Xc NPS Rd4 Lady Dixon Park

So Round 4 in Lady Dixon Park. This time around it was a one day job as a few of the others on the team were in the middle of exams. Lady Dixon last year wasn't a good race for me as on the first lap I got a puncture and had to run the rest of the lap and then had to ride out the race on a borrowed wheel to a 9th place. This year I was hoping the race would go a bit better. Now the course isn't my thing, it has a lot of climbing and flat grass sections and not much downhill or much technical stuff in it. Dad and I left the house at 8:30 and arrived at 10:30. I got signed on and then got my new Squad gear. After getting sorted I went on a practise lap with Jon. This year the course was slightly longer than last year with some more climbing and a little bit more single track. After the practise lap, Luke and myself watched the U16/U14 races. There were great results for the team with and 1,2,3 for James,Paddy and Conor in U16, 1st for Shannon in U16 Girls and 1st and 2nd for Jamie and John in U14.

So at 2'oclock we lined up on the start line and were ready to go. I got a good start off the line and got 3rd into the first section of singletrack but was soon squeezed back to 5th. For the rest of the first section of singletrack I sat in 5th behind Darnell Moore. As we came out into the first open grass section I passed one rider but then was passed by Daniel Brickenden and Anthony Quinn. So In 7th now and just tried to push on. The lads in front of me started to pull away and I just couldn't keep with them. So the rest of the laps went by alright, not making any time on Anthony and Dan ahead of me but not losing time to Luke behind me. On the second I had an off on the wooden bridge over a fallen tree and managed to knock one of my shoes off. After getting that sorted I kept going. It was quite warm out racing so at the end of the second lap I poured the end of the water bottle on my head. Third lap was much of the same just getting around and trying to keep up my times. On the last lap Niall Horgan from MAD MTB caught me. As he is someone I'd ride with a lot I gave him a bit of a race. I sat behind him till the only bit of Downhill, at the bottom of it I made my move back past him. Coming to the longest climb on the course, he went back past me for a short time but I wasn't gonna let him get away. I put a move on him just before the last climb to the start finish line. So I came into the finish in 7th, a couple of minutes behind Anthony in 6th.
                                                        

Overall My race wasn't great but at least the race is over and were on to the next 2 races which are a lot more technical and to my liking. Big thanks to Spin 11- High performance Custom Clothing for the amazing gear which looks great and is really comfortable to wear. I'd also like to thank Adam McGarr for doing bottles for me and Xmtb for holding the race. Finally once again I'd like to thank Jon for organising the Gear for us and
 to our squad Sponsors Bikeaddiction.ie , Biking.ie , Dare2B Clothing and Cycling Ireland 

Scott

Gravity Enduro Round 2 Ballyhoura

So last weekend was the second round of the Irish Gravity Enduro series in Ballyhoura. Dad and I left Dublin at 7:30 and travelled down. We arrived at 9:45 and I got signed up early and got a nice early start time for Sundays race. After sign-on I waited around for the rest of the MAD lads to arrive while my dad went off on a spin.  Once the lad's arrived we headed out onto the course. We did all 5 stages to know what to expect for the race. The stages were a mix of mainly coillte trails and some natural trails with lots of pedalling involved. The course ended up being just under 30 km and with nearly 1000m climbing, it was a long day. Once we finished up the spin we headed back to the hotel and hit the jacuzzi and sauna!

Sunday and I was up at 8 got breakfast and got in the car to go back to Ballyhoura again. It nearly didn't happen though as the van wouldn't start. After getting that sorted we got to Ballyhoura. My start time was 10:38 so I had a bit of time to chat to people before I set out on the course. After getting through scrutiny with no problems I headed out onto the course with Scrivo and Fergal. The first transition was only 20 minutes long so it wasn't long before the action started.

Stage 1 

Stage 1 was completely coillte trail. It was quite pedally and flowy. I started behind Scrivo. Off the start I was sprinting as hard as I could. No problems so far. Got out onto the fireroad and was back on the pedals. On the fireroad I passed Scrivo who had a puncture. Weaving through the tree's and pedalling at every moment. Towards the end I had a little bit of a slide on one of the corners but manage to keep myself upright and got to the finish line. Tagged out and Done. 2nd on the stage a second down on Conor Lavelle ( although I didn't know this at the time as with all the stages throughout out the day). Got Scrivo's Puncture sorted and headed to the next stage 40 minutes away.

Stage 2

Stage 2 started with a long boggy decent that was full of mud. I managed to get all the way to the bottom with no problem. Just before the flat mud section I had a small off but recovered quickly and put the boot down on the fireroad to the section of coillte trail and passed a rider on the fireroad. The Next section was quite fast but pedally as well. Finished it out and ended up coming 1st on the stage. On to Stage 3 only 20 minutes away but the bike sounded like it was 20 years old!

Stage 3

Stage 3 was another coillte based stage. It started with a fast rocky shoot and then a small fireroad sprint. I had caught a rider just as I got to the beginning of the coillte trail but he let me by no bother. No mistakes on the stage and even more pedalling but got to the end in one bit unlike Scrivo who had a nasty crash. Once again 1st on the stage in my category. Next up the lunch stop and then Stage 4.

Stage 4

Stage 4 was a verity of a bit of coilte trail, fast single track and Muddy natural trail. At the start I nearly missed the chicane as I came into it a bit fast. after that it was on to the coillte trails. This was the one of the best parts of the coillte trails as there wasn't a huge amount of  pedalling involved. Once I got to the end of the coillte trail it was a short sprint to the start of the muddy section of natural trail. I must say I was the most out of control but in control that I've ever been on this section of trail in my life. It was great craic barrelling down the trail to the bottom and into the finish line drifting around the last corner. 1st in my category again on the stage.

Stage 5

My god the climb to stage 5 was the most painful thing I've done in a while. For 40 minutes Fergal and I climbed and pushed up from 200m to the top of Seefin at 509m. Once Fergal and I got to the top we had a bit of a break before getting into the line to start the final stage of the day. I started off pretty fast hitting the rock drops and getting a good amount of air. Down the rest of the first rocky section passing 2 riders as I went. The next section was a crazy fast straight downhill piece of single track. I managed to hit 56km/h down it before dropping out onto the slalom road. Weaving between the poles and then into the next section of steep loose rocky trail which I nearly missed and had to ride down the side of the bank to get into. Lots of sideways fun down it, passed my dad who was taking photos and then the final sprint on the coillte trail for about 2 minutes to the Finish area. Done!!



1st in my category 14-18 nearly a minute ahead of Conor Lavelle in 2nd place. 12th overall just 20 seconds of a top 10 spot. Delight with the result in the first Gravity Enduro of the year for me.  Also well done to Jorday Kelly in 3rd, Luke Courtney in 5th and Leah Maunsell on taking the win in Pro Women. Looking forward to Round 3 in 3Rock next month now.


Big thanks to Expert Cycles for sorting me out with a set of American Classic's All mountain wheels which are super light and strong at a fantastic price which got a real test in the Enduro and ran great all day.  Thanks to both Alfie and Robin my bike ran great for the whole event without a single problem.

Finally thanks to Niall Davis and Biking.ie for holding a super event that was so professionally run from start to finish.

Scott

Xc NPS RD 3 MAD MTB, Home Turf

So last weekend was the 3rd round of the Xc NPS, and for me it was on home turf nearly in my back garden, 3 Rock. The run up to the weekend didn't go so well for me as I came off the bike on the Tuesday and gave myself a black eye and bruised my shoulder, which meant I didn't go out on the bike on Thursday either, but sure these things happen. The weekend started off in Larch Hill at 1 o'clock. Once everybody arrived we had a talk about Psychological preparation and training with Karen Weekes. She had some great tips for how to prepare mentally for racing and training. After the talk with Karen we got ready to go out for a practise lap. As the track wasn't taped out I guide the team around the track. The track suits me as its just one climb and one decent with a good amount of technicality . It was slightly muddy as well which also suited me. With the practise lap done we headed back to the hostel for dinner which was cooked by the parents (Thank you). After dinner I went to bed at 10:30.

Race day

On Sunday I was up at 8a.m. and on 3rock with Jon at 8:30 a.m. We set up the team tent and the Start/Finish arch in the rain. After that I got signed on for the race and chilled in the team tent till the U16/U14 races started. I watched them till they finished. The team got some great results in U16/U14's. At 13:20 I started to warm up on a turbo trainer as I didn't want to go out on the track and get the bike and myself dirty and wet before the race. At 2 o'clock I was on the start line ready to go.

3,2,1 Go! We all sprinted off the start line up the tarmac. As we got to the start of the first section of singletrack we were all spread out a bit. I was second into the trail and stuck to Dans wheel to the bottom. As we came out onto the road Max passed Dan and I so I was now in third. Down to the climb where I sat behind Dan to the top. Into the next section of trail and I manage to get past Dan after a small fall in the mud. We battled on to the top of the course were I got ahead just before the decent. I managed to put 10 seconds on Dan on the decent before coming across the line to finish the first lap.

Second Lap went Much the same as the first with Dan catching me at the end of the lap and making his move coming to the finish line. So Back to 3rd again. I continued to try keeping with Dan on the climb on the 3rd lap but was starting to fall behind. For the rest of the lap I continued to ride by myself just trying to get my lines and keep up the pace. The track was still holding up pretty well even with the amount of rain that we had earlier in the day and during the race. The downhill sections of the course were so much fun and the final section was just flat out.



So I came into the finish area to start the last lap. At that stage I was down 2 minutes on Dan's which was more than what I would of liked but I continued on to the climb. By this stage my legs were tired and the climb was a real slog but I made it to the top and headed of to A1 Sharon. I got my line through it perfectly and sprinted of up the fireroad to the start of the last section of downhill. I pushed on in the tree's and came down to the bottom of the mountain. I came out onto the fireroad to the finish line and sprinted from the bottom of the frieroad to the finish line. Done!

 So the race went well and I am Delighted with 3rd in Junior in my home race.

Thanks to MAD for holding the race, Jon Hynes once again for giving the team and I a great weekend riding, information and Fun, to Dare2B for the team kit which kept us nice and warm in the rain/wind and James Hanrahan for once again doing a great job on bottle Duty.

Finally a big thanks to Expert Cycles for doing a fantastic job servicing my forks and getting my bike running unbelievably smooth. Big help on the day having a smooth running bike.

Scott