Firstly there are nerves and pressure to deal with (usually self imposed, a week later everyone but you has forgotten your result). You certainly can expect to suffer, it seems possible to tolerate more pain in a race than at any other time but that doesn’t make it any more pleasant. For a beginner completing the distance or dealing with the terrain is probably enough of a challenge and as you get better it it your fellow competitors that force you to push your boundaries further, dig deeper on a climb or ride a descent faster than you ever thought possible. Of course pushing your boundaries brings the addictive sense of exhilaration that makes you forget all the bad parts and want to go back and race again as soon as possible. A good race gives you an enormous sense of achievement that you want to feel again, a bad race if viewed in the right way will give you the determination to train harder so that next time you can improve. Once you start racing the process becomes as important as the race itself. The goal may be to win a race but suddenly each ride has a purpose with little challenges and successes so that riding is just as enjoyable as competing.

A lot of people (especially girls!) get intimidated by the idea of racing. What if I’m not fast enough? What if I come last or don’t achieve the result I want? What if people laugh at me? What if I hate it? What if…? You’ll never know unless you try and by trying you have already beaten all the people who didn’t dare. Even with the worst race imaginable you can always learn something that will make you better the next time, in the long run you don’t fail. I always think the better the competition the better, I would always prefer to be beaten (even sometimes by miles!) than take an easy win in a local race. Rather than being intimidated by people better than you consider a race an opportunity to test yourself, find out where you stand and what you can improve.

To following my own wisdom I’ll be pushing my boundaries this year by trying Gravity Enduro for the first time. Scared? yes! I’ve signed up for a couple of races but it’s hard to tell what I’m letting myself in for, riding a big bike absolutely flat out on technical trails is very different to xc racing. I know I can keep up with most of my mates and I’m technically good enough at xc but realistically I’ve no idea how fast or slow I am compared to any enduro racers. I’m fully expecting to get my ass kicked in the beginning (especially since even the ‘local’ races around here are on the hardest terrain and full of world class people) but that will only make me more determined. Bring on the racing!

Here are some shots from the team photoshoot in the Steiner bakery and up in the hills in sub-zero temperatures at the weekend:




Don’t worry I haven’t given up mountain biking. My calf injury is improving but still not resolved and at the moment the road bike tends to do less damage to my legs as I can wear the crazy midsole cleats. It will be a season of experimenting and adjusted goals, hopefully I can survive the length of a race without calf explosions and will get some mtb racing in too (maybe a new bike and gravity enduro is they key!). Either way after 18 months since my last race I will be a major bag of nerves on the first start line in a few weeks time!

The start was really narrow and I was at the back of the grid so had to work really hard for the first few minutes to try and move up the field. It was a short course looping around a farmyard with a mixture of grass fields, bumpy farm tracks, and rooty singletrack. Mud and snow still on the ground made it pretty technical but with slightly slower speed than previous drier races.

Early in the race the layer of icy snow in the field sections made for some interesting sliding around, treading a fine line between exciting maximum speed and nasty crashes (managed to stay on the right side of it this week!). With so many riders on the short loop, the snow soon turned to thick heavy mud making things really hard going. There was one small climb that was an absolute killer towards the end, with mud gluing the tyres to the ground it was tempting to jump off and run, but I thought suffering burning legs to power through it was a better option!

I was riding close to a few riders for most of the race, initially just behind them, but as time went on I began picking people off. Its great fun when you get someone in sight and focus everything on catching them, the only problem is that a few seconds looks like nothing, but in a cross race it’s very hard to make up. Taking a slow line on a corner or messing up jumping back on the bike can mean losing several places, or at least giving yourself far more work to do at a time when its seems physically impossible to go any harder. I’m not sure why you come out of a race after all this pain thinking it was brilliant!

Coming into the last section there were suddenly two guys right behind me so I had to use my best blocking techniques to hold them off until the final tight corner and then make a sprint for the line. I just managed to stay ahead and it’s always good to finish with a bit of excitement!

I didn’t realise it at the time but I finished 3rd in the expert cat and would have been 9th in elite – not bad against the guys. Results are here and race report on irishcycling.com here.

It was a great race, I really enjoyed the course and the weather conditions and sponsorship from Erdinger with beers after the race made it even more authentic cyclocross. Thanks to all the organisers and encouraging supporters. Check out bikepure.org to see the excellent work they do in promoting clean and drug free cycling.

a longer video: