2010 Israel Cup Round 3 and 4 - Ma'anit and Haifa

When Mel and I where organizing our trip to Cyprus for the Sunshine Cup we also noticed that there were a few UCI International races being held in Israel over two weekends around the same time. Unfortunately, the first two races, on the first weekend, clashed with the final round of the Sunshine Cup but the final two races, in Ma’anit Forest and Haifa, home to the 2010 European Championships, looked perfect. With that, we booked the flights (210 euro each for the 300 kilometer flight) and contacted the organizers.

Weeks later, we finished up the Sunshine Cup and took the short flight over to Israel not really knowing what to expect – it was our first time in Israel and first time in the Middle East. I’ll leave it to another time to talk about our impressions (very positive) and just stick to the racing for now.

We only had one day before the back to back cross country races – we started out riding two laps of Ma’anit which looked to be a very flat course – 1 km into the 7 km lap I was thinking, oh, no, this is really boring – just like Sherwood pines. Fortunately, the likeness ended. After the first 1-2 km of fireroad and pretty boring (straight) single track you hit a beautiful shaded (in the heat and humidity this was really important) single track climb that shot you into super fast, grippy, well designed singletrack. Every corner was perfectly curved to carry maximum speed and breaking was an afterthought. I usually don’t like such flat courses but this one really stood out for the quality of the single track. It also had some mildly technically rocky sections and step-ups to make sure the heart rate never drops too low.

After riding 2 laps and sweating what felt like 3 liters of water we headed to Haifa for a lap of that course – we would not be able to preride the morning of the race (due to other races) and the course was apparently very technical so another preride in the heat was mandatory.

Ma'anit Profile

The course was very different from Ma'anit – more climbing, lots of singletrack (but still reasonable passing opportunities) and a few very technical sections. Unlike Ma’anit, many of the corners where very lose and would optimally be ridden many times to see how quick you can take them. We had one lap (nowhere near enough) but at least we wouldn’t be riding the course completely blind. If there was one thing I would have changed about the preride/racing, I would have ridden a few more laps, fatigue be damned.

The Ma'anit race morning arrived with a panic – I had some technical issues with my bike that needed fixing before I could use it! Not nice to see at 9am when you have a 40 minute drive to the venue and a 11am start! I’ll mention them again in another post but a call to Matzman Merutz had us calmed down and heading to their bike shop. I dropped off Mel at the venue first (to register us) and got my bike working, arriving at the race venue 30 minutes before the start – a short warmup, which, considering the heat, 35C+ and 60% humidity, may not have been that bad of an idea, and I was on the start line.

The start was fast as we shuffled around before we entered the first singletrack section – the size of the field was smaller than in Cyprus but still high quality – I think the size made the start a little less stressful. 7 laps of the 15 minute, 7km course seemed to fly by. I ended up being about 20 seconds back on a road race (guys riding in a group) for the first few laps but that broke up a bit and I moved up a few positions – feeling dried out but surprisingly okay – I finished up in 12th, behind Austrian Champion Hannes Metzler. My laps were consistent which I was happy with considering the heat – the bottle of water I threw over myself at the second feedzone really did seem to help a lot. Funnily, after the race I checked the Garmin and we still managed almost 800 meters of climb over the race – no big climbs but I guess all the slight drags added up. Many thanks to Benjamin Sonntag’s dad, Claus, for doing feed support for the race.

After a nice lunch, and a dinner shortly after that, the next day’s race was on our minds. This next course was going to be much more difficult – I didn’t ‘know’ the course at all – it was the type that you really need to ride a few times to learn the lines – at 6km, it was also pretty long but despite the climb and technical sections it would still be pretty fast.

After a pretty good warmup we lined up, again in the heat with no shade (I wonder what the European champs will be like when it is 40C+ here?). The start went okay, attack after attack going off the front in order to get good position for the technical singletrack. All was going pretty well until the first proper technical downhill section – there was a rock drop that you had to get right and then turn into a left hander – all was happy until the pleb, sorry, rider, in front of me stalled after the drop – I had nowhere to go but down the drop and then over the bars. Bang – blood flowing from my leg, arm, I was winded and again had a bruised butt. I was a touch annoyed. I picked myself up, checked the bike (perfect thankfully) and by the time I got going again, Maja Wloszczowska (female Silver medalist from the Olympics) was almost on my tail. A junior had also gotten by that seemed to know the course (and was thus hard to get past) and was pretty slow on the singletrack techy climbs. Eventually I got by and started to work my way through the field again – my leg was throbbing but being the last race of the series, and having a while until the next international race, I pushed on. Like the previous day, we had another hot day – unfortunately, when I came through for my bottle going onto the 4th lap (we had six laps) – my feed supporter didn’t notice me (despite my screams) and I missed a bottle – crap – I was thinking about the fresh bottle for half a lap and now it would be another 21 minutes. I grabbed my bottle on the next lap and had the almost 500ml down me before I left the feedzone! To top it though, as I came through for my final lap my feed supporter was nowhere to be seen – another lap without a bottle – the last few laps where very tough, I felt very dehydrated and finished the race feeling like a dried up pretzel – it took two days for my skin to return to looking normal. Afterwards though, looking at the lap times, my laps where consistent and my last (like the previous day) was actually my second fastest – my legs were gone on the climbs but I more than made up for that in the techy sections – I really wish we had more time on the course.

Haifa Profile

A bloody knee...

With that, our weekend of racing in Israel was complete – my favorite race was the first in Ma'anit – it really was a fun course. The course in Haifa seemed to be a little scattered, it didn’t really flow as a complete lap and the corners where pretty lose (apparently, in July it will be much more dusty). Still though, it will be a good course for the European champs with a very fit and technically skilled rider coming out on top (oh, and they must be able to deal with the heat!).

Results for Ma'anit are here and Haifa here.

2009 British NPS Round 5 - Newnham Park

Newham Park, the home of many UK National Championships, World Cups and Bontrager 24/12 was the venue for the final round of the UK NPS.

I had a pretty chilled out week after the Drumlanrig race and my legs and body were feeling good for the race. The lap was pretty long at a little over 7km with around 200 meters of climb per lap - Elite Men would be doing it 6 times. 3 real climbs in the race with two of them being pretty steep. The course had lots of nice singletrack but unlike last week was pretty tame from a technical point of view. Two river crossings (the second being pretty deep) did spice things up a lot though.


Race morning arrived to clear blue skies and increasing temperatures - is this really the end of September. We had a bad nights sleep in the 2009 winner of worst B&B/Guest house - The Lamplighter in Plymouth (the owner is friendly but STEER CLEAR). I had a pretty good warmup (something that, despite 3 years of racing, still have not nailed to something I'm happy with) and lined up on the first row. (I had a great position due to the world rankings rather than series rankings - I only finished one UK NPS this year).

The race started at a nuts pace into a grassy climb, I lost some places right at the start and tried to make them up on the climb but as I soon realized, moving off the smooth line is a really bad idea and lost some more. As we crested the first climb, I know I was not putting the power I should yet I was feeling bad and my breathing was terrible. A pileup in front of my on the rocky steep climb half way around the lap (I had to dismount and run the climb to get around the bodies) let more gaps open. As I completed the first lap, I wanted to roll over to the car and quit - I really felt terrible. Another lap latter, same feeling. On the third lap I started to pass people who were either blowing up and pulling out, or blowing up and continuing. At the half way point, I started to feel a little better - I was lapping at the same speed but was feeling better and not so laboured. The climbs were comfortable, breathing was normal and I was enjoying myself - glad I didn't stop! The last couple of laps flew by and I caught another couple of riders (Ben and I had a good race with each other for the second half of the race - I attacked him on the longer climb when we passed a badly blowing Anthony O'Boyle) and I finished the race wanting to continue on for another few laps.

Splash!

With that, my last big XC race was completed - I finished in 15th which meant prize money and a solitary UCI world ranking point. Still, the second half of the race and that made up a bit for how sucky my start was.

The following day, Mel and I (and 498 others) rode the Newham 60 off-road Sportif type event. A nice course and a pretty chilled out pace (apart from on the steep climbs, we hammered them) was great for the legs. Afterwards, the sun continued and Mel and I roamed around the venue talking to so many people we wont see until next season. It was great catching up with all the TorQ folks, hearing some of Kate Potters World Cup stories and finding out what ditch Joolze has been sitting in recently.

With a large Irish contingent over for the races, it was like a little bit of Ireland over for the weekend. It also made the long trip home easier sharing beers with Robin, Paddy, Joe and Mel.

2009 Scottish XC Round 7 - UCI C2

This was going to be the second time Mel and I raced in Drumlanrig. Last year we took part in the second round of the British NPS Series. The course is rooty, rocky and technical and both of us really liked it. Unfortunately last year, I crashed on the first lap and tacoed my front brake rotor - I didn't have spare wheels to change so soldiered on with the wheel barely spinning - still, I really enjoyed the race.

This year, like last year, Mel and I took the ferry over to the race - I really love any race that I can drive to (even with a ferry connection) - it is just so much less stress setting up for - pile everything into the car and go.

Saturday was the preride and the course was mostly the same as last year, mostly technical twisty singletrack with the only fireroad being the obligatory climbs. The course was tricker than last year with more roots exposed and a slimy wet coating. There was going to be no more rain before the race and with a race or two held on the course before us, I knew it would dry up.


The race started at the leisurely hour of 2pm. The pace was pretty fast up the start loop that lead us onto the course and I entered 4th wheel. After the first section of singletrack I moved to 3rd. For the next couple of laps Ben Thomas, Oliver Holmes and I rode around in 3rd, 4th and 5th position. There would be slight gaps from time to time but we mostly stayed together. The course had dried out a lot from the previous day and course lap times had dropped a lot.

Midway through the penultimate lap, Oliver dropped off the pace a little and Ben and I upped the pace on one of the climbs to distance him. Happy to use the draft I stayed on the wheel and the gap grew. On the next climb, I attacked myself and put some distance into Ben. For the last lap I gave it everything and a few minutes into it, while lapping another rider he told me that 2nd place was only 20 seconds ahead. I now had a target and pushed at every opportunity. I caught Dave Henderson on the second last climb but it was the last steep switchback climb that I got to make my move. After passing, I kept my speed high with the hope of catching the lead but finished 30 seconds back. I pulled a minute back on first on the last lap.

Both Mel and I enjoyed the race - she won the women's race while I came second in mine - my first podium in a UCI C2 race.

As I mentioned earlier, the race was run on a fantastic course and the organization of the race was exceptional - congrats to SXC for a fine finish to their series - like last year, it was a great end to the season.

2009 British NPS Round 2 - Dalby Forest

Last weekend was a busy one – lots of things happening and one that I wont forget for a while. The second round of the British NPS series was been held in Dalby Forest, it was a UCI C2 event and also been used as a test event for a World Cup they hope to run in 2010.

An evening flight to Leeds and a quick car rental brought us to just outside Dalby around midnight, the day before the preride. Saturday morning was cloudy but looked like we were not going to get the rain we had lots of recently. Hoping for a dry course, we arrived at the race venue to see the usual pre-race buzz. The TorQ crew were already there and were expanded by the Australian contingent that are in Europe competing in all the European World Cups.

Start of the Men's race

After a lap of the course, I had to admit that I liked it. Lots of courses feel like you are always climbing, this course felt like you were always descending. Lots of swoopy wide singletrack sections, a lung buster climb, a 'standard' 3 minutes climb and a few technical sections. Before my lap, I heard lots of stories about how difficult some sections were, a big drop and a rooty/droppy section being the highlights – I can tell you, after some of the things we rode in Cyprus, these sections were easy – Mel had no issues with riding them first time around either. (Although she did hava a fall and a scare that meant we spent Saturday evening in Scarborough A&E – I'll leave Mel to talk about that on her blog though)

Robin Seymour

Race morning arrived to see a stacked field, around 50 of us on the grid. A quick blast around the start arena and we hit the singletrack – I didn't push too hard and made sure to go into the singletrack around 20th-25th. I was trying to see if I take it a little steadier at the start, if I would be able push a bit harder later on. The laps went by easily enough, I enjoyed the course a lot and had a lot of little battles – having looked at my HR data afterwards, I don't think I was pushing hard enough or was not recovered, my HR was way down - or maybe ut was the cold I had for the previous few days. One thing that surprised me was how poor some riders were on the technical sections – great on the fireroads/easy singletrack but very slow descending (maybe too much road biking for some?). Up the last big climb on the last lap I caught and passed 2-3 riders and was feeling good. I had a few more riders in my sights and was chasing them down.


With under two minutes of riding to go on a walking trail linker section that lead to the last technical section I was out of the saddle sprinting to catch another rabbit. Suddenly, my world was turned upside down and I crushed into the ground – hitting a tree stump with my right pedal. I have hurt my shoulders a few times since I started riding and feared breaking things before. The way I felt as I hit the ground, I knew that I had broken something – there was no doubt. As it happened, my crash was as close to the medic tent as I could have made it and with a steward in tow, I wondered over. Feeling like a ghost, dizzy and getting cold I answered a few questions and with nothing more than a look, I was diagnosed to have broken my left clavicle. Blood poured from me but that was the least of my worries. I asked one of the medics to find Mel and a few minutes later, he returned with a worried looking Mel and we started to plan the rest of our day. A trip to Scarborough A&E was in order :(

After arriving there, it took about 4 hours until I had been seen, X-Rayed and ready to try and get back to Dublin. Mel was a star looking after me and packing up our bikes and between my friends Alan and Fergal (who I called to help me with advice) and the VHI, a very complicated situation was made a lot more manageable. 22:20 flight out of Leeds seen us get to bed shortly before 2am. (We were still wearing our race gear until shortly before then!)

Results, report and photos are up here. I also have to mention Mel's second place which means she is now ranked in the World Top 100 (but bad for a girl that decided to do this mountain biking thing properly 18 months ago) and leads the UK NPS series - well done Mel!

More on the injuries soon... I would also like to say a big thanks for all the well wishes - it means a lot to me. It's really tough going from fully fit to injured like this, but in 13 years of high level sport, this is only my second serious injury so I shouldn't complain too much!

2009 British NPS Round 1 - Sherwood Pines

Despite having a great grid position, amazing bike and equipment and what felt like pretty good legs leading up to it – my first race in the UK this year was a big woopie cushion. Sherwood Pines was the venue for the first British NPS of the year and the course where I took part in my first British NPS in 2007. The course this year was shorter, about 7.5km and we were going to be riding 7 laps. Due to the nature of the course, it was going to be tough. The course was almost completely flat with a huge amount of twisty single-track among the trees. An untechnical course but reasonably fun.

The race started and I felt to be going backwards from the start – I rode the singletrack well but the draggy fireroad sections I fell apart on. 30 minutes in, I felt crap and was ready to stop. I bit of a mechanical issue added to my headache. After another 30 minutes later, I was half way through and soldiered on. On this course, where group riding is imperative (speeds are high and drafting is paramount), I rode almost always by myself. It was one of those days, where, if I was training, I would call it quits early. I finished up after 56km in 2:23:45, over 9 minutes off the winner. Looking back, I have never had a good race on a flat course – guess I'll need to fix that some time soon. These things happen, my training has been going well and I'm looking forward to the next NPS round in Dalby Forest in 4 weeks.

Results are available here and Joolze has some pictures up here.

2009 Sunshine Cup Round 3 - UCI C1

Another weekend, another race – I could get used to this. Last weekend it was the third round of the Cyprus Sunshine Cup and we were competing just outside Limassol around the ancient ruins of Amathous. The course was a hilly affair with almost all of it on singletrack. Tough short climbs and technical descents where the name of the game – you always had to be very careful and focused, a few inches either side of the trail and you would easily washout or crash. Although not extreme, it was probably one of the more technical courses that I have ridden in that there were very few sections for you to relax on – falling on more pointy rocks was not on my todo list.


Due to the nature of the course, the orgainizing committee decided to split the men and women elite races with Mel starting at the ungodly hour of 9am. This did mean however that I would be able to take a few snaps of her race and visa versa (600 or so in total taken). I'll leave Mel to talk about her race. About 70 minutes before my race I started preparing for my warmup. We spend the 20 minutes before the race start being gridded (not like in Ireland where you roll up to the line 2 minutes before the start).

Dust rises as we descend the first singletrack section

At 12pm, the race hammered up the start loop – a short tarmac climb that quickly turns into fireroad, followed by horribly rutted fireroad and then single track for most of the rest of the race. As usual in this series, my start was terrible – I was gridded around 30th but slipped back into the 40s by the time I was half way around the first main lap and queuing to get into singletrack. This is something I am working on!

Emil Lindgren followed by Christoph Soukup

Climbing behind an ISD rider

I rode the course pretty well having no spills and enjoyed a few battles along the way. I actually enjoyed the race a lot which in some ways tells me that I wasn't pushing hard enough, which I knew – but still, a long while ago when I decided to come here for these races I had planned on 'training' through the races and using them as high intensity workout. That was my plan, but it's still tough not to be going faster when you are in the race. Still – a season from February to October is a long long season.



I finished up the race midpack passing 4 riders on my last lap (last lap was the same time as my first – hmmm, that should not be happening) and felt that I could keep on riding at the same pace. Guess that says my endurance is good but the high end is not there yet.

Anyway, this weekend is the final round in Voroklini – Mel and I rode the course today and I'm excited.


Full results are available here.

2009 Sunshine Cup - UCI C1 XCP Tochi to Kalavasos

I have a few posts to write about actually getting to the race in Cyprus with all our equipment (and my new equipment :) THANK YOU Cycleways and Alan for picking everything up), but first I'll jump into a race.

Today's race was a UCI C1 class point to point race from Tochi to Kalavasos Village in Cyprus – in fact, the finish line in Kalavasos was around 400 meters from our front door! It was the first round of the four round Sunshine Cup. The course itself was pretty fast (although the day of raining on Friday may it pretty tacky/muddy in places) – 47 kilometres with around 1500 meters of climb. Almost the complete course was off road on rocky (lots of them pointy) fireroads and not puncturing was going to be an issue - I ripped a massive hole in a new tire when I prerode part of the course the previous day. The descents were very fast but I wouldn't call the course technical at all.

Mel preps race bottles... (thanks Anglus and Theodorus for the feed support!)

...while I prep the wheels

Race morning arrived and neither Mel or I felt in race mode. It's the first of the season and the nervers were at us and we were wishing to just staying in bed a little longer and going for a nice leisurly ride later in the day. That's not why we are here so we grab all our preprepared things and took the short drive over to the start in Tochi.

After a 25 minute warmup we headed over to the call ups – fortunately, I got a second row gridding, which was useful as there was 50 riders in the Elite Men's category. Looking around, the race was stacked – basically everyone had flown in for these races and the people meant business – it was like a mini World Cup!

The course profile - the climbs were steep!

The gun went off and the group accelerated up the first long climb. The first climb was around 20 minutes with some very steep pitches and my legs were not liking it. The head of the group stayed together for around the first 10 minutes and then started to break up on the steeper pitches. Usually, I love climbing but today my legs were not running – my heart rate was pegged but I didn't feel great – not bad, just not great. I guess my body was asking, “what the hell are you doing to me!” - Ryan to body, this is what you're here for!

With very steep and fast descents off the climbs there was never really much time to recover, climb for 20 minutes, descend for 4, repeat – it was physically very tough. I rode constantly among other riders (which beats most races in Ireland) and that was fun (or was it pain, I can't remember – I'm trying to forget).

One interesting thing was a river crossing at the back side of the course. Here I am, riding a descent, about 40kph and I see then UCI water crossing sign, I ride around a blind corner and hit a river – it must have been 2 feet deep and about 12 feet wide. Riding through it was like jumping into a pool – I was 100% completely soaked. I had never seen anything like it! (the important bit was I hit it at 40kph - it was nuts)

The little villages we passed through were cool too, zipping through tiny alleys hoping there is no stray cat or old woman washing her door step around the next corner - a big rush.

Anyway, a group of 5 of us rode mostly together for the second half of the race with an Italian, Francesco Panza and I breaking off with about 10km to go. Francesco got a bit of distance on me and I rolled in behind him into Kalavasos 2:04 after I left Tochi. I finished up in 25th (50 started) and am reasonably happy considering I didn't do any race prep for it – there were lots of highly ranked riders behind me (and in front) so I wont complain too much. For me, I'm here for the training and the experience of riding with these great riders and I got a lot of both in today.

Make sure you head over to Mel's blog see how Mel rode today :) (She is buying dinner)

Cycling News has a bit up about it too here.

2008 Scottish XC Round 7

It was all a little last minute -I was talking to Robin on-line and he was asking me about what other races I had planned on going to for the rest of the year. There were not many XC races left and he mentioned a UCI C2 race that was being held in Scotland as part of the Scottish XC league. The race was going to be held in the famous 7Stanes MTB park so my interest was perked and Mel and I went and booked flights and a car.

A few days later we arrived into Glentress. On the drive there I was getting scared, I seen car after car with nice mountain bikes on the back driving in the opposite direction - were we missing something. When we actually arrived at 7 Stanes MTB park all become clear... We had actually arrived at a mountain bikers heaven. I actually have never seen so many recreational cyclists in the one place before (that were not part of some big event). It was amazing – all shapes and sizes on all forms of bikes from tiny kids on miniature mountain bikes to the strangest looking (normal) bike I have ever seen. It was a small jump frame with a massive downhill fork. It looked like a chopper!

Anyway, back to the race at hand – a preride of the course was had. Basically a big climb, (fireroad and singletrack) followed by a long, very wet and mucky descent, another climb and then another descent back to the start finish. The final section was down a freeride/jump park style track so there were lots of jumps to launch off. I liked the course, I didn't feel fast on the schlompy sections but the profile suited me.

Race day arrived with the usual “why am I doing this” sort of feelings. Regardless, I warmed up and got to the start line with plenty of time. My UCI points meant a front row start. At 2pm we were off. Gareth Montgomery lead us up the long climb (about 8 minutes) with Robin and I trailing a second or two off the back. My legs were feeling great and I was very comfortable – could this be the day for me to get a podium at a C2 event. I started the muddy traverse and into the descent, a slight gap grew to Robin (who seems to float over this kind of thing – I also think my tire choice – Racing Ralphs – for these long muddy sections was very bad – if I knew what it was going to be like I would have put a Nobby Nick on the front – ahh well, you live and learn). One guy passed me about half we down the descent and then towards the bottom another took an 'interesting' line trying to get by me and promptly crashed in front of me taking me down too :( I didn't notice it at the time, but his 44 tooth big chain ring left some bad cuts on my left leg. This wasn't too bad and once we got untangled I descended the final section, it was only when I hit the fireroad that disaster struck – my chain was completely messed up. I spun around the bike and started to try and fix it – my Garmin tells me I spent about 100 seconds doing this. All the time watching rider after rider passing – damn, that podium. I got back on the bike and decided to push hard hard on the climbs and just enjoy the descents. So for the final 100 minutes of the race that is what I did. The race actually felt really short and I enjoyed it a lot, the final few sections of single track were a real pleasure to ride and the single track climb towards the top of the major climb 'flowed' really well.

Riding up the climb from the start - pic from here

As the race progressed I picked off riders every lap and eventually finished off in 5th place – my last lap being my fastest (damn, I really need to learn to push harder) – I was closing in quickly on 4th and 3rd at the time. Considering, I was happy with the 5th but a bit frustrated that I blew my chance at a better race. The few days before the race my legs felt great and I had hoped for an even better result.

Lessons from this (and you'll see in my next race report too) – I really need to spend more time on the mountain bike going fast descending, since the Epic Blast (where I badly hurt my shoulder – it's now a month later and I'm still going to the physio) I have mostly been on the road bike. My feel for riding quickly on technical terrain really left me – it was frustrating, on a course like that, you can make up time on the climbs but the descents really did kill me.

View from our B&B

I have to say thanks to Alex of the Colnago Ergon team for providing support for both Mel and I and also the Millburn House Bed and Breakfast for a really pleasant stay. One last thing, I think this race was possibly the best organised and marshalled race I had ever been too. Commentary as you passed through each lap (telling you your position), digital timing with results up as you finished and more marshals on the course on the practice lap then I would see during a normal race! Excellent and thank you.

Mel won her race - her first UCI C2 win and her report is available here.

2008 K-Capital Cup Round 4 - Castlewellan

700 days ago, I arrived at Castlewellan for my first ever mountain bike race. (Well, actually, I did the Sea Otter classic two weeks earlier but I wont mention that for now...) Dry, sunny, warm and a 12th place in Expert. I still remember being nervous before hand – wondering if I should have done sport but then really enjoying the course and race (I think about 35 people took part in expert that year). So, after 700 (ish) days I returned as an Elite for the final of the 2008 K-Capital Series.

The weekend, as usual, started with the preride on the Saturday. I expected the course to be pretty dry (it has not rained much lately, but it has been cold and windy) and it didn't disappoint. In fact, there were sections that were so dusty and loose that I was hoping for a little rain over night (which actually happened). The course was a couple of minute steady fireroad climb followed by lots of single track climbing and descending with a very stiff (18% loose) fireroad climb in the middle. There was 170 meters (or so) of climb per lap and the Elites were doing 7 laps. As I rode my first practice lap, I noticed the huge smile on my face – the course is truly amazing and has everything. A steady climb, lots of kicker climbs, twisty flowy singletrack, rock gardens, fast singletrack... the list goes on. It really is a world class venue.

Course Profile

I awoke Sunday to rainy weather – I was staying in Monaghan, checked the rain radar and it looked like Castlewellan got some rain, but none now – perfect. Mel and I arrived to the usual buzz with the Sport race having just started. After Mel freaked out a little about a slightly worn brake pad (in these conditions it would last 100s of km) we both warmed up. Heart rate seemed grand and shortly before 1:30 we all lined up for the start. As the whistle went we all sprinted off up the hill – same as usual except this time I didn't feel any snap in my legs. The lactate acid was built up to a max 30 seconds in. At this point I was probably around 7-8th position. As we exited the first large section of single track and climbed the steep fireroad section I joined into 5th place where I stayed most of the race. I enjoyed riding the singletrack but kept feeling that there was something a little missing (mostly in me?). On the second lap I passed Conor who was having some tire issues (he would later catch me again to claim 4th position). The rest of the race was pretty hard. My max heart rate (set on the second lap!) was 181 – a far cry from the 190 that I should hit while the average for the race was really low... (Not far off what I did for the 4 hours in the UK the week before) After a near bonking moment on the 5th lap (fixed by a gel) I finished feeling okay but once I started eating I felt pretty sick. (Very unusual – I can eat very well even after a hard race or training) I should have been recovered from the UK races but somehow I didn't feel it during the race. Something to have a look at.

Pictures from here

So that was the K-Capital Cup for 2008 – an absolutely amazing series of races which is really doing amazing things for Irish XC racing. (Downhill World Cup star Ben Reid was even seen at two of the races – maybe he will give XC a go – he did win the Expert race by a good margin) A huge thanks has to be given to all the clubs that organised the races but especially to the Seymour family who seem to be at the core of most of the best Irish events – thanks – you made the opening of the season amazing!

Mel had another good race to wrap up the Elite ladies competition - her report will be up shortly on her blog.

Photos are available here, here and here. A report is up here.

Video from the K-Capital Round 3

The start of the K-Capital race - I need to work on my starts, although I'm not nearly as bad as last year! It was great having the kids screaming and the cow bell :) If I ever see them cheap, I'll buy a ton and hand them out at races...

2008 K-Capital Round 3 UCI C2 – Djouce Woods

This weekend was the third installment of this years K-Capital Series. Summer like temperatures during the week (shorts and short sleeve jersey!) didn't hold for the weekend so it was going to be bitterly cold with showers of hail and sleet! As usual, Saturday was the preride and Mel and I headed out early to have a look. The course was going to be very technical on the descents/traverses but reasonably easy climbs (fire-roads but a couple of steep single track climbs). The course started with a loop around the start field and then into a section of single track that climbs to a fire road that brought us up to mid way down XTC, down it then up a 1 minute fast climb to the start of Off Camber which lead onto a traverse across some open mountain. Down onto a fireroad then up to Gran Canaria (my favorite section). After that, it was a tough single track climb to the top of the Earls Drive and then a long swooping descent to a very very tricky river crossing. Then, it was mostly single track climbing with some fireroad at the end back to the start/finish area. It was a tough 7.5km loop with about 280 meters of climb per lap. Elite had 4 laps.

Course Profile

Race day arrived and I actually felt reasonably good – as I'll be racing the next three weekends I took it pretty easy during the week so I felt pretty rested. A good 30 minute warmup went to plan (apart from the hail storm) and we all gathered down at the start area for our 1:30pm start. My ranking in the series so far meant a front row start but some of the riders gridded further back just snuck up anyway (no big white lines on the ground this time to mark the rows). The start was pretty quick and I dropped back a couple of positions before the first singletrack but I didn't worry much as after that there was a bit of a steep climb and I knew I would get by people as needed there. The first lap ran out with lots of little battles. Lee Williams, Micke Haggquist and myself changing positions a lot. The second lap started and the tussles continued – I really enjoyed having a few battles on the course – the course lent itself pretty well to that as I was able to catch people on the technical terrain and people were catching me on the fire-roads (opposite than usual!). At the top of the single track climb I passed Micke and Lee (hopefully for the last time) and started the tricky Earls Drive descent. Unfortunately, towards the bottom I burped my tire (first time with this wheel/tire combo – it was a mistake on my part) and then had to fumble around getting my CO2 (I hate long finger gloves for racing) out of my pocket, two jerseys down and filling the tire. Half way through the operation I watched Micke and Lee pass me by. Damn – had lots of fire in me now to catch them again.

Feed on the first lap - Thanks Sean!

I got going again and caught and passed Micke and headed after Lee up the final fireroad. At some point after this (and I don't know when) Lee disappeared – I didn't think he dropped me but I found out after that he had to pull out for some reason – that was a pity. Third lap was going reasonably well until towards the bottom of the Earl Drive descent I misjudged a corner and hit a tree at about 25kph. Man, I thought I broke something. A quick check of my mobility and I decided that I can continue – pretty shacken up, I rode like a squirrel for the next few minutes. Then, down at the river crossing, Micke passed me again. Damn! Refocused, I headed off into the climbs and caught him a couple of minutes later and put my head down to gap him. That was the last place changing for me for the day.

The last lap was pretty enjoyable despite my shoulder (which at this point was throbbing). With a few minutes left in the lap I got a glimpse of Joey McCall who was having a stormer behind me so I put the head back down and hammered up the last climb finishing a comfortable enough margin ahead of him in 8th position. (I should have been putting my head down like that on all the climbs!)

Overall, the race was pretty good fun – I never seemed to get the Earls Drive descent well but I was happy enough with how I rode aside from that. I lost a few minutes due to various mistakes, but that is racing. Today, I feel perfect (apart from the shoulder which is in bits) so now I'm second guessing and thinking I didn't push enough. Well, there is always next week...

Mel's report is available here. Results can be found here and there are a couple of pictures here.

2008 K-Capital Cup Round 2

They talked of rain. Met Eireann had big snowy clouds sitting over Northern Ireland all week – fortunately, the weekend was dry (but cold) and the racing fast. This was the weekend of the Second Round of the K-Capital Series.

The weekend started with the pre-ride on the Saturday. Mel and I drove the two and a half hours to the course and got three laps in. One slow, one fast, one slow. The course was good. Basically, it felt like 90% singletrack. No big climbs (although there was 150m of climb per lap, it felt like it was mostly from steep kickers) and all that single track didn't really suit me – but it was a lot of fun to ride. There was no letup on the course, there was no section to take it easy and I knew that it was going to be hard on my body – not just my legs.

Course Profile

A birds eye view of the Moneyscalp course

Race morning arrived and we drove back to the race course from Monaghan (a one and a half hour drive). Thankfully, the course remained dry and from watching the sports riders ride by, it looked like it was holding up pretty well. There were a couple of mushy sections around the top of the course but really nothing to write home about. Instead of warming up on the roads, I decided to warm up by a steady lap of the course with a few accelerations – all that went grand.

Just before 1:30 we were called up for the gridding – second row for me so I was pretty happy. The first part of the course was up a steep fireroad then straight into single-track. The field had a little of an International flair with 3 Belgians and 3 riders from Great Britain over for the race. At 1:30 we were off – the start was not too fast but a huge surge right before the single track (which was a pretty technical entry point) meant that already there was a few little gaps formed. Over the course of that single-track section most of the gaps closed again but by the time we hit the fireroad there was a small lead group of 5 slightly ahead. Up the fireroad, I was sitting in 7th. This is were I stayed for most of the race – I could see one of the Belgians ahead of me (Patrick Gaudy) on the straight sections and by the 5th lap I caught and passed him. From that point on I slowly moved away from him eventually finishing up 2:17 later in 6th position.

The race was pretty tough - 6th place is my highest finish in a UCI C2 race but I actually wasn't particularly happy with how I raced. I rode technically pretty well but I didn't feel strong – I didn't feel like I had the legs to push hard – I felt that the maximum I could do was a soft pedal. My max HR was 183 (should be in the 190s...) and average HR was pretty low. That was a bit frustrating but the season is long and the next race is two weeks from now. (No racing for me next week – training and recovery is the name of the game) Another of the positives I guess was that I finished with very little left in the tank. In Kilruddery, I could have kept going for hours at the same pace – not so yesterday.

Mel will have some to say about her race but I'll leave her to talk about it in her blog. Full results of the race can be found here. There are a couple of pictures here and here. There is a report available here.

Videos from the K-Capital Cup

Here are a couple of videos from the K-Capital Cup...

Link 1


I'm coming through at 6:20 in the above video for my final lap.

Link 3

In the end, over 250 people took part in one of the cats on Sunday - amazing. Is it the most ever for a non nationals XC competition in Ireland? Just stands to the reputation that the K-Capital Cup has generated in this, only its second year. If you are on the fense about racing (or traveling here to race one of the other rounds) one of the rounds - do come, you wont be disappointed!

Today I got good intense training in - the DOMS that appeared last week after the road race have not shown their face again this week (damn, I knew I didn't go hard enough in the race). I can't wait for the next round :)

2008 K-Capital Cup - Round 1 UCI C2

Yeeeah – for race season. Yesterday was my first cross country race of the new season – a UCI C2 event which was the first round of the K-Capital Cup Series. The race was being held in the amazing Kilruddery Estate like last year on a course that was pretty similar to last years but a little shorter. The course was basically a big climb followed by a very technical rocky descent (about 2-3 minutes) then a flat fireroad over to another 3-4 minute climb. Next was an amazingly long fast single track section through the woods that goes on for hours (well, not quite, I wish). Another few minutes of climbing and then a chunk more singletrack that eventually takes you back to the start/finish area – about 8km long.

Course profile (it was actually 8km long)

How it looks

Preparation all started on the Saturday with the preride. Having just finished building up my new race bike (more on it later) the day before it was going to be its first ride. Like last year, it was an S-Works Epic so the geometry was exactly the same and fortunately I had been using my new wheels for a few rides so I had no qualms about racing on such a new bike (I've built up enough bikes at this point that I'm confident in my mechanical abilities...). The day started with heavy showers so by the time I was out on the course it really was very sketchy in places. 85% was bone dry, 15% was very wet – I heard that there was a rush to the bike shops after the pre-ride to get mud tires! Anyway, the pre-ride went fine and I was looking forward to the race.

I woke up on Sunday to beautiful sunny skies (and the "why am I about to put myself through this" feeling) and the hope that we might actually have a dry race. By the time I got to the course I got to see a few of the sports riders riding around during their race and they were not covered from head to toe in mud so it looked like conditions had dried out a lot since yesterday – sure enough, after further inspection of the course, it had, and the blue skies around me gave me the real hope of a fully dry race.

The Elite Men were off at 1:30 and as I knew the gridding was based on last years world ranking I arrived about 4 minutes before the start to my second row position (last year I started at the back – would not have been so bad this year though as there was no single track for a long time, just a big climb to get warmed up on). The race started and the pace was not too bad. I stuck with the leaders up the climb and down the slab descent. A few little gaps then formed and unfortunately I was a little back from the next person up (Ross Creber) so I didn't get any drafting on the flat section. The next two hours was basically me pushing myself to get around as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, apart from chasing Ross for a while I was not racing with anyone until I started to lap people on the 3rd of the 5 laps. I finished up 2:23 after the start to come in in 10th position (3rd Irishman). I really enjoyed the race and the singletrack was simply amazing – it is possibly my favourite course to ride but probably not one that suits me the most. The quality of the riders that came over for the race was great too – it had the feel of one of the big UK races! I knew it was early days in the race season for me as when I finished the race I still had legs for another 2-3 laps at the same pace (need to push harder). Also, my average heart rate for the race was very low – about 7-8 bpm lower then it would usually be for a race of that length so I have a few things to work on before the next cross country race (the second round of the K-Captial Series) in Tullymore in two weeks.

A short descent that dropped us down to the start/finish area - pic from here

Before then, there is a road race on on Sunday that I'm contemplating doing – it's pretty long at 150km but I did it last year and enjoyed it. If I do do it though, I'm doing it for training and not to race – I'm going to have a big sticker on my handlebars saying “Thou shalt not attack”. Nothing like a good 4 hour peleton pacing session.

Results for the race can be found here.

British Marathon Champtionships and BMBS XC Series

This weekend saw me take part in the penultimate weekend of racing for the year. I was heading over to Wales for both the final round of their National XC Series (BMBS) (UCI C2) and the final round of the Trek Marathon Series (100km) which was dual rolling as the British National Marathon Championships, so a lot of racing hours was going to be logged...

The race was being held in the Welsh MTB mecca that is, Coed Y Brenin. Getting their was easy, Richie Felle, our bikes and the Silver Bullet (my Peugeut 205) made our way to the Irish Ferries ferry from Dublin to Holyhead in Wales, once there, it was a relatively short rainy drive (about 1.5 hours) to our B&B that was about 10 miles to the race course. After checking in and having a quick nap we headed down for the preride. The course for the XC race and the marathon had been billed as being the most technical course of the year but upon finishing my first lap – it was anything but. The XC lap was 10.5km long and only about 1.5 to 2km of singletrack. Coed Y Brenin has TONS of amazing singletrack and yet it was almost completely on fireroad. I mean, it's one thing to do all the climbing on fireroad (a lot of the time that suits me) but a lot of the descending was on fireroad too! There were a couple of techy sections on the course and a really fun final 4 minutes but just way too much fireroad. It also didn't help that it rained the whole time and made everything very slushy. (One thing though, with the constant rain the course for both days held together well with it all being 100% ridable – the HUGE puddles and rivers we had to ride through meant that not too much got to clog up the drivetrain)

Race morning arrived but my legs didn't feel that up for it. They didn't feel bad, just not that good. After the warmup we were all ready to start. Not much really to add from the race... I didn't feel very quick, my legs feeling pretty dull but I did have a few good fights during the race. The last lap James Fraser Moodie and I had a great tussle (me losing out to him just before the line) exchanging positions throughout the final lap. I finished up coming in a respectable 17th. I wasn't overly happy with the ride but I had one more long day on the bike to look forward to the next day so I simply refocused on it. Results of the XC race can be found here and a report here.

On Sunday I got up to a very soggy, rainy morning – the type of morning that when I'm at home I would reschedule a spin to latter in the day... Not today as it was going to be 100km of a (mostly) unchanged XC course. The rain continued to pour down right up to and past the start of the race. It was actually my first off road race that I left arm warmers on for! The pace at the start wasn't too fast (probably because no one warmed up because of the weather) and I was able to stay with the leaders for most of the first lap. Three quarters of the way around, the people in the group I was with allowed a gap to open in the single track and unfortunately, I couldn't chase back once we hit the climbs again. The second lap started with me in a small 4 person chase group and something worrying started to happen. My front brake starting to lose power. Another few kilometres and I had no front brake. (I had checked the brake pads on the front the night before and they were fine – I replaced the rear ones) For the next 4 laps I only had my rear brake to stop me. Luckily the course was not too technical so good brakes was less critical then normal but I would say it still added a minute or two to each lap time. Mid way through my sixth lap, disaster struck – on a fast descent my rear brake lost all power. Now I'm flying down a hill with no brakes... Time for some old school foot on the front wheel braking... With the smell of burning rubber I was able to stop and check out the situation. Brake pads (and back plates) were completely gone on the front and rear brakes. A nice walk/run back over to the start meant that I lost a ton of time (it was about 4km...). Robin, who suffured double punctures in the race, was able put on a set of pads on my front brake but I was going to do my last two laps with only a front. (Well, I did 4.5 with only a rear, only a front should be faster...) Before I left, Robin mentioned that I was as high as 5th but had now dropped to 8th (I think). With this, I had my motivation set to go hard for the final 80 minutes or so. The last two laps were uneventful enough – I felt good throughout and was even able to push hard on my last lap. I finished up the race in 5 hours 30 minutes for a decent 7th place. Having looked at the details from my Garmin, I probably lost around 20-25 minutes due to my braking issues... I could have had a 4th or 5th... You live and learn. Results from the marathon can be found here, as well as a report here.

The race was a serious mudfest. Lots of photos here

Mud, mud, mud...

The huge puddles meant that the Epic stayed 'roughly' clean

In general, even with the disappointing course I had a great weekend of racing. Thanks to Richie, Geof and Paul for helping me out in the feed zone and Robin and the Pipedream crew for the brake pads!

On Saturday I'll be taking part in the Irish Marathon Championships. It's going to be the final race (don't know about the cross season yet) of the season for me. I'll have nice, new, bedded in brake pads for that...

British XC & Marthon Series Round 3 - Margem Park

Last weekend saw Sean and I (as well as a few other Irish racers) head over to Wales for the third round of their National XC and Marathon series. There had been talk of rain for the whole weekend but fortunatly enough it never materialized and all the racers on in the XC race on Saturday ended up getting burnt!

Saturday saw the cross country race. It was basically 5 laps of an 8km course with about 300m of climb per lap. The climbing on each lap was split up into 3 major climbs with single track descents following each one... At 12pm the Elite race started and the pace was frantic from the start. My legs felt terrible from the beginning and I knew that it was going to be a long 2+ hours... On the fourth lap, my hamstrings locked up half way up one of the climbs – it was pretty steep so I wasn't really able to stand and climb in order to get into a different position. About 3-4 minutes of agony (I thought I was going to have to turn around and freewheel back to the start) the pain subsided and I was able to race on. By the time I finished in 26th place I was absolutely zonked – pretty dehydrated (it was 27C and humid with no wind) and didn't really have the energy to get ready for the next days race. I even contemplated dropping from the full 100km marathon down to the 50km! A long bath and some good food meant that by the time I was going to bed I felt a lot better.

The Marathon race went somewhat better – it was going to be 4 laps of a 25km course with about 700m of climb per lap. It basically was the full XC course from the previous day plus a big chunk out the back hills. From the start, the pace was a lot easier then the day before and I didn't have to push to hard to keep (roughly) with the lead group. (One of my regrets from the race was that I didn't go that little bit harder and be in the lead group...) During the second lap I had a great tussle with two other lads – unfortunatly about two thirds of the way around the lap one of them punctured and I dropped the other guy (who seemed to be suffering more then me) on the last climb of the lap. The third lap was spent passing about 300 riders who started the 50 and 25km races about 15 minutes before I came through on my lap. It was pretty amazing – all levels of riders and a constant stream meant that I was riding off the racing line for much of the lap. Apart from a 10 minute interval on the last lap when I felt a bit bonky it all went pretty well. I finished the race and didn't feel like I needed to fall of the bike. Overall felt easier on my body then the previous days XC race even though, at 4:50 on the saddle the race was more then twice as long! In the end, I came in in 7th position (Robin won the race) which I was really happy with :) Again - my bike, wheels and tyres (if a little heavy) blew me away...

There are some reports and photos from the race here, here, here and here.

K-Capital Cup Round 4 - Castlewellan

Last Sunday saw the final round of the K-Capital Cup series taking place in Castlewellan. It's a course and a location that I really like. I raced there twice last year (the first race, in April, was my first race in Ireland and second race ever) and the weather had been perfect each time. As it turned out, the weather was again perfect with the race with the course running even faster then last year! (About 1.5 minutes was cut from a 19 minute lap time with extra single track added!)

My knee had been feeling a bit better over the last few days before the race (2 of the last 3 weeks were mostly off the bike :( ) and I felt that it would hold up okay for the race. The thing that I worried about was that it had been a while since I had gone hard on the bike – I didn't know if my legs and lungs would hold up to the fast pace I expected. Shortly after 1:30 the Elite race started at a very fast pace. Adrian Lansley was pushing the pace hard and unlike the last two races I felt myself slip off the back from the start. My legs just did not have the power to keep up – it basically felt that I was carrying an extra 10kilo back pack up the hill. By the top of the first climb (100m vertical over 1.3km with a few flat sections and bits of single track) the leaders had opened up about 20 seconds on me and I already felt spent – damn my knee! The next two laps or so I spent trying to hang on as best I could. I know when I'm pushing hard when I question why I'm putting myself through this... For the first 2-3 laps I felt like selling everything I have and giving up cycling completely! I guess I know I was pushing myself :) The remaining laps felt a good bit better (the first lap was my fastest with the following 6 all being around the same time - around the 19 minute mark) but I was still loosing time on the climbs. My descending and single track navigation actually felt really good. At the start of the season, before I started riding Elites, that is where I thought I would have had most problems – I guess 100mm of travel front and rear and nice wheels and tyres (Got SLRs and Huthinson Pythons recently – more on that later) can help! All the single track was very fast with the only breaking needed when you approached a tight switchback. I finished feeling I could continue for a while more, cooled down well and joined the MAD crew... (Thanks to Shane for helping me out with the bottles and mechainically throughout the series! I really appreciate it!)

The Expert race starts off - Yvain (215) wins the race and series

I should really try not to unzip the jersey! (Pic from here)

Robin finished out winning the race, and the series with Niall Davis coming in second. Results and report available here. I'm still annoyed about having to deal with my knee injury (I know, injuries happen) as I would have loved to have been able to push hard in Castlewellan.

The series overall was an amazing experience – the races were supper well organised and every course was magnificent. I really can't fault anything about it. I really hope that the series will be run again next year as I think the people organizing it all learnt a lot and the Irish XC scene gained a lot from it.

4 races down, lots more to go... Racing Elites has been great so far – the commitment to it all has been huge and there was a great speed boost over Expert but it has been such a rewarding experience so far.

K-Capital Cup Round 3 - Carlingford

So that was an interesting weekend of racing.

Sunday saw the third round of the K-Capital Cup visit Carlingford, Co. Lough. Luckily MET Eireann predicated beautiful sunny weather for the weekend so the pre-ride on Saturday and the race on Sunday were both held in beautiful sunshine. The course was amazing, if a little new (less the a week old in it's current incarnation). Basically, it was about 150 meters up a fireroad then left on to a steep single track climb and then a single track descent back onto the fireroad (about 1.5 minutes...) then another 900 meters up a fireroad, nowhere near as steep as last week. Then we hit single track for the remaining 3 kilometres of the loop. We were going to be doing 8 laps of the course.

Sunday morning was arrived and I felt more prepared then I did last week, my warm-up went well and I was looking forward to a bit of racing. Shortly after 1:30pm our race started and the Elites accelerated up the hill. Again, I was glad that the speed was not too fast and I set in behind James McClusky (out of the wind) for most of the climb. You could tell everyone was being careful in the single track the first time around and over the first 1km or so I passed a few racers out. About three quarters of the way around the first lap I was riding very comfortably (read – I wasn't going so hard I wanted to quit) and was enjoying a tussle between Lewis Ferguson, Lee Williams and myself. Then on a dual track the specific hiss of a snake bite came from my rear wheel – to say I was a little annoyed is an understatement, I was really really enjoying the racing and I still felt strong. About 2 minutes 20 seconds (wasted 20 seconds trying to find my CO2 cannister – rookie mistake) I was on the way. It was hard to get myself back up to full race speed, but I tried anyway... By the single track on the fourth lap (I think) I was back in 8th position and enjoying the race again when another flat occured. This time, as I had no CO2 or spare tube it was going to be a 2.5 km run across the single track back to the technical area... A new wheel greeted me at the technical area and I sped off – by the top of the fireroad climb I was in 9th when, this time my front tire flatted (I had given up to laughing about it all at this point). About 3km of single track running was ahead of my and I got lapped by the race leaders. When I crossed the line (5th lap complete of 8 total) I assumed my race was over due to being lapped so I put on warm clothes and drank chocolate milk and talked to the other races... About 15 minutes later I found out that I should keep racing as it's not over until the leaders finish. So, I ripped off my extra layers and cycled off without my gloves (the Bontrager foam grips are actually really really nice without gloves). I enjoyed the last lap and used the second half as recovery as I knew that the was no one to catch....

Picture of me descending from here

So, after the weekends racing I learnt a lot of things
1.Tubeless is the way forward – I'm getting a new set of wheels
2.You need a spare wheelset in the pits ready to go
3.Have spare tubes and CO2 ready to go
4.Keep racing until the commissionaire tells you your done!

The race left one other bad taste with me – at some stage I bashed my knee off a rock and it's been pretty sore since. I had to get off the bike yesterday after only a couple of minutes of easy riding and I wont be on a bike today. I'm icing it as a type and hopefully it will be perfect again soon.

There is a report available here and some more photos here.

A few more pictures from K-Capital Cup Round 2

Ellen took these photos as she watched the race.

About to start the 7th lap

Eva watching

Crossing the line at the end

Another race report can be found here.