
It was feeling like forever since my last ‘proper’ xc race so I was very excited about heading over to Plymouth at the weekend for the final round of the British NPS series. It carried a C1 classification so attracted some top class international riders from 7 different countries, including mtb celebrity Gunn-Rita Dahle Fleshja of Norway (former Olympic, multiple world and European champion).
Mel Spath and Ciara MacManus had also travelled over from Ireland and I had raced against the girls on the British team over in the Alps so I had some idea of their standard, but didn’t know much about how I compared to the others. I thought I’d try to get as close to the lead group as I could manage at the start and play it by ear after that.

It was straight into a grassy climb, and though I was gridded on the second row, the starting pace wasn’t as crazy as I expected and I found myself in 5th by the top. That’s not to say it was easy since once I’d got up there I had to try and stay there! I kept the leaders in sight for quite a while and was totally kicking Gunn-Rita’s ass but eventually she passed me and I couldn’t quite stick to her! Then after coming down a big steep descent I thought my bike was feeling a bit funny and had to stop and check it out – good job I did, the front wheel quick release had come really loose! (my fault for not checking it). Although I was only stopped for seconds I lost 3 places and spent the next lap trying to fight my way back.
After all the recent good weather the course was bone dry and super fast so it was tough going. There was quite a bit of climbing with some nice singletrack through trees and a couple of nasty, deep river crossings that didn’t serve much purpose other than soaking you. I had a really close battle with Lilly Mathews and Jenn O’Connor for the next few laps, I was going well on the climbs but had to put in a lot of effort to keep ahead on the flats and some of the descents. Normally I’ve no problem holding my own on singletrack descents if its technical but this was almost too easy and I’m not used to going that fast! On the fifth lap I was able to pull away slightly but then Jenny Copnall came flying out of nowhere to pass me. I stuck to her for a while but was beginning to tire after my exertions at the start and a long race so couldn’t hold on to her.
The rest of the final lap I was out on my own a bit but was able to use girls from other categories as targets to try and keep the pace up. I finished in 8th place in just over 2 hours –the longest xc race I’ve done for a while and especially hard having to push all the way through. Full results are here. Really enjoyed it though and was happy to be ahead of some good, experienced riders and not far behind some even better ones!

start of the elite men's race
It was fun after the race to watch the elite and masters men’s race running about taking pictures, doing bottles for Richie and James and chatting to other riders (one thing you miss in Switzerland when they’re all talking German!). Overall a great event and I’d definitely like to try and do more of the series next year.
Check out the report on irishcycling.com too.


We enjoyed a couple of pints in Plymouth on Saturday night, mad place full of rowdy students and the craziest Irish guy ever in the pub! It was pretty miraculous that all the logistics of trains, planes and car-less transport worked out for Richie and I. My arms and shoulders are still sore from our sprintervals lugging heavy bike boxes up and down several flights of stairs at top speed to make the train on the way home! Then we had to deal with Fly-Maybe where they insisted on unpacking our bikes to check for explosives – my poor cardboard box just survived and they still missed the CO2 canisters! All a big adventure though. That’s it for the year now, fun mountain bike spins only, K Capital Challenge next weekend and time to do some college work!

There were about 200 people on the course at one time, beginning with a mass start straight into a tough singletrack climb. 11 girls entered the solo category and not having done a race this long before I intended to let them take the lead and try to match the pace for the first few laps. I’m used to fast xc starts though and 2 minutes in I couldn’t help myself getting into the lead. The course was brilliant, set in parkland just outside the city with 11km and 250m ascent per lap. It was nearly all singletrack, fast descents twisting through the trees and several steep, rooty climbs. Flying down one of the best sections I felt a sharp pain in my leg and looked down to see a wasp stuck in it. At the same time there were several other shouts of pain and it turns out someone had hit a wasp nest! 2 days later my legs was blistered and my ankle/foot swelled up like a balloon to 3 times its normal size!
Most of the climbing was in the first half of the lap so you’d start to feel tired but then the adrenaline and buzz from the descents gave you energy to do it all again. It was very different to an xc race – time to have a chat and meet new people in the middle of the race, and well as thinking about all kinds of rubbish as you’re pedalling along.
I got to spray champagne around the place (need to practice that one!), and won some awesome prizes. A big trophy, enough money to pay for my weekend and best of all some new USE
A 10 minute fireroad climb began to spread the field out a bit and I set about making up a few places. My legs were feeling strong and since I was ahead of the other girls I thought I’d try to increase the gap. A new long descent down from the little sugarloaf was great, fast and rocky then into slippery steep switchbacks. After this were long sections of fun singletrack twisting through the forest with a few short fireroad climbs. It was really cool, a bit of an interval session, sometimes flat out racing but other times more like a fast social spin since you were constantly surrounded by other riders and bottlenecks made it hard to go fast at times.


On the 4th lap I really dug deep, trying to find some extra energy so that I could work back and raced the Masters men to help keep pushing. No matter how hard I tried I just couldn’t go any faster. With no sign of Beth in front of me and I began to realise there would be little chance to catch her but kept going just in case. By the last lap I nearly had to give up braking as I was getting finger cramps every time I pulled the levers and was pretty happy to cross the line just before a torrential downpour began. I finished in second place, 2.5 minutes down (full results 





As soon as it was over I was feeling great again with a good sense of achievement and improvement from last time I did this. I’ve just finished reading Graeme Obree’s autobiography – his determination is really inspirational for focus and motivation doing these things.

The international fun continued yesterday at the Racer Bikes Cup in Winterthur. I had an early start, leaving home at 6.30 to catch the train to meet Richie Felle and James McCluskey who were already there. 

