More winter weather

Posted on Wednesday 29th December 2010 by Cait


Last week deep snow and ice made a return to Dublin causing utter chaos in the city and forcing me to spend more time on a turbo trainer than any sane person would admit to! Training has seemed like more of a test of mental strength and determination than the usual enjoyment, but luckily sanity was somewhat retained with one urban mtb ride where snowy roads in the city could be ridden like trails. It was too cold to stop and take many photos but Phoenix Park was amazing – pristine snow, blue sky, and almost empty except for herds of deer.

Phoenix Park


Christmas Day in Dublin


My flight home to England for Christmas was cancelled and my brother and I got stranded in Dublin. We enjoyed the deep snow and sunny weather and had a second Christmas in York two days later.


This week has been my annual international training camp in Yorkshire. It may be a pro mtb destination for the world cup in May but December is not the best time to come. Although it has been a relief to ride a moving bike since the roads are clear of snow here, the weather has meant more mental strength training to endure the cold and wet. Yesterday I was soaked and feeling like an ice cube after an hour, so by the end of five hours… At least there is proper tea here to warm up afterwards!

Yorkshire Tea


frozen river in York


Two cold rides left before international training camp part two – a week in the Sierra Nevadas in Spain with Freeride Spain. Great hosts, huge climbs, THE best technical descents in the world, rocket fuel Spanish coffee, good weather – excited is an understatement!

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attacked by ice

Posted on Monday 20th December 2010 by Cait



Looks pretty? NO, its evil! The crazy cold weather continued this with unusual subzero temperatures in Dublin turning snow from a last week into hard ice and freezing all the puddles. I’ve had to acquire cold weather survival skills – setting off with boiling water in my water bottles meant they didn’t turn solid quite so quickly. I’m also considering undertaking a mince pie diet to try and keep warm, skinny cyclists are not suited to this weather!

For 98% of the time its fun to bike on solid frozen ground without worrying about getting muddy, the only problem is you have no idea when a patch of ice is going to pop up at ruin things. This is what happens when it does:


back to the turbo trainer?!

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Bike Pure GP

Posted on Monday 13th December 2010 by Cait

The Bike Pure cross race on Saturday was nicely timed with a big thaw, saving my sanity with chance to get back to riding a moving bike again. There was no women’s category so I raced in the expert men’s race – much better, guaranteed a good hard race and more people to chase!

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:

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Training in the snow

Posted on Saturday 4th December 2010 by Cait

streets of Ranelagh


River Liffey & Calvatrava bridge


The snow didn’t stop after last weekend and a week later there is more snow in Dublin than I’ve ever seen outside of the Alps. The city is in total chaos with public transport not working, streets blocked with snow, pavements turned to sheets of ice etc. Commuting to work through the snowy streets on a road bike with skinny tyres has been great fun although once it started to get icy the mountain bike was a safer option. At least the snow makes everywhere look pretty and gives people something to think about other than the country’s economic doom.

frozen canal


interesting commute


Training wise I cracked big time and was forced to embrace the inner roadie for some turbo training madness. I bought a turbo trainer 2 years ago but this was its first time out of the box. Rather than sitting indoors staring at four walls for hours on end, I set it up outside under the porch in front of my house so that I could look out at the snowy street and watch people go by. It helped to stop me looking at the clock but I did get a few funny looks as people slide around fighting through a blizzard and I sat there in a t-shirt pedalling away like crazy!

turbotastic


It’s actually almost enjoyable once you figure out how to play mind games with yourself so that time doesn’t come to a complete stand still. In my head I’ve spent the week doing laps of race courses all over the world – shut your eyes and use your imagination it comes as a shock to open them again and realise 20 minutes has passed and you actually haven’t moved anywhere!

Some good pumping music is another essential. At the moment my playlist includes Holy Fuck, Girl Talk’s new mix, Leftfield, Deadmau5 and Underworld. Any more suggestions welcome…

view from my bedroom


Thanks to the guys in the Think Bike workshop for putting the turbo together, the most complicated piece of apparatus imaginable.

thankfully real biking again at the weekend

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Snow in Dublin!

Posted on Sunday 28th November 2010 by Cait

All of a sudden winter is well and truly upon us and an incredibly dramatic storm on Friday night left Dublin covered in a blanket of snow for the weekend. So while the roadies sat indoors for hours on their turbo trainers, we headed for the hills for some fantastic mountain biking.

singletrack starts at home


The off-road ride begins at your front door in this weather with loads of sliding around on the snowy streets.

Dublin Bay



Three rock on Saturday was a fast, slidery playground with a perfect amount of snow for riding through with just enough grip. Sunshine, dramatic skies and spectacular views over Dublin and the sea.

Road biking suddenly seems more interesting


This morning we headed further afield, taking the mountain bikes for a road ride to Djouce and then ducking into the woods for a few trails. There was a real sense of expedition, an eerie silence and only deer prints for company as people in cars couldn’t make it up that far until later in the day when the roads began to melt. I hope the novelty value can last, at the moment I love winter! A four hour ride in the snow is lot more tiring than it would normally be though.

Powerscourt waterfall


GC is a narrow singletrack with a big cliff drop off the side of it -gets pretty interesting when covered in snow!

'GC' singletrack


There are a few more photos taken over the weekend here.

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Stevens Supercross Cup – Tymon Park

Posted on Sunday 21st November 2010 by Cait

Saturday was the final round of the Supercross Cup held in Tymon Park, Tallaght. Rain the day before left the grassy park extremely greasy and with a more technical course than last week it was set to be an interesting race. It was good to see a few more girls out this week in a 75 strong starting line up out for 9 laps of the course.

leaders show how it should be done


We set off at a blistering pace and with so many riders close together it wasn’t long before the first pile up as someone fell jumping over the first set of nastily high boards. After some early fighting for positions, things strung out fairly quickly and I settled into a rhythm with a combination of burning legs on the flats and concentration to wrestle the bike through muddy sections. Although I knew more what to expect pace wise after last week, it felt no easier, my legs were a bit tired from the weeks training and I had to force them to work.

...and how not to do it!


The course swooped up and down a steep bank several times, and with sharp corners at the bottom of each descent and only tape separating riders going up and down, it was a sure spot for some crash action. It felt stupid to ride so slow on the corners but it seemed the only way to avoid coming off. Next was a nice bit of mtb style wet rooty singletrack through the woods, which got extremely sketchy on 30mm tyres.

For most of the race I could see Fran Mehan not far behind me each time the course looped around on itself, so I had to stay on my toes. After the last race I felt I didn’t push myself hard enough on the corners, and I ought to test the limits a bit more to avoid losing time on them. This, combined with the slippery conditions, meant I ended up on the floor a couple of times after hitting corners or off camber sections with too much speed. I wasn’t the only one, I think the poor marshals spent all day re-taping sections that people had hurtled through accidently! When you get the balance right though it’s great fun, two wheel drifts through the mud at high speed with minimal control over the bike.

Towards the end conditions seemed to get greasier, and on lap 8 as I came down the grassy bank the bike suddenly went from under me and I wiped out completely, slamming into the ground and sliding down the hill. It took me ages to figure out how to untangle my bike from the barrier and course tape before I could get back into it. At that stage I couldn’t see Fran behind anymore, and having already been lapped by Robin, I lost my mojo a bit and wasn’t fully in racing mode. The last lap I took a more conservative approach to the slippery parts and instead tried to use my efforts to go fast on the flatter sections.

I won the women’s race and finished 34th overall (results here). Could have done better, should have at least improved on last week, but looking at the results it was mostly due to crashing/slacking on the last couple of laps! Again another great days racing and a big thanks in order to everyone involved in organising and supporting. This video strapped to Robin’s bike gives a good taste of the race.

It’s great to have so much variety with training at the moment, I change my mind daily about which kind of biking is best – cross was yesterdays thing, today its mountain bikes…!

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Stevens Supercross Cup – Corcaigh Park

Posted on Sunday 14th November 2010 by Cait

After getting a crossbike the other week I did two cross training sessions to remind my body what hard work feels like and watched some youtube videos to try and learn some of the skills involved in preparation for the Supercross Cup race in Corcaigh Park, Dublin on Saturday. Cyclocross is a funny sport where you race laps of a short course around a grassy field on a bike with dropped handlebars, knobbly skinny tyres and cantilever brakes. Those who haven’t tried it often dismiss it, yet anyone who does it seems to get totally addicted. It’s fast and furious with only split seconds between each rider, and little margin for error, so racing can get pretty exciting but very painful.

looks easy? horrible part of the course!


There was a mass start of 65 riders, with nine laps of a short course taking 7-8.5 minutes a lap. I was towards the back of the group as we lined up, and surrounded by aggressive guys I lost even more places in the first few minutes (next week I’m going to sharpen my elbows and pretend I’m at a world cup!). It was straight into a section of greasy, tight corners on the grass and with so many riders squeezing into a tight track at high speed several people came down and took others surrounding with them. I managed to avoid crashes but lost time at each corner as people bunched up.

After a while things began to spread out and I got into a group riding at a steady if painfully intense pace. Since races are so short (about an hour), cyclocross is super intense and you’re literally flat out for the whole thing – not easy when you haven’t raced in 2 months! Skinny tyres and rubbish brakes on wet grass with tight corners means there is a lot of high speed sliding around the place on the edge of being in control. It took a bit to get used to the limits of the bike, but the more of the edge you ride the more fun it is. I seemed to be surrounded by roadies with some rather suspect bike handling skills – legs and arms sticking out all over the place and way too much braking, but although I could get ahead on the corners, as soon as we got to a horrible flat tarmac section, they’d come motoring past and I had to dig deep and ignore the burning sensation in my legs to stick to them.

The next issue was dealing with the wooden boards placed across the course – unless you’re very confident at big bunny-hops you have to jump off the bike and carry it running over these. There is a real technique involved to do it without losing time, and by the end of nine laps I was starting to get it but still had a few amateurish fumbles trying to find my pedals after leaping back on the bike. When you do get it right it’s great fun, bounding over the boards and jumping onto the bike at speed.

Since the laps are so short and the course kept looping back on itself, you could always see the next target in front, or people coming to catch from behind. Towards the end of lap eight I kept catching glimpses of eventual winner Robin Seymour powering along and getting closer and closer to me. I was determined not to get lapped but it felt a bit like running away from a tidal wave as I struggled to find another gear and hold him off! I managed it but it made the final lap even more painful and there was still a lot of chance to jostle for positions before the end. Coming into the final loop a guy I’d been racing with all day jumped past me only to crash on the next corner. He was back on quickly but I slipped ahead and then had to sprint like mad to hold him off at the finish.

I’m pretty sure that at the time the whole thing seemed incredibly hard and painful, yet somehow I came out of it thinking it was great and really looking forward to the next one. Racing does wierd things to your brain! I finished 1st female and 31st overall, full results are here. Thanks to Team Worc for a great course and event.

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October – offseason!

Posted on Saturday 30th October 2010 by Cait

October is officially the off season – time to stop hard training and take a break, let the legs recover and catch up on non cycling activities. Initially I enjoyed a rest and some time off the bike, it was great to escape the commitment and structure of training. To get rid of excess energy I dug out my football boots for the first time in 6 years and joined the lads for Sunday soccer, tried to teach my legs to run again (ached from head to toe for a week afterwards the first time!), and of course caught up on some nights out dancing (good to remind myself that biking with a hangover is horrible and not worth it!).

partybike!


Staying off the bike for a month was never really going to happen, sunny autumn weather and dry trails couldn’t be missed so it seemed better to reduce riding to more ‘normal’ levels, and enjoy some fun mountain biking. Seriously, mountain biking is the best thing ever! loving it at the moment, especially since I can save all my energy for concentrating on going fast downhills rather than doing painful training.

fun mountain bike spin in Wicklow

New lights courtesy of WXC’s sponsor Aye-up have been put to good use for after work spins as the darkness closes in. Night-riding is so much fun and its unbelievable how many people you meet up in the Dublin hills in the pitch black, not just bikers but runners, dog walkers, horses and loads of deer!. Chasing fast guys on freeride bikes down hills at high speed in the dark has been a great way to sharpen up the technical skills.

Ok and I couldn’t resist a couple of road spins, I have a super fast new bike that needed testing! This was a 150km ride in the sun on the bank holiday weekend – easing back into it!

somewhere in Kildare!

On Saturday mornings I’ve been leading some beginner spins for Think Bike shop, great to see people so enthusiastic about mountain biking and improving loads each week. Anyone interested in seeing what the fuss is about give me a shout…

Now it’s time to get back into training to be ready for next season. Race plans are coming together and things are looking very exciting so I have all the motivation I need to brave the cold, wet, windy weather that is surely going to hit us sometime soon. The last week parcels have been arriving in the post everyday in preparation for the year ahead. The latest was a cyclocross bike (good job I have tolerant housemates, bikes are taking over the place at the moment!). It’s finally time to give cross a proper try and I can’t wait to shock my system back into action with some super intense racing – reports will be coming soon.

But before all that I’ve a Halloween costume to come up with, its not quite November yet…

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Thanks UCD CC!

Posted on Saturday 16th October 2010 by Cait

UCD has been my cycling club for the last 5 years and the club has been great to me for helping progress as both a mountain biker and a racer. Initially there was a keen group of students out mountain biking several times a week, it was a great chance to meet like minded people, learn new trails and skills, and eventually got me into racing as we ran a race as part of an intervarsity series. More recently a scholarship from the club has been invaluable for helping to fund the races I’ve done in Ireland, and use of the High Performance gym last winter was a great help with training. All the assistance from the club has been hugely appreciated and made racing much easier for me.

The club has been gradually getting bigger and more successful over the last few years, especially on the road where there is a good group of very strong and successful riders competing regularly in club colours. Hopefully this will continue and I can really recommend the club to anyone studying in UCD.

Now that I’ve finally escaped from being a student it’s time to move on, and the marathon champs was my last race in UCD colours. I was lucky to win the club women’s cyclist and mountain biker of the year awards at the club’s annual awards last weekend on a night where the rare sight of drunken cyclists could be witnessed in style! Congratulations to Anto who picked up the rider of the year award after a strong season culminating in leading the club’s team in the Rás.

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National Marathon Championships – Ballyhoura

Posted on Monday 27th September 2010 by Cait

After racing in Plymouth we had a 3 hour drive to Bristol on Saturday night after the race, the plane was delayed 2 hours, I missed the bus from Dublin airport and finally got home at 1am absolutely exhausted. Got up at 6.30am for a 3 hour drive down to Ballyhoura for the Irish mtb Marathon championships – great race preparation. I wasn’t sure it was a good idea to go but decided that if my legs felt in anyway functioning I’d at least try and get around the course. We were in for a single loop of 60km with 1500m of climbing so not easy in itself.

ready to start


Warming up I felt tired but able to ride, and after the disaster the day before I suddenly found a sense of purpose, I was going to win this thing if it killed me, I had to salvage something from the weekend. I was testing some compression wear before the race from new WXC team sponsor compressport and can highly recommend it, it really seemed to help speeding up recovery. We set off up a long fireroad climb and as loads of over enthusiastic guys went shooting past I rode on Ciara McManus’s wheel, letting her set a steady pace. I moved in front but was careful not to get carried away, I decided riding conservatively and keeping it steady was the best option since I wasn’t sure how long my legs would last after yesterday.

the start


I started to pull away from Ciara and settled into a steady rhythm, concentrating on my own race. The course was a nice mixture of fireroad climbs, manmade trail centre singletrack, and rocky or boggy moorland tracks. I’m not normally a fan of trail centres but the first descent was great, super fast berms and jumps that really got the adrenaline flowing without using much energy – perfect for tired legs!


Some of the climbing was tough, technical rocky sections that required a lot of effort and seemed to go on for a long time. After about an hour of riding with the guys, Ciara suddenly appeared on my wheel out of nowhere on a climb. That scared me, I had to force myself to keep it steady rather than panicking and trying to shoot off. At the top I got ahead of a couple of guys so that I had a bit of a buffer, and then went hard on the descent to try and get away. I think I needed a kick up the bum and it meant I had to stay focused for the rest of the race. My one bit of good race preparation was to write on my handlebars where the big climbs and feedzones were on the course – why I haven’t done it before I don’t know, but it was incredibly useful for pacing and pushing myself as we went along.

course notes


Some of the open mountain trails were really boggy, with several gigantic puddles. Organisers MBCC did a great job of marking them with signs to warn you how deep it might be. At one point a sign said ‘deep but doable’ – ok I thought, I’ll ride it, my feet were already soaked. I didn’t expect the water to go up past the top of my forks though, I might have been better swimming!

avoiding water


By the last long climb I was starting to hurt a bit but my handlebar note told me there was a big long descent to the finish, so that made it much easier. I was making up lots of places against the guys too as people started to struggle and blow up. The last descent was worth it all, a fast swoopy singletrack that seemed to go on forever. I was pelting along, riding on my limits with the thought of a new jersey giving me a new found fire in my legs. I caught a couple of guys in front but the narrow trail meant it was impossible to pass. I got a bit frustrated but in the end gave up trying to pass and enjoyed the ride down with four of us riding on each other’s wheel at high speed.

pain at the finish

As the finish came in sight I couldn’t believe it when we were directed into a little finishing loop that included a slight climb, it was a killer and the final nail in the coffin for several people who ended up off the bikes with cramp despite being less than a minute from the end. I was delighted to cross the line in 3hrs 45, winning my 2nd national marathon championships and making me feel a bit better after the day before. A much better end to the season. Full results are here.

Fiona Meade, Cait Elliott, Ciara McManus (L-r)


Thanks to MBCC for organising the event, I thoroughly enjoyed the course, and the facilities and prizes (nice hoodie and bag from Vans) afterwards rounded off a good day. Also thanks to UCD CC for their support, and Aine Conneff of MAD for her amazing feedzone assistance skills (don’t know how she does it, flawlessly managing to pass the right bottle to every rider passing). Now time for a break, can’t promise no biking but at least no painful training for a while!

new jersey and trophy

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