This time its Djouce woods in wicklow for the national championships and boy I was buzzing for it as its safe to say everyone loves Djouce...mmmmhhhh those slippy off camber roots just makes you beg for more.
saturday
I arrived at Djouce for 8:30 to avoid the masses and to register early to get a early wave for race day, I managed to get the first wave for un-seeded riders which was 10:20 which was great.
After the heavens opened non stop from Friday night I new I would have to battle the weather and the stages sooner or later. I headed out to practice with my boy Dan priestly to stage one,after around half way down I snapped my gear cable so I was off up to Dave O'Toole of Bike Addiction who sorted me out swiftly to get me back out on the road.
I was loving the stages and so where the Magic Marys,was feeling fast and fresh on probably the toughest stages yet in such weather. loved every bit of it, the weather the trails the atmosphere was just buzzing.
Sunday: Race day
10:20 came and I was off up to Stage 1 of the Irish Gravity Enduro Chamionship
Stage 1 : Was loving this stage as it had phantom in it and I just felt good
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Cool picture of me on Stage 1 in the ENDURO Mountainbike Magazine Race report article of the Irish gravity enduro Championships. Read it at http://enduro-mtb.com/en/ |
Stage 2 : Thought I had my lines sussed up top but showed I didn't but still managed to keep up right,got the bottom half lovely though :)
Stage 3 : Probably the second most demanding stage of the race with long greasy sprints lots of roots but all went well
Stage 4 : Twas very greasy up top with lots of big dog legs out then down into GC which was lovely then across the wet river to the very slippy slithery rithery. Not the best time I have hit that stage
Stage 5 : The last and most demanding stages of the day are the most nerve racking. This for me was the nerve racking stage. I hit this stage lovely yesterday in worse conditions and was loving it but it was not happening for me with a crash into the first corner and a few more slips out in the open. But once I passed Al Maxwell with the cheer on who was marshaling before the forest got me back into spirit. I hit the new section very nicely and passed a rider,Down onto earls drive and into the steep section where I hit it very nicely then trudged trough the bog and to the finish.
Stage 6 : Let's just say a 30tooth chainring dose not like fire road sprints
I had a few personal goals I had set out and one of the few was to get top ten in such a stacked catagory of super fast riders which I held to the very last minute where I got pushed out by 15 seconds.
I placed 11th out of 24 riders in the 14-18 catagory. I also placed 105th out of 350 riders...Results
Such a awesome weekend riding in one of the best venues here in Ireland. A big shout out to Nial davis and the biking.ie crew.
Another big shout out to the lads in The Bike Rack for putting up with me when I am in, especially Al Maxwell for all the time and looking after me in the best way possible. many kudos to them.
