My Goings On

Dublin Does Fridays Continued

2012-02-06T15:26:00.000-08:00

Madigans
This pub is steeped in history with a list of regulars including literary giants Joyce and Behan. Local poets are some of Madigan’s best locals and they can be seen tucked in the corners with their note pads writing away. The place oozes quality with its Harry Clarke stained glass and Victorian features throughout. The proof is in the pint though and like all good barmen, I had only sat down before I was asked if I’d like a pint brought down to me. The bar staff are total professionals ensuring that everybody is served their drink while having the intuition to know when people just want to be left alone. Not only that though, it’s clear these guys take pride in their work with every drink being poured with the greatest care and attention. It’s hard to define a ‘real’ Irish pub but Madigans is it. They serve traditional stew all day with a food menu on til 11pm with free finger food available on Fridays for the trad session.

The lounge is immediately inviting with people from all walks of life deep in conversation about all sorts from the rugby on the multiple screens to how good the toasties are. It is easy to see why so many tourists are scattered throughout the bar, it’s the warm, lively atmosphere. Everybody is accepted as equal and one can retire to be alone in the snug or make friends with the genuine characters at the bar with equal ease. “Tempus Fugit’ or ‘Time Flies’ is written above the entrance to the lounge and it certainly does as I managed to stay for two hours without realizing it!

The Flowing Tide
Established in 1824, the Flowing Tide is as part of Dublin as O Connell Bridge. Inside, there is a warm, inviting atmosphere with a diverse crowd. Small groups of local workers huddle around their pints while younger professionals enjoy their coffees at the bar. Uniquely, it is these people that choose what goes on with them having free reign over the television controls. During the 1916 rising, a shell fired from the British Battleship, Helga hit the roof of the pub causing significant structural damage. One of the pub’s supporting pillars still contains the shrapnel as its removal would be too risky. Innovative ideas such as a bottle of wine and a large pizza for €20 and it having the only heated beer garden in the area keep people coming back after work. Although it is one of the smaller pubs around, the management concentrates on getting the basics right with excellent service and value for money given top priority. There is a nice laid -back buzz in the seating area with everyone enjoying a well earned drink after a long day of work.

Given its location directly across from the Abbey Theatre, actors and celebrities are common place here. Pierce Brosnan is said to always drop in for a Guinness after a show. Brian Denehy was famously quoted to have said “I love the pub, I love the drink but I’ll never understand why the guy behind the bar is telling me to go to bed at 11pm!”

Dublin Does Fridays

2012-02-05T17:46:00.000-08:00

I've recently started work as a reporter for www.dublindoesfridays.ie. It's a campaign to show that Irish pubs are the best and most unique in the world and it's my job to convey this with my words. Yeah.... that sounds alright I think. Below is my first piece on '

What I love about Irish pubs'

generally. Later on it'll be focused on two pubs in particular.

Irish pubs are unique. They are not like any other pubs in the world and yet it is hard to put a finger on what makes them so brilliant. The best ones have very few luxuries, smell rancid and look like they’ve never been cleaned but this is not what makes them great. So the surroundings aren’t important. The pubs I love have their own character, they’re far from perfect but I love them regardless. They’re kind of like that friend you have, far from perfect but they’re so much fun that it makes up for all of their shortcomings. The walls and the people all have their stories to tell. They are full of spontaneity, atmosphere and the holy grail; craic.

On entering an Irish pub, you can be assured there will be a collection of regulars sitting at the bar who might give that subtle welcoming nod. Next is the barman, the efficient, friendly purveyor of your perfect drink. You hand him that hard-earned five euro and he always has a look of appreciation and total care as he prepares your usual. Depending on your mood, you can retire for a quiet social in the snug or make friends in the lounge. There are no limitations to the Irish pub and all people are accepted as equal. There is no dress code or entrance fee, just a friendly smile and the promise of something unexpected. I don’t know what it is about our pubs but they always manage to spark good times. Whether you are down about a loss or on cloud nine, the Irish pub always manages to bring the best out in people. Usually, a place is a sum of its people. This is not the case with Irish pubs, they are a personification of the best their area has to offer yet there are always those brilliant characters that you can only meet there.

By Stephen Scrivener

Mechanic Extraordinaire

2012-01-29T12:20:00.001-08:00

Testimononials -Oh I'm blushing!

Steve has been servicing/fixing my bike for almost a year now and I have no hesitation in recommending him. Every time I get the bike back from Steve it feels as good as or sometimes even better than new. He is obviously completely competent with all aspects of bike maintenance and setup and it's great to be able to trust that he'll always do the best possible job with the most suitable parts. He also often suggests little things to change which make a huge difference on the trails. His quick turnaround time also means that I never have to be off the bike for very long.

Paula Keohan- Adventure and XC Racer

I would totally recommend Stephen when it comes to fixing a bike. He knows everything there is to know about the bike. He is efficient and reliable and he doesn’t rip you off! If you leave your bike in to a shop to be repaired, you may have someone who really knows what they are at fixing the problem and on the other hand you may not. The do not particularly care how good a job they do, as long as the customer seems happy. Stephen is working for himself, so it is important to him to do a good job and please the customer. He is a very good mountain biker himself, and he knows all about the different components of the bike and he would have lots of advice to give on any technical aspect of the bike. If I ever have any questions, I would always ask Stephen. I really couldn’t find any faults with Stephen, he is a sincere, genuine, hard worker who will do him best for you.

Rachel Cinnsealach- Adventure Racer/ XC Rider

Yes, extraordinaire. That's right! I've been doing bike work from my workshop for the past 6months or so and have lot's of very happy customers. So why would you give me your bike to work on?

I'll treat it like it's my own with no distractions or shop managers breathing down my neck, I can take my time and guarantee the job is done 100% right. No compromises.

I charge approximately half the price of regular bike shops.

I check over every part of every bike. If anything is not 100%, I'll let you know immeditealey and let you know what it'll take to fix it.

Bike pick ups and drop offs are no problem.

I specialize in the biggest cause of bike handling difficulties and discomfort- setup. I'll ensure the bike fit's properly and your cockpit is right for you. The difference something as small as shifter placement and brake lever angle can make is HUGE.

I guarantee complete satisfaction with the work or I'll charge nothing.

Give me a shot! You've nothing to lose.
stescrivoATgmail.com
0861653925

2012

2012-01-29T12:18:00.000-08:00

This year is different. It’s going to be different. I’m determined to do well and although I can foresee a couple of months off (well not off but not training enough) in March/April for finals, I’m putting down what I think is a solid(ish) base now. I started as soon as I got back from a weeks boardin’ and boozin’ in Les Arcs about a three weeks ago.

Although I’ve always known it, this is the first time I’ve put in a real consistent effort on the road. My weakness has always been my aerobic fitness, I could blag my way through the anaerobic stuff through adrenaline and being young (I think) but once the hard effort had to last over a few minutes, I’d crumple. With this in mind, I’ve been trying to do a couple of hundred km a week. I’ve been reading up on training more and have identified over gearing as something that could benefit me. Basically it requires going at least one gear too hard at a slower cadence in order to build more leg strength. The high-end anaerobic stuff has a fairly short effort-time no matter how much you train it so it’s gotta be all about he aerobic fitness.

With this being my final year as a student and my season going well so far, I’ve targeted two early races to try and do well in. The national inter-varisty champs are being run over a lap of Ballinastoe on February 19 and I’m hoping to travel to the British inter-varsities in March/ April (date not finalized) (http://www.bucsmountainbikechamps.co.uk) Last years course looks sketchy as….. Just up my alley!!!

I did a Vo2 max test during the week which was as I expected, was a fairly sick experience. You start at 120watts and go up 30watts every 3 minutes until you fall apart. I just managed to get into 360w and then fell apart very quickly. So a lot more base miles are needed so I don’t get the red head of death so quickly! Interestingly, Bernard in the TCD Pysiology department was saying that a big night out boozing can wipe out up to the last 6 days of training! At the moment that could be 12hours of bike riding gone down a urinal! This has certainly put going drinking into perspective.

This weekend has been a writeoff bike wise. I had planned on doing a long spin on Saturday and Sunday but got held up with college work yesterday and the weather was manky today. I know, I know- harden the fuck up… The forecast tomorrow is still brutal so I’m gonna do a spinning class in the morning in college and then maybe a road spin tomorrow evening if the weather has picked up any. Tuesday is either a three hour mtb spin or 3 hours road. I’ll hold off to see what the craic with Wednesday and Thursday is and then definitely a long 3 or 4 hour spin on Friday as I’m off college.

Between a training plan from Niall Davis last year and the results from the Vo2 max test, I know what I need to do. It’s just a case of getting on with it and making it happen now!

Vote for me!

2011-09-01T07:50:00.000-07:00

Would appreciate votes to here! It'll help me win free stuff and I feckin' love free stuff!

http://bit.ly/n09jjd

Nationals Run Up

2011-07-13T15:41:00.000-07:00

The last few weeks have been pretty up and down. I was feeling excellent after the last race in Lady Dixon park. Feeling better than I ever have in fact. Compared to the first NPS’s this year where I was still wrecked the Wednesday after the race, I was ready to ride again on the Monday evening after Lady Dix. All of those winter training hours were paying off I guess. NPS 6 was supposed to be down in Limerick but they canceled- disastrous for me as I was targeting the later races to do well for the season overall. NPS 7 was in Slade, my home course (well I race there every Tuesday so I’d adopted it for this year!). I headed up on the Thursday to do a few practice laps and on the way home started getting sick. Long story short, I got some sort of vomiting bug that knocked me out for 5 days.

Since the bug, I’ve been doing a load of training. The plan has been to get 2 weeks of very heavy training in to pull back some of the form I had before the bug and then to take it a lot easier this week before the nationals. I went for a spin tonight to see how things stand and I’m happy. I’ve never been faster which is probably not fast enough for elites/ espoir (U23) categories in the nationals but I’m going to give it my best shot. Good race or bad I’ll be sitting on a beach in Croatia next Wednesday. I’d be a hell of a lot happier if I did myself and the bike justice though.

MTB Demo Day- Sunday

2011-06-15T02:09:00.001-07:00

The Superstore are hosting this on Sunday on the Ticknock trails. There looks to be a brilliant selection of bikes from loads of manufacturers with Lapierres offerings including: 2X Zesty 314, Zesty 514, X Control 710, X Control 510, X Control 310, Tecnic 700. I'm hoping to get up to give one of those Zestys a blast.

NPS 5- Park Racing At Its Best

2011-05-30T13:39:00.000-07:00

I had not been looking forward to this one having raced the course a couple of years ago. It is a very fast, close racing course with not much climbing and nothing in the way of scary descents. This makes for very close, relentless racing and yesterday was no exception. The weather man was predicting lots of rain all week which had me scrambling for spikes on Friday night but we were greeted with perfect sunshine and a tacky track on Sunday morning.

I woke up feeling terrible but after a kip in the back of Fergal’s car (the Venga Bus), I felt a lot better. For the first time this season I was gridded so being held up for the first couple of laps could not be an excuse this time..! I got a brilliant start off the front and got into the singletrack 2nd and motored the first lap and a half in a train of Simon Curry, Johnny Mc Cabe and Brendan Doherty. Unfortunately I couldn’t quite hold the pace and had to drop back a little on the third and final lap.

I could see the green plates of the colm-oscar-fergal-gene train catching me as I went through the feed zone for the last time and had really resigned myself to being caught on that final lap. I pushed as hard as I could in the singletrack with a real ‘all or nothing’ sentiment going through my head. I didn’t want to leave anything left in the tank. On the final grassy climb into the finish, Colm from Epic caught me but I managed a little sprint to get a couple of bike lengths between us and the finish line. Third place was only 30 seconds ahead but there’s no use in dwelling on that could’ve been stuff.

So… another fourth place! I am very happy with that result considering the competition and course. I’m going to stick with my tactics of Tuesday, Thursday club race this week and Thursday race next week with a solo spin on the Friday. This seems to put me in a good physical place for racing on Sundays. The next one is in Limerick and is supposed to be a savage technical track. There is a lot to be said for wheel to wheel racing in a park but nothing can beat a skin of your teeth tech descent in a race!

Huge thanks to the MAD’s resident podiumers Claire and Conor for doing a deadly job in the feed zone

Reviews and such
The bike is still superb. I didn’t really get a lot of benefit from the full suss on that course but the terralogic fork worked so well and everything from the XX groupset to the carbon wheels just wants to tear the trails up. The terralogic really lets you to accelerate out of every corner which is especially useful as I found myself overshooting a lot of them as I started to fade! The Formula R1 brakes have really grown on me too. Their stopping power is unbelievable. Their modulation is fairly questionable but I find it doesn’t really matter in all-out XC as you’re locking up at the last second while pushing it most of the time anyway. I had a deep tissue massage with reflexology treatment from a guy called Michael McElroy on the Clonsilla road today. Jeeesus, I’ve never felt pain like that in my life! He targeted muscle knots in my feet that released the tension in my legs and back. It was utter torture at the time but I feel like I’m walking on air now so well worth it. I’d highly recommend him but bring lump of wood to bite down on!

NPS 4- 'The worst good result"

2011-05-16T13:30:00.000-07:00

Before I get to talking about the NPS, last Sunday I entered the student championships that were being held in conjunction with the Dublin Blitz by Biking.ie on 3 Rock. We decided early on to only have one lap to encourage beginner students out. After digging real deep to put a UCD go behind me on the climb, I rode down to become student champ. I got this deadly glass trophy and a cool Columbia bag too..!

The preparation for NPS4 was not good. I’ve had a lengthly exam/study period this year with college ending in early April and exams not finished for another couple of weeks yet! It wasn’t just not getting out on the bike, it’s the whole lifestyle that comes with studying, convenience (shit) food, lots of coffee and generally getting fat in an effort to cram.

I rocked up to Tollymore, Co. Down with C-mac and Graham on Sunday morning and went straight into a pre lap. It was a pretty cool course, pretty much all singletrack with a few shortish climbs throughout the course. The wet weather all week had laid down a lot of mud which made the course pretty slow, control was going to be the key to doing any ways well. I didn’t get a gridding so got into the forest in around 15/20th. For the first lap we just cruised around and I took places where I could. I was feeling fresh for the climbs as I was riding the descents well.

On the second lap I started passing guys that have been beating me all season and started to realize that maybe I was feeling really good! For the third and last lap I was sitting in fourth and gaining quickly on Micky in third. On the final climb of the final lap I made my move and sprinted to pass him. I put a lot of effort into getting by him in the hope he would give up a bit and drop off. Unfortunately, he didn’t and managed to get me before the finish, which lead to a good sprint finish. He won this time.

Looking at the lap times, I’m delighted with them. My last lap was my quickest and the second quickest last lap of the day. I felt I could have done another lap even which means I’m definitely in better shape than I thought. I was beginning to think my legs had forgotten all of those hours in the ice and snow last January!

Huge thanks has to go to Aine, as always. I’d be lost without her at the races. From ALWAYS having bottles ready at the feed zone to giving me some water as I ‘purged’ myself of Redbull all over the finish line, she’s the club’s greatest asset. Oh, and the bike was UNREAL…… I’m never going to ride a hardtail XC race bike again if I can help it.

The next race is in Lady Dixon Park, one of my least favorite courses of the circuit but I intend on being fit for it and giving the lads who’ve been training on the road a bit of a race if I can.

Big shout out to Jimmy Dizzle.

New Bike...!!

2011-05-02T15:42:00.000-07:00

After the disappointment of the Pro Race 900 hardtail order being canceled, I wasn't sure if my life long dreams of getting a new bike would ever come through. And then... this baby arrived!

In hindsight, it was a huge blessing in disguise as this bike is a complete and utter rocket. It seems it was exactly what I needed with my first ride on 'er resulting in zero back pain (I've been having vicious back pain for the last good while). This combined with it's lightning acceleration and flattening out of even 3 rocks most savage rock gardens- I fell for her...

The wheels are a work of art with Easton Haven Carbon rims on their hubs. Bling tastic, 1450 grammes, freeride rated AND a 2 year insurance policy. Easton say that I can drive over the wheels in my car and they'll give me a new set. Complete no questions asked insurance for 2 years!

I was a little apprehensive about the teralogic fork as I've never really bought into the whole 'lock out' thing, putting it down to more of a gimick than anything. It really does work I have to say. It takes a little getting used to as cornering and lifting the wheel on flat trails feels weird as the fork is still locked out but the acceleration once you put the power down is truly instantaneous.

The X Control Team frame is a slightly modified X Control with high modular (pffft! like I'd ride that low modular shit) carbon fiber and 100mm of rear travel controlled by an rp23 shock. I haven't done much playing with is as it felt perfect straight away. There's absolutely ZERO bob and it's very active over fast bumps. I was worried it would feel like other full sus's I've ridden in that, yeah- they don't bob, but they suck up a bit of your power when you get out of the saddle. This isn't the case here. It only reacts when it takes a hit and is pretty close to a HT when pushing hard up hill.

So after 2 rides, what can I say that all of these BIG technological developments have done for me. It's the little victories- on Tuesday I got up Tunes etc without any dabs for the first time. On Thursday I took 30 seconds out of my personal best lap time around the Leadmines course to bring me under the 12min mark.

Unfortunately I missed yesterdays race due to exams and will be stuck doing them for the next few weeks. Once I get this week out of the way, hopefully I can get some decent training in and let her loose up north for NPS4. Again, a sincere thanks to CycleSuperstore! for helping me out. This definitely wouldn't have been possible without them and I'm extremely grateful.

Full Spec:
* FRAME: X-CONTROL Race TEAM Full Carbon FPS2 100mm
* FORK: FOX 32 Terralogic Fit 100mm Tapered
* WHEELS: Haven Carbon
* TRANSMISSION: SRAM XX 2x10S
* WEIGHT: 10.1 kg

* Shock: FOX Float RP23 High volume Boost valve
* Rear Mech: SRAM XX Carbon Medium Cage 10S
* Front mech: SRAM XX High Clamp Bottom pull 34.9
* Chainset: SRAM XX Carbon 28x42 175mm
* Wheels: EASTON Haven Carbon
* Tyres: HUTCHINSON Python RLight UST 26x2.00
* Brakes: FORMULA R1 with 160mm rotors Black/Blue XO clamp Ti Bolts
* Shifters: SRAM XX 2x10S
* Saddle: SELLE ITALIA SLR XC Kit Carbonio White
* Seatpost: EASTON EC90 31.6x350
* Bars: EASTON EC90 SL Low riser 635mm
* Stem: EASTON EA90 0° 31.8x90mm

NPS2- Scriv Vs The Nagles

2011-04-17T16:38:00.001-07:00

Myself and Fergal loaded up the Venga Bus on Sunday morning for the trip down to Fermoy, Corrrk for NPS2 on what was rumored to be a fairly brutal and demanding course. As I was riding shot gun, we managed to get lost. I don’t think I’ve ever been driving/in a car when we didn’t get lost. I once got lost going to Spar down the road. It’s a skill I’ve inheriated I think. Anyway, with my bad sense of direction we didn’t have time for a practice lap and it looked just as well. I first saw Oisin Boydell frowning and that guy always has a smile on his face and then people started to fill me in on just how bad it was- grim.

The race started bang on time and gridded- not that it would matter with 15minutes of open climbing ahead! We started up the fireroad and I took it very easy. I didn’t want to blow up as I had no idea how long the climb went on for and slipped back down the field. From the second lap on I started to make up places on the sketch descents but although I had good bursts of power on the steep climbs, my back was too painful to keep it up. Getting out of the saddle was definitely less painful but with the course being so brutally rough, I couldn’t do this much. Lesson 1: I’m going to do a shit load of core work in the next two weeks.

The course consisted of a long climb, a bog transition through some swimming pool-deep puddles and a ‘hang on for dear life’ rocky descent back to the start. I was really enjoying the descent in a weird kind of way. It was completely out of control and dangerous but fun if you got a couple of nice lines. Still, it didn’t make up for the frankly, shit, rest of the track.

(Photo: Richie Byrne)

Back to the race, after the first lap I developed a tail in the form of Gene from MAD. The little fecker was glued to my wheel the whole way round til I made my move on the last lap. I put in a good effort on the final climb before the descent and let it all hang out on the descent to be able to cruise up to the finish. I got to the fireroad and started spinning up and heard something behind me. Ah, not to worry, it’s only that Xmtb junior. But then everybody in the feed station started cheering on lads, plural. Shit. He made his move with about 200 meters to go and I had to let him go.

14th place- fairly crap eh? I was expecting to do a lot better in racing this year so here’s my excuses as I see them. S2 is a far cry from experts. These boys are the real deal with all of them putting in a serious amount of training and taking it very seriously. My back/hips are in a state as soon as I start going hard. I thought this would go away after the first couple of races but I’m going to do some serious work on it. I haven’t had my day yet. I had a couple of them last year and I’ve had a couple of them when I’m out training. ‘Your day’- That feeling that you’re Sam Hill on descents and Absolon on climbs. I’ll have it yet and with the new bike coming I’ll be more determined than ever. I’m slightly down but certainly not out. I’ll have a win in this damn NPS if it’s the last thing I do. Mean words eh?

New Bike!

2011-04-16T13:10:00.000-07:00

I got some bad news during the week that the Lapierre Pro Race 900 that I had ordered has been recalled due to frame problems so I now have one of these babies on the way. I was dubious about getting a full suss but I took a Trek Remedy for a rip in Wales last weekend and there was virtually no bob and it seemed a lot smoother up and down the the hardtail and it was a 6inch machine! So it got me to thinking that maybe it was a blessing that the hardtail fell through so I could order one of these:

Without further adieu - The Lapierre X Control 900 Team. Huge thanks to the Cycle Superstore for hooking me up. They're a sound bunch of lads in there... Check out the full spec here It really is a complete dream bike, I hope I can do 'er some sort of justice!

NPS1

2011-04-06T14:35:00.001-07:00

After a brutal race two weeks ago in Wexford (lets not talk about that one!) I was really looking forward to the first NPS on my favourite course from last year in Bellurgan, Louth. I managed to get my first win here last year so was hoping to do well there and with this in mind, I went up with the lads a week before to get a few laps of the course in. In some ways the course is the best in Ireland with endless flowing singletrack, testing features but every course has its faults.

I was feeling good and made my way to the start really early to get a spot on the front line. I knew the start was going to be absolutely crucial for this race as it the course quickly turned into tight singletrack with no opportunities to pass. Unfortunately a load of lads pushed in from the side as the S1s went off so I was pushed back to the 2nd/3rd row. I tried to fight hard for position before the start of the singletrack but it was mayhem with 70+ riders all going balls to the wall and swerving all over the place. I got there in about 30th with Oscar from EPIC and we began our race which would last 3.5 out of the 4 laps. The first lap was fairly brutal as we followed a string of riders, stopping at every obstacle but on the second we had broken through a bit and could start chasing down Fergal, Gene and the leaders.

I had a good race apart from the start, I was pushing hard but was not completely wasted at the end so maybe I have a little more to give. Oscar managed to put a gap into me on the last lap that I could never quite close and finished up about a minute ahead of me and 5 other guys. The new categories has led to really close racing which is brilliant but also huge numbers on often tight courses which leads to horrendous and frustrating traffic-jams. I finished up in 10th which I was a little disappointed with but on reflection of the results later on, it was actually pretty alright. The standard this year is ferocious with everybody stepping up their training and how seriously they’re taking racing.

I’ve been half-considering a new bike for a while now and casually asked the shop I work for, The Cycle Superstore if they’d be interested in supporting me. Within a week, I had a Lapierre Pro Race 900 ordered! I can’t wait to get my hands on her and ride with extreme care and attention at all times! Thanks a million to John and the lads in the Superstore for hooking me up. That’s the way to show people that you’re serious about mtbing and I wont forget it. Big up to MAD, the best club in the world too! There's never any doubt that there will be someone to do a pro job on the bottles and generally sort out anything you need before the race. Nice one Oisin Fitz and Aine, as always.

This weekend I’m heading to Wales in the Venga Bus with all the lads for loads of biking and debauchery! After that it’s NPS2 in Cork and then loads of exams and stuff I don’t like thinking about. Over and out.

First blog of the season

2011-03-14T17:32:00.000-07:00

Where did the past 6 months go?! Well, the training/riding started for me in late December. The plan has been to get out every Tuesday and Thursday for at least 2 hours at a good- non- stop pace and then something long on the road or mountain bike at the weekends. This has happened most weeks but with work at the weekends, there’s been the odd missed w-end spin with a late night the night before. I did the first round of the Biking Blitz last month to gauge what the training has been doing for me. Overall, I was happy with how it went. This season I have been concentrating on trying to increase my cadence and pedaling technique. I’ve always been a masher of big gears which I’ve know is completely wrong. With the help of Andy Kenny’s savage Wednesday night spinning classes and some time doing long, easy road spins, I’ve definitely improved at this. So with this new-found technique and good form on training spins, I decided I'd head over to Galway for the last round of the Biking Blitz yesterday to see where I stand. Admittedly, it wasn’t a stacked field but that didn’t matter- I wanted to have two consistent laps not too far off the winner’s time. Job done.

After an un-necessarily long drive down (I went to Headford instead of Clifton!) , I arrived 20 minutes before the start. After a futile warm up, I lined up for the start of two full laps. The course was nothing short of grim. Very, very rough with technical climbs and flatish, slow descents. The fire road climbed for half a K before the first singletrack climb of the day. I found the bike completely alien and was riding brutally for the first lap but I dialed the rebound down a bit which helped. I’ve never wanted a full sus in a race before yesterday. The whole course was relentlessly rough and after a lap of being thrown all over the place I wanted nothing more than to rob the guy in fronts anthem and give my back a rest. On the first lap “descent”, I managed to catch Mick mc from MAD in third place. I put a few minutes into him on the descent and started the second lap with a comfortable lead. He managed to catch me on a long singletrack drag and put the hammer down to get a very comfortable lead (he was out of sight). On the second last section of descent I managed to catch him and get ahead on a fire road sprint and stayed ahead until the finish. So with that- my first podium of the year! I know I’ll need to be riding a lot quicker for the Leinster League round next week if I’m to be anywhere up there again but it’s a great start to the season. Wexford; bring it on.

LL Round 3/ NPS 1- Slade Valley

2010-04-12T16:31:00.000-07:00

With exams quickly approaching, I was in two minds whether to enter this race. I couldn’t really afford the time off but then again, I couldn’t bare not to race! As I was working on Saturday, I didn’t get to race the relay on Saturday but all the reports said it was an incredible track with very little fireroad- deadly!

Sunday was an absolute scorcher with temperatures reaching 20 degrees! The expert cat was much bigger than last week so I knew a good start was going to be important. Off we went at 1.30 as hard as possible up the fireroad. The singletrack started early so I knew it would be crucial to get ahead of as many riders as possible early on to get a bit of a gap. I was in a train of four experts as we over took a load of vets early on. James Pittam took the lead with me in second and Tadgh Griffin/ Colm Mullen dicing for third. James pulled away to get a pretty good gap while I couldn’t seem to up the pace anymore. I rode the first two laps really steady and then while sitting in third place at the beginning of the third, I made an attack on James and Colm to get into poll position.

I was leading for most of the third lap before Max from Epic came out of nowhere and powered by me. I couldn’t bridge up to him at all but on the second half of the last lap, I got a second wind and started really gaining on him. In the end he was only 30 seconds ahead of me which was a pity but he really deserved it.

I can’t do a write up on the race without talking about the spectacular course. The amount of work IMBRC put into it really showed with all the tight kickers hardcored and bridges over any holes. It flowed so well in a relentless, ‘no place for recovery ‘kinda way.

With that second place finish, I’m coming first overall in the Leinster League title with 73 points. Unfortunately, I think that’ll be my last race of the year with exams in two weeks and Cape Cod for three months on 25May. I’m almost regretting going away because I’m enjoying the racing so much and feeling stronger than ever but I guess I have another 9 years of experts and wont have so many opportunities to do the go away all summer thing. MASSIVE thanks to the MAD feed zone. They're always unreal. Especially Aine as I ran out of juice on the third lap so she filled one of my bottles with water so I'd have something for the last lap- complete life saver!

Leinster League Round 2 – Carlingford

2010-04-06T04:30:00.000-07:00

With a disappointing performance last week in Bunclody, I decided early in the week that I was going to enter in Carlingford. I have gotten on well on Cuchulainn's tracks in the past as they tend to be fairly off camber and techie which I’m better at than climbing. Their new track in Bellurgan Park was no exception and made all the more difficult with all the rain we’ve had this week. I luckily got a lift up with Mark on Sunday morning and went for a practice lap. Straight away I was feeling much better on the bike- both technically and speed wise. I think some of this is down to me fitting a riser bar and getting rid of the old tiny flat one.

First impressions of the course were grim to say the least! After a spin around a field it went up an extremely muddy fireroad, into a really nice techie climb and then into a ridiculously muddy fireroad that was mostly un-rideable. As I was trudging through the ankle deep shlomp I was seriously considering asking Mark if he’d be up for going home. The rest of the course winded its way through off camber deciduous forest with tones of bridges, kickers and dodgy drops thrown in. I got back in 45minutes and the race was set to be three laps. I’d prepared for a grim one…

The race started pretty steady as there were only four experts. I was jostling for position with an epic and worc guy until they took a slightly wrong turn and the epic guy dropped off a bit. The first lap and a half was constant trading places between me and the worcie until I finally got away from him on one of the slippy climbs. The key to the course was keeping momentum as once I dabbed, it was impossible to get traction again with the mud. One of the drops towards the end of the lap was particularly mental. It was an off camber, lethal run in to a 3foot rock drop off between a boulder and a three stump. On the practice lap I ended up walking it but when racing I rode it every time. (almost coming to a stop as the landing was so harsh!) There was just too many marshals and spectators around it not to... :-)

Over the next lap and a half I had some good battles with some vets and masters and really enjoyed myself. I found myself clearing new sections each lap and felt brilliant. After 1.45 of racing I rolled in to take my first ever experts win. I reckon I would have come third in masters too which I’m delighted about. My lap times were nice and consistent which was the way I was feeling- 33,34,35mins. When that course dries out I can see it rivaling Djouce and Castlewllan put together!

Huge thanks to Phil and Aine for being perfect as always in the feedzone. It couldn’t have been easy with the really fast run into the bottle grab! Exams start in exactly three weeks so I’m gonna be stuck in the library all this week. I’m finishing work in 53 Degrees North on Saturday so I don’t really have the time to race the first NPS on Sunday but I’d only be lying if I said I wasn’t gonna be there!

Freeride Spain Trip and LL RD1

2010-04-01T16:50:00.001-07:00

Freeride Spain
After three years of wanting to ride Spain’s best trails, I finally got there last week for five days. I had heard a lot back from the guys in the club who had been over there a couple of times previously so there was only one thing I could do- build up a new bike! We arrived to a very wet Malaga airport and our guide Simon, to transport us to our villa for the week. We quickly went about building up the bikes and got out on our first ride. Lee, the other guide, brought us on a 9K climb with a fast, relatively easy descent to ease us in.

On the next day we were greeted to glorious sunshine and a massive ride up the infamous ‘Google Mountain’. It started off with a 15K fireroad climb, then a fast, fun descent before climbing a further 9K up a viciously steep fireroad. My memory is a bit vague here as I have attempted to block out the pain but the descent was UNREAL. So long, steep, loose and full of drops off. Really all or nothing stuff!

Another of the days was a short 3 hour one where we climbed to the top of a really fast, tough descent during the day and then did the descent as a night spin! This was one of the highlights of the trip for me. Night riding in good weather is so different to what we do back here!

On the final day we did the big, windmill to beach spin. This was absolutely unreal. Lots of steep, tough, technical climbing and fast, flowy, technical descents. What I loved about the descents in Spain was how they were constantly changing. They might start off fast and flowy, then get really steep, then into tech rock garden sections and so on. So enjoyable and no room for error with 50 foot drops only inches off the singletrack. I was farely shattered at the end of the trip and happy we didn’t go for the full week in the end. I reckon I would have needed a rest day or two as I was definitely becoming worse as the trip went on. Freeride Spain- highly reccommeneded! Just don’t expect much from the food, organic as it may be! Cheers Cormac, Graham and Fergal for a memorable holiday.

Leinster League Round One
Just thought I’d write a quick report of Leinster League Round 1 in Bunclody, Wexford. I’m not going to include much detail as I’m only an almost average writer and others have talked in depth about it all over the place.

I dusted off the Rocky Mountain race bike the night before to find the rear mech wasn’t working and that the bars were insanely narrow and flat. I had to mutulate the trusty Ragley for parts to get ‘er up and running for my first race in a long time. I can’t believe I rode ‘er for so long like that. Feels freaky twitchy now! Bit like myself after a couple of triple espressos and a vokda redbull.

The track was really good fun. A long uneven fireroad followed by a descent, a tough double track climb and another descent. The descents were deceivingly difficult with a slippery top layer of mud and some really steep sections to catch you out.

At half one my expert race got underway and I found myself leading for a bit. I was feeling alright and led all the way up until a bit before the first singletrack where a couple of the lads upped the pace and beat me into it. I rode the singletrack pretty poorly all day. Smoothly enough but damn slow. So much so that I ordered a riser bar to make ‘er more like the Ragley as soon as I got home! But anyway, the next few laps went by without incident really. I was pushing hard but I didn’t seem to have that little extra bit of power to jump out of the saddle and sprint the top bits of the climbs. I finished feeling pretty O.K in fourth place. Lesson learnt- I’m ride myself into the ground this Sunday in Carlingford! Think I was holding back somewhat last weekend, for no reason. But I’m going to have my determined face on Sunday. Congrats to 795 Racing- superbly run event and the thai food at the end really set the bar for the rest of the series.

This week has been nothing but arseing about and catching up on college work. Serious study will have to start on Tuesday as exams start 27 April!

Lance Armstrong and I!

2009-08-25T15:31:00.001-07:00

Whistler, British Columbia, Canada

2009-08-11T15:23:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-08T13:58:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-08T13:10:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-30T12:36:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-08T06:04:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-04T10:46:00.000-07:00

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.

Long Time, No Post

2009-04-27T09:19:00.000-07:00

Well the last time I posted, I was getting ready for NPS2 in Ballinastoe. I’m sure most people who read this know all about it but as a short recap: Complete mudfest with long parts unrideable. Experts given 5 laps to do while masters given 4 and elites 6. Extremely long race which was more or a war of attrition than a race. Almost threw the towel in on the second lap but kept going as I had Ross Mc Clure to chase. On the 4th lap, my chain broke half way round the lap so had to run the rest back to the start . Repaired the chain and rode the last lap to a sprint finish with Dave Atkin of Lucan CC. I was shocked the next day to see myself in 10th place, 20 minutes back on the leader. I was sure I was coming dead last with the leader having been finished hours ahead. There is a good report written by Stu of Team Worc

here

Maybe things could have been different had I not broken a chain and lost the will to ride?

Lesson learnt. Never give up even if the race seems finished from the start.

This week is going to be about high intensity training. I now know I can go the distance after being out in Ballinastoe for 2h20 so with that in mind I’m going to do high intensity hill repeats tonight. A road race on Tuesday and the Epic club race on Thursday. It took me an hour and a half to make it out to Leadmines last week, making me miss the start- so I wont be making that mistake this Thursday. I’m meeting James fromOC Tuning tonight to get the DH and XC race bike serviced. Have had too many races end in mechanical which I’m beginning to think could be down to my dubious mechanical ability. Will be good to get the DH bike tuned for my weight so I can get properly used to it before heading to Whistler!

Summer Update:
Since my last post we have booked the flights for Summer holidays. Four of us are flying to LA to spend about 4 days mixed between Venice Beach and Hollywood. Then we’re going spend about a week heading up to San Francisco (not sure how we’re going to do this- they wont rent cars to under 20 year olds) through the Big Sur and all the cool towns along the way. We’re planning on spending four or five days in San Fran before catching a flight to Vancouver. We’re going to be here for 20 days so I think I’ll spend about 15 days in Whistler where I’ll hook up with Tom.(bike heaven!) Then the four of us are flying over to Chicago for five days before flying home. Going to be an epic and expensive trip but can’t wait!

NPS 3 is this Sunday. It’s on in Lumpers Forest, Carlingford. From what I remember of the course, it is a mixture of technical(has always been wet) singletrack with some steep singletrack kickers in the middle and a long fireroad slog at the end. Hope this race will be a little better than the last two! Will write again after Tuesday- my first road race!

2009-04-09T14:17:00.000-07:00

Finally got my act together and arranged my summer! Flying out of Dublin on the 24th June and into Chicago. Possibly staying here for a few days to meet up with my friend Cormac who is spending his family holiday there. From there, its a straight onto LA. Planning on spending a week here before either renting a car or catching a bus up to San Francissco. Gonna spend ten days here before flying up to Vancouver- the highlight of the trip! Planning on getting about three weeks of riding in Whistler bike park. Can’t wait! And with videos like this one, you can understand why! Going to meet up with Tom in Whistler for DU cycling’s first training trip. http://www.vimeo.com/2374522

Three Weeks left til NPS2

2009-03-28T13:14:00.000-07:00

This week has not been too productive training-wise unfortunately. This has been mainly due to the problems I have been experiencing with my lower back and the fact that I am still in full-time work. Fair play to guys who can do a full days manual labour and still have the energy for training when they come home!

Got on the turbo trainer for an hour and a bit on Wednesday. These weeks are all about improving my lactate threshold. If I understand it right, this will allow me to go longer at hard pace (which equtes to about 165bpm in my case). This is definitely something I will need for NPS2 in Ballinastoe on April 19th. From what I have read from last years race, the course is based mainly on the Coillte built trails. This means plenty of 5min fire road climbs followed by a few minutes of singletrack descending and repeat. This could suit me better to last weeks race as you can really push it on the descents.

Today I took the road bike out for a spin. Headed from Castleknock-Porterstown-Maynooth-Naas-Newcastle-Rathcoole-Tallaght-Crumlin-Phoenix Park and home. Speedo clocked it at 88km. I actually quite enjoyed the spin. Would be a lot more enjoyable with someone I'm sure but still not so bad! Can definitely see how doing plenty of those pre season would get you well set up for racing mtb.

My five friends and I have started seriously thinking about what to do for summer this week. This is the main reason I have been working my two weeks off. I think the plan is going to be- fly from Dublin to San Francisso. From here, we're going to check out west coast USA for a few days before renting a car and taking a few days to road trip up to Vancouver. Here we plan to get a couple of weeks of biking in Whistler in before travelling around Canada a bit. Fairly loose plans at the moment but I reckon we'll be gone for a month- six weeks. Maybe longer if we can afford it! We've decided not to buy a working visa as they cost 650euro. The way I see it, by the time we found a job (pretty unlikely) and worked for the month, we probably wouldn't even make the 650euro back again!

That's all for now. My plan was to race the Des Hanlon memorial road race tomorrow but after today, I don't fancy the drive to Carlow to get hammered by roadies and wind. Think I'm gonna dust off Jim (my freeride bike) and do the classic Balliastoe to Djouce over the boardwalks. Sounds like a good crowd is out for it so should be a lotta fun!

NPS Round 1 Roundup

2009-03-26T07:36:00.000-07:00

The first round of the NPS was held by Killarney CC in low and behold, Killarney! Myself and Fergal took the trusty van down very early on Saturday morning. We left Dublin at 8:00 and arrived at the track with tools and a plan to extend the course singletrack. After about an hour of scoping the track out, we found a couple of places where it could be improved. The work was actually fine and after a few hours, myself and the three lads had almost doubled the existing singletrack!

With this over, I got changed and went for a quick practice lap with Oisin. The course consisted of a long muddy climb, a fire road sprint, another long climb and then a mixture of singletrack/fireroad descending to the start. Although the track didn't really suit me (I prefer the more techincal ones as my fitness is never up to much) I was looking forward to a good race. We packed up our gear and headed into Killarney town to watch Ireland win the Grand Slam! Whata match!! Got some food in a local resuturaunt before heading back to the hostel for some much needed sleep. We were greeted to some great weather the next morning. Felt great to be able sit around in shorts and a jersey and be warm! Big change from the last few races last year where I was wearing jackets and thermal tights!

The race started at 1.30 at a decent pace. I got myself into first place after passing one of the lads who hammered off at the start. I quickly went about passing as many people from masters as I could. Think this was one of my mistakes- went too hard too early. I stayed in first until my chain jumped into the spokes in a singletrack section near the end of the lap. I got it sorted and contiuned on. This put me third place I think. The next couple of laps went without incident and I was feeling fairly strong. My chain went into my spokes a couple of times but it was never that big of a deal. On the climb of the 4th lap I began to 'hit the wall' Just had absolutely no power in my legs, started cramping and lower back pain started getting to me. I nearly collapsed going up the climb on lap 5 (the last one) and lost a couple of places here.

So in the end I rolled to the finish in 6th place. Not a complete disaster but off where I wanted to be. So what can I take away from the first race of the season?

Good points:
My tech ability is good I think. Will do ok in a tech race
I had good power for the first few laps, if I can keep this up I will do better
The new bike is PERFECT!

Bad points:
My endurance is next to non extistant
After going to an osteopath, I have been told that my left hamstring is much shorter than my right which is twisting my pelvis. This is causing the bad lower back pain in races. Will have to get this sorted...
I'm still cramping up too easily. Think I'll start taking deoralite the night before racing or something

Congratulations to Killarney CC for putting on a great event. The drive was rough though. Only thing keeping myself and Fergal going was Ciara and her horn pipe on Mid FM!

Lazy Bike Week

2009-03-14T11:40:00.000-07:00

Had a complete week off the bike due to exam and to be honest, a bit of laziness. Had a good business exam on Monday, decent economics exam on Tuesday and decentish stats exam on Thursday. Tomorrow is the Djouce Challenge which I am really looking forward to. This has been set as a 'fun type event' but from experience from last year, most still bate off the front hoping for a win! I know most of the trails that will be on the 20km course which should work favourably for me. One of them, which has named 'The Secret Trail' (it wont be so secret after the race!) has to be one of the most technical and enjoyable trails I have ever ridden. Can't wait to ride it in race mode! Will be all or nothing I reckon...

After the last couple of weeks of poor/non existant training, I'm hoping just to have a steady race. Not expecting a decent result whatsoever but if I can get down Ecstacy and Benchcut well, it could set me up well for the rest of the course.

So the good news- two full weeks off college! I've secured a job in my Dad's work moving old parts from the old premesis to the new one. Gonna be a lonely, boring job but I should be able to flexible with my time so I can get out and practice starts and do some serious intervals on Monday, Wednesday and maybe something different on Thursday depending on how tired I feel. Little bit aprehensive about NPS1 next weekend as I don't think my endurance is up to much. Tomorrow will give me a better idea of what is needed to make the rest of the season more successful or for however long I'll be around for!

New Bike Review

2009-03-05T17:50:00.000-08:00

Well after giving the new race bike a good few rides, I reckon I can write a proper review of it. It's a Rocky Mountain Vertex 70 in custom black and white colours. The spec list is:

Frame: 2008 RM Vertex 70
Groupset: Shimano XTR
Brakes: Shimano XTR
Bar and post: Raceface Next Carbon SL
Wheels: Stans No Tubes Olympic Rim, DT Swiss spokes and blue Hope Pro II hubs with ti skewers
Saddle: WTB Silverado Team
Fork: Fox F100RLC
Weight: 21.6lb

Absolutely delighted with how it rides. The fox fork performs exceptionally well. A huge improvement on the F80 I had on the old bike. The frame is very rigid and racey with the low front end. The top tube is a little longer with a higher BB than the old XTC which makes for a much better climbing position. This combined with the extra 20mm of travel up front combines for the best bike I've ever ridden! Surprised how much of a difference the low speed compression adjuster makes to setting up the fork. Definitely feels better than the old F80s through the entire stroke.

Week Round Up

2009-03-01T14:58:00.003-08:00

Another slow start to the week. I really have to get out of the habit of having lazy starts and trying to make it up towards the end! Did the usual spinning class with Alan, the gym instructor on Wednesday. Extremely tough as always... Did the usual bis/tris combo that day too. Took Thursday off as I was too busy with college and did another spinning class on Friday. Same sort of thing except I was feeling much better. Really pushed out all of the intervals and never let up. Picked up my Trinity Cycling kit off Tom before the class so got to test ride it too. It's very nice kit. Has the red and black TCD colours with a load of sponsors. The jersey is mostly lycra which is kinda weird. Gonna have to work on the core before race season starts proper! On Saturday I got out to do a race pace lap of Ballinastoe. Took the descents as quick as I could and the climbs at a steady pace to finish in 50minutes. Seem to have the speed for racing, its just my endurance and core strength I have to work on. Kinda got my training arse ways in that regard but nothing I can do about that now! Had to study and go to watch Belvo lose to Blackrock today. Huge pity but they did better that I thought they would.

Plan for this week is to stay at home and study for exams that are next week. Not looking forward to a couple of them one bit! Hopefully will get some steady rides in between studying. I've scheduled another college ride this Saturday to Djouce. Reckon I will put the 'beginners' through their paces on some proper trails after their easy time in Kindelstown and Ballinastoe. Might lose my 'no beginners dead' record in the process though! That will be a really good chance to have a sneaky look at the course for 'The Djouce Challenge' which is being run on Sunday. After an awful ride at it last year, I'll be hoping to rectify things on my new steed. Will post a review of her and some pics when I get a chance.

2009-03-01T14:58:00.001-08:00

Busy Week

2009-02-22T10:23:00.000-08:00

After the BESS ball on Sunday night, Monday and Tuesday were a bit of a write off training wise. With that in mind, I hit the gym hard on Wednesday. Did a really tough spinning class (possibly the toughest I've ever done) Loads of sprinting followed by long climbs. After that, I did some weights with James and Gibs. Concentrated on chest, shoulders, bis and tris. Was wrecked after that...

On Thursday I took an early day from college to give the new race bike its christening. Brought her up the Leadmines for a few laps of the club course before heading off the top of the scalp. Got about 3 hours of solid cycling in which was really good. Got a great feel for the bike too. Was a little disappointed with its performance coming home but put some time into changing the compression and air settings on the fork. DUCC had our first beginner day on Saturday to Glen of the Downs and Kindelstown. The few alterations I made to the bike made a HUGE difference. Absolutely love it now! Flys up the climbs and is even quicker on high speed descents.

Took a trip out to session the Sugarloaf DH track today. After a brief walk up most of it, it became clear that Flow still had quite a lot of work to do. We found a nice double and a couple of rock gardens but it was just singletrack after that. We then re-routed and went to Cloon. Rode the Commencal DH bike and the Stab Supreme. Both awesome bikes. Really inspire confidence over the rough stuff and you can't even feel jumps! Bit frustrating for the first few runs as the brakes were set up the wrong way around for me but finally got used to them to get some out of control stuff down 'Colin Bs' track. Can't wait to get up again now that I have the brakes the right way around and the suspension tuned for my weight.

Going to be a good bit of college work this week I think. Got another Sociology essay looming and the usual complicated Economics and Stats to keep me busy! Hope to get some more miles in on the roadbike and XC bike though!

Essay and Training

2009-02-12T15:04:00.000-08:00

After finally giving myself the kick I needed to start my business essay on Monday, entitled, 'The Battle Between Capital and Talent', that wrote of Monday and Tuesday for training. Went to the Wednesday spinning class with Tom. It was a weird experience from the start. Tom had mentioned that the instructor was Spanish and this was the theme of the class. Latino music started blaring out of his speakers and we did a quick warm up before getting into weird interval/dance 'things'. They were hard to explain but one second we were cycling normally and the next we were being told to sway forwards and back or push harder with one leg than the other. It did the job I suppose but more into the military type ramped session. Finished it off with a short bicep and tricep session.

Did a good turbo training session tonight. Did the normal warmup followed by the one minute on one minute off thing and then into some longer (6minute) intervals. Took a few minutes easy before going into 20 minutes of 2mins on, 1 off. And then some more long intervals at a higher tempo. Fairly sore now but no rest for the wicked! Will do more gym and essay work tomorrow before heading out for some partying. Hope to get out on Saturday for a good XC spin if the trails are decent, and then down to Bree, Co. Wexford on Sunday for some Dh action! The BESS ball is on later that evening in the Burlington. So all in all, a really busy next couple of days!

Phat Weekend

2009-02-08T13:14:00.000-08:00

Well not exactly phat, more FAT... did a very tough turbo training session on Saturday. Think the harder you go, the quicker it seems to go. Started with a 5min warm up then went into ten minutes of 1 min hard, 1 min easy. Then did 5 mins spinning and into 2 mins on, 1 off for 20 mins. Then moved onto 3mins on and 1.5 off. Took another 5 mins easy before going into 2 long intervals at a lesser resistance to the previous ones. Finished with a 5min warm down to round out the hour. That's where the training ended for the weekend unfortunately! This snow is really wrecking my 'get savage or die trying' buzz. It's supposed to be getting warmer this week so hopefully I can take out my new Race bike

Ate lots and drank a few beers over the weekend. I blame the snow for it though. Turbo trainer doesn't motivate me to eat well like the mtb. Fingers crossed for mtbing this week but I bet it'll be the turbo trainer and 3000 words on the 'battle between capital versus talent raging on' Can't wait to get the final bit of the new bike put together bling grips Tom also gave me a call last night to tell me he picked up TCD's new Commencal Supreme DH!! All these deadly bikes and no trails to ride them!!

More snow = more gym

2009-02-05T05:28:00.000-08:00

New race bike with different wheels and bar!

Got up reasonably early 11:30 (good for reading week!) yesterday and into college to meet Mark and Craig for a spinning class. As it happened, they decided not to go so went with Tom and Cock (a friend from ski trip at Christmas). Definitely one of the toughest spinning classes I've done. Started with a short warm up and then up to 20% which was the lowest effort of the class. We did some 10 second fast intervals followed by 50% high cadence longer intervals. After about 20 minutes, we started into very hard 80% intervals followed by 60% fast cadence. The last interval to round out the 50mins was 100% (could barely turn the cranks) for about 3 minutes. Really struggled to finish it but felt OK once I had stretched out a bit. After a quick jersey change, I went down to the lads to do some weights, mostly concentrated on biceps and triceps. Working towards a new program of only back, chest and double triceps than biceps in future. The Squats are just no good for biking!!

DUCC (Trinity Cycling Club) got the go ahead for the rest of the bikes to finish our fleet today! In total we have 3 Giant XTCs (One small, two medium), a Kona Stab Supreme and a Commencal Supreme DH which I will be riding for the third DH Winter League in Cloon on Sunday. Can't wait to ride such a high spec DH bike!! Will post a review once I've given it a good going over.

Picked up my new Rocky Mountain Race bike last night. After making a balls of bleeding the brakes twice, I got frustrated and brought it over to the Cycle Superstore for them to sort them. They feel nice and crispy now. The spec is:

Frame: Rocky Mountain Vertex 70
Fork: Fox F100RLC
Groupset: Including brakes- Shimano XTR
Wheels: Stans Olympic on blue Hope ProII
Finishing kit: Raceface Next carbon bar and post

It is weighing a tad under 22lb at the moment which I am pretty pleased with. Would be a dream to drop a couple of lbs but don't have the funds at the moment to do it.

Pictures of TCD new bikes:

Stock Kona Stab Supreme

Commencal Supreme DH, Fox 40s, Saint crankset, E13 chainguide, Rocco ti shock

Will do something steady and hard on the turbotrainer later as the snow has started coming down again. Mountains are still covered apparently... :(

My first post!

2009-02-03T10:04:00.000-08:00

After a couple of boring snow days, I've decided to create a blog. I don't know why really. Just something more to do and I can stop stalking Ryan's, Richie's, Mel's and Fergal's for a while!

Submitted my Tragedy of the Commons and collective action essay today. Not amazing, could have done with more actual sources and not just the ones I said I used in the bibliography! Should get a decent enough mark. Handily I could submit it using turnitin.com so I had the day free to do, nothing! Finally got off my ass at about 4 and did an interval session on the turbo trainer. Not as bad as usual with the snow breeze coming in the door. However boring the TT is, I always feel like I've sweated out all booze and pizzas especially after a rough Super Bowl the other night!

So, I think this will be the general format of my blog. Ramblings of what I do and what I think. Watching the afternoon show today (yeah I know, that lame!!) strenghtened by hatred for Bláthnaid Ní Chofaigh. She's just such a know it all and a crap interviewer. It's cringe worthy how little she listens to her guests and constantly talks over them with her arrogant 'my thoughts are more important than yours'. Coupled with her annoying Gaeilge pushing and you have a frustrated Scrivo!

Plans for this evening include doing something with the lads. Maybe go to the cinema. Not up for going sledding again just yet! Will let the swelling go down (had to bail out before hitting a fence on the local hill last night) in my hand first. Tom was talking about some DH action in Cloon tomorrow but I can't see that happening with this continuing heavy snow!