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.