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.