Gravity Enduro Rnd 2(Ticknock)

This weekend was the second round of the Irish Gravity Enduro series and I was really looking forward to it and hopefully I could get in five clean runs.

Practice was on Saturday and because I don't go to Ticknock that often I knew this would be important.  I had a lovely, perfect plan as to how my day was going to go... and then I got two punctures on stage one and another on stage two.  So I knotted the punctured tube and took the road back to the lads in Bike Addiction to get another tube and canister.  With my plan left back up at stage one with my puncture, I rode out the other three stages and was feeling good for race day.

Sunday(Race day)

After my 4th place in Ballinastoe I am now a seeded rider and so I can head off right after the pros with the top 50 riders.  I headed off with Scott Wallace, Killian Callaghan and Conor Lavelle to the top of stage one. 

Stage 1

Stage one went well for me and I felt fast and smooth, I made no mistakes and hit all the lines I had planned, and I didn't puncture so that was my race off to a great start.  I finished 4th in my category on this stage.

Stage 2

I had a slow start on this stage due to a lonely looking tree needing a hug but the rest of the stage went well and I wasn't too far off the pace, again I finished 4th in my category on this stage.

Stage 3

Stage three was a stage I was really looking forward to as it was a really fast, flowey trail.  Unfortunately this stage was bad from the second corner where I clipped my pedal nearly going over the bars, then further down I lost the front wheel a couple of times where it washed out in all the dust.  I finished 5th in my category here and was eager to try and make up lost time on stage 4 and 5.

Stage 4

This was the shortest and steepest stage of the day, and so one mistake would cost a lot of time as there was nowhere to make it back up.  I had a good start but carried too much speed into one of the first corners and hit a rock hidden in the grass, this fired me over the bars and got me a face full of dust.  I slowed down a small bit for the rest of the forest section, but once out into the open section, it was hard on the pedals to try and make up time from my off.  Again I finished 5th on this stage.

Stage 5

 After a long grueling climb back up to the top of the mountain it was a relief to only have one stage left and so after a quick drink of coke from the lads at Last Lap I set off.  After a fairly inconsistent day this stage went a lot better for me and I kept it smooth and fast to finish 4th in my category. 

Delighted to take 4th place behind some very quick lads and 25th overall, loved the weekend, loved the trails and loved the Genius which was flawless as usual.  Thanks to all the organizers and photographers especially Adrian Van der Lee and Keith Wallace for the photos. Results here

Now its back again to XC with NPS round 3 Lady Dixion coming up this weekend.