Last weekend was the national championships, one of the biggest and most prestigious races of the year for everyone involved. This year it was run by Epic MTB club, and held in Djouce woods in Wicklow it promised to be one of the best courses and events of the year – and didn’t disappoint. Although I’d comfortably beaten my competitors in several races this year, I was feeling the pressure on the start line with my heart pumping as if the race had already started. I had a jersey to defend and was well aware that anything can happen on the day, there’s always a risk of a mechanical, bad legs or a crash ruining things.
We set off up the hill of the start loop and I got squeezed into the inside line and forced out the back. It took a sprint out of the last corner to overtake 3 people and get ahead as we hit the singletrack clime. From there I put my head down and pedalled, not daring to look back and trying to catch and overtake the juniors who set off just ahead of us.
The course was brilliant, real mountain biking at its best. It was a long lap with lots of climbing, mostly on technical singletrack, and each time followed by the reward of a brilliant descent. There was plenty of variety, some fast flowy trails, others rooty and steep, all made slightly more difficult with overnight rain greasing things up a bit.
Into lap 2 and the others were out of sight. I was really enjoying myself, feeling good and cruising around. I struggled a bit after dropping my bottle on the first descent of the lap, it could have been disastrous but luckily I screamed for water at the 2nd feed zone and some kind person handed me a bottle – I was parched by that stage and the last climb would have been nasty without it.
Towards the end racing against the men in masters and vets kept me entertained, but it wasn’t easy since it was such a physical course with technical descents that required a lot of upper body strength (back to the gym in the winter!). It was also getting harder to control things on the steep, slippery trails – my summer tyre on the back was a ridiculous choice in hindsight! Lucky I had a big grippy thing up front so did have some kind of control.
The cheering crowds and clanging cowbells up the last climb and round the singletrack to the finish made a great atmosphere and took away any feelings of pain that were setting in. I finished first with a decent gap and pleased with my performance. It was a funny race, more about being composed and riding cleanly than close fighting and pushing my limits as is usually the case. The only downside was getting whisked off to the drugs test caravan the second I finished, a bit of an anticlimax since I missed the finish line buzz and watching the end of the men’s race.
I think the prize giving and podiums were my favourite part of the day – new jersey, a huge trophy, a bouquet of flowers and best of all champagne to spray all over everyone. Great fun! Results are here
, and lots more photos here.
A massive thanks to Richie Byrne and everyone from Epic involved in organising the race, the work people put in voluntarily is definitely the thing that makes biking over here what it is. The atmosphere, the trails, the onsite entertainment, the cheering spectators made the biggest and best xc race I’ve been to in Ireland. Also thanks to Think Bike for the loan of spare wheels and fixing up my bike, and UCD for their support all year.
Well done Cait. What a fantastic acheivement.
Your best supporter-well 2nd maybe!