Firstly the trails were awesome. Carrick offered so much variety within the 7 stages, there were dusty sections where you could have been in Spain, steep gnarly rocky sections to challenge the best of riders, some good auld Irish schlomp, loamy corners, xc pedalling, pumptrack style whoops, jumps, dh tracks, everything was there. There was enough of a challenge there but above all the kind of riding that brings a smile to your face at the end of each stage. The effort and passion put into building the trails was evident and is what made all the difference.

Come race day the crowds  took the experience to another level. It was insane, I’ve never experienced anything like it! How ever many thousand people were out on the, the noise levels and rowdyness had the effect of doubling the numbers. The atmosphere was electric, the feeling of burning legs, screaming lungs or an apprehensive brain were all numbed by the cheers and encouragement (Huge thanks to anyone shouting my name, tunnel vision mean I probably didn’t recognise you but it still helped!). To see mountain biking becoming more mainstream in Ireland is amazing, to show the trails and the passion to all the foreigners and to see them all so shocked and impressed was even better and Greg crossing the line to take the win and the explosive atmosphere that followed was the icing on the cake.

Huge congratulations to all the organisers for pulling off bringing such a big event to Ireland and doing such an amazing job of it. Fingers crossed it’ll be back next year!

My race went ok, I rode everything fairly well, pushed hard when I could, coped with the distance fine, had no major issues or crashes. Overall though too steady and safe, the level in the EWS is too high for riding averagely, more risks need to be taken and limits have to be pushed. Lesson learnt, time to get more wild on the bike!

In the few days after I enjoyed some great riding in the Dublin mountains with friends, a lovely freezing cold sea swim, plenty of recovery pints of Guinness, lots of coffee. Any jobs going for architects in Dublin yet…?!

Not so stoked to be back in snowy wet cold Zürich

For weeks prior to the race the sun has been beaming in Ireland and on Thursday and Friday I had a great time after escaping wet Switzerland to ride some uncharacteristic dust (too much so, a mad thursday night adventure left my legs still tired on race day!). The dust didn’t last long and two months worth of rain fell on Saturday and Sunday making the tracks unrecognisable with any carefully chosen lines turning into sloppy thick mud. Deadly!

Sunday Race Day – 6 Stages, 30km, 1000m descent

The stages were relatively short (4-6 minutes) and generally less physical than you would get over in Europe but that didn’t make them any easier. Each time there were tons of wet roots, slippery mud, off camber narrow trails, steep drops and switchback corners compacted into the stage so you had to be fully on it to ride well. It took some getting used to the wet trails and the first couple of stages felt slow and static, I kept hitting the wrong lines, had a little wipeout crash and found it hard to judge how much speed you could get away with. It didn’t stop the enjoyment though, racing down Djouce classics like XTC and GC, trails I’ve only raced on an xc hardtail, was amazing!
With on and off rain all day the trails were getting increasingly sloppy and as we headed up the long climb to stage 5, the longest and steepest of the day, we were getting horror stories from guys who’d just come down it – “you’re gonna die up there”, “it’s mental, you just have to slide, the trail has disappeared!”, encouraging stuff. The top section was epic, downhill but slightly pedally trail crossing a section of felled trees, there was a constant mesh of greasy exposed roots mixed in with a thick layer of sloppy mud. My Enduro 29er was the absolute business on this and despite the greasiness I had tons of grip and loved sliding around at high speed. After dropping into the forest the trail got steeper and the disadvantage of not being seeded became apparent with the muddy trail having been totally cut up by a hundred people riding it. Things got pretty sketchy and out of control! at the steepest point I had to let 2 downhillers past only to get stuck behind as they crashed at the bottom when a wooden bridge across a stream had been dislodged from position and disappeared under the mud! after that it was more sloshing around with some leg sapping pedaling through the soft mud to the end. Exhausting but an awesome stage!

I was delighted to finish 3rd with unstoppable junior Leah Maunsell taking the win in style, results here. So you can stick your Alps, Ireland is the place to ride bikes. I wish I could get back to more races, the atmosphere was brilliant, the trails deadly and it was great to catch up with everyone. The mtb scene is booming, with that weather in Switzerland nobody would have turned up but this race was sold out and nobody gave a shite about the rain!

Big thanks to Think Bike in Rathmines for sorting my brakes out at the last minute and Velo Elsener who are gonna have to deal with the mud damage to the bike! Photos robbed from Action Pictures Ireland, Cycle Action Photography, and Adrian Van der Lee.

Love Dublin!

Report on Devil in a dress for the women’s race. Thanks to Action Pictures Ireland and Adrian Van der Lee for the photos.

On Saturday we took a lap of the trails, sessioning some sections and going over some trail skills. It was a long tough day but the determination, enthusiasm and improvements made by everyone were impressive. The next day we combined with the Biking Blitz race for some competitive experience – talk about throwing them in the deep end, a race with over 400 people and some of the girls had only been on a bike a few times before! Initial fear and feelings of intimidation were set aside and it was fantastic to see everyone getting really stuck into the race. There was a great sense of  comradery and fun within the group and everyone finished with huge smiles having really enjoyed it . With a few podiums and a lot of potential talent hopefully there will soon be lots more women racing in the NPS.

The next women’s skills weekend will be the 6th and 7th of April in Ballyhoura – keep an eye on the Offroad commission website/facebook page for more details.

A big thanks to Think Bike for the loan of a super fast carbon Trek bike for the weekend!

Swiss racing

Development from a young age is well considered in Switzerland. Nationals races have kids races which include skills testing as well as other entertainment to keep them interested throughout the day. Many clubs have a good development structure offering technical coaching, training and race assistance for underage riders. This is only beginning to get going in Ireland.

Up to a certain level the Irish race scene is quite good, it is not considered elitist so there is a wide variety of people taking part, there is a good sociable atmosphere at races, and participation is rapidly increasing. Having raced all over Europe I would still say Djouce, Castlewellan or Kilruddery are amongst the best national standard races courses I’ve ridden, technically and physically challenging as well as great fun to ride.

racing - Dublin mountians

Some of these factors come down to wider cultural economical differences between Switzerland and Ireland (some of which you would never dream of trying to change!), but I’m sure that Ireland has the potential to gain a reputation for being at least as good a place for mountain biking and racing as Switzerland, and develop some top level riders to go with that.