NPS rnd 1 (Slade valley)

This weekend was the first round of the 2014 XC National Points Series.  It was held in Slade valley which is a bit of a local track for me and I was really looking forward to getting back to racing XC.

The week leading up to the race was beautiful with lots of sun and when I went up with fellow team-mate Sean last week-end for a spin the course was fast, dry and dusty.  Unfortunately the weather turned nasty on Saturday with lots of rain to turn the course shlompy and wet.

However while Sunday started off overcast the rain held off and the day turned out bright and sunny.  The roots were slippy and there were some big puddles but that's my favourite type of racing, technical and muddy.

My race was due to start at twelve and we had a brilliant start loop to spread us out, up a steep kicker and onto one of the most fun tracks at Slade, the downhill track with loads of berms and jumps to go wild on.  I tucked in behind Cameron for the first half lap and then made a big effort passing him on the fireroad.  Passing the feed zone I picked up a  water bottle and honeystinger gel. "God that honeystinger stuff is nice"

Then I was off on my final lap trying to be smooth, fast and yet careful of all the slippy roots knowing that one small slip up and Cameron would be there to take full advantage.  My race went very well and I was delighted to take the win in the first round of the NPS and looking forward to the second round already.  

Big thanks to Eurocycles and Donnybrook Landscape Company for supplying me with a super fast and super slick Scott Scale 750 to race on.  

Thanks to IMBRC for all their work.  It was great to meet up with everybody again for the start of another season.  I really enjoyed the week-end.  Thanks for the great photos courtesy of  Sean Rowe and Keith Wallace. 

Full results here  https://www.dropbox.com/s/dwqf0vc729o37kz/2014NPS_R1_SladeValley_IMBRC.pdf

Gravity Enduro Rnd 1 (Ballinastoe)

This weekend was the first round of the Irish Gravity Enduro series, I have been looking forward to this race since I got my Genius Enduro race machine and couldn't wait to get out on it after it had been up with the boys in Expert Cycles getting some Continental rubber and a pre-race service.

Saturday

I arrived early Saturday morning to sign on and get an early start time.  After sign on I headed out for a practice spin with a few of the lads from my category.   to practice all but stage four which was closed to riding as it was fresh and they didn't want it getting too cut up and muddy, however you were allowed to walk it.  I didn't have time to as I spent 3 hours out practicing the rest of the trails and my dad was waiting to get home

Sunday

My start time for Sunday was 10:32, which was right after all the seeded riders.  I was off with Killian and once we got through scrutiny we were handed our new timing chips which is a big upgrade over last year as now you just roll through a zone, no more swiping timing chips.  Then we headed off up towards stage one. At the top of Ballinastoe and after a 25 minute transition we could see Jordan and Rob over the other side of the valley just finishing stage 1, eager to catch them I got my breath back, had a drink, geared up and set off leaving Killian to follow.

thanks to Keith Wallace for this shot

Stage one was a bit of a disaster with some roots and a slippy corner catching me out as well as a freak tree stump appearing out of no where on the last loamy section before the finish.  But I didn't let it get to me and knew I had another four stages to make back the time on.





Stage two went much better for me it started off with some really rough trail centre before cutting onto some natural lines exiting onto a fire-road.  Engage the lockout and pedal, pedal, pedal before dropping down onto Long Swoopy Descent(LSD) and pedalling hard all the way out to the far end of Ballinastoe to finish.  Here I caught Jordan, Luke and Rob and then headed up to stage three with them.
  

Stage three was by far my favorite trail of the weekend, the first half was all open mountain loam with a few fun jumps and sweet turns thrown in as well.  This was also the favorite stage of the photographers as after each jump there was a different one lying in wait to catch the open mouths and bar tweaks.  Then for the second half you turned back to the trail centre and more pedaling before making a final exit off the trail centre to round a tight tree and Flash another photographer and then boom the back wheel hit a hole and dropped into it nearly throwing me but I held on and pedalled on still slightly blinded from the flash.  Then it was onto a great grassy staight along a fence which ended at a really tight left turn and then it was out of the saddle lock out the fork and shock and pedal again all the way to finish in the race village.  At the end of stage three I had a quick bite of lunch and then headed up to start stage four with Luke.

 Stage four was a blind stage and I was really looking forward to seeing what magic Niall and his crew had worked on it from last year.  It started at the same place and from the start looked to be the same as last year. So after gearing up I set off the first half turned out to be the same as last year with some big puddles of shlomp and some real fast pedally straights then you crossed a fire-road and it was into a real tight rough small wood where it was very hard to keep any flow, then it was a sweet gap jump out off the woods and into a berm where Adrian was waiting with his camera. this was the shortest stage of the day and I was third fastest in my category here.

Thanks Adrian for this cool shot from 4

Stage five was a top to bottom run of Ballinastoe and was the real test of the day, it was the longest and hardest stage and so really put your fitness and skill to the test.  I had a good start hitting all the lines I had practiced on Saturday but just before cutting across the fire-road and onto the trail center I clipped a tree and was thrown off my bike, quickly I got up and really pedalled hard to try and make some time back.   The rest of the stage went well for me with no major mistakes and I finished in 6:22 which I was happy with.

I really enjoyed the weekend, delighted to get 4th in my category and 14th overall.  Thanks to DLCO for their continuing support and to Expert Cycles for giving the bike a pre-race tune up and a fresh set of tyres. Also thanks to Honey Stinger which kept me going all day and to all the photographers who documented the day.  Check out some below:
Adrian van der Lee
Bart from Cycle action photography
Action pictures Ireland
Can't wait for something totally different in two weeks time....XC. The first NPS in Slade Valley, Time to put in some hardtail miles on the Scale.