Not the week I had planned

Ok so I'm writing off the 3rd round of  the Gravity Enduro series in Ballyhoura as a learning experience. Went down Saturday, practiced hard, felt great, went out again Sunday and raced, felt pinned on 4 stages and got a puncture on stage 5 but rode down the stage anyway destroying my rear rim in the process...... only to be told that my timing chip wasn't turned on.

If in doubt Ride it out!

Next up the XC Nationals in Killarney.  We travelled down on the Saturday morning and I got in one easy practice lap to get to know the course... It was greasy, fast and mainly flat with a couple of leg sapping steep kickers and not as technical as I would have liked.  Around 4 o'clock I got in another practice lap with my team mate Sean and David Montgomery.  The traffic in Killarney was terrible, it took us 20 minutes to drive 3 miles to the place we were staying.

I arrived early on Sunday and went out on a short practice loop, the course was slippier after the rain during the night but was drying out fast.

Words can't even describe what I was feeling on the start line but nervous definitely doesn't even come close.
The start was a mad battle of elbows as everyone tried to get the inside line into the first corner, I was second and quickly got to first and as we reached the first small hill in the field I started to pace myself, but Cameron McIntyre had other plans bursting off up the hill.  I chased him down and followed him for most of the first lap as we passed the elite women and pulled on the other U16 riders.

 I passed Cameron back going up one of the steep kickers but he passed me back on the next one.  On the second lap I made an early pass hoping to pull a lead but somewhere on the course I had bent a couple of teeth on my big chain-ring and it slipped, allowing Cameron to pass me and pull 20 seconds.  I pushed hard chasing him down but fell again on one of the rooty descents bending my rear derailleur.  I caught Cameron with half a lap to go where he also fell allowing me to regain the lead but Cameron was right on my wheel again having recovered from his fall.  It was a tough race but in the end it came down to a sprint finish where Cameron bet me by half a second.  Not the result I was after but winning 6/7 races is still good.  Unfortunately on the biggest day of the year I had problems but it can't be perfect every race.

full results here

Thanks to everyone who has helped me this season in XC. thanks to Paddy Daly for including me on his dream team, to Scott Ireland for providing the awesome Scott Scale, to Alfie and Robin for looking after the bike all season which is no easy task as it takes lots and lots of abuse, to Continental for providing tyres, to Honey Stinger for keeping me fueled during the races and to all the photographers whose amazing photography can be seen in all my blogs and to my dad for driving me all over the country.

But the season ain't over next up is the Gravity Enduro Nationals then off to the UK to race the last round of their XC series, check back soon to see how I get on.

         

NPS Round Up

OK so first off sorry for not updating this sooner, been kind of busy, State Exams, Work, Training, its a hard life.
First one up is Round 4 in Ballyhoura.  This was in the middle of my junior cert but sure its an N.P.S. how could you miss one, so I travelled down early Sunday morning.  Unfortunately the turnout was poor which was a shame because Team Ballyhoura had put together a brilliant course with a great mix of technical and flowey, single track.  My race started as usual at twelve and with my main competitor not attending I won by a good margin.  I had no time to watch the Senior Races as I was under orders to get home and get some study done but it was well worth the trip.

Next was round five in Garvagh.  This course did not suit me as well as some of the others because it had long fireroads that required long power outputs rather than short, sharp bursts but I was still looking forward to it as the course was dusty and the sun was shining.  We travelled on Saturday and I got in two practice laps, one with Killarney CC and another with my old training mate Paddy Michel.  Sunday was even warmer than Saturday and after our race briefing from Martin Grimley we set off.  I was third into the single track and quickly moved up to second place to start catching Cameron, once I did it was a game of cat and mouse the rest of the race and in the end it came down to a sprint finish.  It was close and in the end there was only 200ths of a second in it, but a wins a win and now with five wins out of five races I was now looking forward to round 6 and hopefully the 6th win.

The last round was in Bellurgan Park which is a private estate in Co. Louth.  The sun had been shining all week and because of this the bike was treated to some lovely new Continental race-kings.  We arrived early for my little brother who was racing at 10.30 while I went for a practice lap.  The course was dry and dusty with a long slog to the top of the hill,  then loads of sweet flowing singletrack with some rock gardens thrown in.  There was a good turnout of ten competitiors for my race which started at twelve.  I got a good start and was second into the first corner and at the top of the first hill was still in sight of 1st place.  I caught Cameron on the next technical section and followed him all the way  back to the start where I passed him before we entered the wood again.  He made one attempt to pass me back but I held him off, once we started going down he stuck on my wheel like glue until he took a slower line through one of the technical bits.  I put in a big burst to stay ahead and won the race with 40 seconds to spare.

So after six great rounds the N.P.S. series is over and what a great year it was.  The courses were great and the events were very well run, Congratulations to Max Power and all the organizers and people involved in the running of the events.
Thanks to all my sponsors for the support through out the year and to Paddy Daly for bringing them all together into the best team around.
Donnybrook Landscape Co, Scott Bikes, Continental Tyres, Expert Cycles, Ethos Engineering, Honey Stinger and my dad the driver.  

Now its back to the big bouncy bike for the third Gravity Enduro round in Ballyhoura. and then the XC nationals in Killarney.

NPS Rnd 3 Lady Dixion (Belfast)

More Grass, Shlomp, Tyre rubbing, Close racing and Great Craic at NPS round 3

This weekend was the third round of the XC NPS series.  After wining the previous two rounds I was heading into this hoping for another victory.  Last year I hated this course, flat, grass, and dry.  It was in my mind a cyclocross course on mountain bikes.  Nonetheless I was still looking forward to some racing before my exams start.
  

Boy did I get a shock on Sunday when I arrived and rode a practice lap.  It was far from the flat, easy and fast paced race it was last year.  Instead it was shlompy, with less grass and lots of short punchy kickers and off-camber turns.

Our race started at twelve and I got a great start leading the pack from the off.  My closest rival, Cameron was also a man on a mission as he was right on my wheel from the first woodland section.  I tried a couple of times to pull away, but he stuck on me like glue even passing me going up one of the kickers where I tried to pedal as he ran past.  I stuck on his wheel, then watching to see if I could pass him back anywhere, going up another one of the kickers I attacked and led back around to the start.

Going into our final lap I knew I would need to break from Cameron.  I put everything into one last attack half way through the second lap and pulled 20 seconds by riding the technical off-camber section, then also riding up one of the steep kicker that was taken out of the later S1/S2/S3 race.  I gave it everything and finished with 35 seconds to spare.

Loved the course, big improvement on last year.  Loved the shlomp and loved the race.  Close competition and can't wait for my next race.   Results here

Big thanks to XMTB for all the work that went into the race, thanks to DLCo and Scott for their continuing support and thanks to Gareth Gibbons for the photos.

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. 

  

XC NPS round 2(Ticknock forest)

What a fun filled day of racing, rocks, roots, rain, pain, crashes, dabs and two wheeled drifts. Oh and I won too.

Saturday was the second round of the Irish XC NPS(National Points Series). The ran it on Saturday as the Giro was also on this weekend and was coming to Dublin on Sunday.  Mountainbike Association of Dubin(MAD) were in charge of the race and what a brilliant job they did.

The course was completely different from last year and even after one practice lap I knew this race would suit me, lots of singletrack, lots of technical climbing and descending and only one big tarmac climb.  And so after a quick bit of food I lined up with the other U16 riders.  Next 30 seconds.... 10..... Go, out of the saddle sprinting up the fire-road as the course was straight into a technical rooty cimb where I was confident of pulling a bit of a lead before the tarmac  climb.  After this climb it was up another technical climb through slippy, boggy grass, then it was up again along the man-made trail centre to the top of the mountain where you got a big cheer from one of the marshals before turning back down and over a lttle gap jump and then weaving your way back down the mountains over roots, rocks and around trees, then you were shot back out onto the tarmac climb and it was a quick sprint back to the singletrack and around to start/finish line.  I was 2 and a half minutes up after lap 1.

Lap 2 was much the same except there was a couple of slightly out of control two wheel drifting moments including one where I decided to shoulder a tree, which sent me spinning over the bars and onto my back in the middle of the trail, after that I eased it off a bit as I knew I could as I had a good lead on the rest of the field. I finished in 40:33.

Thanks and well done to MAD Mtb for the brilliant race and course (First time I've ever had arm pump in an XC race). Provisional results here

Also thanks again to Eurocycles for providing the Scale (faultless as usual), like me it loves this kind of racing, also to Expert Cycles for their usual excellent pre-race set-up and to Paddy Daly and Donnybrook Landscape Company for their continuing support.  See you all in Lady Dixion or at the Gravity Enduro.

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.