Bluegrass Enduro Tour Dublin.

This is a bit late but here goes. Saturday brought the Bluegrass Enduro Tour to Ireland and with it the first ever multi venue race in Ireland while racing Blind. Saturday saw the women take on the 3 venues (Ticknock, Ballinastoe and Djouce) and 6 stages. There was some great racing in the women's category with Michelle Muldoon taking the win for the Irish. The men's race was the following day.

Sunday 

Sunday saw an early start from Powerscourt waterfall to get a bus to Ticknock. There were 2 stages, one very technical and the other a fast trail centre stage. First up was the technical one.

Ticknock Stage 1

Stage 1 started out on the fast flowy new trail centre section on Ticknock before turning of onto a much more technical, natural trail. This section was in the Gravity Enduro back in May so I knew this section quite well so I got through it at a decent speed. After 2 massive compressions onto the fireroad crossing it was into the steepest part of the stage but everything went wrong pretty much straight away. As I turned in to take a tight line beside the tree to have a straighter exit line I caught my front wheel on a stump and that was that. Straight out over the front and onto the deck. I got back up as quick as I could and got back on the bike. The rest of the stage was completely singletrack with a long pedaly bit at the end. I put in a time good enough for 3rd in my category and 13th overall. I was happy to have the first stage out of the way and to only be 10s of the top Junior even with the big crash.

 

Stage 2

Stage 2 consisted of one of the trail centre trails (Metro 1) and was a flat out sprint down the mountain. I knew this trail like the back of my hand from riding it on most spins I go on. It's all about carrying your speed and sprinting on the straights. I won the stage in my category and was 4th quickest overall. After this it was back onto the bus to go to Ballinastoe the second venue of the day.

 

 

 

 

Ballinastoe Stage 3

Stage 3 started with a slick rooty forest shoot before traversing across some of the hill. It then dropped onto one of the trail centre trails which was again fast flowing. After crossing the fireroad it was into some more natural singletrack and some wood work before hitting a long fireroad sprint to the last section of trail. This was another trail centre trail which was extremely fast and flowed down the mountain well. I finished this stage 3rd in my category and 12th overall.

 

  

 

Stage 4

Stage 4 was one of the longest stages of the day. Using a mixture of 2 of the Gravity Enduro stages meant there was a serious amount of pedalling and downhill. Everybody knew this was going to be the hardest stage so far. I started off well and made my way through the first section of tight slippy woods quick enough. There was loads of pedalling as we made our way backwards along one of the trail centre climbs before dropping into stage 3 of the Gravity Enduro. It had a great mix of berms and jumps but was followed by a god awful pedal to the finish. Once again I finished 3rd in my category and 10th overall. After this stage we had a cycle down the road to Djouce for the final 2 stages of the day.

Djouce Stage 5

Stage 5 was brilliant. Started straight away into a steep loose wide open corner followed by a quick pedal and then dropping across a path into a kicker climb. It then threaded its way through the trees and out a rooty shoot onto a walkers path. From here it was straight into a long section of off camber and a combination of bermed and flat switchbacks. After crossing 2 fireroad crossings and a chicane taped around some trees we were done. 3rd for the 4th time on a stage in my category and 11th overall

Stage 6

After a long climb up the red road it was time for the final stage of the day as the sun started to set over Dublin in front of us. It started with the same top section as always. Flat, pedaly and rooty. I had a small crash one one of the corners but nothing major. From here we were in for a big surprise. A whole brand new section of trail. It started out fast and flowed across the side of the mountain before turning into a steep straight loamy section. From here it was back onto the old stage and that was that for the day. Posted 3rd fastest time in my category on the stage and 11th overall.

It was then back to Powerscourt for ice creams and photos by the water fall. In the end I finished 3rd in my category a minute back on the fastest time in my category and 11th overall. Happy enough to be where I was considering the size of the first crash I had and the small crash on the last stage.

Big thanks to Alan & Matra from Action Pictures Ireland for the photos. You can see all the photos from the race here: http://www.actionpicturesireland.com/

As always I'd also like to thank Alfie and Robin in Expert Cycles for keeping my bike going 100% all the time.

See you in Carrick for the Final round Of the Gravity Enduro Series in 2 weeks time

Gravity Enduro Champs, Djouce

Gravity Enduro National champs took place yesterday in Djouce Woods. After the dustiest conditions we'd seen in Djouce all week Saturdays practice decided to throw 2 months of rain at us in one day. But practice had to be done so I headed out with Robb, Marcus and Jordan in the pouring rain. Practice went well looking at lines from earlier in the week and working out new ones for places where the track had change or couldn't ride. That evening I went home and put on the mud tyre up front.

 

Race Day 

Once again I woke up to the sound of rain battering the window at 7am in the morning. We made our way to Djouce and got under way at 10 o'clock. After the short first transition and a quick stop to watch a couple of pros go past I was ready to go for stage 1

 

 

 

Stage 1

Stage 1 was very similar to last years stage apart from changing the middle section from the longer, slightly slower Benchcut trail to the newer, faster, flowier Phantom trail. I wanted to start to keep the first stage clean to get the day under way. A slight bobble at the top in the first root section had me pick up the pace for the rest of the stage to make up the time I had lost. Phantom rode really nice in the race and reminded me a lot of the steep stages of Scotland. Quick sprint up the fireroad and then a clean run down the final section of singletrack to the finish put me 19th overall and 3rd in my category on the stage.

 

 

Stage 2

Stage 2 had a new section this year as well switchbacking between the trees. I got the first section of singletrack out of the way pretty quickly. After the short sharp climb I came in to the new section. I took it a bit to slow trying to get onto the high line which cost me time but once I got that the speed picked back up but I was a bit sloppy coming out onto the short piece of fireroad. Rode the rest of the stage cleanly and finished 25th overall and 5th in my category. A bit back on where I wanted to be.

 

 

Stage 3

Stage 3 had the most pedalling of all the stage on the weekend. The new section above the old starting point didn't help either. The new section was run over very mossy ground which made pedalling feel like you were going nowhere. After that ordeal there was even more pedalling along with some really technical root sections. Before the fireroad climb there was a steep section of single track with a couple of lines on it. On the Saturday I had decided I needed to be on the bottom line to get the inside line on the corner out onto the fireroad. So as I came into the section I set up on the low line only to get half way along it to find it had been taped off!! Pulled myself up onto the middle line but had lost some good time... After that I pedalled every where I could to make time back up. I finished 27th overall and 3rd in my category but again a bit back time wise

 

Stage 4

Stage 4 was on of the longest stages of the day. Got my line through the top section of the stage perfectly and came down past the lunch stop pretty quick into the next section which I cleaned pretty well. Hit the water crossing and into the final singletrack section. Lots of off camber in this section and didn't get on of my high lines right which spat me down to the bottom and caught my pedal on a stump which stopped me dead. Got going again and got to the finish in 17th overall and 3rd in my category.

Stage 5

Even before starting the stage I knew it was going to be a mess after seeing the conditions in Practice. Lots of pedalling at the top in the open. As I came into the forest I was regreting the blue tin lens in my goggles as I couldn't see a thing as I dropped into the steep part of the new section they had added. There was a lot of foot out action in this section as it was incredibly slick. Managed to get down it though and got onto the short firebreak where i got the goggles off. As I dropped into the next steep section things got quite out of control. I carried a bit to much speed into it and got side way and bounce of a tree still clipped in but somehow managed to ride it out. Got some cheer from the crowd that had gathered to watch things get rowdy! Sprinted the flat section to the end with a large amount of mud in my throat which wasn't nice. I finished 25th on the stage overall and 5th in the category.

Stage 6 was just a short sprint of a stage and went without any problems.

In the end I finished 4th in my category .5 of a second of 3rd and only 1 second ahead of 5th. Talk about close racing!! Well done to David Conroy on the win and to Conor and Killian on 2nd and 3rd. I finished inside the top 20 overall in 17th. Happy enough with my performance but thought I could have been a bit further up time wise.

Have to say a big thanks to Expert Cycles and their sponsors Yeti Cycles and SilverFish Uk for the support and having the bike running absolutely perfectly.

I'd also like to thank Adrian Van Der Lee and Action Pictures Ireland for the great Photo's in such crap weather. Links to both their websites and galleries below.
             http://adrianvanderlee.zenfolio.com/        http://www.actionpicturesireland.com/

Megavalanche 2014

So while I was injured during the winter Jordan Kelly (Bespoke Cycles) contacted me to see if I was interested in doing the Megavalanche this year and of course I said yes. How could you turn down the biggest  mass start enduro race there is to do! So after some organising we got our stuff together and on the 6th of July Jordan, Killian, Robb, Marcus, Michal and myself headed to the airport to fly to Alpe D'Huez. After the 2 hour flight and a 2 hour transfer from Lyon airport we finally arrive at our Chalet in Alpe D'Huez. We spent the rest of the day building the bikes back up and getting the chalet stocked with food. The first 2 days were spent just riding the bike park trails and some of the race track. The trails are amazing in Alpe D'Huez. There's a mix of everything from fast flowing berm/jump tracks to the rocky alpine singletrack you would expect from the Alps. The only thing we didn't expect was the constant rain!

Wednesday saw the start of official practice. I was up at 7am to catch the uplift at 8am to the top of Pic Blanc to have a go on the snow. After a long wait at the second lift station I finally got to the top. A lot of cloud meant you couldn't see much at the top but I made my way out onto the snow for the first time. I was riding really well on the snow and had got down the whole way without crashing until the last corner where I ran wide on the corner and found a 4 foot deep hole where a river was running under the snow. I hit the hole got launched forwards and did a full front flip still attached to the bike by my SPD's before it got flung away from me. I took quite  heavy blow of my stem which left me with a nice deep cut. As I turned around after getting up I saw one of the french riders I had shared the uplift up also on the ground. He had also crashed but had come of worse with a broken collar bone. So after this it was a case of just get down off the mountain. So I limped down the Mega track to Alpe D'Huez which at the time was still being snowed on. I made it down and called it a day. Day 4 saw us do one run of the qualifying track before finishing up for the day.

Qualifying

I managed to get onto the front row for the qualifying race which was a 22 minute downhill race. I was lined up along side DH World Cup riders Sam Dale and Ed Masters! I got a good start off the line and got through the first corner on the snow well and got away well. I was sitting about 13 going into the first section of single track and quickly made 2 places on the large rock section just 15m into the singletrack. From here I held 11th for a good portion of the race till I was passed on a wide open section linking 2 sections of singletrack. Nearly as soon as the Guy had gone past me his tyre blew of the rim and he came to a stand still. From here I held 11th all the way to Alpe D'Huez  where I crashed in a berm in the town which let a rider get by. After that I kept it steady down to Huez where the race finished apart from one small crash when I hit another berm to hard. I qualified 12th in a time of 22 minutes 23 seconds. this put me on the 6th row of the main race on Sunday. Killian finished in a quicker time than me but finished 13 in his group so started a row behind me. Jordan finished 15th in his heat only 13s of my qualifying time.

Megavalanche Main Race

5:50AM the alarm went off. I pulled myself out of my bed and into the kitchen to have breakfast. soon after Jordan and Killian were up and in the kitchen as well. 7am came around pretty quick so it was time to head up to the Lift station to go to the top of Pic Blanc. At 10:30 everybody was ready to go. Queue the awful European techno music!! Alarma!!! And away we went down the ski slope bodies classing of each other. I got going pretty well and pic up a huge amount of speed but soon ended up on the floor and getting hit on the head by the bike. Got back on and made it down the rest of the snow fairly slowly. I ended up coming off the snow near the very back of the pack. Not the start I wanted from the 6th row but there was nothing I could really do about that. From there it was a passing game trying to make up as many places as I could down the mountain. Half way down the mountain I came across Jordan and we had a bit of craic overtaking each other and other people before I passed him on a climb and pulled away. I moved on up the rankings passing about another 10 people on the main climb. I then got to the mud and everything went south from here. The mud was just the worst thing I have ever tried to ride in. It got so bad that you couldn't cycle the bike and trying to carry a bike that is 8 kg heavier than origin is not easy at all. By the time I got out of the mud nearly everybody I had passed on the upper part of the track had gone back past me. For the last 10 minutes of trail I had a clear run down so decided to go as fast as I could down it even when there was nobody to chase. In the end I finished 261st out of the 350 starters in the main race. To say the race was hard would be a serious understatement. I'm happy to have made it to the main race but I'm not to happy with the result in the race. The main thing though is it was an amazing experience and will help a lot if I go back again next year.

I'd like to say a big thank you to my parents as without them I would never have been able to go on the trip. To Jordan as well for doing nearly all the organising for the trip and Robb, Marcus, Killian and Michal for making it some craic. Finally I'd like to thank Alfie and Robin in Expert Cycles for continuing to put their support in me and for keeping my bike running so smooth.

 

(Make sure to play in full screen and HD)

Enduro World Series Rd2 Scotland

The 2nd round of the EWS took place last weekend in Peebles, Scotland. Dad and I left for Scotland on Thursday afternoon and after 4 hours of driving and a 2 hour ferry across the water we arrived in Peebles. We got the tent set up and had an early night knowing I had 40km+ of practise to do the next day. Friday morning I was down to registration early and as soon as I had got my race number and timing chip we drove down to Innerleithen with Damien Daly. We got to ride the 4 stages for the first days racing which were super steep and technical compared to the trails here at home.

Race Day 1

So Saturday started for me at 10:38. After being talked to by Enrico on the start ramp I headed out on course. The transitions are timed in the EWS so I had 1.30hr to get to the first stage. I got there 20 minutes early so I had time to have a bit of a break before my start time.  

Stage 1
Stage 1 went alright for me. I was bit slow in the top section of forest and a crash didn't help when I turned in too late for one of the corners. After that I battled my way down to the fireroad where I put as much as I could into the pedal before dropping back into the woods again. I found it hard going on the off camber section along side the stone wall but I got to the end in a ok time. After stage 1 I was sitting 11th in E1 juniors with a time of 7:37:21 some 50 seconds of the pace.

Stage 2
Stage 2 went similar to stage 1 with being to cautious in the steep stuff and crashed coming out onto the fireroad sprint. There was a big compression onto the fireroad and as I hit it it bounced me out on to the fireroad and as I landed the bike went straight out from under me. Result of the crash was more lost time and a bent mech. I jumped back on the bike and finished out the stage as quick as I could. At the bottom I pulled the derailleur back straight and headed down to the time check. After 2 stages I was now on a time of 13:01:97 which put me sitting in 10 place in the category.

Stage 3
Stage 3 was the only E1 riders only stage of the whole race. It had one of the steepest sections of trail I have ever ridden. This stage went alright for me and I manage to catch both my 20s and 40s riders ahead of me. I clawed back some time to move me into 9th place overall in the category. Now onto the last stage of the day


Stage 4
Stage 4 was the last stage of Day 1. It consisted of mainly one of the black down hill runs in Innerleithen. This stage was amazing fun and the speeds on it were very high. I managed to put in a time good enough to rank me 8th on the stage in Junior and held on to 9th place overall at the end of the day.

Race Day 2

Starting day 2 I was 19seconds behind 8th place. The plan for the day was to try and catch him but I didn't know if that would work out seeing as I was going to be racing Blind!!!

Stage1
Stage 1 was a mix of open flat fast corners and tight switch backs followed by lots of natural fast singletrack with one or two climbs thrown in. As I was racing blind I got caught out by a few of the corners but really enjoyed racing it blind. This was my slowest stage of the day placing 8th but was also my highest placing on a stage in the race so far.

Stage 2
Stage 2 was one of the longest stages of the weekend at 3.7km long. It also had a huge amount of pedalling. I had a good top section and pedalled hard on the lower section to come to the finish in 6th place in the category on the stage. I was really starting to find my rhythm and pace now.


Stage 3
This stage was the shortest stage of the day at around 3 minutes long. It was completely downhill and I managed to pull out a 4th on the stage which I am super stoked about. After this stage it was time for a big transition back to the very top of the mountain for the last stage

Stage 4
Stage 4 was the longest stage of the weekend at 3.8km long. There was loads of singletrack as well as the longest pedal section I've ever come across in an Enduro in the middle. I pedalled my absolute ass off on the middle section and rode fast enough in the singletrack to give me another 4th place stage finish in the category.


From the Finish of the stage we rolled back down into the race village on Tweed Green and checked in to get our times. In the end I kept my 9th position overall but closed the gap to 8th place from 19s at the start of day 2 to 3s at the end of the day. I feel like I didn't give it enough on the first day and that let me down a bit on the results but I'm happy to come away from my first EWS with a top 10 finish and 2 4th places in my category on the last 2 stages while racing Blind.

I'd like to say a big thanks to Expert Cycles for getting the bike in race condition before heading over and for all the spare bit. Have to say thanks to my Dad as well as without him the trip never would of happened.

Next up is one of the biggest mass start mountain bike races in the world. The Megavalanche. See you in a months time!

Gravity Enduro RD2 3Rock

What a weekend at round 2 of the Gravity Enduro series! 2 days of riding and flat out racing on 3Rock. Things got going at 11am on Saturday as I headed out for practice with Jonathon Maunsell, Alex Nowtynski and Jordan Kelly. We spent over 5 hours out on course looking at lines and getting up to speed on course. I managed to get a little bit too up to speed while practicing part of stage 3 and had a big crash which hurt my wrist and stopped me from riding stage 4 properly in practice.

Race Day

Racing started at 10 o'clock on Sunday morning. With a shorter course everybody knew that winning times would come down to seconds. Stage 1 went well without any problems and managed to hit all my lines from practice. I felt that i might have ridden the brakes a bit to much in the steep section but I was still only 6s behind after the 1st stage. Stage 2 felt faster but still was a couple of seconds off the pace. Stage 3 went really well, got all my lines and didn't crash like on practice day. I manage to put in a similar time to the others on this stage so was pleased with that. Stage 4 was up next and to be honest i had no clue what I was going to be like on it without riding it properly on the Saturday. I did manage to get a clean run down but it was nearly 10s of the leaders pace. Coming into the final stage I knew I had to push hard and once again got a clean fast run down the stage and finished 1s off the fastest rider on the stage in our category. My times put me 3rd on every stage in my category. In the end I finished up 3rd in the 14-18 Category and 12th overall. Delighted to take 3rd in such a closely contested field of riders and looking forward now to heading over the water to race the Enduro World Series in Scotland next week.

Big thanks to Expert Cycles for having the bike running perfect for the race and to Adrian Van Der Lee and Action Pictures Ireland for the Photo's

Xc NPS Rd2 3Rock

So this is a bit late but I'll give you a short report from 3Rock 2 weekends ago. So obviously this was my home NPS. I helped to build the course as well as tape it out on the Friday and Saturday morning. The course was definitely one of the most technical courses of recent memory for xc. The race started at 2 o'clock. I got a good start of the line and manage to get into 3rd just before we entered the first singletrack. From that I was able to pull a bit of a gap down the first downhill which gave me some space for the tarmac climb. Near the end of the climb I was passed again and dropped back to 4th. I managed to move back into 3rd on the long descent back to the bottom of the mountain and held 3rd till near the end of the last climb before the finish. This went on till the end of the 3rd lap. As we hit the tarmac on the 4th lap I was still in 3rd place and had a bit of a gap. That didn't last though as 4th and 5th came past me like a steam train on the big 29ers. I tried to chase them but I had let them get too far ahead of me. I pushed on hoping I might catch them on the descent but it never happened. I came across the line by myself taking 5th place in the juniors. Big thanks to Robin in Expert Cycles for bring up a jockey wheel for my derailleur after it decided to implode just after I had arrived up and Adrian Van Der Lee for the photo's.

2014 Xc Nps Rd1 Slade Valley

The Xc NPS race season kicked off on Sunday with the first round in Slade Valley held by IMBRC. Being mainly concentrated on Enduro this year, I hadn't had any time on the cross country bike before the race but decided that it would be good training for the year. Dad and I arrived at the track early Sunday. I went for a practise lap just to make sure the course hadn't changed from last year which it hadn't. At 2 o'clock we lined up behind the S1 and got ready to race. I got a good start of the line and got up to the kicker on the start loop in 5th but couldn't hold the spot into the singletrack and dropped back to 8th going into the dh section of the start loop. After going through the start finish to start the first lap 6th and 7th started to pull away a bit up the first fireroad. Marlena went past me and I pulled in behind her and drafted behind her all the way back up to 7th again. The group of the 4 of us stayed together through the first single track and down the fireroad to the next section of singletrack. Just before the entrance I put in a sprint and got into the singletrack ahead of 6th place.
I pushed hard down the singletrack and opened a bit of a gap.I held 6th into the "Rabbit ride" section of the course which was the most technical section on the course. I managed to catch 5th place on this section but lost him on the fireroad after it again. I stayed in 6th for the next lap not making any mistakes and keeping it clean and fast. Towards the end of the 2nd lap my back started to get pretty sore but I pushed on. Half way round the 3rd lap I got passed by 2 other riders as I had slowed down a good bit due to my back. I got a gel into me towards the end of the lap and then put the hammer down. Even though my back wasn't right I pushed hard and caught back up with 7th place and passed him. Towards the end of the last lap I had to make a quick stop before the last climb to the singletrack to the finish as my saddle had dropped about 3 inches. After that it was straight forward to the finish with no problems. I finished 7th in the end a good bit behind the winner but I'm happy with my result considering having had no real training and a sore back. Well done to Paddy, James and team mate Dan on 1st, 2nd and 3rd.

Big thanks as always to Expert Cycles for their support. I'd also like to thank Adrian Van Der Lee for the amazing photo's. Check out his gallery here: http://adrianvanderlee.zenfolio.com/p981573289

See you guys in 2 weeks for Rd2 on my home turf, 3Rock

Gravity Enduro Ireland RD1 Ballinastoe

Yesterday saw the return of the Gravity Enduro Series with Rd1 in Ballinastoe. Practise took place on Saturday where I spent over 5 hours out on course looking at lines and trying to get those lines dialled in on the new bike.The course was a bit wet and muddy on Saturday but thankfully it dried up overnight and we were left with perfect conditions for race day on Sunday.




Racing started at 10 o'clock on Sunday morning. A new timing system which worked out amazingly well meant no more trying to tag in and out awkwardly.

Stage 1 went well, I tried to keep it clean and fast and not throw it away at the start of the day. I was 2nd quickest on the stage in my category which was a good start to the day.

Stage 2 went well. I put in a good sprint on the fireroad section and managed to catch the rider infront of me just at the end as we went through the finish gate. I ended up 2nd again in the stage times for my category.

Satge 3 was one of the best stages of the day. The new section up top was amazing with loads of jumps and berms. Once again I kept it clean and smooth and ended up putting in the 4th fastest time on the stage in my category.

Stage 4 had a lot of new stuff on it and with not being allowed to ride it on Saturday due to the weather and soft ground I didn't really know where I was going at times. Riding it without knowing where I was going made it hard to keep it clean at times. But that's something I need to work on for the World Enduro Series in Scotland in a month and a halfs time. I put in a good enough time to put me 4th on the stage in my category


Stage 5 was the longest and best stage of the day. At over 6 minutes long it's one of the longest stages in the series and was a real test of overall rider ability, with lots of pedalling and lots of fast decending. The new top section was tight and technical and I made a small mistake just before joining back onto the stage from last year. From there it was a clean run till I ran wide on a corner and caught a tree and had to get off the bike and pull it out from under the tree. My time on the stage was still good enough for 3rd quickest in the category.


In the end I finished 3rd in Juniors with a time of 21:56, 7 seconds behind Robb Hales in 2nd. My time was also good enough to be 8th fastest overall on the day. I'm happy with how the day went but I now know I have one or two things to work on for 3Rock in a months time. Well done to Conor who won our category (and set the second fastest time overall on the day) and to Robb coming 2nd.

As always Biking.ie put on a great race and Thanks to all the photographers for the photos!

Big thanks to Expert Cycles for sorting me out with the new bike for this year. Really happy to be riding the new Yeti 575.

Munster Enduro Series Rd 1 Tracton

So Sunday saw the start of the 2014 Enduro season in Tracton woods for the First round of the Munster Enduro series held by MBCC. It was a 5 stage, 2 run format (Best times count) with no practise on the Saturday. Racing started at 12 o'clock on the all natural course. The first 2 stages were very pedally, but went by without major problems. I decided not to take a 2nd run at either stage to try save energy for the next 3 stages. My first run down stage 3 I binned myself infront of a big crowd of people and backed off till I got to the end, and then went for a 2nd run which went much better. Stage 4 was much the same. Came off the bike on the first run, cruised to the finish and then went back up to do a second run. Stage 5 was definitely the best stage of the day. Steep fast and muddy. My first run went well and I managed to make the full run without any off's but felt I could go a bit faster so went back up for my 2nd run and managed to take 13second off the first run time. Overall I felt I put in good enough days racing. I finished up 3rd in the under 20's catagory and 5th overall which I'm really happy with considering my injury during the  winter. Well done to Robb Hales and Conor Lavelle on 1st and 2nd. Well done to MBCC for holding a great race.


Thanks to Expert Cycles as always for their support.
See you guys this weekend for the first Gravity Enduro in Ballinastoe!

2014 Biking Blitz Rd3 + Rd4

So after Ballyhoura being delayed due to the storm and not travelling to Galway for the 2nd round of the blitz, It's been a while since the last up date. Gonna keep this short as there is 2 races to get through.

Biking Blitz Rd3 Ticknock

 "I could see Killian coming out of the single track as I was climbing the tarmac road for the second and final time"

Ticknock was the venue for the 3rd round of the biking Blitz held by Biking.ie. It was a pretty casual start to day, arriving up to 3rock around 11 o'clock. I decided I would use my dads Yeti for the races as training for the enduros. I got a practise lap in with Jonathan Maunsell and Alex Nowotynski before the race. The Line up was called a bit earlier than I expected and ended up having to slot into the middle of the 150 rider start. After getting a bit caught up at the start I started to move up the group. I battled with Killian Callaghan all the way to the top of the first climb before starting to get away from him as we came to the new first single track. It was a bit hard to pass on the new trail with all the riders so bunched up but after overtaking about 7 riders I got a clean run to the end of the trail. From here on it was a case of pushing on as I had ended up by myself with nobody to pace myself of or catch. At the end of the First lap I could see Killian coming out of the single track as I was climbing the tarmac road for the second and final time. The rest of the race went without any problems. I just tried to keep pushing on to try put in the best overall time I could. I had a few little Battles with Ian Coates and Paddy Dally towards the end which was brilliant and the last run down to the finish I tried to have a bit of fun while still racing! I finished the race in 4th place which I am happy with considering I was racing an xc race on an Enduro bike!

  

Biking Blitz Rd4 Ballyhoura 

The finale of the series took place in Ballyhoura, Co Limerick. After leaving early that morning Dad and I arrived down to Ballyhoura about 11 o'clock. Once again I got a warm up in before the race on the green trail with Jonathan and Alex. At 1 o'clock we lined up on the start ready to go. This time I was on the front row. As the siren sounded to start the race, I slipped my pedal and fell into Gareth next to me. After that bit of a pile up of the start I got going and got into the first single track in 7th in Junior. I rode with Alex all the way till just before the halfway mark were he then started to pull away from me. Pushing on I started to feel quicker and at this stage was in 6th. There was still one section of boardwalks still out of action from the storm so there was a detour around it. It ran down a rocky fireroad I was hitting about 50km/h and every dip you hit you were taking off into the air. After that The climb started and god was it a slog. But by the end of it I had managed to catch and make up 2 places which moved me up to 4th. From here on it was all downhill to the finish on most of the last stage of the Gravity Enduro which was great on the Yeti. In the end I came home in 4th place. Once again I'm happy with how the race went on the big bike but felt the first half could of gone a bit better! 

                                                                                                        A big thanks to Expert Cycles for helping me out again this year and to Cycle Action Photography, Action Pictures Ireland and Ross Photography for the Photo's.  Looking forward to the First round of the Gravity Enduros in 2 weeks time! Also If you haven't already seen it here's a link to the 1st Episode of #ALLTHELADS

2014 Begins+Ballinastoe Biking Blitz

 Small update

So its been a while since my last update so before we go into the First race report of the year I just want to say a few things. First of all, I have to say a big thank you to Expert Cycles for all their support last year and I'm really looking forward to riding for them again this year. Secondly thanks to every one for the Get Well wishes after I broke my collar bone in November, I'm back on the mtb 3 weeks now. And finally as most of you already know, but for those that don't, this year I'm going to focus on racing Gravity Enduro with a line up of races here and abroad and on a New bike which you'll get to see in a few weeks. Right now the race report!

  

Ballinastoe Biking Blitz

So on the 2nd of February the 2014 Race season started! It began as always with the first round of the Biking Blitz held by Biking.ie. We arrived down to Ballinastoe around 9:30 and I got signed on. As the day went on Killian Callaghan and I watched the kids races. At around 12 o'clock we went for a bit of a ride to warm up the legs before the race. At 12:30 we lined up with the other 250+ riders for the first race of the season. At 1 o'clock we started. It was a bit of a push and shove off the start to try and make it past people to get up through the pack before the first section of singletrack. After that there was a lot of back and forth passing people and then being overtaken again by them, one of them being Conor Lavelle in particular. For the most part it was a very uneventfull race for me, just making passes where i could. Conor and I rode together for the whole lap. I managed to make up 3 places around the halfway point of the race just before the biggest descent on the course. That put me up to 5th in Junior. After that it was just a case of trying to keep them behind me to the finish line. As we got closer to the finish Marlena one of the 3 I had passed started to catch up again. For the last 2km I had to push hard to stay away from her and in the end it came down to a sprint to the line. In the end I finished up 5th in Junior which I'm delighted about after being off the bike for so long. Well Done to Paddy and Dan on 1st and 2nd.

Thanks to Biking.ie for Kicking of the Racing season in style as always and I'm looking forward to the next one in Ballyhoura. One thing I can take from the race though is I still have a good bit of work to do on my fitness level but overall its not to bad!

See you in Ballyhoura on the 16th!!