There is always the danger of early season over enthusiasm and we got caught out here with a hour of hiking through knee deep snow with bikes on our backs in Davos. The descent was worth it though!

It was even nice to get out on the road and do some big mountain rides in the sun. A day on Furka and Grimsel passes have to be some of the most dramatically stunning rides around (just be prepared to share the road with millions of motorbikes, it makes you appreciate the peace and quiet of trails!). Hairpin after hairpin surrounded by huge cliff faces, waterfalls, glaciers and lakes. Getting wild sprinting back down the hill at 80 kmph is of course awesome too!

This one was a big adventure ride near Flumserberg, a small ski resort an hour from Zürich. With no lift access for bikes there was a 2.5 hour climb up steep ski pistes and technical rocky singetrack up to an isolated pass at 2300m. A super steep, technical, rocky descent made it worth while before some more climbing to some of the best loamy trails ever hidden in the woods lower down.

Next up racing in the European Enduro Series at Reschenpass in Austria at the weekend…

Not so stoked to be back in snowy wet cold Zürich

Then I fell off my bike and snapped a rib. Doh! Broken ribs are painful things that prevent anything that remotely involves fun. It’s been nice to chill out for a week or two, get wired on coffee and do other things but I’m starting to crave movement and adrenaline and its not raining as much as I would like. 2-4 more weeks to go, heal dammit!

Spent all of the next day dreaming of mountains!

It was freezing up top so getting warm for the first stage wasn’t easy and I struggled to get going. Early on I frustratingly got stuck behind 3 or 4 guys who stubbornly refused to let me past and lost a chunk of time. The trail was awesome though, lots of tight switchbacks, sharp rocks, roots and pine needles.

After that the 5-7 minute stages seemed short but no less fun. The trails were in incredible condition despite torrential rain the night before and even included patches of dust. Loamy corners, plenty of changes to pedal and lots of flow compared to the more technical previous rounds. The atmosphere was the usual Bluegrass style, laid back and friendly with plenty of chance to chat as you made your way around the course.

The last stage, a sub 2 minute sprint around the village square over obstacles like palettes of wood, a mini pond and see-saws was great fun before we could enjoy lunch, a cold beer and a live band. I finished 3rd on the day which put me in 2nd for the series overall. Happy out. Race report here and video here. Thanks to the organisers, a great series I can highly recommend, looking forward to next year already!

Thanks to Velo Elsener for some last minute bike tlc the day before, the Enduro 29er rode like a dream! Next stop EWS in Finale…

That was Davos in Graubunden. There are no bad trails (except the one man-made one which filters the goobers), the only problem is a day is too short even after 6000m descending!

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.

Day One – 3 timed runs on two stages + 2 practice runs

Taking the gondola up I was full of anticipation and maybe a slight be of apprehension about what would be in store for us coming down. The first stage was huge, over 1000m descent over 7km, but after practice revealed there was nothing majorly scary, I was excited to race. The women set off first with the fastest ranked riders starting last and only 15 seconds time gaps between each person. This led to a bit of chaos when racing with both faster and slower riders losing time with passing leading to people getting frustrated (luckily the organisers changed this around for day two). The top section was rough and full of the kind of sharp pointy rocks that are keen to puncture your tyres so riding smooth was key. After that speeds increased as the trail dopped through meadows, some freshly cut grassy turns, a massive slightly uphill pedaling section, switchbacks through the woods and a flat out fast ski piste finish. I rode ok-ish but got passed on the top section and then stuck behind people on the pedaling bit.

Stage 2 which we raced twice was a full on monster. 8.5km and over 20 minutes of racing starting up on what felt like the top of the world, traversing across a rough rocky mountain above the vegetation line. The first obstacle was a small but very deep and rutted snow patch where it seems most people had an OTB at some stage after which was a nasty uphill and a very physical rocky descent. As the trail dropped down it became more and more dusty with occasional short pedaling sections, lots of eyeballs out as high speed as you dare sections, some switchbacks and finally a steep lung-busting climb from hell just to finish you off as your arms and legs were screaming to stop. The Stage was extremely tough and physical but the sheer length of it was insane, double the length of the longest stage I’ve ridden before so maintaining fully focused concentration was a real challenge . Although the passing (or being passed!) was really frustrating at times, it was great to be close to other riders all the time, to have people in your sights to aim for, to learn where your strengths and weaknesses are and to see just how fast the fast girls are. Awesome day.

Day 2 – 3 timed runs, 2 stages, 2 practice runs and a transition stage that involved more braking than my body could handle

The first stage of day two started high up another mountain with stunning views down a freshly cut trail full covered in tuffty grass with pointy rocks hidden underneath, some rock gardens and lower down some fun rooty corners through the trees to the finish. Big Enduro 29er wheels were a saving grace when hitting rough sections full of hidden holes and rocks at high speed! Although slightly shorter than saturday’s stages the distance was still tough with arms and legs sore from the day before and quickly filling with lactic acid. The killer of day 2 was a downhill singletrack transition to get between two gondolas, which we had to ride 5 times. Normally this would be far better than an uphill fireroad but the extent of the arm pump from racing meant that any braking was a painful experience and this was the final nail in the coffin!

The 2nd stage was another tough one starting across a rough rock filled trail with a few loose high speed ski piste sections in between. Keeping the flow and ride smoothly to avoid mechanicals was key with lots DNFs due to mechanicals and crashes. Loads of dusty switchbacks and some physical forest sections filled up any remaining space in your body with lactic and shot your pulse up through the roof. Then it was time for the climbing. Several short, punchy full gas climbs followed one after the other with sections of technical singletrack in between so that as your heart and lungs felt like they were going to burst out of your body you had to be fully calm and composed to clear the downhill section. I take some kind of sick enjoyment from this, in xc you are always holding something back on climbs and descents but here its flat out every time which is awesome!

So overall 13,000m descending over the two days (usually it might be 3-4,000 over two days!). I finished 26th, an improvement on last time but still have lots to learn. Brilliant weekend meeting and hanging out with lots of cool people from all over the world. The trails themselves were good although probably not the best I’ve ridden in the Alps, but as a race event it worked very well. It was sickening to leave the circus to be back at work on Monday morning when it seemed everyone else was heading off in a van for several weeks of playing in the Alps. Bring on La Thuile!

Thanks to Velo Elsener for making sure my bike was in tip top condition!

One trail was the fairly well known Brazilian, often called the best trail in Switzerland. I’m not sure I would go that far but it was pretty damn cool. A bus followed by 1000m pedaling took us to 2800m and from there it was one long descent down to 500m. The second half was incredible, loads of fast swoopy corners with dust flying everywhere.

The other days were even better as we got up high with spectacular views of glaciers and snow capped mountains before dropping into the woods for amazing loamy fast singletrack descents. One side of the valley is dry and dusty like Italy, full of rocks and loose tight corners. The other is more forested, loamy, fast and flowy. Amazing weekend, I’ve had withdrawal symptoms ever since.

So where were we? top secret, I’d have to kill you if I told you

Day One – Innerleithen, 55 km, 1500m climbing, 4 timed stages

Having ridden 85km in the two days prior to racing in order to practice the course I set off with already tired legs into a 1.5 hour transition to the first stage. The distances were big and the transition timing wasn’t generous, there was no hanging around. The terrain is like Ireland on steroids, the same kind of rooty, pine needle type trails but everything is bigger, steeper and longer. Despite amazing sunny weather on race day, the week leading up to the race had been very wet so today’s stages were not just really steep and long but also wet, muddy and slippy. Apart from some short sections of fast trail centre the tracks were mostly through the forest full of roots, rocks and slippery mud. It was hard to keep the momentum going, dabbing at the wrong moment could cost massive amounts of time.

Stage 1 was wet and greasy with a horrendous uphill fireroad that I couldn’t attack on because my legs were already too full of lactic from the physical first section of trail. I made too many small mistakes but no major disasters. Stage 2 had a long section of very steep, greasy rocks that switchbacked down the mountain. I’d ridden it fine in practice but made a mistake in the race at one of the steepest parts and couldn’t get back on so ended up running a couple of corners and soon after binned it on another. This was nothing short of downhill racing! It was pushing my limits way beond what was comfortable to get down the trails at a half decent pace, I rode far to tensed up and on the brakes leading to more mistakes and lactic filled muscles.

Stage 3 I was dreading, I’d had to practice it alone and chickened out on several steep sections which I knew I’d have to ride on race day. As it turned out it was fine, hitting one near vertical slippery switchback after the next was easier with some flow during the race and even became fun. I got down it all apart from one wipeout on an off camber root at the bottom of a steep chute. Wish I could do the stage again but faster now I have the confidence to know it was rideable. Stage 4 was less steep and scary and more enjoyable with great crowds cheering us on coming into the finish.

Overall I was glad to survive the day, although it felt more like just riding than actually racing for bits of it. The weather and Scottish scenery were amazing and it was fun racing with loads of fast girls. I was totally destroyed afterwards, the mental energy required to concentrate for such a long time on something so challenging cannot be underestimated, I struggled to keep my eyes open all evening.

Day Two – Glentress, 35 km, 1500m climbing, 4 timed stages

I was more confident and less uptight coming into this day.  In practice there had been some really slippery muddy sections but they were slightly less steep and in between there was plenty of pedaling and some trail centre sections where I hoped to dig out my old xc legs and make up some time. The stages blur together a bit but generally things had dried out a lot and each trail left everyone buzzing and full of enthusiasm. Highlights were some incredibly fast and loamy newly cut switchbacks on stage two with supporters cheering like crazy, followed by the longest section of xc type trail centre pedaling you can ever imagine. I had a great time pedaling flat out and throwing the bike around twisty corners until I dropped my chain and easily lost 30 seconds stopping to get it back on. After that I gave it absolutely everything to get to the end with lungs exploding and legs burning. Gutted though, could have had a good stage time on that one. I can’t remember much from stage 3 other than being totally buzzing afterwards!

The last stage was a monster from the top of the mountain all the way back to Peebles village. A flatout 500m stretch across dry rooty moorland felt like the fastest I’ve ever ridden a trail, on the pedals as much as possible hitting the odd unexpected drop at full speed, amazing fun. After that was a section of twisty pedally trail centre where I lost my chain again and wasted more precious time (will be buying a chainguide this week!). Then came the climb. A disgusting 30 second, super steep fireroad that left my eyeballs popping out and my head spinning, worse still it was straight into a slightly downhill fireroad where you had to get the pedals in to get up to speed before it kicked up again for a final uphill killer power sprint. Filled with maximal lactic we dropped into some deadly tight, damp switchbacks through the trees with a few sketchy drops and finally a fast, rooty blast to the finish where I collapsed gasping for breath but full of endorphins. Awesome.

Overall a very challenging but fun weekend, learnt a lot and have a clear idea of where I need to improve. The event was perfectly organised, the scenery beautiful, the people fune and it was extremely impressive to see such a booming mountain bike scene in Scotland. Great to have some family support and to catch up with the Irish crowd, the lads had some top results!

Interview on Redbull Ireland before the race here

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