This blog contains posts written over my time mountain biking, and maybe some people will find it useful, interesting etc. I began writing it to motivate me and to record my progress. And looking back on this first post, I do feel I've come a long way over the past 5 years. I guess the best place to start is by reading my first Blog post... and here it is.
Hello and welcome to my blog. I've wanted to have a blog for years, but never actually had anything to write about. But since Mountain biking has taken up a vast portion of my life... problem solved!
I began Mountain biking in November 2006. I bought a Carrera Vulcan from Halfords to get things going. I joined the Mountain Biking Association of Dublin (MAD) and joined them for a few spins in Wicklow. The Carrera lasted about 2 months before I got myself a Specialized FSR - now I was a (beginner) Mountain Biker!
Throughout 2007 I slowly built up my technical skills, but a job which had me working/commuting 14 hours a day hampered things some what. I decided to jack it in last June and take a couple of months off. During my break I began to get some training in for some Duathlons, and when I was not doing that or general house DIY, I built up my Titus Motolite.
No one told me Mountain biking was so expensive, cos by August, I had to get back to work. An long commute (3 hours round trip) but more regular hours did not help develop my mtb skills.
So 2008 arrived, and a new job in March, only 15 minutes drive away - and more importantly 45 mins cycle landed on my lap. So that was my decision to make a big effort to get fit for the K-capital, NPS and marathon races that were to take place from March through to Sept of this year. It was also a little belated, as the first race was in March! So for me that meant 4 months of training and racing simultaneously. It also meant selling the Specialized (boohoo) and buying 3 more bikes (wohhoo!).
First off, the new job meant I could use the 44 km round trip as training. Enter the Be one Briza 1.0 - a cheap as chips (but perfectly capable) road bike. I bought it at Chain Reaction Cycles. The commute slowly brought up my fitness levels. I would occasionally take a detour home around Blessington lake to stick another 25km on a spin.
I also needed a new XC bike - and decided on the Cube Reaction XT 2008, again from CRC. A great value bike which is suited for someone getting into competitive MTBing, but not quite at the business end.
I had planned on racing in the Sports category during the K-Capital series to get into the whole race thing, but with some 'motivation' from club members I went for the Masters Category (30-40 year olds), one of the most competitive cat's out there! I missed round one of the K-Capital in Killruddery, Co. Wicklow due to a really, really bad stomach bug. In hindsight, it may not have been a bad thing as I was in no shape to race.
Next race was in Moneyscalp in Co. Down. A tough course. Lots of off camber wet rooty trails and nasty climbs. I started well, but things fell apart once I hit the muddy single track. After that it was a hard slog - or maybe I should say 'good experience' :)
Round 3 was in my favourite location - Djouce woods. I liked the course, felt the month of commuting was starting to pay off and I was getting the hang of the Cube. First lap went ok, but got a puncture on the second which ended my day. Decided to ditch tubes at this stage too as was getting punctures on a regular basis. Went for Joes no Flats and Maxxis Crossmax tyres.
Back up north for the 4th and final round - Castlewellan. The race took a lot out of me but I managed to beat the guys from the club I wanted to (just about!)
So, that was the K-capital finished, and my first 2 and a bit competitive races. I did really enjoy them (though probably not at the time!), but I knew I had to improve my fitness and technical skills. They do go hand-in-hand in many ways though. The best way to get through a technical section of a course is to do it fast, and to do it fast over 1.5 to 2 hours requires aerobic and anaerobic fitness. First off I increased the distance on the road, I also made sure that one day a week was spent doing hill climbs on the mountain bike on the Bone Shaker trail on 3 Rock.
The first round of the NPS took place in Ballinastoe, Co.Wicklow on a mix of purpose built trails and some build specifically for the race. It was fast and furious, and at the end I did not get to beat my club mate Arek, but when he went by me, I just had nothing in me to keep up with him.
I missed rounds 2 & 3. May was a tough month on a personal level and did impact the races I attend and training. It was also the month I put the most training in - over 900km's on and off road. At this stage I also decided to participate in the Wicklow 200 Challenge in early June. A 200 km road cycle around county Wicklow with approx. 2000 metres of climbing. That was a good excuse to go buy another bike! A Giant TCR Alliance 0 from Pauls Cycles in the UK. Its a super bike - a big step up from the Be One. Apart from a double puncture 50 km's in (my fault) it was a great day and took 7.5 hours to finish. I really enjoyed the road spin and will try to get a couple of road races in now I have a decent bike.
Round 4 of the NPS was days after the Wicklow 200 and I was not sure if I was going to be fully recovered for it. I took the following day after the 200 off. On the Tuesday I did an early pre-ride of the NPS lap. It was great to be back on the mountain bike again! And the course was awesome - lots of super single track, tough kicker climbs and very technical drops and descents. Took another break on Wed and Thursday was a quick road spin to keep everything loose. Got out of work early on Friday and me and a club mate did another few laps of the course.
I was going into the race hoping for a solid mid-table finish. Since the race was near Dublin, there was going to be a big field, with a lot of very strong racers. However, when the day of the race arrived, I was just not 'feeling it'. My legs felt very heavy - probably down to the 200 and the spins during the week prior to the race. But it was a big late to be giving out! The race started and I just pushed on hard to try to get some life (and blood) pumping into the legs. The aches gradually started to recede and I found myself where I wanted to be - in mid table.

On one of the steep climbs half way through the lap I felt my right foot move quite a bit on the pedal. Next thing it came off the pedal! I looked down to see the cleat - which should be bolted to the bottom of my shoe now locked in position on the pedal! So with the ability to clip into the pedal gone, it was a nightmare on the climbs and descents. I was going to just throw in the towel there, but thought might as well get to the finish line. However, over the course of the last 4 km's I lost 6 positions and had a monster endo on a steep drop (which I was very lucky to just come away with only a couple of sore ribs).

So that's the intro - from November 2006 to 10pm Wednesday the 18th of June (listening to NERD)! I've covered a lot in this post and will come back to some of it in the coming weeks.
Decided to take a couple of days break from all bikes, but hope to be back on the road bike for a high tempo 30km's tomorrow evening then a spin to work on Friday and a long spin home.
(Thanks to Phil and Martha for the pics).