Rd 1 XC National point Series held in Slade Valley 27-4-14

This may not be Enduro racing in any way of form but its a great way of preparation for getting fit and fast for the next and coming Ticknock Gravity Enduro on 18th of May.
I arrived Sunday morning for the first time to Slade Valley, it was sunny and I was feeling good and strong for my race after taking it easy for the days following p to the event, I could not make practice on Saturday so Sunday morning was my only chance. My race start was for 12 noon so I was to have a quick track preview and back to change into my clean club race jersey and up to the start.

I was racing U16 this year, I new this would not be easy as there was an extra lap and stronger racers that pay more attention to xc racing. I new I would not be racing that competitively, I would mainly be racing for the bit of fun and to get another feel of xc racing and for a bit of training.
I was to be racing on my 140mm Lapierre Zesty 414, may not be the most suitable machine for xc but for an enduro bike she's a class climber. I was in the last row of 13 U16 riders (including the girls). The whistle blew and we are off, I was not used to such fast sprinting so the 29ers and hardtails were gaining distance on me for the first 200m or so until we hit the first climb, that's where I felt the Zesty come to life, passed 2 to 3 on the climb.There where nice kickers and fire road climbs where I was strongest at passing people out and fast on the downhill sections.

Downhill section ( Credit to Action Pictures Ireland )

Over all a class tack and a very tough race all together,was so knackered after going all most 100% in the first lap I was not thinking right and thought I had done the second lap due to the intro lap :P I was happy with my result and came 7th out of 11 in U16 boys
The whole events results can be found http://irishxcnps.ie/?page_id=16
Would like to thank Action Pictures Ireland for the pics. http://www.actionpicturesireland.com/

Downhill section (credit to Action Pictures Ireland)

thanks to sean rowe for the pic

Downhill section

Rd 1 Gravity Enduro Ballinastoe 13-4-14

Last weekend saw the first round of the Irish gravity enduro held in Ballinastoe. Co.Wicklow. Ireland.
So whats this endurooo you speak of ? And why is it different to other disciplines of mountain biking like downhill or cross country? Well its not really that different to them. It usually is a two day event eg. practice on Sat and racing on Sun, which combines the fitness of cross county riding and technique of downhill racing on a specific enduro bike. An enduro bike combines the the two disciplines of bikes ( downhill and xc ) to make a machine that is capable of climbing efficiently for long days out racing and enough  suspension travel for fast downhill control. This is a true test of skill fitness and machine as riders tackle all terain in all weather while using the same bike for all 5 to 6 special stages. A perfect combination of competition and a great day out on the bikes with all your friends.

SATURDAY : PRACTICE DAY

Practice day finally came after a long day in school the day before which made me very excited for this weekend as it's official....race season has started and no better way than to start it off with an enduro in fine spring weather. Anyway enough of that waffle. I woke up nice and early with excitement and had my pre-bike feed of porridge and chopped banana. Jumped in the car with my very supportive mother and my Lapierre Zesty 414. which was my weapon of choice for the weekend and off we went down to Wicklow to be there for 10am for sign on. I arrived at about ten to ten too meet my friend who I would be going around with for the day and to sign on but there was already a queue sadly and due to that my wave for sunday was 11:26 which was later then what I would have liked. The weather was mediocre compared to the days leading up to the event, it stared drizzling half way through the day and I was worried about the trails and how they would be for racing on the next day but it turned out later on in the day to be sunny and warm, which was great. We sessioned every trail (besides stage 4) and picked our lines for the next day.  Stage 4 was closed  to prevent it getting wrecked for race day and if you where found on it you could be penalized with a 1 minute time penalty.You were able to walk it which we didn't and not many did. It would be a blind and exciting stage to us all. Overall a good days practicing and seeing friends I haven't seen since last season,went home for a big feed and a nice big clean of the bike.

Cleaning the bike for the big day the next morning :)

Sunday: Race day....

After hitting the bed nice and early and visualising the stages in my head as I rest I was feeling good for the day I had ahead of me even though I would not be to hard on myself for this race, as I did not have too much preparation due to mechanical reasons and so on. I had my feed and had my kit and bags packed all ready to hit the road. I arrived at 10:30am to give me time to settle down and get ready for my wave at 11:26am....11:26am came and I was going through scrutiny and then turned Strava on and off I went on the transition to stage 1 which was basically the second highest stage after stage 5. Thirty minutes later I was ready to hit my first stage of the Gravity Enduro rd 1 .

Stage 1 : This stage started of with a nice natural rooty trail in woods with many good line choices but some roots were snakey roots and you had to look out for the odd one or two that would catch you out, then brought you out into an open trail that was fun and tricky in places and then onto a bit of trail centre stuff. Every thing was going relatively well until I came through a corner too fast and a bit too low and hit my shoulder with a tree - this lost me a bit of time due to me completely stopping and going off the track. The rest went well.

Stage 2 : This was mainly a trail centre stage with one fire road sprint and a natural bit but don't get me wrong this was still a very physical hard stage despite the trail centre trails..overall this stage went well for me!

Stage 3 : This was my favourite stage of the event by far,mostly all newly built natural fun fast turns with jumps and minimal trail centre trails. This stage went well for me :)

Stage 3 open jump fun section ( Credit to Action pictures Ireland )

Stage 3 ( Credit & thanks to Action pictures Ireland )

Stage 4 : This stage was the blind stage no one rode the day before. The trail was fast, sloppy and tiring! All was good considering I have never been on the trail but just about 80 metres before the end of the stage my chain dropped,due to that I lost valuable time as I thought I was going well for the stage.

End of stage 4 into a hip jump.Picture thanks to Keith Wallace

Stage 5 : Stage 5 finally came after three and a half hours of riding. This would be the highest stage and probably the longest stage of them all, I had an energy gel and off I went to hit the stage. This stage was mostly natural freshly built bits.Some of the fastest bits were in this stage with a few sprints and so on. The stage went well until I dropped my chain after a rough bit of trail, again I lost valuable time. Got back on and powered to the finish.

Finishing Stage 5 (Credit to Action Pictures Ireland)

Overall one of the best events so far i've been to, it was a fantastic event and ran so smoothly with no error what so ever. I placed 194th out of 350 riders and 13th out of 20 in my age category of 14 to 18, was happy with my result considering I had a few mistakes and a few mechanical issues. Roll on the next Gravity Enduro held in Ticknock Co.Dublin. on the 17th of may. You can find the results at: http://www.sportident.co.uk/results/2014/GravityEnduro.ie-Ballinastoe/

Would like to say thanks to Action Pictures Ireland for all the fantastic action pictures...You can head on to there site to catch more of there action and even get pictures printed in high quality./http://www.actionpicturesireland.com/

Rd 1 Munster enduro series at Tracton woods 6-4-14

Last weekend saw the first Munster enduro held in Tracton woods just outside Carrigaline Co.Cork. It was sort of a spontaneous trip as there was no need to pre-enter so we had no finalized plans until Friday night. The format for the race was run slightly differently then what I am used in the Irish Gravity Enduros, there is no practice in this series so there was no need to head down on Saturday which made me take it easy and keep all my energy for the Sunday racing. To compensate for no practice you could compleat the stages twice but must be immediatley repeated eg. stage 1,stage 1,stage 2 stage 2 and so on,your fastest time counts for each stage.

Sunday came and I was feeling fresh and thought it would be a good day..I was to be picked up for 7:45am by the mighty Alan ayling, loaded up the bike which was my trusty Lapierre Zest 414. Next stop to Conor lavelle house for around 8am and back out for our last pick up at Gavin O Connell house for about 8:15am and off from Dublin to Cork for about 11:30am as the track are open from 12am and each tracks have a cut off time to be there before and to get your two runs in if you wanted for example stage 1 closes at 1:30pm.

After sitting in the car for 3 and a half hours with one small pee brake on the motorway we arrived at Tracton woods at around 11:40 just in time for sign on. sign on was swift and fast thanks to the lads at MBCC (mountain bike club of cork).

Race runs

Off we went to hit the 100% natural forest trails eg. there is no hardpack machine made gravel trails.

Stage 1 : Stage one was very slippy and muddy due to rain fall the night before. first run felt not as smooth as I would of liked it to be so went up again to hit it again, I new the trail no and the dangers of it so the second run felt way better

Stage 2 : The start of this stage felt as if it would be grate fun due to the fast downhill at the start but it ended up to be the most pedaly stage and longest so far of them all so I put down my head and got down to work but did not want to blow up and put the rest of my day in jeopardise by having no energy for other stages...I only hit this stage once.

Stage 3 : This stage was my favourite of the day so far as it had a big mix of everything, fast downs and techy fun kickers..A nice fireroad sprint added to the fun, then onto a fast lose slippy, shoot then a off camber trail winding through the trees to the finnish.I went up again with my friends to see if we can compleat it again but faster but it did not work out for me as my chain droped on the first turn after that it went really good, I say I could of done better if it was not for the chain drooping.

Stage 4 : After climbing to this stage i went to be time in to my stage and realizing it was not beeping, I tryed repeatability after for 5 minutes but nothing after ! Soon after I went to do the stage in case it did beep, meeters into the stage I heard a big sound. looked back and my mech was in a bit of a hoop so that ended my day sadly.

When I got back to registration to ask in why my tag would not beep and found out my timing tag went dead. So I would not receive my previous stage times as it was dead.

Over all a great day dispite the timing chip failing on me and my mech blowing on my but sure thats racing for you. A good day for my friends who came down in the car with me. With Conor taking 2nd place in under  20s and Gavin taking 2nd to in 20s to 40s category.

Conor tacking 2nd place

Gavin taking 2nd pace

   Results can be found at :  http://mbcc.ie/munsterEnduro/results/Atec%20Munster%20Enduro%202014%20-%20Round%201_All_Categories.html

Cloon Winter DH Race 23-2-14

My first race of the 2014 race season and my first ever downhill race held in Cloon woods by my club Gravity BC in the very center of the scenic glacier formed Glencree Valley just minutes away from Enniskerry village Co.Wicklow Ireland. This was a two day event from Satuarday 22 of Feb to Sunday the 23rd, Sadly I could not attend practice day as I had agreed to go on a Camp/Hike around the Wicklow hills with my scout group not that far from cloon woods itself.
In the days running up to the event I helped vastly in getting the race track to tip top condition and the helped in the construction of a new rock garden to connect an existing top section to other lower existing section via soft ground and a new bottom section. So with those days I had a few practice sessions and my lines all picked ready for when I arrived on Sunday.

helping building part of lower section of cloon

RACE DAY...

Race day came I woke up early to get a big healthy feed, had all my gear at the ready and got collected by the race directer and off we went. Arrived at the woods and gave a helping hand in setting up tents and so on. I signed up and I got ready for a bit of practice with all my friends. The weather was windy and drizzling a bit and was unsure of hitting jumps as they may not go to plan...After seeing a few bodies moved by the wind off the jumps in the open I was curious of hitting it as it may jeopardize my race run.
This being also my first race on my new Enduro steed the Lapierre Zesty 414 I was very exited as I was on a borrowed xc hardtail for a year previous to getting the Zesty, I felt I was being held back on the downs and not being able to let it out a bit more  on the downs like the zesty can do now.

very happy rider with my new Zesty 414

RACE RUNS...

This was a two run concept... (i.e the fastest run of the two race runs counts as your overall time.) First run did not go to plan, probably due to nervousness. Came in too fast into the first turn and slightly went off  the back of it, got back and every thing went ok but lost all my ryrhem and fluency on the bike..I just did not feel good, to add too the bad run I did not go with my instinct and did the jump out into the open. Not sure what completely happend but I did not land it correctly whether it was the wind or me being out of  focus from previous mistakes and soon after my chain came off, I had to dismount off the bike and fix that so came through with a very upset time of 2:52

me with all the gear ready for my race run

My final run went all to plan, avoided the jumps to avoid disappointment. Run went with very little or no mistakes and came through with a happy enough time of 2:08...Was happy considering  my fellow friends got times such as 2:07 and 2:05 and who are regular DHers, I was happy with that.

Over all this was a fantastic event and I thoroughly enjoyed it as my first race of the season and first DH race ever. :)
You can find the results here at this link :
http://www.gravitybc.com/cloon/cloon_results2.pdf


                       

              Practicing the first jump into the open a few days before the race when it was clamer weather (please mind the slight case :p )                                                                                   

Its's finally here after all that hard work !!!

It all started one night when I was at a scouts meeting. I heard two of my friends in a conversation speaking about saving up for new mountain bike ...From there on out I was I was pretty interested in giving it a go, I have all ways loved riding my bike  from a very young age and of which I can clearly remember it when I first road it for the first time and quit vividly. I was never a sporty person people might say when I was younger as I did not like Football, Hurrling, Rugby or any Team sports in general, in ways I liked to operate as one individual. I was sort of the person that worked individualy and exceled better as an individual so team sports where not my forte. I had always been and active person and all ways up to something whether its building a go-kart or a 250L pond with filtration and plumbing all by me, I had never had any computer games or Xbox's or of the sort when I was younger which made me very interested in being outside in nature. So me having all of these interests combined into one sounded appealing to me. Soon after hearing about the biking it was to be my confirmation so as a day out we had planned on renting bikes out at Ticknock woods which is under 5 minutes away by car and was eager to give it a go, but due to bad weather it was sadly cancelled. After becoming slightly rich after my confirmation I decided to buy a second hand bike off my friend who I was speaking to about the biking. It was a Giant rainer hardtail with mechanical brakes which was alien to me but I liked them.

Just under a year of riding the Giant I was getting sick of bringing it to repair and being off it for being broke as I payed my way towards the bike but when my parents could they would help me ! Soon after I was to meet someone at my first mountain running race up in Ticknock that ended up to lend me a bike for basically a year, It was another hardtail but a Lapierre this time. I raced my very first race soon after on it and came 3rd in under 14s which made my day.

My first podium at my first race ! woop woop :)

I new I could not borrow the Lapierre for ever so I was needing to find ways of raising money up for a new bike, I new an enduro bike is what I was on the look out for. After asking my friends on how they got money together for bike they said that they sold a few stuff or money out of a savings bank. So I decide selling my personal possessions as I had possessed a lot of belongings over the years would be the way to go ! The next day I stared putting up ad's online on a site called Advert's, after weeks I had made hundreds form unwanted or unneeded belongings. I sold anything up from a car seat to a  model railway I built for a ok 400 euro, It was almost an addiction to keep selling and receiving money.
As I was selling and saving during race season I had to go to bike shops to get parts ect and I new shops who have demo bikes which the Cycle Superstore did, It was almost the end of the year and I new they would be receiving new 2014 bikes soon which meant the 2013 demos would be sold off. So I asked at the counter is there any lapierre zestys demos going for sale and of which they did, it was a 2013 Lapierre Zesty  414 with very little use for a bargain of 1800 euro, a few days later I put a deposit on it and got back to work to get 200 or 300 more to buy it !
A few months after I started selling and numerous visits to the bank I had it all saved up, all my hard work. I went to the bank in tallaght and took out the most money I have ever seen...1800 in 50 euro notes,it was like a movie with wads of cash.

                                                                       

Its amazing really the way you can get something if you put your head down and focus and be positive as it always comes. And you really appreciate thing more when you put in all the work soley by you're self.......BRING ON THE SHREDDDING,,,,,,,,BRAAAAPPP

Here she is the beast in her new home ! :)