2011 Supercross Cup Round 3 - Corkagh Park

Make hay while the sun shines... Since the last Supercross Cup race the sun has been shinning, I left off-season mode and have been making hay. Other than a few horrible days, the weather has been warm and dry, well, for October/November in Ireland. I love this time of year, lots of long bike rides, group spins and no thoughts of tapers or races – well, almost no thoughts of races. With almost 40 hours of riding done in the 13 days since the last Supercross Cup, I wasn't so sure how my legs would react. The big hours are needed for what I hope to achieve next year on the road – and that is my underlying goal, but still, it's fun to be fast when cyclocross racing...

A beautiful sunny morning in Corkagh Park greeted us – a similar course to last year – slightly shorter, and I think slightly better. A fast course that really facilitates group racing and heavily penalizes mistakes. My average speed for the race was around 26kmph.

This time I was gridded on the 3^rd row – there was good passing opportunities and my start was fine. Like the race in Lady Dixon Park, I could tell I was on a diesel day – the legs were fine, but the big miles had dulled the snap. From the onset, Roger Aiken and Robin Seymour where riding a gear faster than me – they were quickly gone. A familiar grouping of Evan (Robin's teammate, who was playing teammate tactics), Peter and I fighting for 3^rd. We all made a few digs during the race, but like Robin and Roger up front, it was hard to split the group.

With a few laps to go, Evan misjudged a corner and went down, that left Peter and I a few seconds in front. After a lap, he was almost back on to us when I attacked out of the group. I rode the final two laps hard and finished in 3^rd place.

Roger claimed a well deserved win. Like in our group, a mistake by Robin allowed Roger to get a gap and timetrial his way to the win. I said earlier, Roger is the man on form at the moment and I'm happy to see him finally showing it in Dublin.

Tomorrow I have another Cyclocross race – the final one of 2011 for me – this time close to Belfast and Mel will be joining me for her first cyclocross excursion. Hopefully today's race will suitably “open up” my legs and I'll be dicing with Roger for the win.

As always, thanks Team Worc for a perfectly run race. Links to other reports and photos coming soon.

2011 Supercross Cup Round 2 - Swords

Sure, what else would I be doing on a Saturday morning during the off-season? The 2^nd round of the Supercross Cup was held in Swords within a beautiful river valley. The course weaved up and down the valley slops giving the riders with power somewhere to make time (the short sharp climbs) and those with the skills to make up even more (the twisty, muddy descents).

As I rode my first lap of the course I was really impressed – a great use of the valley, great for spectating and a type of cyclocross course (very hilly) I have not ridden in Ireland before – I knew it would be a very tough race but couldn't wait to get going.

Due to my rolled tubular two weeks earlier (and the resultant DNF), I wasn't gridded for this round – 25 riders lined up in front of me. My starts in the past were never the strongest but, this year I have been getting much better and here, there was no time for taking it easy.

The gun fired and the race began – I was able to move up a couple of places pretty quickly but still sat in around 15^th or so. The course lended itself pretty well to passing but the quality of Irish CX riders now (especially for the first lap or two) is such that it is pretty much full gas and fast for everyone.

Smiling riding sideways - photo from here

As I finished the first lap, I came through in about 6th. But I could see I was making progress – another lap and I was in 4^th. For three or four laps Conor Cambell, Evan Ryan and myself had a close battle – it was good fun – I would make some time on the power sections, they would make time on the technical sections. Eventually, the elastic broke (unfortunately Evan punctured) and I rode the second half of the race in solo pursuit of Robin. I pulled back time on the last lap, but it was much too late.

Like all cyclocross races in Ireland this year (that I competed in anyway), it was another well run race on a great course – I would guess I left a minute or two on the course by not practicing my cyclocross skills, but hey, I had a big smile on my face for the full race and this is when I'm supposed to be taking it easy :)

Results are here, and another report from the race here.

2011 Ulster Cyclocross Round 2 - Lady Dixon Park

This weekends cyclocross race was Round 2 of the Ulster Cyclocross League held in Lady Dixon Park just outside Belfast. As Sean and I arrived at the venue, other than the beauty of the park the big thing to hit me was the number of kids around for the earlier races – there were hundreds! As we walked over to sign-on there was a party atmosphere with kids racing, screaming, whistles blowing and parents cheering – you could not do anything but smile...

We rode a lap – it was a cool course, the weather was dry and warm (for October) but the corners where all damp enough to make them tricky. There was more singletrack than I would like, but you really can't fault the course – it even had a long, fast, muddy, off camber corner (with nettles - see video!) that acted as a perfect spectator focal point – there were many many crashes there, fortunately I kept it “rudder side down” throughout the race.

Photo of start from here

At 1pm we started and Matt Adair took a flier! I'm really impressed with how explosive he is from the start line and he left the rest of us in his dust...

I was second into the singletrack but I could already tell it wasn't really going to be my day. My body was fine but it lacked any snap that I had the previous weekend – I was going to be in diesel mode for the day :( The opening laps were pretty tight but it spread out a little eventually with Matt fading a little and Roger taking over and powering off for the win. I didn't catch Matt (who took second) and I claimed third.

I have to say, Roger seems to be the man on form at the moment.

A good big competitive field, nice weather, party atmosphere and TV cameras... Now all we need are the beer tents and it will be perfect!

2011 Supercross Cup Round 1

Yip, still off-season – a couple of coffee shop rides and a cross race at the weekend to keep me somewhat active.

I arrived out for the first round of the Supercross Cup in the Grange Castle Industrial Estate. After a quick explorative lap, I came to the conclusion that I loved the course – it was super fast and I knew the racing would be close.

A fully booked up field of 75 competitors lined up at the start of the 350 meter long tarmac runway for the start – it was cool. I was third wheel as we hit the first off-road section and felt comfortable. I lost a couple of positions, gained a couple and about a third of the way into the lap I was in a lead group of 6 – National Champion, Robin, popped off the front so I went after him and we rode away from the chasers. First lap I rolled through on Robin's tail.

I didn't want the others to catch back on to us so I started to drive it – I went to the front and started to ride reasonably hard for the next couple of laps – when there was a strong headwind (and huge draft for Robin) I didn't go too hard, but rode a decent tempo. Hoping that Robin would ride some too, he did and I spent a lap riding on his wheel – man, that was SO much easier – coasting :)

Midway around the the fifth lap, Robin attacked on a techy bit and bunny hopped the barriers (I hop off and run them – I should really practice some CX skills but that would probably be taking things too seriously) and he got a 7-8 second gap – instead of pushing it too much I kept riding steady and as we arrived back into the start/finish for the half way point of the race it was only a couple of seconds - I would be back on his wheel by the end of the tarmac – happy days – hmmm, where will I attack? Then it all went wrong – I jumped off a curb into a hard left hander (on tarmac) and my front tub rolled off. The single tech zone was 15 meters behind me (you can't go backwards on the course) so I would have to run the full lap to get a new wheel – game over.

I was frustrated – my legs felt great and knew a win was on the cards (riding super easy a couple of times a week makes me feel fast – who would have thought it?)... I think this was the first cross race that I felt very comfortable for the whole race - well, half a race at least. I think one or two more weekend cyclocross races and then I'll hang up the race wheels again until the road season starts.

Great course, really well run, lots of racers.

Report and results here (oh, and Robin did not put 30 seconds into me in 3 minute of riding!!! ;) and I never completed the 5th lap - I believe a couple of mistakes were made in the reporting - very creative writing I think)

(I'll add some photos when they come online)

My Specialized Tri-cross Cyclocross Bike

This is the third year that I'm riding Cyclocross and I just realized I hadn't even put a post up about my bike. In the 2009/2010 I rode most of the season (finishing with a 2nd in Nationals) while last year I rode two races and two or three training sessions. For the 2011/2012 season I'm sticking to the same idea as last year. I'll probably only ride three or four races (I do need some time away from racing) but I'm glad to have a nice bike ready to roll again.

The setup is basically a SRAM Force groupset (Rival rear derailleur - the force one exploded in a muddy incident). Tufo carbon tubulars with Tufo tires and a mish mash of other bits I had in the house to finish it off. Nothing exotic but everything robust. I lowered the bars a little since I took this photo and changed to a 42t 'big' chainring.

2011 Ulster Cyclocross Series - Round 1 Lurgan

Its off-season, its off-season, its off-season... cyclocross doesn't count... does it?

After a long hard season I've been taking it easy. I rode the bike a little but mostly as a mode of transport to get to coffee shops. Most of my scars that have not had the chance to heal from my various knocks with tarmac and dirt over the year are starting to fade. In one way I like the off-season, well, during the season when I'm tired and drained (not much of the time, but sometimes) the thought of reaching off-season keeps me going – you look forward to it, and heaven forbid – some beers!

Once I hit off-season though, I quickly get tired of it and want to ride more again. Last year Mel and I went to Peru for 3 weeks as part of our postponed honeymoon during October – no bikes, but we still remained active – it was really good for us. This year I'm in Ireland and after seven days, I'm already itching to get going again. Basically, I love riding my bike – it I wasn't racing, I would be still riding my bike – possibly more!

Anyway – even though I'm taking it easy, it has just become cyclocross season – one hour of fun racing in the mud. The first race was been held in Lurgan which until 48 hours ago would have been a bone dry, super fast track – Ireland being Ireland – it rained for the 36 hours before the race making it a muddy, sliddery affair. I don't think I have actually raced or ridden in proper mud for about a year now.

A large field gathered at 1pm for our start and from the gun it was frantic as we all skiddered (yes, I did mean to say skiddered!) around the course. After a lap there was a group of five of us at the front – Roger Aiken was looking strong and the former National Champ kept the pressure on and rode away. The rest of us battled for a while but eventually the elastic broke and at the halfway point I was in solo pursuit of Roger.

Thank goodness for the 'bike wash'

He was flying and I wasn't going to catch him (Mel gave me a warning that I must be smiling in every photo otherwise I'm not allowed to race any more cross) – that and my bike sounded like it was going to explode meant I nursed it around for the final lap and a half finishing second. The previous years winner, Matt Adair, came in in third.

Muddy

A great course, great organization, great food afterwards – what more could I ask for seven days into the 'off-season'.

Photos via the Belgian Project and thanks to Sean Downey for the lift to and from the race.

Some off season racing

With some deserved relaxation time in October complete, November 1^st starts the training season again for Mel and I. This year, with it falling on a Monday – it starts with a rest day, how fortunate :)

The training has been going very well these last few weeks with the legs starting to feel faster session by session. Like last year, this time of year we do a few other fun events to keep the training interesting. Over the last couple of weeks I took part in one adventure race and two cyclocross events – all low-key and something to simply have fun with.

Ivan Park runs a great series of Adventure Races (Causeway Coast Adventure Races) and until now, I had not had a chance to race in one. Mel and I headed down to my home county of Monaghan to take part in the first in their series. The course was going to be a 5km run, 3km kayak, 5km run, followed by 40km of mountain biking (well, more fireroad/road riding) - with 4 special tasks thrown in for good measure (one was eating a packet of crackers). As this was a team event (pairs) Mel and I would be competing together for the first time in a long while – we both looked forward to it. I would be the mule (carrying the bag etc...) while the more experienced racer (ehh, Mel) took care of the navigation – a task she completed wonderfully not making a mistake in finding the 30+ control points!

The race started and after all the running and kayaking (I hadn't ran in any sort of race in 4 years, and had never kayaked) we were somewhere in the middle of the field (around 34 teams). As the mountain bikes were brought out we slowly clawed our way back (we really were just cruising along – average HR for the event for me was 134 – a CX race is closer to 180!) eventually coming 3^rd overall and winning the mixed category. Yummy food was our reward and we really had a great day in Monaghan. If I have one word of advice for the adventure racers out there – it is “TUBELESS”.

Next on the cards was my first Cyclocross race of the year – and really my first intensity since winning the marathon championships. I had no idea of how my body would respond after having completed the adventure race the day before (my legs where killing me) but gave it a go anyway. The 3^rd round of the Ulster league had a really nice fun course which rode very quick other than a few very muddy and heavy sections – I think one quarter of the field had to retire due to mechanicals (mostly mechs being pulled off) and I had my own issues – mud clogged my cassette in such a way that I was single speeding all day in a low gear – great for the heavy sections but bad for the fast bits. I finished out 3^rd on the day but had great fun doing it.

Steps in Ulster

At the weekend just past, I made it out to the 3^rd round of the Supercross Cup Cyclocross series in Dublin. A windy day greeted us in Corcaigh Park – but the wind helped dry out what turned out to be a very fast course. All the corners where slick but riding fast meaning that much of the time was spent sliding sideways. Due to not being part of the series up until now, I didn't get a gridding and after the first lap was in no mans land in 5^th watching the front four riders racing a road race in front (my average speed was close to 24kmph for the day). Long miles didn't give me the 'oompth' to bridge the 25 second gap and nothing changed until the penultimate lap when a flying Conor Campbell made a technical mistake on the boards leaving him within striking distance. We rode together for a lap but I attacked to claim 4^th with a half lap to go. A fun fast course, that had me smiling all the way around.

Nice big boards

Having fun as I rolled around the course

Gert has some really great photos from the race here.

Now I'm off to California for three weeks of training and work. I'll take part in a couple of hill climb races – but the focus will be on long miles with big climbs.

2010 Irish National Cyclocross Championships

It takes a long stopover in Heathrow Airport for me to finally be able to put something down about the 2010 National Cyclocross Championships.

The cyclocross season for me was about doing something a little bit different in the winter, getting a few high intensity workouts (races) thrown in and enjoy another aspect of cycling. Having just complete the season, I achieved all of the above. But, I digress, back to the racing...

Due to the terrible weather back in January the original date for our National Championships had to be delayed by almost a month – the course itself, on the original day of the championship, was great – covered in snow, slippery, but very very fast. However, road conditions in the country meant that the venue would be hard to reach for some which forced a postponement. For that race, I had prepped a little, for the first time in the season I had taken it a little easier in the lead up week and was feeling fresh for race day when I found out about the delay. This complicated matters as two days after the initial championship, I was traveling to Gran Canaria for a month of hard road training. This camp is a cornerstone for the coming cross country and road racing seasons so I was not going to change my plans.

Fortunately for me, the rescheduled date for the championship was after I returned from the camp – the following day in fact! Arriving home at midnight on a Saturday having travelled from another continent for a one hour sprint the following day isn't great, but I was really thankful to be there at all for it.

Race morning arrived and I was groggy – first things first, prep my bike for the race and then start prepping Mel's as she was going to take part in the MTB short track support race. This all took more time than I wanted which meant a slightly later arrival at the race venue than I had planned. My plan was: preride a couple of laps (and learn how to ride off-road again!), go back to the car, get race kit on, and then head to the road for a high intensity warmup.


The warmup laps went pretty well – I adjusted the pressure in the tires up a little as it felt a bit squidgy for me (being used to 110psi, dropping to 26psi felt weird). I then met my parents and brother who came up to watch the race (incidentally, they loved it – a great spectator sport). As I noticed that the mtb race had not started, I inquired when our race would start and was told 1:30pm, 30 minutes later than scheduled – no problem, I'll just hang out a bit and then head to the car to get ready at 12:50. At 12:45, as I started to head to the car to get ready I heard that the race was in fact going to be held ON schedule – damn – I'm not even ready and have not had a warmup! I raced to the car (the warmup?) and got my race gear on and got a passer by to pin on the number. Crap...

On the start line (legs cold), there was no ranking based on any races from the last 12 months, only the previous years national championships of which I was not a part. It was a very wide start with around 12 riders lined out and it made a nervous few minutes trying to make sure my race for 1^st was not hampered before we even begin this technical course.

I just about got to line up on the front row and a while later the race started – I say a while later because there was no “race will start soon” announcement, or the REQUIRED, “anytime in the next 30 seconds” announcement! Just a random whistle, followed by a “go” when there was a realization that most of the competitors didn't know the race was starting!

Picture via bikepure

I had a poor start (something I have been working on and getting better at) and spent the first lap and a half moving through traffic. I than sat in third and started chasing down Liam McCreevey and Joe McCall. Joe, who has been very focused on this race for many months sensed that he didn't want me close to him and attacked hard when I was about 10 seconds back – Liam dropped off on the attack and I soon passed him. Joe and I raced at around the same pace, him always around 10-20 seconds up until midway through the race when cornering aggressively (the course was a joy to ride with highspeed slightly bermed corners) when my bike skidded to a halt – instantly, I thought I had lost a derailleur as my gears had started to cause problems. After a few seconds, I figured my wheel had simply come loose and dropped out of the dropouts – a bit of fiddling and I was ready to go – my Garmin tells me I lost 40 seconds in this episode. I continued on but found it hard to get a flow again with Joe and I staying about the same distance apart. I finished feeling fresh a minute back on Joe to claim my 2^nd place. When I say fresh, I mean, I could keep the same pace for another hour or two but going quicker than that was very very hard – cycling 90 hours in the previous 4 weeks over big mountains tends to do that to you!

As you can probably tell, there were a couple of things that frustrated me about the day (only one being down to me, although I did skip my usual kit check before the race start as I hurried to get to the line) – the main thing though was that I would have enjoyed a good race against Joe – some close racing. This race for me was a simple time trial around the course – thankfully, the course was exceptional and I enjoyed that aspect immensely.

Thanks to the organization for running the event – especially Greg May – due to the postponement etc... he came under a lot of flak, thank you for holding through and running a great event in a great venue. Thank's too to all the supporters who where out to cheer us on – I hope you got to see at least a few of us suffer!



So that was the end of my first Cyclocross season – I learnt a lot from it and enjoyed it. I will have to see how it effects me a little later in the year (too much racing?) but I'm pretty certain I'll be back next year to give it another go and claim that Green jersey. In the last two years, I have claimed National Elite medals, silver or better, in four different disciplines – the Pokemon phrase springs to mind – “gotta catch 'em all”... Maybe I should get a Time Trial bike... :)

2010 Irish National Cyclocross Video

As I posted earlier - the National Cyclocross Championships where on at the weekend. My report is still to come (I came second) but I wanted to post this video first. It's pretty short (I forgot to charge the camera), and mostly covers the front of the race but at least you get to see what it was like :)



It is in HD so should look good in Full Screen.

Irish Cyclocross Champs

This weekend DCU Cycling Club and Team Worc are hosting the Irish National Cyclocross Championships in St. Annes park. Origininally, the event was to be held on the 10th of January but was postponed until February 7th (this Sunday) due to the crazy weather at the time.


My time in Gran Canaria ends on the 6th and I'll arrive back in Ireland late that night - not the best prep for a 1 hour flat out race on Sunday but I'm still really looking forward to the challenge. I have not been off road in almost a month and am really looking forward to riding my cross bike.

All details for the event are available here - if you are not racing, come along and cheer us on. It is a beautiful park and you'll get to watch 100 folk 'suffer' around the course :) The main races starts at 1pm.

2009 Supercross Cup Round 4

Sunday was the final round of the this years SuperCross Cup. Roger Aiken had already claimed 1st place overall but 2nd through to 5th was still up in the air with myself, Joe McCall, Lewis Ferguson and Evan Ryan vying for position.

My club, MAD MTB, were the host club running the event in Corcaigh Park. My duties were putting together sandwiches for afterwards (7 loaves of bread!) and putting together a video of the race (which can be seen in this post).

Race winner - Connor McConvey

At 1pm we lined up and started – immediately Roger went to the front and attacked. A few groups formed from the start and I was silly not to be in the lead group (I was following wheels that I should not have been). Towards the end of the first lap I left my group moving after the lead group – a lap or two later, Roger fell off the lead group and we started riding together. We rode well together sharing the workload on a very windy course until with 3 laps to go he had a little trouble in one of the very muddy sections and a gap formed – at this point, I moved off in hunt for third position. On the final lap, with about 600 meters to go I passed Joe on the tarmac section but then things went horribly wrong – my bike skidded to a halt. Looking down, I found my rear derailleur (a beautiful 2010 Force one with about 14 hours of use) mangeled into my wheel. Nothing was moving. With Roger still behind me (somewhere), I picked up the bike, threw it over my shoulder and began to run – oh, I hated the running. I made it around the course to nip in just ahead of Roger with only a couple of seconds to spare.



With my 4th place result, I ended up finishing 2nd overall in the series – my first cyclocross series. I really enjoyed the racing – there was always 6-7 people that could make it onto the podium and that created a great race atmosphere, everything was up for grabs.

The damage

Thanks again to MAD for running the race and K-Capital Source and Cycleways for supporting the events.

More pictures from Ollie.

Climbing

The secret to climbing well in the summer - lots of this in the winter:

There are no shortcuts.

In other news - the start to Saturdays CX race in Sierra Point:



That was the start of the cat A race - there was probably around 700 racers in total!

Cyclocross Final Laps

The day after each of the World Cups (and other big CX races), TV coverage of the final lap pops up on youtube. I'm been watching them for the last few weeks - some amazing finishes. The video below is from last weekends race in Nommay.

Amazing to see the attacks and Sven almost bridging across to the lead pair. Niels Albert's riding style is also really interesting - out of the saddle a lot and a lot of upper body movement.



That course looks really amazing - fast wide corners and not too much mud.

2009 Supercross Cup Round 2

Sunday was the second round of this years Supercross Cup. IMBRC were holding it in Tymon Park and it was the first CX race down south this year.

On arriving I found a fast course with some really nice twisty sections – the recent rain meant that it would get pretty muddy but not turn into a mudbath.

At 1pm the race started and just a few hundred meters into the race I punctured the rear tire (running tubeless tubular). I was so annoyed – I nursed the bike around the 2km lap back to the start to get my spare wheels. Unfortunately, not only did I have the slowest wheel change in history (must practice that - and remember that I'm running cantis and not disc brakes!) but the tires were dry weather CX tires setup for the road (65psi rather than the usual 30 I would race). I started the chase from somewhere in the 30s or 40s but the game was over. I rode the remains of the race (trying to stay upright as my rear wheel tired to foil me at every cover) but the motivation wasn’t there to push it, this is, after all my ‘off-season’ and the racing just a bit of fun on the side. Needless to say though, I was frustrated as I missed the opertunity for a great battle at the front of the race. I think I would have had a great fight with Robin, Lewis, Joey and Roger at the front instead of tooling around for an hour - C'est la vie. Better this race than a big important one...

Now I’m off to the US for some work and training – I have a few days scheduled for holidays so I should get a few long rides in too.

News and results can be found here and Ollie's great pictures are available here.

2009 Ulster Cyclocross League - Round 2

It was a bank holiday weekend and my choice was to go on 3 long MTB rides, or 1 medium, 1 Cyclocross race, finished off with a long spin on the Monday. I decided for the later and found myself up in Carrikfergus with Greg May as company to take part in the second round of the Ulster Cyclocross series. Before the race, I knew the course was going to be around circles in a field with a bit of a hill – with the rain the past few days I also knew it would be a muddy affair – my first muddy CX race, cool.

The race started a little after 1pm riding up a pretty wet climb. Everyone was vying for position and I just remained in the top 4 or 5. As we neared the top of the hill, I went to the front and started descending at a reasonable tempo, by the time I got to the bottom I looked around (due to the course being in a field, you can see where everyone is really easily) and had a 10 second gap – ehh, didn't expect that. So with that, I continued on at a good pace. Half way through the race I could judge that Lewis Ferguson was about a minute back but looking good. At this point the course was getting really shlompy and putting the power down was hard going (a thing that I now know I don't like so much). As we neared the end of the race, Lewis was getting closer and closer – a frantic last lap seen me finish 5-7 seconds in front of him – wow, a close call.

Being well rested, my HR was sky high!

Lewis chasing me

Not that you can tell from the pic, the SRAM Force groupset worked perfectly

Despite how it sounds, the race course was actually a lot of fun – the deep mud was frustrating but hey, it is Cyclocross, in Ireland, in the winter. The organization went well and warm showers and good food greeted us for the prize giving. My second CX race and my first CX win – the next CX race is the second round of the Supercross Cup being held in Tymon Park, Dublin.

There is a report available here and the great pictures by Andy here.

2009 Supercross Cup Round 1

On Sunday I took part in my first proper Cyclocross race (I did two in 2007 but lets not mention that now). I decided two months ago that I would do the Irish CX season this year, built up my bike, and started doing some skills sessions with a bunch of guys on Tuesday nights.

Apollo CC were the hosts on the first round of the Supercross Cup this year - the main Irish league for CX this year. Upon arriving, I found a really fast, fun course with lots of passing opportunities, two run ups (or one run up and one bunny hop if you have the skills) and lots of fast flowing corners. After the first practice lap of the course, I knew I was in for a good race.


At 1:30, 55 of us blasted off. The first lap, a bunch of us jostled around the front with Lewis Ferguson putting in a few good efforts. On the second lap, Lewis, Roger Aiken and myself broke clear. Roger at the front, Lewis and then myself. Half way around the lap, Roger attacked and a gap grew in front of Lewis - I made the mistake to not bridge up immediately. A little too late, I went to the front and drove the pace for a couple of laps with Lewis showing great skill bunny hoping one set of boards each time (The boards were high enough and I had not practiced it so was not going to attempt them in the race - I lost a couple of seconds each time!). For the middle section of the race I put in a few attacks but Lewis was hard to shake off so I rode mostly at a good tempo. As the bell rang for the last lap, I knew it was now or never and gave a good attack, still Lewis on my tail, another minute or two later another attack, no luck. On the run up section we were together but I was riding the corners better and attacked off a corner before a 20 second climb. I got about 10-15 meters and put the head down pushing to the line to place second to Roger.


I have to admit that the race was one of the most fun races I rode all year and the course was perfect. My bike, on its maiden race rode amazingly well and the Tufo wheels and tires worked a dream. I was buzzing all day after the race and am really looking forward to more CX racing soon. I'm approaching these races as a bit of fun intensity training to do in the winter and not putting any pressure on myself - but next time, I'll be more attentive of letting Roger off the front :)

Results are available here with some photos here (I scattered a few through the post)

Supercross Cup

It may be my "non-competitive" season but I'm still going to give a few Cyclocross races a go. The Supercross Cup series kicks off this weekend in Lurgan.


As this is my first year racing cross, the series is mostly about having a bit of fun - I'm taking it pretty easy at the moment and mostly riding my 6 inch travel fun bike (Enduro SL) but hopefully the cross races wont be too painful :)

More about the Cyclocross Race

There are photos from the CX Championship race available here, here and here as well as a report here.

Full results from the race can be found here.

Two months to the start of the K-Capital Cup :)

2007/08 Irish National Cyclocross Championships

The 2007/2008 Irish CX championships took place today in Tymon Park. I'm just back from it and put up some of the photos. Brief results from us is that Mel won the ladies MTB support race and I finished in the early teens. Roger won the race and Robin came second with Joey third.

Start of the main race

As it was my first Irish CX race (second ever after the one in the US a few weeks ago) I was ungridded and started way back. It was pretty frustrating as there was a lot of single track from the start and I didn't really get to start going fast until later in the race. I did however enjoy the final few laps. I was using Sean's CX bike for the race - I think I might pick up my own for next year...

We took a ton of photos (about 450) and here are the 'best' 150 ish... Sorry for there being lots of Mel and I ;)

2007 Irish National CX Championships

I'll write a little more about the race soon.