Xc Nps Rd6, G-ride

So the last race of the Nps series was on last weekend in Gride in Glendalough. I arrived at the course at 12 on Saturday and met the rest of the team. Once everybody arrived we went out to do some practise laps of the course. The course is the kind of course that suits me. One climb one descent. Technical the whole way through. On Saturday I got 2 laps in then headed to Lynhams of Laragh with some of the team that were staying there. At 7:30 that evening we had a meeting about Nationals and our trip to Scotland. We were also told that 6 of the squad members were going to be going to the European champs in August.

Race day

So on Sunday I got a lift to G-ride with James from the squad. we arrived there just before 10am. We went and watched the strider race which was great. After that I hung around the team tent with some of the team having a chat while it bucketed rain. At 12 James, Luke and I watched the U14/U16 race which were very exciting. At 1  o'clock I started to warm up on the turbo trainer. Thanks Smithers! After warming up on it for a while I got on the bike and peddled up and down the start straight for a while. At 2 o'clock we lined up on the start line and 3,2,1, Go! I got a good start and sat mid pack till near the end of the road. As it started to climb at the end I put in a push and got into the singletrack in 3rd. But not for long as I then went on to miss the boardwalk near the beginning of the trail. So everybody went back past me. I caught back up with them again pretty quickly and moved into 5th behind Max Van Der Lee. I was behind Max till the switch back climb where a few mistake caused him to pull in to let me by. I then went on to chase down Anthony and pass him as well on the first lap. So I was in 3rd now. On the starting the second lap I was 50 seconds down on Chris in 1st place. About a quarter of the way through the second lap I caught my team mate Dan. I was behind him till the switchbacks and then made a move on him on a high line on one of the run ups to a switch back. After passing him I started to pull away from him. I was now by my self but pushed on as fast as I could go down the descents. On the Third lap I manage to catch Chris and then Stuck on his back wheel until near the end of the last lap. Then It started to get interesting. On one of the sections I tried to pass Chris and we hit bars  but he got back in front. I then went for the pass again right before the last section of singletrack but he blocked me and I couldn't get past. So as we came out into the start finish area things were made even more interesting by some backmarkers ahead of us. As we entered the last corner onto the straight Chris got stuck behind one of the backmarkers so I went around the outside and got the sprint on to the finish. As I was coming to the finish line 2 other backmarkers came into the midlle of the track and I ended up hitting the ground onto the finish mat at the same time as Chris was finishing. In the end up I finished 2nd, 0.6 seconds behind Chris.

So That's the end of my second years racing in the Xc Nps. Last year I was 3rd overall in the U16 cat. This year I finished 4th in Junior only 2 points behind my Expert Cycles team mate Daniel Brickendam.

Looking forward to Nationals on the 21st of July in Garvagh!!!!

I'd Like to say a big thank you to Expert Cycles for supporting me through out the year and for all their help and advice.

I'd also like to thank Jon Hynes for all the hard work he has done over the year helping us on the Development Squad. For all the organising on race weekends, getting us support with BikeAddiction, Dare2b and Biking.ie and everything else he's done. I think everybody would have to agree that he's done a great Job this year and has really brought the people on the team along as riders.

Gravity Enduro Rd3 Ticknock

Round 3 saw us on Ticknock in the Dublin Mountains. The weekend started early saturday morning arriving at the carpark at 9:30. After getting signed on The Mad Crew headed out to practise the course. The first stage was one of the metro trails which was flat out and rocky. Then a long sprint along a fireroad into a Muddy forest switchback section to the finish. After that we headed to stage 2. Stage 2 was one of the most physical stages of the day. It started with a slightly Muddy bermy trail. After that it was a long rocky section which claimed one of the Mad lad's and put him out of Sunday's race. Some of the other lads got him sorted and then we moved on to stage. Stage 3 was the most physical stage in my opinion. It started with a technical singletrack section followed by a flat out straight section. Then into an old downhill trail which was really technical but flowy. At the end it came into a slightly slick switchback forest section to the finish. After this I ended up leaving the Mad group and continuing on with my Expert Cycles Team mate Max Power. Stage 4 was great craic. Pretty much just a Muddy rutted switchback trail down the mountain and then a rock gully to the very bottom of the mountain. Max and Myself only went to the bottom of the Switchback section and the headed to do part of Stage 5. We only did the bottom half of stage 5 as it was the other metro trail which we had both ridden plenty of times. The bottom Section was a steep forest trail followed by a short rocky section to the finish.

Race Day

My dad and I arrived at Ticknock at 9am to get parked near the race village. After getting my self sorted I went up to the race village. I met up with Max before going through scrutiny. After scrutiny We headed up to stage 1 and were the first seeded riders to the top.

Stage 1

Stage 1 went well. Was fast down the metro pedalling every where I could. I had one big moment where I tried squash a jump and got bucked forward nearly over the bars. As I came out onto the flat section I put in a big sprint to get to the forest section. In the forest section I held my lines pretty well and kept good speed with only one small mistake on a off camber corner. After coming out of the forest it was a quick sprint to the finish. 1st on the stage in my category. I waited for Max to come down the mountain in the midges. Once Max got to the bottom we headed of to stage 2.

Stage 2

Once we got to stage 2 we only had a short wait for the Pro's in front of us to start. We were still driven mad by the midges. Stage 2 got off to a great start, nailing all my lines thought the Forest section. I got down through the rock section pretty fast. Into the forest again and got down the trail alright. Felt like I could of gone a bit faster but I still managed to come 1st on the stage in my category.

Back up the mountain for stage 3.  Got a good sprint of the start but as I came to the entrance to the forest I lost the back wheel and hit the drop into the forest sideways with on foot out. I lost a bit of time getting back up to speed but kept good speed through the rest of the trail. The next section was a flat rough section of trail. Next was into the downhill trail. I went well down through it with only one mistake that brought me to a stop for a second. The bottom Half of the downhill trail went well getting all my lines and at a good pace. 2nd on the stage in my category. I was left waiting a while for Max as he had a big of on the stage. Once he got I got a bar in before pushing up the climb to get back up half the mountain. Once we got to a point we could cycle we got back on the bikes and got up to the top of the mountain. At the top we met Dan one of the other Team Expert Cycles riders that wasn't racing the gravity. After that we got a glass of coke from Last Lap Cafe and the got ready for stage 4.

Stage 4

I was looking forward to this stage the most. Off the start I was fast on was quick down the rock gully and out across the road. A quick sprint along a sand path and into the mud. Held my line well  and felt fast enough. Came sliding out onto a small kicker and sprinted up it and then it was back into the mud. Got a bit out of control in the next section, flying down a mud gully with a foot out, not touching the brakes. Then a 20 metres on I got a bit of a swap on and clipped a tree going around the corner. Through the rest of the trail and out onto the fireroad. A quick 2 second sprint put me into the last section of trail which was a long rocky gully to the bottom of the mountain. Once again 2nd on the stage in my category.

Stage 5

Final stage of the day. Was looking forward to putting in a good run to finish of the day. Out of the start I felt good. Got down through the first half of the Metro fast. As I started the second half of metro I hit one of the rock gardens. As i went to pedal out of it I had nothing. The chain was off and my chain guide was broken. Words cant describe how gutted I was. I pumped as far as I could then began to run with the bike. I stoped and tried to get the chain back on so I could pedal but it wouldn't go back on. I continued on running and then Jumped back on for the Last section of steep forest trail. I let it hang out on the last section trying to make up time but it wasn't enough. Finishe 3rd on the stage but lost a huge amount of time.

In the end up I came 2nd in my category a minute behind 1st nearly completely because of the 5th stage mechanical. Little bit bumbed with the result as I could of potentially won but sure that's racing! Ended up 23rd overall. the Rest of the team went alright with a 6th for Alfie, and 30th for Max in their category's. Robin Had a mechanical on stage 3 put him out of contention for the day. Big thanks to Expert Cycles for their Continued support of me in all of my racing.

Scott

XC NPS RD5 Slade Vally

So I'm a bit late with this but here go's anyway.

On Saturday morning my Mum and I headed to the track. When we got there I went out and did a practise lap with The guys from Expert Cycles. After we finished the practise lap my team mates arrived for the Team Relay. Once Scrivo and Fergal were ready we went for another practise lap. The course was brilliant. It had a really good mix of singletrack climbs and descents as well as some fireroad climb. The Descents were technical and fun and quite fast. So at 1 o'clock I lined up to take the start of the relay for our team. Off the start I got away well and managed to get first into the singletrack. I held the lead until we came out of the first section of singletrack where some of the other lads went by me. I was now in 5th out of 6th. I pushed on trying to catch the rest who got away ahead of me. Half way around the lap I caught up with 4th place which was Paddy from the squad. I stuck on his wheel till the finish sprint where I just managed to pip him to the line. I tagged in Fergal and he set out to do his lap but got a puncture Half way around and we DNFed.

On Sunday my brother came with my mum and me. My brother and I went and did a lap of the course. After that I watched the U16/U14 races. The squad got some good results with a good few podiums. After the prize giving I went and warmed up doing 2 laps of the start loop which was about 3 minutes long. I then lined up on the start line in the front row for the race. At 2 o'clock the race got going and I got into the start loop in 5th behind Dan. We were like a train going thought the start loop all right behind each other. As we got onto the actual lap the top 3 started to pull away from Dan and myself. We started to work together on the fireroads to try catch the others. I pulled ahead of Dan for a while but he pulled back the time and near the end of the first lap a I had a stupid little crash. So for the 4th time this year I ended up doing the 2nd and 3rd laps by myself. I concentrated on trying to push on and get all of my lines. Going onto the last lap I was 50 seconds behind Dan.

My last lap was quite slow, losing a good bit of time on the rooty climb at the back of the course. I made it thought to the end off the downhill trail at the end of the course then all of a sudden Bang.. The Bottom half of the derailleur broke and would not tension the chain so I had to run through the last section of single track and up the Fireroad to the finish. Done. The Heat during the race was unreal. I finished 5th, 1 minute 40seconds behind Dan in 4th.

Big thanks to Expert Cycles For having my bike running sweet the whole way thought the race and for sorting me out with a new X9 Type 2 Mech since the race at a great price.

Also thanks to IMBRC for holding the best race of the year on the best course of the year.

Scott