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