Compressport compression wear

Posted on Thursday 16th February 2012 by Cait

I have been religiously wearing compression clothing from Swiss company Compressport after training and racing for the last two years, and despite being initially sceptical I have found them to be very effective in speeding up recovery. The idea is that the skintight material compresses your legs slightly allowing blood and fluids to flow faster so that recovery time is reduced. They really do make tired, heavy legs feel a lot less uncomfortable and more refreshed as soon as you take them off.

Different to other compression wear available, Compressport’s individual calf and quad tubes are easier to pull on that full length tights and can be particularly useful for mountain bikers who often crash and have bloody knees. They don’t cover your foot which means you can wear sandles with them in summer, and since the material is not lycra they don’t get hot and sweaty. Although they are tight on the legs its not an uncomfortable feeling and one pair has lasted 2 seasons without loosing their stretch. The distinctive, cool designs and different colours mean they are also great for posing on the podium!

podium cool


Long journeys, especially when flying is involved can leave your legs feeling sluggish and lacking in energy – not ideal when you need legs to be performing 100% if you’re going to a race. Compressport’s full length socks are designed to deal with this by improving circulation so that your legs stay fresh when travelling. They are extremely high quality and well made, designed to give you graded compression so that the important areas are effected first, which also makes them very comfortable to wear. The spotty design means they look super cool too. The shorter race socks come in a similar design and are the most comfortable, breathable socks I’ve ever worn.

Full sock testing in Spain

Highly recommended!

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real winter

Posted on Monday 13th February 2012 by Cait

Until 2 weeks ago the winter weather in Zurich as been no different to Ireland, grey and damp but very little snow or sub-zero temperatures. Things have changed dramatically though and since then its been between -10° and -15°C with a thin coating of snow everywhere and huge lakes frozen solid. It might look pretty but at that temperature everything hurts, I have a 20 minute ride to work through the city and by the time I get home my fingers won’t open the door!

Zurichberg ride


On Saturday I decided I ought to toughen up and get out for a ride. Half an hour to get dressed and 19 items of clothing seemed a lot of hassle but it was worth it for my sanity. I set off with hot water in my bottles and within half an hour it was frozen solid, but at least it’s a dry cold and in true Swiss style the roads are kept meticulously clear so its very safe to ride. I was actually shedding layers before the top of the hill too. Sharing the snowy trails with skiers and sledges made things interesting – snow is surprisingly grippy when you’re forced to ride sideways at high speed to avoid hitting people!

Yesterday I gave in and abandoned my snow-sport boycott – I think there’s a lot of fun to be had and I don’t want to miss out. Einseideln is pretty area of rolling snowy hills and frozen lakes a short train ride from Zurich, which is perfect for cross country skiing. The main advantage to xc skiing is that it’s great training, you get a full body workout and I’m aching in all kinds of funny places today. It might not have the same adrenaline buzz as downhill but there is more of a sense of adventure since you can really get away from the crowds and explore the countryside instead of following everyone like a herd of sheep down the hill. I’ve done a couple of days before so know the basics but my technique could improve a lot – hopefully I look like a lost mountain biker rather than a a ski-goober!

Ski race


Einsiedeln

Langlauf Einsiedeln

skiing

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escaping to the sun

Posted on Monday 2nd January 2012 by Cait


Under the disguise of a family holiday I escaped for a Christmas pilgrimage of mountain biking and coffee in the Spanish sun last week. We stayed in Lanjaron in the Sierra Nevadas, an area I know well but that gets better with every visit. With dusty trails and 20°C in December I can’t think of anywhere I’d rather be.

The trip was made all the more exciting by the arrival of my new long travel hardtail – a Ragley Mmmbop with 150mm travel forks, fat tyres and wide handlebars. Not wanting to do things by halves I went all out freeride and got a quick release seatpost and some baggy shorts and there’s no looking back. The bike is a bit of a beast to lug 1000′s of metres uphill when you’re used to dancing around on a lightweight carbon thing but it’s rock eating abilities on the descents makes up for it.

Tello descent

Eoin riding Brutus for Men


Google Mountain ride


urban mtb in Pampaneira


Eoin spent most of the week getting sideways at every possible opportunity until he broke his bike and disappeared to join the Spaniards in the bar!

Google mountain ride


Its not just the biking – the relaxed sociable lifestyle, the food and drink, the weather and the language make it an amazing place to be. I’ve spent the last 3 months attempting (fairly unsuccessfully!) to mould myself into an uber-efficient German speaking Swiss working machine and I’m pretty sure the last week has just undone all my hard work. Thank god!

cortado sampling


Thanks to Freeridespain for the use of their back garden. More photos here.

A week is nowhere near long enough, it could be 4 months before I wear shorts again, already thinking about the next visit…

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Swimming

Posted on Friday 23rd December 2011 by Cait

For several reasons I’ve been mixing up my winter training with a bit of swimming this year (one being that snow has finally hit Zurich!). Not cool. I don’t get it. Why anyone would choose to repeatedly swim up and down a rectangular box full of water is beyond me. Its so boring! Where’s the adrenaline? Where’s the sense of exploration and adventure? the sense freedom? the only thing I can find some interest in is the challenge of overcoming the boredom and forcing myself to stay there until I look like a wrinkled prune so I at least come away feeling tired.

view from the pool

I don’t know much about actual swimmers so I wont question their logic but triathletes are another matter -I always thought there was something a bit odd about them but this has confirmed things further, they ride bikes so should realise where its at!

You can’t chat to your mates or listen to music to pass the time, there are loads of old people who go really slow and refuse to get out of the way, there are herds of hyperactive kids jumping around and splashing water in your eyes, and even worse there is an amazing view of the Alps out of the window.

Makes me far too grumpy, better stick to bikes…

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The ‘Euro-goober’

Posted on Saturday 17th December 2011 by Cait

They’ve been around in the UK for a few years, typically known as ‘all the gear, no idea’ riders. The construction of man-made trailcentres in Ireland in the last year or two has meant they have become increasingly common sight in the hills around Dublin leading to the term ‘goober’. You know the story – shiny new bikes, bad setup, lots of expensive kit, a reluctance to ride anywhere other than marked trails, riding veerrryyy slowly up the hills, riding very badly back down again but able to tell you everything there is to know about the latest bikes and components (providing it has been written about in a magazine).

It turns out this could be a world-wide phenomenon, Euro-goobers take things to a new level with the Zuri-goober being possibly the pinnacle of gooberness. There are lots of people with too much money and no idea what to do with it. There even seem to be some Euro bike brands that specialize in making such bikes.

I’ve seen beautiful €5000 carbon xtr clad bikes utterly destroyed by the addition of a stand, a gigantic GPS, a bell, mudguards, bar ends, luggage racks and even wing mirrors. I have to question what goes through these people’s mind when they buy such accessories, its a crime against cycling and good design. I’ve seen hardcore downhillers with 100s of mm of travel, full face helmets and full body armour getting loose and wild descending the fireroads beside Zurich (I wouldn’t mind but there is even a goober friendly waymarked trail they could use!). I get funny looks for riding up the hills when I could take the tram and even more funny looks for hurtling past such people on my little hardtail down the singletracks.

There is even an equivalent hiker – fully clad in gore-tex, mountaineering style hiking books, rucksacks large enough to survive for a week, and essential here are ski poles to aid walking slowly up the hills. They only walk on fireroads in the small hills beside the city, stop for a picnic after 10 minutes and get in the way but complain like mad when mountain bikers want to get past.

I’ve started to make a collection of photos of their wonderful bikes, here is a taster to be updated with more soon:

Maybe I shouldn’t be so judgemental, at least they’re getting out and doing something!

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Images

Posted on Sunday 13th November 2011 by Cait

Exploration is the name of the game at the moment. I have to admit, Zurich has some great mountain bike trails but I quickly realised it comes nowhere near Dublin when in terms of quantity and variety of riding. Too many fireroad climbs and not enough singletrack. I was almost starting to get bored until I got on a train to Zug and was shown around by some of the locals. Suddenly the climbs got technical, the descents steeper, the riding more varied. Happy days.

Today I re-discovered road biking after 6 weeks off due to my bike still being in Dublin. Nice climbs, long descents with swooping corners and super smooth wide roads. Speed is fun. Even found a mid-ride bakery open on a Sunday. Awesome.

Some images:

Greifensee road ride


Greifensee


Lindt chocolate


Horgener Bergweiher


Zugerberg ride


alpine views


18 degrees in November!


zurich night spin


No sign of snow yet.

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Switzerland

Posted on Sunday 23rd October 2011 by Cait

The last few weeks have been a bit hectic relocating to Switzerland and adapting to a new job and a new life – exciting times but there is also a lot of hassle involved so its lucky October is the off-season and I haven’t been trying to train. I now have a place to live, a residence permit, a Swiss bank account, compulsory health insurance, a Swiss phone number, a few people to go biking with, a few more people to go partying with, and a few words of Swiss German.

Zurich seems to be quite an eclectic city. Super rich, sharply dressed bankers with horrible slicked back hair driving fast sports cars. Trendy graphic designers, artists and architects posing in cool cafes. Adventurous types taking the opportunity to do every adventurous sport you can think of in the surrounding mountains.

A few general observations:
Switzerland is THE most expensive place I have ever been in my life but you always get good quality for your money.
Shops are never open when you need them, EVERYTHING is shut on Sundays.
Supermarkets have a bigger selection of chocolate, cheese and yoghurt than you could ever think possible.
Swiss German sounds like gobbledegook and is entirely incomprehensible.
Rules are there to be followed, everything is accurate, it is not acceptable to be fashionably late.
The hills here can be steeper than you would think possible, biking down such hills in the wet with summer race tyres can be scary.

Riding to work along the edge of woods full of trails looking at views of the Alps is a bit of a killer but the weekends are good. Paragliding, lakeside running and chasing freeride mountain bikers down hills have counteracted all the Swiss cheese and chocolate – so far the weather has been great but I’m starting to get scared about winter. Weeks of pedalling on a turbo in the basement could be looming…

morning commute

Sunday in Switzerland

running by the lake

Davos

flying in Davos

Walking off a cliff

Paragliding!

MTB in Zurichoberland

Zurichoberland

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Offroad2Rio

Posted on Monday 3rd October 2011 by Cait

Thing are coming together for the Offroad 2 Rio project, check out the website for more information:
www.offroad2rio.com
@Offroad2Rio

photo credit: Maciej Staroniewicz


photo credit: Maciej Staroniewicz


Sticky Bottle article here
Bike Magic article here

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BMBS – Newnham Park, Plymouth

Posted on Monday 26th September 2011 by Cait

I love mountain biking.

After last weekend I was almost ready to quit cycling and had no interest whatsoever in going the final race of the year at the BMBS in Plymouth. I only made the effort because everything was booked and paid for but I went into it with very low expectations, only hoping that I could at least rediscover an enjoyment of racing.

elite women's start


Newnham is usually a good race venue and pre-riding the day before we discovered the course was better than ever before. 3 main fairly steep climbs which were all rewarded with long sections of slippery, rooty singletrack. I managed to crash on a new descent that wasn’t fully bedded in yet, taking the top off an old scar of my knee. Pouring blood and some over enthusiastic first aiders resulted in butterfly stitches and a bandage the length of my leg! muppet.

Photo credit: Bob Bogdan Williams

Race day. I didn’t get the best start but after the first singletrack I managed to move up to 5th and before long we had a gap on the rest of the field behind. Maddie Horton was just in front of me and I had to dig in to make sure she didn’t pull away on the longer climbs, and then fly down the descents to close the gap. Having barely trained for the last month I was surprised to be feeling pretty good and able to push hard. The trails were very much like Irish mountain biking, lots of off-camber rooty, fairly steep technical descents and greasy but fast muddy sections. The faster you rode the more fun they were!

photo credit: Bob Bogdan Williams

On the second lap Maddie didn’t seem to be any quicker on the climbs and coming to the top of the last steep one I put in an effort to get onto her wheel but couldn’t quite do enough to get in front before we hit a long, fast singletrack descent. Halfway down the trail split and I took a different line to sneak past and attack down the hill. Back being able to race, riding totally flat out, amazing!

Photo credit: Bob Bogdan Williams

Maddie and I came through the start area together and realised we had begun to close the gap towards Mel Spath and Lee Craigee ahead. We agreed to work together to get up to them and I let Maddie ahead to take a turn on the front. Into the next climb and suddenly my legs switched off! My calves still don’t seem capable of going race pace for the whole race and I had to watch Maddie ride away. Frustrating as it was, I was expecting this to happen at some point so rather than letting my head go down as with last week I pushed on as hard as I could for the rest of the race, enjoying myself on the descents and hoping that I had already done enough to hold off people behind.

Photo credit: Bob Bogdan Williams

The climbs were hurting a bit by the last lap but the thought of not having to ride hard like that until next year made it easier. I hung on to come in 5th and finish 4th in the series overall (results here). It was good to finish the season enjoying racing but I’m looking forward to party season now!

photo credit: Bob Bogdan Williams

Thanks to all the organisers, its been a great series and definitely the best course was saved until last. A big thanks to WXC for all the support and assistance both today and throughout the season. Thanks to Bob Bogdan Williams for the cool photos

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Irish Marathon National Championships

Posted on Monday 19th September 2011 by Cait

I don’t want to write this blog post.

The Irish marathon champs were on Sunday run by MBCC at the Ballyhoura trail centre. I really enjoyed this race last year and the course was similar again, a mixture of man-made trail centre and muddy, rocky natural riding (though slightly less natural stuff this time). I didn’t specifically prepare for the race and not having done many long spins recently I was hoping a good winter base might drag me. I was wrong.

We started into a longish climb and I set a good but comfortable pace with Ciara McManus on my wheel. We were mixed in with the guys and for the first half hour or so it was incredibly frustrating getting stuck behind slow riders every time we turned into a singletrack, the trails are very narrow with no chance to pass people and I lost any descending advantage I had. Eventually I put in an effort to get ahead of a few people on a climb so that the descents could be ridden properly. Although not particularly technical some of the manmade stuff was actually great fun and I was feeling quick when I did get a clear run at it, lots of pumping sections, little jumps and bermed corners to skid around.

photo credit: Cieran Maunsell


Ciara was looking pretty strong on the climbs, making up the time I gained on the descents, so we were riding together much of the time. Initially I wasn’t too concerned, thinking I’d be better off keeping steady early on and attacking towards the end. Around two hours in she put in an attack on one of the climbs and got a decent gap, I was starting to suffer. At the top was a long, very muddy and slippery downhill section which was definitely my favourite part of the course – I pinned it all the way down, scaring the life out of myself totally off the brakes to make up 500m in a few seconds, awesome! The then next hill came and I was gone. I’d already started to get twinges of cramp and now my legs just gave in. My head soon followed and the final 25km of the race was one of the worst experiences I’ve ever had on a bike both physically and mentally. I felt like I’d lost my racing personality, I had no fight in me, I wasn’t even enjoying the descents never mind the climbs. I got dropped by Ciara and the group of guys we’d been around until then, and passed by others from behind. Stuck out on my own crawling along like a snail, it started to drizzle, there were some horrible strong headwinds, it was wet and muddy and I just didn’t want to be there. Not great.

Congratulations to Ciara, great ride. Thanks to MBCC for a very well run and event on a good course. Thanks to Think Bike for the bike service and lift down.

I’ll be back.

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