Lance Armstrong and I!

Whistler, British Columbia, Canada

I have been contemplating writing this post for almost two weeks now and the one thing that has held me back is where to start. As soon as I started mountain biking I had heard of Whistler, the ‘Disneyland of world mountain biking’. In the winter, Whistler Blackcomb is the fourth largest ski resort in the world and will be hosting the winter Olympics in 2010 and in summer it turns into the largest Mecca for DH mountain biking in the world.

I had been traveling up through the west coast of America for three weeks before I arrived in Vancouver and immediately wanted to get biking and experience something much different to what the rest of the trip had been about. I hooked up with Tom from MAD and Jerusha, a Canadian girl who I know through the Trinity bike club. We took the incredible drive up North on Thursday 9 July and I knew I would have a little over two weeks of full on DH biking ahead of me so was determined to make the most of it. I got checked into the Southside Lodge, which is 5minutes outside of Whistler town but well served by shuttle buses and hit the trails immediately.

I instantly saw why this place is so special. I rode the Mega Avalanche the year before in Alps d’Huez and thought they were the best trails in the world but Whistler really blew them out of the water. There is just so an insane variety of such fun stuff on every trail. For example, a trail like ‘No Joke’ starts off with really fast. flowy berms and tabletops thrown in for good measure. Then you’ll hit a really open rocky section that will shake you to bits, then you’re catapulted into a forest where there are endless line possibilities through some of the most technical riding I’ve ever done. Truly a maze of roots, rocks and stumps. The really special thing about it was the time and attention to detail that went into building the trail so everybody from pro to complete beginner could really enjoy themselves. For example, you could be flying along and hit a small two-foot or so gap. However, if you looked farther down the trail, there was almost always another landing that you could hit if really pinning it. I’d imagine it is almost impossible not to progress with the trails setup like this. The trails are also very different in Ireland. Although the trails in here are definitely as challenging as over there, Whistler trails can be much steeper while remaining so much safer. For example, there are endless really steep rock slaps over there that if you can kill your speed on, you over shoot the end a bit and go into loose soil. In Ireland, if you over shoot the landing on a steep shoot, much of the time there is a massive hole from when people were building the trail or some large, sharp branches left behind by Coillte to impale you. Manager Drop on last day before storm closed in:http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/video/video.php?v=123897173637&subj=526656300 One of the things that immediately struck me about Whistler is how comfortable the locals are in the air and how uncomfortable I am up there. I found I could hold my own on the technical stuff around but most of the trails invariably turned into an ‘A Line’ affair with flat out berms and massive table tops the whole way down the mountain. Local guys were comfortable clearing the 15foot or so table while getting almost as much air while I struggled to get across three quarters of the table. This was something that I felt I needed to sort out before leaving so on the fifth day began hitting them as hard as I could. Everything was going brilliant and I was getting more air time that I ever have until on one of the last ones I decided to boost as much as I could, overshot the landing while the front of the bike dipped down and threw me over the bars. I landed heavy on my chest, head and knees. (thank god for my Leatt Brace and chest plate!) and had to be ATV’d off the mountain to hospital. It was all a pretty traumatic experience as I went into shock straight away and was sure I had busted one of my knee caps. I must mention how good Tom was at this point. He picked me and my bike up and got us off trail and went about calming me down and making me comfortable. Fair play man, I owe you one. In the end, I was super lucky and got away with a couple of swollen knees, slight concussion and leaving a bit of my hip behind on the trail. I had to take about 4 days off the bike but it wasn’t such a bad thing as I was getting really beat up and tired on the trails anyway.

This takes me nicely onto the other, non biking side of Whistler which is almost as good as the biking itself! My two friends who I had been traveling with came up from Whistler to spend a week with me before they went home so we got to see the wild, après bike side of town as well as the incredible picturesque lakes. Whistler is filled with these incredible, crystal clear glacier fed lakes. It’s like something straight off the Coors Light bottle. We just lazed about and swam, eating loads by day and went out at night- just what I needed to take my mind off the injury. After five days of this, I timidly got back on the bike and was back riding the trails at a severely reduced speed. I got over this anxiety after a couple of days and began really enjoying it again.

On my final day, I met Tom at the lifts at 10am with getting a really hardcore day of trail riding in mind. We took it easy up until lunch time when we met up with Aussie Kev from Dunbar Cycles (Jerusha’s shop). He’s a really talented rider and knows the trails well which really helps when riding stuff I wasn’t very confident on. The plan was to ride a few double black diamond (these are graded as the toughest and most technical trails on the mountain) trails that I had not gotten around to riding during the week. I rode everything I wanted to and we decided to take the Garbanzo lift (the one that goes to the very top) for one last run. As we were going up, a predicted lightening storm closed in and we got to witness and incredible thunder storm. For a month before this, it had been very hot which had caused an extreme fire risk. As we were watching the lightening rain down on the other side of the mountain, a bolt hit a tree, setting it and the rest of the mountain on fire immediately. Within minutes fire fighting helicopters had moved in to put the blaze out- all pretty cool to watch ! The rain had begun pouring down which kept the mud down and made the trails super grippy and fun. I had the funnest and most out of control run of my life down some of the steepest and sketchiest trails finishing it off with the GLC drop into the finish. I left Whistler absolutely STOKED after that and completely satisfied that I gave the place my all.
Back to Ireland and reality now. The bike took some beating over there. Blew the fork seals, thrashed the back wheel, buckled the front wheel, bent the rear mech amongst other things. My verdict on Whistler: 10/10 –the first place I’ve ever visited that I could see myself living in the future. Trying to get back to fitness at the moment for the rest of the K Capital cups which is proving very difficult as my right knee keeps swelling up as soon as I put any effort in. I reckon the knee cap might be chipped from the crash I had during the MAD NPS but time will tell…

Wicklow 200

I awoke on Sunday morning at 5:20am to the immediate thought 'why am I doing this?'. As I drove through town watching as people were still struggling home, I kinda wished I was one of them and not on my to do 200km of pain into black clouds. Looking around at the hugely diverse crowd, I could only laugh. There were the shiny leggeded pro types, the fat-10 grand bikes types and of course, the goobers. It was like a goober world gathering. Thousands of them is no exageration! After signing on and meeting up with the guys from MAD, we rolled out at 7:20 and began the route which took us through Eniskerry before going up the Sally Gap, Wicklow Gap, Donard, Rathdrum and a load of other places before returning to UCD. I stuck with Paddy and Oisin for the first couple of hours while we were feeling strong and passing loads of people. At the first stop (90KM), I re-grouped with Oisin and split with Paddy and continued on trying to stay in as many roadie packs as possible. It was a cool feeling being dragged along at 30km/h for ages while barely doing any work. All the details are a bit fuzzy for reasons I will explain later but I hit Slieve Maan by mysef and struggled up it (although I did a fair bit better than the roadies. They're not the best at climbing for the most part it would seem!) A quick gel and some drink at the top and I met Luke from Trinity Tri Club. I was really glad of the company and he kept me upbeat while we climbed Shay Elliot. I barely noticed this climb go by thanks to the company! We managed to latch onto a group of complete savages for the guts of 30KM to bring us to the last feed station in Rathdrum. We picked up Oisin who had stopped for a puncture and continued on into a headwind to finish out the last 60KM. We were about 5.5hours in at this point. Within five minutes of leaving Rathdrum, I knew I was spent. I couldn't even spin on the flats and my stomach started cramping up really badly. Oisin and Luke were a fair bit ahead in no time and latched onto a slow group thinking that I would catch up but it was not to be.

The next 60km were an absolute nightmare. The stomach cramps continued and got worse and worse. A small pull I had on my left knee earlier started to become really painfull and I was by myself with a horrible head wind bearing down on me. It must have been 40miuntes before Paddy and a large, quick group caught up to me and I stuck on the back. I gave it everything and kept with them for about 15KM before my stomach pains became too bad and I had to drop off. I met a sound mountain biker ar Balliastoe that rode with me for a while and kept my spirits up- thanks man! All the little rolling hills that I was powering up earlier in the day seemed like Everest now. The final 30kms are a complete blur of pain and suffering but I finally made it back to UCD in a little over 8hours. To say I was shattered is an understatement. I have never felt so drained and stiff in my life. If was such a relief to be finished but not so much in an achievement kind of way. More of a, I'm so happy that pain is over.

Would I do it again? I really don't know. I enjoyed flying along in huge packs and had some great chats with complete strangers about how painful the whole thing was. However, there was a lot of really boring hours, even before I bonked. Too many in fact. Also, although there were lots of nice guys riding, there were some absolute assholes. I know its a generalisation but a lot of roadies seem stuck up themselves. I got in a fight with some goober over pelethon ethitic for example and seriously considerd pushing him off the road and there were a lot of guys that were too 'PRO' to say hello. I never thought about the event until the night before which was probably a bad idea. My longest distance on road had been 90km before yesterday! I never even bothered buying energy gels or bars which was fool hardy of me and backfired. I woke up as stiff as a board after 9 hours sleep this morning and that pull on my leg is really sore now which is really bad. I had the same injury last year and it took an age to heal so I really hope I'll be feeling strong for the MAD nps on Sunday. I'm really glad I completed but I think I'll do a monster mtb spin next year instead. Much more fun! :-D

NPS Round 6- Lady Dixon Park

Have had a really busy week with work so only getting around to writing this up now. Myself and Fergal headed up to my penultimate round (before I go away) of the XC NPS. The course was rumoured to be very un technical and unridable in the wet and it lived up to one of these rumours. Thankfully, we were greeted to blue skies and 26 degree+ temperatures so the track was bone dry throughout. It was a long lap with the first half comprising of twisty singletrack and the second of a snaking climb through a seeming never ending grass land. I had a decent start and was sitting in 8th or so place with Dave Askin of Lucan CC. We quickly caught up with some other experts and passed them and motored the first 4 laps of 6. I don't think there was ever a minute when my front wheel wasn't inches from his back. Really relentless stuff especially climbing through the grass in the baking sun. Towards the end of the 4th lap, Dave put in a big effort and put a 30second gap on me. I figured that was it for the race but during the 5th lap, I caught up with him on the singletrack and put on my best 'I'm not in much pain at all, I could keep this pace up all day if I wanted face' as I passed him. My acting skills seemed to work as he dropped off and I got a few minutes gap. That was pretty much it for the race, I didn't have the power to catch up with the two lads (Ross and Dave-O) in front and was managing to keep my lead on Dave behind me. The lack of someone to race really showed in my lap times with the last two being a couple of minutes slower than the rest.

Gene (a master from MAD) started chasing me down at the start of the grass climb on the last lap. I pushed as hard as I could to keep him at bay but with 200m to go, he powered passed me. I'll get him next time! I finished with my best result of the season, 5th. I was a good few minutes off first place but slightly reassuringly, 3rd and 4th place were only a few minutes ahead so might be able to bridge that gap by MAD Nps 7. Big thanks to Alison Boydell for doing a great job doing bottles and Trinity for supporting me. I'll post a couple of pictures once I track down the photographers.

Week Roundup

Finally, something to talk about! I finished my exams on Tuesday after a very long week out at the RDS. I had 6 of them and 5 went really well and had one dodgy one-maths. I hope I passed but I think I might have to repeat in August-bummer. I took the day off on Wednesday as I was still getting over my traumatic evening. A bouncer in CitiBar (a kip of a place on Dame St.) smacked me across the face because he managed to hear my comment on how he shouldn't grab girls by the neck to get them out. Was never going to go back to the place anyway but especially not after this! Boycott CitiBar!!

On Thursday I hit the gym with Gibs after a very long break (almost 3weeks!). Apart from being really tired between sets, we could almost lift the same weight we had been before. Happy days I thought... That evening I was heading out the door to the weekly Epic club race to find out that my brother had my cycling shoes in his van. I grabbed the roadbike in rage and set off into Wicklow. 90Km later and I was in bed. Woke up the next morning aching all over. Not so much from the biking but the gym. My arms and core are torn to bits so I can't really move around. They are still in bits now. Might be another 3 weeks before I can go back!! I took Friday off to spend with my generous girlfriend who bought me a pair of these last week. I am absolutely delighted with them! Got out on the big bike today for some sunny spin fun. Was a brilliant spin around some dusty dry 3rock trails. Everybody was absolutely flying especially the recently reincarnated DjCromie. Tomorrow I'm heading up to round 6 of the XC NPS in Belfast. It is in a small park up there so I'm not expecting much of a course and doubt I'll be going too well with all the time off the bike and the training cram this week but I'm sure the craic will be there as always. What else... I entered the Wicklow 200 yesterday in a moment of madness. Don't know why I did it really- I think it had something to do with not wanting to leave Oisin alone with the roadies though ;-) Will post back with a bit of a review on tomorrows race. Only myself, Fergal and Oisin heading up I think. People are getting soft already and it's only May!

My jump on todays super sunny spin. DjCromie swears he'll do it next time.











The new pimpin' shades


The group from today's spin

DjCromie pinnin' it

MAD XC-TRAVAGANZA

MADMTB are pleased to announce an MTB XC-travaganza on 3 Rock Co. Dublin, 10th May 2009.
This event is being held to part-celebrate the 20th Anniversary of MADMTB: 20 Years Offroad 1989 to 2009.

The event is basically a loop of the best trails on 3Rock and can be ridden anyway you like.
Spot prizes will be awarded on a random basis and there will also be awards for the first finishing teams home - the trick being that you won’t know who is on your team until after you sign on.
Your race plate will include your number and your team number, it will be up to you to hunt-out your teammates and quickly swap power-gels, calibrate heart-rate monitors, drill holes in your saddles and formulate your winning plans…..

This event has been made possible via close co-operation with local landowners and Coillte, and we hope everything goes smoothly in order that we will be able to host further races in the area in future. With this regard, please take all your litter home with you and be respectful of other users of the forest on the day.

The event will be fully marshalled so make sure to cooperate with them as they’ll be doing their best to ensure that you get the best out of your day.

New trails have been specifically constructed by the MADMTB Singletrack Engineering Division for the event which offer a large variety of terrain which has something for everyone from fast sweeping fireroad with great views out over Dublin Bay and to the Sugarloaf, short rocky paths, fast easy singletrack, twisty switchback challenging technical singletrack, bombholes, dips, lips, swoops, whoops and not forgetting and a nice climb or two thrown in for the craic.
Info on distance and approx. time for completion will be added soon.

Schedule:
The course WILL NOT be marked on the Saturday, sign-on will be on Sunday morning from 8:00am to 10:30am.
The event will kick-off at 11am, it will take you approx 15 mins to cycle up the start line from the parking field so ensure to arrive in plenty of time!
Parking will be in a private field on the Glencullen side of 3Rock.
The field is on your right as you drive towards Glencullen from Ballyedmonduff/Stepaside direction.

NPS Round 3

NPS Round 3 Roundup
I met Oisin at 10.00 and headed up in the van to Carlingford under big black clouds threatening another mud fest. It’s a handy journey, straight up the M1 for an hour and a bit and you’re there. We arrived and got signed on and did a practice lap. I recently started using eggbeaters and didn’t like them at all and with my Shimano peddles out of commission, Oisin kindly lent me a spare set he had. I tried everything but I couldn’t clip into the things! Was chatting with some Epic lads who reckoned the cleats were worn and right they were. Marc from Epic kindly gave me a spare set he had. Really saved the race for me!

The track was really cool. It started with a steep tarmac climb into some sliddery singletrack with a river crossing, then back up the tarmac again and onto a big ring fire road sprint, into a load of amazing off camber singletrack before eventually popping out at the end of the fireroad and having to slog it back to the start area. The race started a bit late which suited me as my pedal woes prevented any warm up. I got a place on the front line and tried to maintain a good position. I got into the singletrack towards the back of the field and preformed some dodgy overtaking maneuvers to get into 9th or so. I felt really strong for the first 3 laps and died a bit on the last one. Managed to pick my way up the field to 6th (thought I was 4th so a little disappointed!) I finished 13miuntes down on the leader which is quite a lot. I guess I’ll have to do more fitness work as I was definitely making up time in the tech singletrack. On the upside, the experts field was particularly savage yesterday with the winner beating the winning master’s time by 6minutes- usually the other way around.

Good points: Felt really strong for all but the last lap. Could manage to bate along the fireroad in the big ring for the first three before resorting to spinning on the last one.
It was a long and tough race but I felt fairly OK at the end. Maybe I could have pushed harder?
Really felt good on the singletrack, think I rode it without a dab for most of the laps.
I beat the lads who have beaten me in the last couple of races. The results don’t really reflect it as there was a load of DNF’s.
The bike feels great after it’s service. It’s nice to be able to be fully confident that it will do everything you want it to without any slips or jumps.

Bad points: I’m still a bit off the winner’s pace.
I don’t have the time with exams looming to sort my climbing speed out.
Up til an hour ago, I thought I came fourth!

Really need to put the head down this week study-wise. Have so much to cover and only two weeks to do it! Can’t wait for some worry free summer-time! Huge thanks to Nick Lannooth's brother for doing bottles and DUCC for their support. Photos by Shay Barry.