed off around 10am and for the first 20km's we just tapping along enjoying the leisurely aspect of the cycle. We stopped at the North Kildare sports club for tea and food, and after about 15 minutes we headed up the road a couple of kilometers to Kilcock, hanging a left over the canal bridge and on toward Clane.

Another 5km's passed before the police car sped up and kept going straight while the tour hung a right. This time around myself and Arek were up front - Arek in the first 5 or so and me in the from 20 (I think I'm still a little to nice in the peloton - should have been pushing my way yup!)

The pace did not seem to pick up by much this year (or maybe it was the same as last year and I was a lot less fit). So, the first thing I did was head up to Arek and see what the plan was. I still thought the pace was slower - even slower than my usual commuting speed, so after a quick chat with Arek, we decided to head up the front to get the speed up and see what would fall out of it. Not much was the answer - a couple of guys came up to help out but not enough to do the up and through working properly. Arek suggested we just drop off and let someone else set the pace. Wise words, which I did not heed, and up to Robertstown I did my best to keep everyone up the front honest :)

When we got to Robertstown a couple of guys jumped on the first climb (well, lets call it a kicker - it was pretty mild), but we had them back in after a couple of hundred meters. Again, the pace slowed down and I decided it really was time to hang back. The next major climb was coming into Kilmeague which shook things up a bit I got a little caught and was chasing up the hill and down the other side before I got back with the lead group.

I was there or there abouts when we reached the big climb of the day - The Wall. Funnily enough it did not seem as hard as last year. My biggest problem was with getting blocked in by slower riders on the climb. I finally managed to catch back up with Arek near the top. From there it was a sprint down the other side and through Kildare town. At this stage a lead group of about 20ish had formed and the pace had really picked up. As we hit the Curragh I got to the front and put a big stint in, and as soon as I did I realised I was blown. Guys started coming through and kept the pace high. I started to go backwards, but as we crossed the motorway had managed to hold the gap to about 50 meters. However, try as I might, I could not bridge the gap back up. Even a motorcycle marshall tried pacing me back, and he even let me draft him, but to no avail. I watched the group of about 10 slowly pull away - with Arek in it!

As we left Newbridge I dropped the pace and let a boards.ie rider catchup. 2 riders working together had a better chance than one. And at one point we did catch a glimpse of the back of the lead group, but again they vanished around a bend and that was it. So we kept the pace up and pushed on to the finish back in Naas, and in the end we were only a couple of minutes behind the lead group. We even got a round of applause which was nice!

I know, I'm talking about this charity cycle like it was a race, and to all intents and purposes, the second half was, and great fun too! The marshals were great, and the food after was class too. I'd highly recommend the tour of Kildare to anyone who fancies a bit of bit to their sportive!

3 Rock Hill Climb

2009-09-09T13:19:00.010+01:00

Ok, still have to write up about Kildare 100 and round 2 of k-cap, I know, I know....

Anyway, Ryan Sherlock decided to organise a hill climb

TT from the M50 bridge just past Taylors 3 Rock pub to the top of the 3 rock (well the end of the tarmac anyway).

Point to point is just a touch under 4km's, an average Grade

of 8.1% (with 2 flat sections - feels more like 10% average) and 318 metres of climbing.

I'd decided to give it a lash as had never done any type of TT

before, never mind one that had you spending most of your time pointing skywards!

I arrived early and did a quick spin up to Ticknock to wake up a bit (baby awake a lot of the previous night meant I was a little worse for wear). I've also been doing a lot of cycling in and out of work these days for money saving and training, so the legs were a little sore too. We had about 9 at the start line, with myself,Sean, Cait and Ryan from MAD and the rest from Boards.ie. Mel was time keeper for the event.

With everyone leaving in 1 minute intervals, I was the 8th person off (or there abouts). After the warm up I decided the big ring was going to be off limits for most of the run, and instead would try to keep it in a big gear at the back. To be honest the run itself was boring - not like an mtb race where you have climbs, drops, singletrack to keep your mind occupied. What made it interesting is the mental focus and trying to keep the pace up and not giving in to the negative thoughts that float around your mind like hoping for a puncture/spoke to break etc.

I passed Cait first (who was on her mountain bike in fairness!), then a couple of the boardies, and made it to the top in 15 minutes and 16 seconds, which was the 2nd fastest of the night, with Ryan first at 12.34 and Sean just behind me at 15.21. I did slow up at the end so I may have given up a few seconds there but that was as good as I could do on the night.

Despite the pain, I really enjoyed it. Its just a different way to push yourself up a hill fast. Sure you could do it by yourself, but knowing there is a person 1 minute behind and ahead of you is very motivating. Ryan is talking about running another one in a couple of weeks, but this time maybe up Cruagh, so I'll be out for that too.

CYCLOCROSS!!

2009-08-29T19:13:00.004+01:00

Ok, I've a few posts to write up - one on the Tour of Kildare and one on round 2 of the K-cap series... they will be done I promise!

But in the mean time I've been busy building this...

I just need a cable hanger for the front brakes and its road worthy (not sure about off road tho). I thought I might have cut the steerer to short, but I think it'll work. The Kinesis pro5 frame came off of ebay, along with the Scott carbon fork and Kore canti brakes. Everything else (apart from the saddle) came off the Beone.

On top of Cross races, I'll be using it for the commute to work as the TCR is taking a battering on the back roads.

Changing times

2009-08-19T18:24:00.004+01:00

And what I mean by that is that I'm taking less time to do my road spins...

Last week I did the Laragh, Shay Elliot, Slieve Mann run. It took 4 hours 12 minutes. Last time I did that loop in early January, it took 4 hours 45 minutes.

It also did this to my legs - apologies for the hairyness :)

And today I did my fastest time around Blessington lake - 1:30 for the 49km's (200 meters of climbing in there too I might add!)

Intermission

2009-08-13T17:13:00.002+01:00

New posts coming soon, but something funny I found on the club site...