2011 Lakeland Warrier 100km MTB Marathon

It was Sunday morning – so the final day of our three day, three race, three discipline weekend. Today it was the Lakeland Warrior 100km MTB Marathon.

I had not raced an MTB Marathon since I won the National Championships last September, indeed, I had not spent more that 2.5 hours on an MTB since then but I did look forward to the race - I really love racing MTB marathons - my major problem with XC racing is that it is continually becoming shorter and shorter races around shorter and shorter tracks - not my style... not real mountain biking. Unlike most Irish off-road marathons, this one was not going to be 50% filled with slow technical riding, it was basically all fireroads and gravel roads. It may not have had much singletrack, but it was still tricky navigating around loose rocky corners at 50kmph!

We arrived at the race venue with typical Irish summers weather – sun, rain, wind, cloud... all in equal portions but for random durations making kit choice difficult (I wore a base layer, two jerseys and a gilet). At 100km (and I was guessing around 4 hrs) – I didn't want to push the pace at the start and was happy to follow others for the first while. After about 15 kilometers, there was 4 of us in the front group and we rode a good steady tempo as a group. At the midway point, the organizers had setup the feed station at a stunning viewpoint over Lower Lough Erne – the sun was out, the wind still and you could see the rolling hills around the lake for miles. I took my time at the transition to really take in the view and wished I took my camera with me.

We continued riding as a group until we had raced 65km when I turned on the pressure on a gravelly climb – I got a gap and simply rode tempo to the finish taking it easy on some of the mud iced farm lanes. I won in 4 hours, with an average speed for 25.4kmph – 101.8km, 1,800m of climb.

The race was a great event, different from most other Irish marathons – the race was tough in that it was long and there was seldom a flat section of road. Thanks to the organizers, 26extreme, for putting on the race – both Mel and I got a lot from it.

2011 Lakeside GP

With the National Hill ClimbChampionships over, it was time to get home, get some food and rest up for the following day's 120km road race. Aye, there is the problem – resting – I was wired! A two and a half hour drive to the race start in Enniskillen meant a reasonably early start so I went to bed early – I tossed and turned but no matter what I did, sleep didn't arrive – insomnia (yes, this was going through my head all night) – how I hate you. Eventually, my alarm summoned me to get up and Mel (who also barely slept) and I prepped to head for the race.

The race was a 10km ride out to a loop we rode twice and then back to the start for almost 120km. The roads were good and there was a long picturesque drag (3% climb for 4-5 kilometers) midway around the lap.

It was a handicap race so a group of A3 riders where let off in front of us – they would be given a 3 minute margin. When we started, there was no effort as a group to bring back the riders ahead – the pace was driven along by attack and counter attack with drops in pace while people called a truce. Eventually a small group got away with my teammate Mark McGinley (who won the previous nights criterium) present. The break stayed between 10 and 30 seconds for around 10 kilometers before the elastic finally broke and they extended their lead. While we hit the long drag, I was happy to find a tail wind, after a couple of minutes, I attacked the peleton and rode “full gas” over the climb shredding riders that tried to stay on my wheel. Over the top, I had two riders for company – one punctured and the other was dropped before I made contact with the break – I took almost 40 minutes bridging across the large gap!

As I arrived at the group, a rider shouted at me for not doing any work – I laughed, I don't think he realized what I had just done! We rode steady (a hell of a lot easier than what I had been doing for the last hour) as we drew closer and closer to the A3 riders ahead (who where obviously working well together) – the pace on the final climb meant that our chase group fell to 4 riders (including my teammate) as we closed in on the A3 riders. The catch was eminent, but we held back to only catch them with about 8 kilometers to go. Not too many riders wanted a bunch sprint so it was very aggressive racing with attack after attack. Mark followed a bunch of strong attacks and each time it was brought back I would counter. With about 4 kilometers to go, I countered an attack and got the gap – I went into timetrial mode and raced to the finish to claim my first victory of the weekend. I didn't retain my hill climb championship, but this made up a little bit for it.

Photo from Marian Lamb

Mel, like the night before, won her race – the final round of Irish Women's Classic League. A nice day for Mel and I.

The course was great, the weather a mixed bag (cold, wind, warm, sun, showers – typical Irish weather), and the organization was spot on. A special thanks to Stevie McKenna who was one of the comms on the motorbikes – he kept us all updated with time splits throughout the race. An awards presentation topped it all off in Enniskillen's historic castle.

As we drove to my family home in Monaghan after the race, I hoped that at least tonight I will sleep – I have a 100 kilometer mountain bike marathon the following day!

There is a report and photos available here and here.

2011 Irish National Hill Climb Championships

I had number 1 on my back and was set to be the last rider on the climb. For the first time (well, since I started riding bikes), the National Hill Climb Championships was on my doorstep. A wickedly steep 2.5 kilometer climb up Kilmashogue Lane just 4 kilometers from my doorstep. The climb starts steady, then hits a long steep section for a couple of minutes, flattens out to an 'easy' 5.5% for a few minutes and then we turn onto the final wall with a 350 meter section averaging 17%. A tough testing climb – the fastest man or woman up the climb would be a very deserving winner.

To say that it was one of my favorite climbs in the area would be a lie – I rode the climb a few times before I knew it would be the Nationals course but I never trained on it – it is just so steep in sections. It is really not like anything I have seen in any road races I've taken part in – mountain biking, yes, road racing, no and when I train for steep stuff, I tend to be on the mountain bike so away from the tarmac. The surface had been recently redone so rolled beautifully and the view back of Dublin remains spectacular.

In the day or two leading up to the race I was a little on edge – the result of taking a couple of easier days and the (self imposed?) pressure of retaining a title meant I had a lot of nervous energy. I bounced around trying to be productive from a working sense but yet resting up as much as possible (I would also be racing two more long races over the same weekend – more on those in another post).

Race evening arrived. With 45 minutes to my start time I started my well rehearsed warmup on my rollers – over the last couple of months I have been trying various things for warming up to see what works for me – I think I have finally found a protocol that I like and I arrived at my 8pm start time ready to roll.

The race was rather straightforward – try to keep myself controlled (as in, don't go out too hard) for the first three or four minutes and then push to the line making sure I have emptied the tank on the course. I mostly did that – the hardest part of the race was keeping the power up in the 'flatter' sections but by the time I hit the steep final ramp, my legs were pretty cooked. Usually I can up the pace a little for the final part but looking at the power data afterwards, despite feeling like I was pushing harder, I kept a really steady output over the steep sections. I crossed the line in 7:18 – my Garmin flashed 485W (average) at me as I collapsed into a fetal position. I was fast, but not fast enough – the other local climbing goat, Mark Dowling beat me. I finished 2^nd.

Photo from here

Dutch Corner - from here

I'm no longer the Hill Climb Champion – I won't go into next years race with the number 1 on my back or get to ride in the Champs kit at hill climbs. Rumors are that due to the success of this years event next years race could be on the same course. Climbing is about your power to weight ratio... 485W over that length of time is pretty good for someone my weight (72-73kg) but I'm still 14kg heavier than the winner – that killed me on the super steep ramps! Maybe another kg or two and a few more Watts and I'll be riding with the number 1 on my back again next year.

Results are available here and I must also thank Gary McIlroy and Usher Road Cycling club for running this first class race. Also, many thanks to all the supporters who came out on “Dutch Corner” - it was a real wall of sound that we passed through – thank you so much!

2011 Suir Valley 3 Day

Like last year, it was the August bank holiday weekend and I found myself down in Clonmel. Last year I was using the race as a tune up for the MTB Marathon World Championships, this year however I arrived a little more rested and coming into good form.

I'll write another post specifically about it, but over the last few weeks, I have been starting to feel much much better and the Anemia (and other things) that has plagued me and my racing this year seems to be leaving – I'm starting to feel strong on the bike again – a feeling I hadn't had since February!

Back to the racing.

Stage 1: 105km

The first stage, like all the racing this weekend, started out fast with small groups getting away and being brought back. Soon we hit the Category 1 (well, Irish category 1, in the Tour de France, it would be a Cat 3) climb of The Vee – I had not been up it before but it was cool with an amazing view over Munster. The speed up the climb and descent was fast enough to break the peleton into many pieces – with the lead group becoming around 50 riders. After the descent a break escaped (which I wasn't part of) – I had thought my teammate was in it and didn't chase (he had been unfortunate and actually punctured at the top of the climb and due to the chaos on the climb, took a long time to get a new wheel not being able to get back on). Over one of the later climbs, Tigernach Murphy and an Isle of Man rider and I clipped off in pursuit of the 13 man breakaway mopping up (and quickly dropping) some of the riders who couldn't handle the pace of the break. We rode hard for 20 kilometers and pulled back about a minute before been caught by the remnants of the chasing peleton. About 7 kilometers before the finish, a small group of us forged ahead again after the break getting to within 48 seconds but the proper catch wasn't made. I finished 1 minute back from the race winner (who got additional time bonuses).

Stage 2: 92km

This was another quick stage taking us slightly over 2 hours to cover the 92 kilometers. Again, there was constant small groups getting a few seconds and being pulled back with nothing sticking for long. I was content to ride in the middle of the peleton watching what was happening. On the climbs, they were ridden at a good speed but there were no real big attacks – also the climbs where shallow enough that we were riding at 35kmph up the 4% drags so drafting had a huge benefit – there wasn't anything too selective. On some of the descents and flat roads around Dungarvan the speed was crazy – the peleton was lined out to 300 meters in one long colourful band as we averaged 65kmph – this was just like the AnPost RAS. On the smaller roads back towards the finish, a break got away but was whittled down to AnPost rider Ronan McLoughlin, Damien Shaw and my teammate, Paudi O'Brien. They hit the finish line 20 seconds ahead of the chasing peleton (which I was in) with Paudi getting to throw his arms in the air for victory!

Stage 3: 1.1km uphill timetrial

This time trial was a real feature of the race this year – something different from every other Irish race I have done, and if it was 8 times longer, would be a focal point of the Giro d'Italia!

It started off with 250 meters of good quality tarmac and then two steep tight switchbacks, then 700 meters of what could be described as an 'unfinished' road surface. There were holes, rocks, and cracks everywhere, with water bottle high grass in the middle of the road – it was cool!

By the time my race start arrived, it had been raining for several hours and the course was now slick too. I heard some of the earlier riders talk about how slippery it was but I knew with my MTB and Cyclocross background, it shouldn't be an issue.

The time trial itself went pretty well – I pushed hard the whole way up but I did misjudge the middle section and finished with too much left in the tank - I left seconds on the course – I do wish I prerode it instead of driving up it in a car. I did finish 3^rd though with at time of 3:28 – 4 seconds off Conor McConvey's time who now took the yellow jersey of race leader.

I must say it again – that hill climb was a real highlight of the weekend – the road conditions and rain in my opinion only added to it all! Next year, use the full original length – that top section was cool!

Stage 4: 116km

Sitting in 9^th, at a minute back from Conor, I had hoped that I would be a little off the race leader (and friends!) radar. I woke in the morning feeling strong (as I mentioned earlier, a feeling I'm only getting again after months of feeling terrible, morning, noon and night) and knew that I would be on the attack. There are only so many 'bullets' that I could use during the race so I had to be reasonably clever about when to really go for it. The pace was very fast from the start, and I followed anything that looked dangerous, but I felt it was simply too fast for anything to stick without all the 'danger men' present so I bided my time. 15 kilometers before the only category climb of the race I made a move, I got a good mix of riders with me and we rode hard but were caught several kilometers later – time to rest a little before the climb and get ready again.

The climb was ridden at a good pace, nothing too hard and I moved towards the front at the top. An attack on the climb would be too obvious (and marked) so as we hit the top, I accelerated over and into the fast technical descent - oh, it was pouring rain too! The race had been on and I knew it would be treacherous but I felt it was a great point to get away. As I got to the bottom I was really glad to have the company of Tigernach again – a strong timetrialist who is also coming into great form. We worked hard together to get a good gap and then went into team time trial mode. After about 10km, the gap had extended enough so that I was now the yellow jersey “on the road”. Damn, I wish that climb was closer to the finish – holding a speeding peleton off for 45 kilometers is tough going!

After a while Tigernach started to tire – I needed to keep going, trying to stay around 48-50kmph on the straights. After a while, Tigernach dropped off but for me, a bunch sprint (in horrible weather) wasn't an option so it was still all or nothing and I was committed. Another 5 or 6 kilometers later I got pulled back. We were away for the guts of 30km.

Our next card was for Daniel Clifford, our sprinter, to go for a win. He was being minded by Mark McKinley so I felt that the best thing for me to do was to attack some more and make sure I'm the one in the moves that get off the front of the peleton before the finish and the speed remains high – it was fun (and a lot safer) but it all came together for a bunch sprint with Daniel taking it – our teams second stage win of the weekend.
Irish Cycling report from the stage here.

Again, it was a great weekend of racing, thanks to the orgainizers for putting in all the time, work and resources to make this a great, safe weekend of racing. For next year, how about the Suir Valley FOUR day? Almost a 45kmph average for the weekend – fast for Irish roads!

Finally, thanks to my Sportactive team and teammates for a really great racing weekend.
Results etc... are available on the website.

2011 Irish National XC Championships

At the start of the season I had not really planned to be in the country for the National XC Championships, but as plans changed – so did my attendance. With only a few outings on the mountain bike in recent months (but a fun win on a great course a couple of weeks earlier), I found myself preriding the National Championships course in Kilruddery.

The course was basically 90% twisty forested singletrack – there were a few short climbs and a few technical sections but the guts of the course was easily ridable – the faster you go, the more difficult it gets. As it was, being really efficient and smooth on the bike, rather than absolute power or speed was the most important aspect of racing this course fast – me, coming back from racing on the road, was almost opposite of what suited me. There wasn't really anywhere where I could really dig in and put in long hard efforts. Having said that, the course was really fun to ride.

Race day arrived and I got a great warmup in only to find the start was going to be delayed for 30 minutes. In an earlier race, a rider hurt themseleves badly on a feature known as “Tombstone” (basically, a big rock drop – easy to ride but the sheer hight meant that it was much more about your mental abilities rather than skill or bike handling – roll into it not committed and bad things could happen). The ambulance had to take the person to hospital so we had to wait until it returned – these things happen... (oh, the rider is fine)

Garreth McKee and myself (from Andrew Lowry)

The start was frantic – on the final bend into the singletrack Aidan McDonald and I got tangled and unfortunately he fell – that really threw me off my game for a while as Aidan is a fantastic rider and I don't like seeing anything negative happen to him at the start of a race.

Anyway, my little time on the mountain bike was apparent for the first couple of laps – I was riding around in 5^th place but 3^rd was only a little further ahead. I knew, come the end of the race that I could make up the time.

As the race went by, I got more used to the singletrack and finished off with my last lap being the fastest of my race. I caught and passed Joe McCall towards the end of the last lap and finished in 3^rd.

Robin Seymour won his billionth championship going from the gun and really showing that on that type of course, there is no one in Ireland that can come close. Peter Buggle finished 2^nd.

Picture by Ciaran Maunsell

Am I happy with the race – well, yes and no... I'm fit and strong at the moment but that type of course really didn't suit me – so 3^rd place I'm reasonably happy with. I had a fun day and the event was ran off perfectly. My only gripe is that there has been almost no publicity about it – many people (outside of the MTB community) have been asking me if it has taken place yet – and these are cyclist. Guys, you ran an amazing event – tell the world about it!

Many thanks for Stewart Carr on the day for helping out with some logistics and a massage, Angela Oakley for feed support and to my MTB sponsors, especially Cycleways, ZipVit.

2011 Ulster XC Round 5

I raced in Dunnore once before. Two years ago it was the venue for the National Cross Country Championships – I competed seven weeks after an operation on my broken collerbone and finished second to rising Irish star, Conor McConvey. My memories of the course was that it was brutally tough (in a physical sort of way) and left me tired for days.

I have not rode my mountain bike much this year – six or seven times total before this race. Originally, I thought I would be out of the country for the cross country nationals but as some things didn't pan out, and there was a natural break in my road season, I felt a bit of MTBing would be great for me mentally and physically. With all that, I decided that I had better ride a race before Nationals which is how I found Mel and I driving up north to this race on a fine Irish Summers day (that isn't actually sarcasm – it was actually a beautiful day).

Heavy legs greeted me for my practice lap around the course – it was the fifth day of training in a row (although the previous day was an easy 4 hours on the TT bike) but by the time I recced the lap, my legs had come around a little. The course had some rolling flat singletrack/double track but it's main feature was two steep climbs – the first about 90 seconds long, the second, about three minutes – they were walls! But good fun to climb and even more fun hurling yourself back down the recently acquired elevation.

The startlist for the race was small but contained a strong selection of the top Irish racers – a stronger field than I expected for what was a regional race – excellent!

Cool pic from the start - trying to find where I found it - comment if it is yours and I'll add the link!

The race started fast as expected – I stayed third wheel until we hit the first climb, there I climbed into second behind a flying Matt Adair, on the next climb, I passed Matt and took the lead. That was basically it for the race. Ray O'Shaughnessy would be close enough (I would drop him on the climbs/flats, he would catch on on the descents – I was there to practice my techy riding more than anything) and Gareth McKee wasn't far behind. I rode tempo for the first 5 laps and decided I would up my pace for the last lap. When the bell lap sounded I upped my pace on my chasers – by the midpoint of the lap, I had gained around 90 seconds (the course was great – you could see the other riders really well) so I eased off again (I was racing a road race the following day) and finished back safely to take the win.

Thanks Dromara Cycling Club for running a great race on a tough course – I enjoyed that!

Results and photos etc... can be found here.

2011 Mullingar 2 Day

I saw the Mullingar 2 Day on the racing calendar a couple of weeks ago and the timing looked perfect for me. A good two days of racing right at the end of a hard training block. The race consisted of a 100km road race on Saturday, a 6km time trial on Sunday morning followed by another 110km road race in the afternoon. The course for each was slightly rolling so it didn't look like it would be bunch sprints each day.

Stage 1:

It was a really aggressive stage from the start. My legs where heavy (didn't get my proper warmup due to some start time issues – the only thing I have to say against the weekends organization) for the first 30 minutes but I was in every move of strength. On the 4^th of 7 laps, Damien Shaw, Aaron Buggle, Colm Cassidy, Anthony Doyle and myself were away. Most of the strongest riders in the race and I thought we were gone for the day... Somehow, after a lap, the group caught us – then 9 riders rolled off the front, then another 3, and then another 3 made a move to get across – I didn't think the break had the right mix, but there was enough numbers there that I had to go – so I hitched a ride over. Immediately we started to work and we were gone for the day. With a lap to go, Damien Shaw bridged across. As we closed in towards the finish, everyone started to think of the stage and the group started to stall – everyone looked at Damien and I (and a couple of others) to do the work. Damien and I (with GC in mind) rode hard enough and with about 5km to go I looked around and noticed a bit of a gap – I said to Damien, lets go and we drilled it to the the finish pulling out a gap of 24 seconds on the chase. With both of us thinking of the overall competition, we both went full out to the line and I got the win.

Photo from here

Stage 2 – TT:

This was my second TT race, and thankfully in much nicer conditions than Nationals a few weeks earlier. I think I'm going to really get into TTs, I just need to spend the time on the bike to get the power up to something approaching what I can do on the road.

The course was just under 6km and I covered it in under 7 minutes. It started on a climb so I went hard from the start. The finish came sooner than expected and I think I left 10 seconds on the course, but I was good enough for 3^rd behind Damien and Aaron.

I now set second on GC a few seconds behind Damien.

Stage 3:

With Damien wearing the leaders jersey and a strong team around him – it was up to them to ride strong and defend his lead. My plan was to do as little as possible for the first half of the race and save my legs for the end.

After a while, a break got away with Robin Kelly (who was 3^rd on GC at 51 seconds). It was a strong move of 10 riders – I wasn't too worried as it was as much a treat to Damien as I (and I didn't have any teammates). Damien put in huge chunks of work but unfortunately, his team was not able to give him the support that he needed – I actually ended up doing as much time on the front pulling the break back as the rest of his team... (it was clear that if I didn't do anything that the break would go out to 5 minutes and Damien and I would lose out) I got away a few times with various riders chasing the break but nothing stuck until the final lap. Aaron Buggle, another rider and I worked hard and caught the ruminants of the break. There was 8 riders with another 2, Robin and Colm forging ahead. We tried to get the break to work but it looked like they had already worn out their legs. With about 10km to go, Aaron and I decided to go full gas on the climb and drop the rest of the group – we did that and went into team time trial mode – I was there to win the GC, Aaron was there to win the stage – if we work together we could get both. With about 1.5km to go, we caught Colm and Robin who had spent a long time out front. Not knowing how far Damien was behind me, I didn't play any games and just rode full out to the finish line finishing 4^th of our group of 4 (Aaron got the stage!) but winning the overall – a good day's riding.

Photo from here

Finally, I must congratulate the Lakeside Wheelers on running an excellent event – the roads were safe and really well maintained, organization was top notch (other than the timing issue for the first stage), but more impressively, they ran a 3 stage stage race for the A1/A2 men, A3 men AND the women. Good job!

Full results are here.

2011 Sean Nolan/Meath GP

June – is this really June – really? Well, today it rained all day and my Garmin informs me it ranged between 9 and 10 degrees for the race. Two thermal base layers, thermal arm warmers, a jersey, heavy shoe covers and long fingered gloves meant that I didn't get too cold but I don't think anyone enjoyed the conditions – anyway, back to the racing.

The race was shortened from an advertised 160km to 122km (one less lap) which I was initially disappointed about (nationals will be 175km so I need the distance), but with the weather, 3 hours racing was enough.

The race started aggressive enough, I was careful to see what groups where going and when I saw a good mix go up the road, I quickly bridged to the break. Martyn Irvine had a slight lead over us but he is riding so strong at the moment, we were not worried about leaving him 20 seconds in front of us for a while.

50km into the race, there were 7 of us in the lead group – there was a chase group some distance back and then the peleton after that but they didn't really make inroads on our lead.

With about 30km to go, we were whittled down to 5. A few digs were made but nothing stuck until I rolled off the front with 12km to go and went into timetrial mode. With about 8km to go, Martyn Irvine (Ras Stage 7 winner) bridged across to me. We rode hard together and with 2km to go it started to get more cagey. A fast, slighly descending finish against a world class track sprinter... Hmmm. I gave it everything on a slight rise with 700 meters to go, but Martyn pipped me to claim the win.

I have had a hard week of training and didn't feel great for most of the race (although, the weather was sure to play a part) but came around towards the end. The last 20km were fun.

This is the race from Strave – 291W average (inc. Zeros) for 3 hours. Never mind the elevation - the weather didn't let the Garmin work correctly.

2011 AnPost Ras race files and articles

As some of you know, I was writing a blog entry for the Irish Examiner newspaper throughout the AnPost Ras. I have links to the online articles below as well as links to the actually race files from my bike computer. In some cases the HR data is wrong due to interference - also I lose power data for the final stage when I had to change bikes.

I hope some people find the files etc... interesting.

Pre-race
Openers (500W for 4 minutes or 1900VAM)
Examiner Piece

Stage 1
Race file on Strava
Examiner Piece

Stage 2
Race file on Strava
Examiner Piece

Stage 3
Race file on Strava
Examiner Piece

Stage 4
Race file on Strava (altitude data incorrect due to the weather!)
Examiner Piece

Over the Healy Pass in the front group (via Stevie McKenna)

Stage 5
Race file on Strava
Examiner Piece

Stage 6
Race file on Strava
Examiner Piece

Stage 7
Race file on Strava
Examiner Piece

Stage 8
Race file on Strava
Examiner Piece

2011 AnPost Ras Stage 8

2011 AnPost Ras Stage 4 - Irish Examiner Blog Article

(A report from Stage 4 of the Ras)

Having finished today's 142 kilometers from Castleisland to Castletownbere, we are officially at the midway point of this years Ras and I'm glad to say that I'm feeling better as the kilometers tick by.


Today's stage was mostly flat for the first 70 kilometers but the final 70 went over some of Kerry's finest mountain passes. As we left Castleisland, the sunburn that many riders acquired the previous day was a distant memory as high winds and rain battered the peleton. From time to time during the day we would have a brief respite, but wet roads were a common theme – to some riders detriment later on in the stage.


A small group escaped pretty early in the stage but it wasn't significant for the general classification so it was mostly ignored while group after group tried to make their own escape on the roads to and out of Killarney. I was in a few such groups but everything was pulled back by a very attentive AnPost team (AnPost are the current yellow jersey leaders).


After 70 kilometers we hit the first climb of the day – it is more a long drag, and again, the race was controlled over both Ladies View, Molls Gap and the resultant descent. Even the next climb, The Tourist, was handled at a pretty pedestrian pace.


As we hit the category 2 climb of Knockanoughanish I realized that I had mistaken it for another climb and suddenly the race, and peleton, started to blow apart – my position wasn't the best, but I used my climbing legs to make sure I was in the front split as we crested the climb. A slippery descent made everyone nervous but I think everyone in the front part of the race made it down safely.


The final climb of the day, the Healy Pass, was where the final culling of the front group took place. A reasonable tempo was set at the front – I was comfortable (this is my terrain afterall), but riders where dropping off quickly – it was only when I got to the top of the climb that I realized I was still in the big chainring on my bike – I guess the ascent was fast enough!


The climb caused people bother, but the descent was much worse. Small, windy, well travelled roads were lethal in the wet. I expected it to be dangerous so I made sure I was in the front couple of riders as we crested the climb – only to see rider after rider fall on the descent – it made me nervous too so I was pretty cautious.


After a few kilometers on the flat roads towards Castletownbere the front group formed of 35 riders. There were attempts from riders to get off the front but it all came back together for current yellow jersey holder, , to win another stage. I finished 16th in the sprint and lost out on the county rider prize by a tire width.


I enjoyed today's racing – my legs are starting to feel good, I think I'm at about 90%, but that is a lot better than a few days ago and I'm super motivated to have another strong day tomorrow.

2011 AnPost Ras Stage 7

2011 AnPost Ras Stage 6

Stage 6 report

2011 AnPost Ras Stage 5

Report says it all:

2011 AnPost Ras Stage 4

An interesting enough day in the hills - report says it all.

2011 AnPost Ras Stage 3

Why does it take me a few days to start feeling okay... Starting to come around today and we hit the hills tomorrow.

Today's report after the race.

2011 AnPost Ras Stage 2

We didn't have good internet connectivity yesterday so I'm only getting yesterdays report up now. The wind, oh, the wind!

2011 AnPost Ras Stage 1

Tough day - report says it all. Also a piece in the Irish Examiner online/paper.

Feeling broken

As I have mentioned in a few of my other posts lately, I have not been feeling great since the start of March. I have had some reasonably good days, but in general, my body and my general feelings have not been as consistent as usual – my body has been acting weird. I had put in a really great winter of training, recovery and watching my nutrition and was in the best shape I have ever been. In February, I was fit, strong and confident - but since March, it seemed to be whittling away.

The motivation is usually there for racing but during training, a lethargy encased my body. It was hard to push, hard to really give it everything, was I a 'wuss', did I need to HTFU? Was it over-training? I gave my body time to recover, looked through the symptoms – but I really didn't think it was overtaining. Was it something else? Did I pick up something while I slid along the Malaysian side walk or some virus/bacteria afterwards? All I know, is that since then, I have not felt normal.

Initially, I put it down to needing more rest, so I focused on that, but the feelings were not leaving. In races, I was hitting max and average heart rates I have not seen in years. In training, I was still going out and setting some personal bests on climbs – they were shorter climbs though. Nothing too long. I was stronger than ever, but there was something holding me back.

I was frustrated and got more blood tests done – oh, why didn't I do this earlier? The results highlighted a lot of what was wrong – my Hematocrit (PCV) values where 20% down on where they should be – Hb (Hemoglobin) was also way down. That and a bunch of other results showed one thing – I am anemic. This explains a lot – the high heart rates, the tiredness, the recovery issues, why I could set personal bests on shorter distances/efforts but just 'normal' on the longer.

Knowing what is wrong is half the battle, the other half is fixing it. I'm on the first steps in that direction and am confident that I'll be tearing the cranks off again soon.

With all of this, it was really unfortunate that I had to decline my place on the National Team this weekend for the Lincoln GP – a classic road race that would have been great to race in (my teammate for the weekend, Philip Lavery, finished 2^nd in it last year). But alas, my body needs a little down time (well, I'll still be training, but training for 4 hours, is a lot easier than traveling and racing for the same!) - the An Post RAS is just a few weeks away and I want to be fresh and ready for it.

There were actually other issues uncovered, allergies, breathing issues etc... but they are a little less interesting than the above and a little easier to fix. Man, elite sports is hard on the body!

2011 Ras Mumhan Part 2

Stage 3 – 142km

This is a repeat stage from last year – the Waterville stage where we go on a very lumpy tour of the surrounding area and a circumnavigation of Valentia Island. Last year, the weather was terrible and there were huge crosswinds – I was in the break for the day and had a pretty good ride. Today, the sun was shining and the scenery splendid. Kerry at it's best.

A small break went pretty early, which I was happy about, I missed getting onto it but wanted to bridge to it on the first 5-6 minute climb. Unfortunately, the break was caught at the base of the climb. The dutch team in yellow were keeping tight control of the race (a mistake? Why not let a break of “no-hopers” from a GC context get a few minutes?). Attack after attack came and everything was chased. With 40km to go, a dangerous move went and I missed it. I was left back in the peleton (well, what was left of it – the days hard roads and strong winds tore it to pieces). Paul Griffin drove the pace over the final climb of the day and we were only 20-30 seconds off the break. With the main teams represented, it made sense their riders didn't work to catch it, but everyone else... Maybe they were too shattered, or just gave up, but no one came to help Paul and I (and a few others) pull it back.

With 20km to go, after I put in a hard pull, Andrew Roach made a huge effort to get away and bridge – damn, that was my ticket outta here and I missed it. Paul, hitched on and after a few km, they made it to the break. Me, well, anything I did had 30 riders tagged along looking at me. Eventually, I got away too taking a few riders with me. Of the 6 or 7, 3 of us were working – the others sat on. We were close to catching the front of the race, but still the others sat in... Why the hell did they make the effort to get on my wheel and form a chase if they didn't want to chase? A race WIN was only a few seconds up the road...

Anyway – I finished up a few seconds off the front having ridden full gas for a long time... Really great training though. I changed my position on the bike a lot recently, and now feel I'm getting very comfortable with it.

Stage 4 – 113km

2 laps of a big loop, followed by 10 laps of a shorter course around Killorglin. The big loop was straightforward while the short lap had lots of scope for splitting the race (like every other year).

I woke in the morning feeling good, my legs felt fresh and I was starving – a good sign. From the start, I was aggressive, in a few groups off the front and solo off the front for a while (hoping for some other strong riders to bridge). I was enjoying myself. After about 15km, my teammate, Martin O'Loughlin came up to me – the peleton has split – we have a lead bunch of 30-35 riders and the yellow jersey missed the split! I looked around, Sean Lacey and many other Edge riders were up with us (Sean trailed the yellow jersey by a second). We all kept the pressure on until there was a sizable gap and then the Edge team (and some others) went to work on the front pushing out the gap to a max of 2:20. The Edge team worked amazingly well with teammate after teammate destroying themselves keeping Sean and Timmy (mostly) fresh for the finishing circuit.

As we hit the finishing circuit, the gap was a little over a minute. The front group would split a bit, then come back together, then split again. Through all this, the elastic would break and a rider or two would be dropped off the back. As I said earlier, I was feeling good – in the final couple of laps, I stayed around the front and scoped out the line I would take for the tricky left hander onto the final short kicker climb to the finish line. When the last lap came, I stuffed it as I was almost thrown into a parked car, lost momentum and chance for a win. We finished 1:40 up on the peleton moving me to 7th overall.

2011 Ras Mumhan Part 1

Like last year, Mel and I took part in the Kerry Group Ras Mumhan. A spectacular stage race held in Kerry of the Easter Holiday weekend ran across 4 stages on tough roads. I rode the race for the Carrick Wheelers cycling team.

Stage 1 - 103km

I have been feeling very up and down recently, some days I go out training and the legs feel amazing. I set power records (for me) and cover climbs in the fastest time I ever have. Then the next day I'm empty – nothing to give. I'm looking into possible causes but it all started back in March.

Anyway, most of stage 1 was one of those days. My HR was pegged from the start despite my power meter saying the effort was normal (I look at these things afterwards, not during the race). I knew that it was critical to be part of the main break on the first stage to remain high on GC overall. I missed it, there was nothing I could do, the legs would not respond - I knew what I had to do, but I couldn't. Towards the end of the stage I came around a little and pushed the peletons pace to close down the break – we got it to under 2 minutes but apathy in the group meant it went out to 2:48 by the time I crossed the line in 30^th.

Riders coming into the finish

Stage 2 - 126 km

This stage was going to be a tough one. Small rolling roads hugging the coast, long drags and finally, my favorite bit – a mountain top finish.

A large crash at the front of the peleton 15km in split the bunch to pieces. A chunk of chasing and after another 15-20km, the bunch was mostly back together. The dutch team that held the yellow jersey were keeping a close guard on any moves with everything being chased down. I conserved my energy.

The days route

With about 50km to go, a dangerous move got off the front with a few of the favorites (but no yellow jersey). The peleton repeatedly stalled and their lead shot up. With 30km to go, a chase group of a few riders (4 or 5) rolled off the front, they were let go. Another 2 riders made a move, let go again. At this point, I knew it was now or never for the stage. I left the comfort of the peleton on the long descent and rode full gas to catch the other chasers. Fortunately for me, one of the dutch riders was on my tail so we worked together and I knew that the dutch lead peleton would be less likely to chase us. We soon formed a good chase group that worked together reasonably well. First we were 2:30 back from the break, then 2 minutes, the 90 seconds, then 60 seconds with about 5 or 6 km before the start of the cat 1 climb. At this point, most of the group turned into 'sandbaggers'. We were close to catching the break but all of a sudden, everyone lost interest – maybe it was the thought of the 5.5km climb at the end... Some South County Dublin riders and I kept the pace going but it was choppy (a few others would lend a hand from time to time, but the guys way up on GC just sat in!). We hit the base of the climb 2 minutes behind the lead group of 8 riders. From talking to others before hand I knew that the base was the steepest part, so as soon as we hit it, I lifted the pace and my chasing companions were gone. After a while, the break was in sight and with a few km to go I caught them. Unfortunately, one rider had attacked at the start and was 1:20 up the road from me. I accelerated again, taking a few riders with me and with a few hundred meters to go, upped the pace again to claim second 1:05 behind the winner (but the fastest man up the mountain on the day). Damn, I'm a brides maid again...

Final few meters

A stunning finish!

There are another 2 stages to come, which I'll get to another day.
Full results and photos can be found here. There are also more reports and photos on the Irish Cycling Website.

2011 Tour de Taiwan

The bubble is burst – for 10 days I lived in a world where all I did was race and think about the next stage. The Tour de Taiwan took us on a complete trip around around the island. The landscapes changed but other than the first two days, the weather remained very 'Irish'.

In the past, I have ridden on a couple of teams, but until this group of races, I had not really ridden FOR a team. As the races get bigger and the focus on the top prize becomes more narrow, dynamics change – it is something that I looked forward to learning about and experiencing but I would be lying to say I didn't put myself on a steep learning curve. The role as a domestique is pretty straightforward from the outside – do what is needed when the team (or team leader) needs it to 100%. Sometimes, this is easier said then done! A shift from focusing on your own goals (in mountain biking) to sacrificing them for the team. If your task is to “go full gas” before a selective point, to make the racing hard, then you ride until you feel your legs are going to fall off – getting dropped afterwards bedamned... As long as you make the time cut, your job is done.

Leading out into a selective climb

Sometimes, it was a little wet!

The racing was tough throughout – I felt pretty bad for the first half of the race – not exactly the shining opening that I had been training for but as everyone knows, these things happen. I'm not sure what happened, I felt like something had attached to my body with the sole purpose of slowing me down – movement was hard – maybe it was the crash in Malaysia, or I picked up something from those wet long days racing with weeping wounds? Towards the end of the stage race though, I felt better and better – I would wake in the morning fresh and ready for racing rather than wondering how I would leave my bed to go to the bathroom let alone race 160km. Today – the day after the finish, I sit with renewed energy wanting to race – wanting to push on the pedals, try and tear the cranks off. A little frustrating. Well – at least I have a race coming up this weekend in Ireland - there always is another race :)

Our team

Our team won a stage, grabbed a couple of second places in stages, second place overall and were the second placed team. A few seconds in there and only a few off the GC. The team has been a great support structure – the soigneurs, mechanics and masseurs worked long hours to make sure we were ready every day – THANKS!

Photos are from the Giant Kenda Pro Cycling Facebook page. Full results, more photos and some videos are available on the Tour de Taiwan website. Thank you Taiwan for a great race.

2011 Tour de Taiwan Stage 7 report

Today was a good day for the team. Basically a flat 130km with mostly a tail wind (a few cross wind sections to keep things interesting though). I had started thinking about getting into a break but it was always going to be a sprinters stage. After averaging 52kmph for the first 40 minutes, a break got away of a couple of riders down on GC and TPT rode on the front. The break went up to 3 minutes but was pulled back for us to have a sprint. Due to all this, the team had a pretty easy day rolling along and to top that all off, our sprinting star, Rico Rogers, finishes the day off with a win for the team. Nice way to end the stage!

The bikes after the stage

Here is a quick video update:



With two days remaining, everything is still up in the air as far as GC is concerned – there are a lot of riders close and the racing will be aggressive. We hit the hills tomorrow with a difficult second half of the stage and the final day starts with 100km of flat roads ending with a 17km climb – I can't wait!

A brisk stage - 47.2kmph average

2011 Tour de Taiwan Part 1

Just a quick update at the midpoint of the race.

2011 Tour de Taiwan Prolog

Just a quick update on the first part of the Tour de Taiwan



Feet are now up and it is resting for the rest of the day.

2011 January Training - Part 2

Finishing out from Part 1 on my January training diary, I'll cover the 'meat' of the Gran Canaria trip and then the recovery.

After doing several 3 day blocks of 2 hard days, 1 easy day, I was ready to move to 3 days on, 1 day off.

The first part of the first day of each block remained the same – 3 x 13 minutes at Threshold – why 13 minutes? That was roughly how long the climb was, I would have rathered it being 15 minutes but the location was perfect – a 45 minute warmup from home and at the most arid part of the island - so the least chance of getting rained on while doing the tough intervals. The remaining part of the ride was mid tempo climbing up to the maximum amount of riding I had planed. It started as 3.5 hours but worked up to 4.5 hours.

A sample threshold day - 2,400m of climb in total

 The following day was a long endurance type ride – between 5 and 6 hours – I would ride tempo on the long sustained climbs – about 80-85% of FTP and the rest at endurance pace. This is when I get to see most of the island.

The last day of the block had 2 options – a group ride if I can find a descent one, or a split day. If it was a split day, 3 x 20 minutes at Sweet Spot (90% of Threshold) – if I can. This would be followed by 1 minute on, 1.5 minutes off by 10-15 times in the evening. If it is a group ride, I would plan for 6 hours with a few harder efforts thrown in (as well as a coffee stop!). By the end of this, I'm pretty toast and ready for a recovery day.

Out with my wife on a group ride :)

As the weeks progressed, my Threshold power increased steadily so that my final sessions where the best of the trip despite having acquired a lot of fatigue – somehow, all my best efforts come when I'm in a fatigue hole.

Upon returning to Ireland, it was 3 days of very easy riding and a weekend of longer rides, but still at an easy enough pace (group rides to add in some social aspect). With that, I was ready to start February and build again.

2011 Jelajah Malaysia Report

You are about to start your first big race of the year – what's the perfect preparation? Get used to the conditions, be well rested, scrape yourself across Malaysian pavement? The day before I started the 2011 edition of Jelajah Malaysia, I had the worst crash in training I've had. Many bruises and lots of lost skin was the unfortunate result. It would be a tough few days recovering from it let alone racing 160-220km each day. I went to the medic and got sorted out, a week or two of wounds, and bandages and disinfecting myself lay ahead. This all on my brand few race bike...

Stage 1 – 162km

A fast start – I was in a few moves but felt terrible on the bike – my heart rate was through the roof. A break went and our team did a major chunk of the work bringing it back with 30km to go. A torrential storm hit when we were on the front – probably the best place to be.

Stage 2 – 204km

With the yellow jersey in a teams hands, the peleton attacked and attacked until 50km when a break went. Unfortunately, 30 minutes in, with the peloton in one long snake, I punctured. I got my wheel quickly but unfortunately the commissar didn't allow me even close to any cars for a little shelter – I rode as hard as I could for almost 20 minutes to get back on – I almost had resigned to not being able to get back on when I got close to the end of the cavalcade. Fortunately, the break escaped and the peleton sat up. 48kmph I averaged for those very painful 20 minutes. Main task of the day for me was bottle duty. You wouldn't believe how much we drink in the heat.

Stage 3 – 158km

Of the 3 hours 30 minutes racing, 3 hours where pouring rain. Very very heavy, but the peloton actually felt safe enough. Starting to feel a little better and was in a few moves over the first hour and a half – not the one that got away though.


Stage 4 – 89km

A shorty today. With the yellow in Malaysian hands, it seemed the every part of the Malaysian peleton was used to chase down break attempts. 48Kmph we averaged for the stage in driving rain. (it didn't stop for the whole stage!). My task for the day was to help pull back a small group towards the end – another bunch sprint.

Stage 5 – 221km

Really hot all day and got a little burnt despite having Factor 50 on – I'll need to start putting on sunscreen during the stage. I was in a few breaks over the first 35km and though I was in the one that got away. The green jersey bridged (and teammate, David McCann) – which was followed by the peleton after a few minutes. Most of the middle of the stage was controlled – I spent it grabbing bottles and feeling crap. A group of 35 (in a few parts) got away with 3 of my teammates in it. Happy days, free ride to the finish.

Easy to see when I was in the break

Stage 6 – 175km

Rode on the front over the first 20km following attacks – then we hit the climb, which was actually a climb (unlike anything else in this race which was basically pan flat) – it was rode full gas with the peleton splitting into many sections. I suddenly wished I hadn't ridden as hard over the first 20km. I got to the top in the second group, which after a few km of driving by the German and Iranian teams recreated the peleton. 20Km in, a gruppeto also formed. The rest of the very hot day had very aggressive riding – the day was easy for no one. Getting to the team car for bottles was tough as we were lined out for a chunk of the day. I didn't drink enough and was feeling the effects for the final 50km. My teammate, David, showed his form and attacked with 70km to go with 3 other GC contenders. With 17km to go, he kicked again shedding all but yellow jersey winner Mehdi Sohrabi. With David's ride, and our teams solid performance we finished with 2nd in GC and 2nd in the team classification.

Final stage - I wish I didn't make those efforts before the climb - see the temperature!

In a hurt locker!

The race was hot and fast. When it was easy, it was easy, when it was hard, it was hard – not much middle ground. I didn't sleep well all week with with my wounds and recovery has been slow. I didn't feel like I was “firing on all cylinders”. I know I put in a great winter of training and the form will come – off to Taiwan now for another 10 days of fun, with a few days of recovery first. Hopefully, no more crashes!

2011 Jelajah Malaysia Stage 1 report

I'll do the Jelajah report (video) in a second but first a quick recap of my racing in Ireland before I left for Asia.

A couple of weeks ago I rode an excellent event called the Ballyhoura Biking Blitz - I won it having a close sprint with Robert Scanlan. The following week, on Saturday I rode my first road race of the year - the Annaclone GP. I finished second in it, but fastest ride of the day (there was one guy ahead from the handicap group - they had 5 minutes on us for the 1 hour 30 race). With 5km to go I attacked out of a small group (that I created a couple of km earlier on a climb) and rode to the finish solo. You can see my attack 22 minutes into this video - it was into a big headwind: http://www.youtube.com/user/CyclingUlster1#p/a/u/1/_wJwiOBmkkc

The following day was the Phenoix GP - I attacked out of a chase group with a couple of km to go to get third position. My RAS teammate, Conor Murphy won the race having attacked with a few others earlier in the race.

Now - back to Malaysia - the first stage was 162km. Here is a quick video blog.



I complicated matters for myself by crashing hard the previous day and leaving a bunch of skin on Malaysian soil... Stiff and sore, but should be good in a few days.

I'll have a quick video up for each day.

2011 January Training - Part 1

I love the training I do from November through to January – it covers so much of what I love about cycling (aside from the racing) and builds the big base that I utilize for the rest of the year. Long bike rides, beautiful scenery – many of the spins more social than my normal routine – a lot of riding by feel and really listening to your body. An important aspect for me is training the body pretty hard, but not having to use much 'mental energy' – hard training and racing uses a lot of 'mental power', so in the winter I recharge that. I have already talked a little about what I did in November/December, here I will bring it up to date with January.

Well, first, once Mel and I returned from the US – we had one small problem to deal with – the Irish weather. Freak weather meant that much of our training over Christmas and until we headed off again for Gran Canaria was going to be indoors – on our indoor trainer and on the rollers.

I was never a fan of training indoors but the Cycleops 300 Pro indoor trainer has really helped change that (so much so that all my recovery rides are now on the trainer – just more time efficient and I can really tune out). A good road feel, built in power, sturdy and super quiet – it ticks my boxes. When we were away from home (around Christmas) – the turbo trainer and rollers where out. A bunch of two hour sessions (I was doing things like 2-3 x 20 minutes at upper tempo with constant change of pace) kept the legs ticking over.

Before long, it was January 4^th and time to travel to Gran Canaria for our 3 week camp.

Stop to enjoy the view (sometimes)

Traveling to the Canaries at this time of year is really a no brainer for cyclists that have the flexibility of performing their day-job from anywhere. Mel and I are both fortunate in that all we need are our laptops and a fast internet connection.

For the first 9 days, I follow a 2 days on, 1 day off training protocol. Too many people when they go to training camps burn themselves out by going on back to back 6 hour epics each day. While we are there for 3 weeks – it is important to treat it as a normal training block and ease ourselves into it.

This is a simplified version of what the first 9 days looks like:

Day 1: Long warmup, and powertest – see where the legs are at – rest of 3.5 hour ride is by feel – enjoy it. I do the same ride at the start of each year.

Day 2: Long ride – again, ride by feel – 4-5 hours – throw in a hard 3-5 minute effort – see how the legs are feeling and use it as a marker for the trip

Day 3: Recovery ride – easy 1 to 1.5 hours, go for lunch

Day 4: Upper Tempo (say 80% of Threshold) on climbs (1.5hrs total at 80%+ of Threshold power) 3.5-4 hours

Day 5: Long Endurance – Upper Tempo on Climbs – focus on various skills (fast pedal etc...) - 5 hours

Day 6: Recovery ride – easy 1 to 1.5 hours, go for lunch

Day 7: 3 x 15-20 climbs at Sweet Spot (90% of Threshold) – sprint work at the start. 4 hours

Day 8: Long Endurance – Tempo on Climbs – focus on various skills (fast pedal etc...) 5.5 hours

Day 9: Recovery ride – easy 1 to 1.5 hours, go for lunch

At this point – the body is pretty well acclimatized and it ready to up the intensity a little.

It is always super important to watch hydration and nutrition during this time (well, ANY time!) especially if the conditions are different from what you usually train in. Weighing yourself first thing in the morning, and then after you return from the ride is a great way of monitoring your hydration levels. On long hot sessions, I tended to lose about 700 grams of body weight – about 1% of my total body weight so more than acceptable for hydration loss. The first thing I do everyday when I arrive in from training is grab the ZipVit Recovery from the fridge, put the feet up and enjoy.

Eat well!

Part 2 coming up soon.