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I HATE bad races and writing about them is almost as bad so this will be a short one.

Headed over to Plymouth on Thursday with Mel for the final round of the British national series. There was an impressive field with riders from Canada, New Zealand, Estonia, Sweden, Germany, and former world champ Gunn-rita Dahle of Norway. I was really psyched up for it, a great chance to perform against such world class competition. Pre-riding the day before and legs felt ok after last weekend. The course was tough with several big steep climbs, a couple of freezing cold deep river crossings, and lots of fast but short descents. Unfortunately there was a lot less singletrack than last year and less chance to make up time on technical sections, but nice enough overall.

Race day. Set off up a killer grassy climb that seemed to go on forever. I was at the back of the front riders and rode the lap within reach of where I wanted to be, feeling ok but not amazing. Lap two and I started to go backwards, got passed from behind and struggled to respond. From then onwards just kept going backwards, the whole thing felt like a lot of hard work and I had absolutely nothing to give. There seemed to be some sort of disconnection between my legs and my head, with a store of energy I couldn’t access. No matter how much I wanted to pedal faster, nothing happened. It felt like there was way more climbing that there was descending and I couldn’t wait for it to be over. I finished 10th, upset and extremely annoyed with myself. A wasted opportunity and not how I wanted to end the season at all.

Thanks as ever to WXC and all the team sponsors for the support and assistance over the weekend. Also to the organisers for a brilliant series with a great variety of courses and locations, and plenty of world class competition.

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After hearing great things about it for the last couple of years, I finally gave in to road racing and went down to Kerry this weekend for the Ras Na Mban, a 3 day international women’s stage race. There were loads of top roadies including the Irish team headed by USA based pro national champ Olivia Dillion, as well as top teams from the UK, Holland and Germany. A good test then! Based in the Sneem hotel on the ring of Kerry, we had 3 days of luxury living and spectacular scenery.

Stage 1 – too much scenery

We started Friday evening in glorious sunshine with a 60km loop taking in two fairly big climbs including the Conor Pass. After a parade lap of the village we set off along narrow, pothole filled roads in a bunch of 70 riders flying along at high speed – pretty damn scary! However, I soon felt more comfortable and managed to move up towards the front. After 20 minutes or so I heard a loud psssstt as we hit a descent, uh oh, puncture. I had to let the whole bunch pass before I could pull over and wait for the last neutral service car to pull over and give me a wheel.

The change took a while and by the time I was back on the bike the group was long gone. The car drove off into the distance rather than pacing me back so for ten minutes I had to go flat out to chase back on. A few times I got within sight of the last of the support cars as the road went uphill but they’d soon disappear again. I couldn’t keep that speed up for long so cut back to a fast tempo pace, hoping if I attacked again on the climb I might have a chance. I picked up a couple of dropped riders along the way so took it in turns to ride in front but as soon as the road sloped up 10km from the top of the climb I left them behind and was out on my own. I put my head down and began picking off others who had fallen behind. As the summit came in sight I could see the bunch again but as soon as they were over the top they had the advantage of group shelter on a windy descent and I had no chance to get back – Kerry needs bigger mountains! At least I got the chance to look at the view a bit since the scenery was pretty spectacular, but that’s not what I was there for and I wasn’t in the mood for enjoying it.

All day I hoped one of the girls I passed might be someone strong who’d had mechanical trouble so we might work together to chase, but no such luck. So I probably spent 40km out on my own and working hard for no benefit and most frustratingly, missing all the action of the day. My legs felt great too. I made up a few places to finish 48th , 11.5 minutes down. Not impressed.

Stage 2 – more drama

More good weather and another chance, this time 4 laps of a course totalling 80km passing through Sneem village each time. There was an undulating section that would have been easier on a mountain bike with the number of potholes, one longish draggy climb along a very narrow country road, and an open fast descent.
The first lap felt easy, my legs much better than expected after yesterday. I was starting to feel much more comfortable riding in the bunch and was able to move up near the front as I needed to. On the climb on lap two one of the Dutch girls attacked and 5 or 6 of us got up and chased like hell – suddenly the climb felt much bigger. I held on but was in the wrong place to sprint for the preem at the top, no problem though, I knew where to be for the next time. This was more like it, starting to get interesting!

Lap 3 and still going strong – towards the front but restraining myself from getting sucked into doing to much work. Descending into the village was super fast and a little scary, theres no freewheeling, its actually much harder than climbing to pedal flat out into the wind! There was a sprint for the line and I came through in a good place, then ppsssstt. NOT AGAIN!! This time I pulled over instantly and got a fast wheel change but of course the bunch was off round the corner and up the hill by the time I was back on the bike. There was no way I was getting dropped again, it had all been going so well. I went like a maniac and quickly got back to the support cars. I probably should have take breaks to shelter behind them but wasn’t taking chances – it was big ring, lungs bursting, flat out pedalling to overtake the cars and get back to the bunch. Massive relief, I managed it but was pretty wrecked. I put in another effort to move half way up the group before we hit the narrow road for the climb – at that point I’d intended to be at the front since it looked like the race would come down to an attack on the last climb. I was right but I couldn’t get up there and missed the breakaway.

We hammered down the final descent into the village and there was a big sprint for the line. I’m terrible at timing these things but better than usual to finish 10th on the stage 1.5 mins behind a small break group. So I probably should have been happy taking the puncture into consideration but I was pretty gutted at a wasted opportunity. I was feeling much more confident with reading the race and am sure I could have got into the breakaway if I’d had an issue free day.

Stage 2b

Saturday afternoon was a 2km time trial mostly downhill into the village. Had a good lunch a lie down and a sneaky massage after the first race but my legs felt wrecked. 3 minutes of extreme pain wasn’t much fun at all, longer would suit me much better, it wasn’t enough time to get up to speed. I’d got myself a reputation at that stage and there were people waving spare wheels at me as I raced down the road, I had to stop myself laughing! Finished 27th and moved up to 34th in the GC. Olivia Dillion showed us all how it’s done with a very impressive ride, putting 14 seconds into the nearest rider.

Stage 3

Last chance! Today was the longest stage, 90km mostly on good wide roads with views out to sea and a long climb up either side of Coomaciste. Since I was out of contention for everything I hoped I might get chance to attempt at a break and challenge for the stage. Unfortunately the good weather was over and we woke up to rain and cloud covered mountains – the thought of those fast descents and close bunch riding in the wet scared the hell out of me but no time for that!

It was all getting very interesting, for the first time in a road race I was starting to understand what was going on – who to watch out for, what each of the different teams were aiming for and what they might try to do, which people were worth following into a break and which should be ignored. It worked out ok being the only UCD rider, I didn’t have to work for someone and could let the teams sit at the front. I realised that whenever we were coming towards a climb I needed to be towards the front – I could keep up with the fast climbers so that was my best chance of joining a break.

The pace up the first big climb was pretty savage, someone jumped and a stream of us went, hammering into the drizzling rain and doing everything to stick to the wheel in front. I nearly lost it when the girl in front dropped back but just managed to jump up past her. We finally got to the top but little did I realise the hard bit was yet to come, the descent! Water spraying everywhere, pedalling flat out, hurtling down the hill. Mental!

After a flat loop getting cheered on tour de france style through the villages we hit the climb again. This time I was on the front for ages but it was fairly sheltered and steady so felt ok and when the attack finally came it was only short pain. The descent was slightly drier now and the pace went bananas again, I went from being towards the front to clinging on for dear life at the back of the lead group. There was a nasty crash at one stage which I somehow missed by inches but seeing a girls head bounce off the road as we hurtled by wasn’t nice.

The road flattened and I went up the outside to get into a better position but found myself riding alongside Olivia at the front. I looked around and couldn’t see many of the girls I was watching out for so decided to have a dig. If I wanted to do well in the stage I thought I should try to avoid a final sprint since I’m rubbish at them. So head down, sprinting like a maniac and I was off. God that hurt, my heart nearly popped out my mouth. I got a bit of a gap but now had to ignore my burning legs and calm my donkey breathing to maintain it. I stuck out there for a while but eventually got chased down. Worth a try!

I just managed to recover enough to stick to the group as the pace kicked up again climbing the final hill, but I wasn’t able for being at the front. For the final 7 or 8 km there was attack after attack and as the group got smaller and smaller I had to dig deep to hold on. The pace on the climbs was fine for me but pedalling descents was really hard! We came around the last bend before the village and I was too far back – I thought before that that was the place to be in front since we had to cross a narrow bridge before an uphill sprint to the finish. Somehow though the sprint seemed to wait and I got over the bridge and started to pass people. I went flat out and managed to get 9th on the stage with slightly improved sprint timing. It was cool to have my name painted on the road by the local kids too!

So results wise it was an incredibly frustrating race, I won’t be racing with old tyres again! I was 29th in the GC but it was a race of what could have been. I have to admit it was brilliant though and I’ll have to go back next year to do it justice. Coming back to a luxury hotel with dinner cooked for you every day after the race, and staying with so many other girls all into riding was great. Thank god there is one more weekend of mtb racing before the end of the year or it might have a funny affect on my brain!

A massive thanks to my UCD team mate Louise for all her help with tactical advice, race support and running around finding tyres for me – made my life a lot easier! Also to UCD CC for their assistance and to everyone at the CI women’s commission for doing a fantastic job with organisation. Now I’m off to buy some new tyres!

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Unfortunately I couldn’t make Ireland’s big freeride race, the Epic Blast this year due to other commitments (more to follow…!) but Eóin came over from England to make sure there was some Elliott family presence. It looked insanely muddy but he did amazingly well to finish 6th out of over 300 riders.

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Sunday was the Cooley Thriller, an epic 52km mountain bike marathon beginning in Carlingford town and heading up and around one big loop of the spectacular surrounding mountains. Over 200 riders took part, all keen to make the most of racing on proper mountain bike trails with some huge climbs and fantastic singletrack descents.

Setting off in a big bunch up a fireroad drag my legs felt half asleep and I struggled to stick to Mel Spath my main female competitor. I hoped they might improve as we went on but it didn’t really happen. The course had some really long, hard climbs but good legs or not they were worthwhile for the reward of the descent each time. There was a great variety of technical, rocky trails and fast, moorland singletrack (something like the North York Moors on drugs – similar terrain but on much bigger hills!). We were lucky with the weather with nearly everything being dry and even some hot sunshine – a rare thing up there, and views out over Carlingford Lough and the sea were spectacular. There were a lot of roadies in the race not used to off-road riding so I enjoyed making a point of riding everything, at least it felt good to ride up steep rocky climbs and pass all the guys pushing their bikes!

Although I didn’t feel I was riding very quickly, my pace seemed fairly steady and I slowly began to pass people as tiredness kicked in. The final long descent was the best part of the day, beginning with rocky switchbacks and ending in fast, narrow singletrack through the bracken, it ensured an adrenaline filled ending and gave my whole body a good battering as I bombed down it. I finished in just over 3.5 hours, 2nd female and 23rd overall (results here)

Thanks to Chuchulainn CC and all the organisers. Great event, great trails, perfect course marking and organisation, even hot showers afterwards. Not at all happy with my performance but can’t have it all I suppose.

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Women’s National League road race in Kilmessan, County Meath.
Report on IrishCycling.com here

and the next day’s recovery:

and some more recovery, yum!

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Last weekend I had the task of defending the Brighton Big Dog title I won last year. A long day on Saturday began at 5am to fly over to Gatwick, arriving in Brighton just in time to start warming up for 6 hours of racing around Stanmer Park.

A mass start with several hundred people meant I got stuck queuing in the first bit of singletrack, so had to put in a few little sprints to make the most of any passing opportunities that came up after that. Eventually I got into a good rhythm in a group of riders going at a similar pace. I did have to stop myself from going on all out attacks on the climbs as I knew I’d be better saving my energy for later, it was a long race! The course was similar to last year with loads of tight, twisting singletrack through the woods, but damp ground and wet roots made it a bit more technical.

After about an hour it started to rain, just drizzle at first, but the trails began to get muddy, slowing the pace down and requiring more and more energy to ride. A first it actually made it more fun with lots of sliding around at high speed. By the third lap I knew I had a good lead and was able to relax and enjoy myself, using the race as a bit of technical practice. Hours 2-4 are a bit of a blur, I was just chugging along getting gradually wetter and more caked in mud, as the rain got heavier and the effect of 200+ people riding began to destroy the course. Especially in the first half the mud was really thick and heavy, sticking to the bike and making it really tough to pedal around, and the steep climbs really hard to ride up. Luckily at that stage the second half, which was mostly descending, was still easily ridable and good fun.

3.5 hours in, lap 5 and things got nasty. The rain changed to a heavy downpour and the already muddy trails were completely destroyed. A long, steep climb at the start of the lap was barely walkable never mind ridable. It was all off camber so a fight not to slide down the hill with a heavy bike crashing on top of you, and the mud was so thick that I had to stop ever minute or two to pull huge fistfuls of mud out from the frame or else the wheels wouldn’t turn. Even the descents were tough on the legs since the thick mud meant lots of pedalling and no recovery. It takes a lot to make me want to quit but I was pretty close, I kept myself going by thinking of the experience as a test of mental strength where I needed to prove myself. Not fun though!

Heading into the last lap my energy was running low and the thought of getting up that climb again was horrible. I tried to focus on the trails and forget about what was coming up. Then miraculously the rain stopped and the sun came out for a while, drying things just enough so that you could at least walk up the hill and pedalling vaguely got you somewhere. That gave me a second wind and I started to enjoy it a bit more. I psyched myself for the last climb, got to the top ok but then I was gone, completely drained of energy. There was only 10 minutes or so left on the best part of the course but that didn’t help. I should have put an emergency gel in my pocket to get me home but instead I had to struggle along for what seemed like an eternity. Needless to say I was pretty happy to finish! Results are here with changes in lap times reflecting the weather! and loads of photos

The sun came out for the podiums where I got a cool new jersey and some more champagne spraying practice before heading into Brighton for pizza, recovery beers and an after party by the beach. Bed at 3am, up 7am for the plane home – a hungover zombie in the airport! Shame about the weather but it was still a great race despite a few miserable moments. Thanks to Morvélo and all the organisers for putting on such a good course and event, the 2010 Big Dog Ian Leitch for the use of his sofa and Keith of WXC for the support.

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At the weekend I’d agreed to go to Connemara with my Dad, planning to bring my road bike and make the most of a rare race-free weekend. Just before setting off on Friday night I thought I’d have a quick look on the net to find some nice training routes, only to discover there was a 2 day race starting down the road from where we were heading. So much for no racing, I couldn’t resist! Tired legs from an intensive week, and a total lack of preparation weren’t ideal but I thought it’d be good experience. Unfortunately none of the UCD lads were racing either as it would have been useful to have help and advice from team mates!

Stage 1 – 85km ‘hilly’ race
We started on Saturday afternoon with a scenic race around the lakes and mountains of Mayo, which included 5 ‘King of the Mountain’ climbs. The race was handicapped so I was off with the A3s in the 2nd group, with one other girl, Sarah Piner of Mullingar. Overall there were a load of top Irish riders as well as several teams over from the UK. The pace was fine but I spent the first while concentrating hard and trying to get used to riding in a big fast group again. Sarah was up towards the front so I had my eye on her, and as we hit the first couple of climbs (using the word in a loose sense, I’d barely call them hills, they were over before you notice them!) I was able to move up a bit.

Riding in a peloton is quite an experience, the sound of purring carbon wheels (not from my bike!), the screeching of brakes, the smell of sweat, the stink of burning rubber, all happening at high speeds with only centimetres between the wheels of each rider as you hurtle along narrow, windy country roads. It takes a lot of concentration and although we were surrounded by spectacular views, I didn’t get much chance to appreciate them!

Around halfway through we hit the one real climb of the day, not massive but around 100m vertical gain and several minutes. I put my head down with Sarah on my wheel, but my legs weren’t feeling the freshest – a bit like someone pouring concrete into them as we went up! Comparatively I was doing ok but on a better day I could have made up more time. Somewhere along the climb and a fast, windy, slightly scary descent off the other side, we lost touch with the group. I don’t know how they managed to descend so fast! Hitting over 65 km/h was quite enough for me and I couldn’t pedal to go any faster anyway.

After that there were 5 or 6 of us working together along undulating roads to the finish. With a smaller group it was a lot less stressful, with more time to look up at the scenery and relax a bit. We were with a couple of A2 riders who ensured we kept a decent pace didn’t lose too much time on the main group. Approaching the end I got myself ready for a sprint with Sarah since we were competing for the ladies prize. 500m to go, ok, tucked in behind the front guy. 300m, get ready. 200m, GO! Out of the saddle, legs burning, pulling all kinds of funny faces. Haven’t quite got the timing right for these things though, Sarah set off first and I couldn’t get back so she finished a bike length ahead. I was 65th in the GC, 7 minutes off the winners.

After the race I couldn’t totally abandon plans for the weekend so rather than getting off my feet and resting I spent the evening trying to be sociable and traipsing around Galway city – not exactly ideal for recovery!

Stage 2 – 8km Time Trial
Sunday morning I arrived bright and early to see almost everyone else preparing their turbo-trainers, TT bikes and aero helmets. Uh oh, what am I doing here?! I’d never done a proper time trial and had no idea how long it would take. Someone told me 10-11 minutes so I guessed the pace would have to be pretty much flat out. A bit of super effective Sportique warmup cream and spin around the road left my legs feeling better than expected after the effort the day before and I was ready for off.
3, 2, 1, Go! I put my head down and pedalled. The course was more or less flat but with quite a nasty wind. I was a bit conservative at the start, still half asleep and unsure about pacing, so was surprised how quickly I got to a sign saying 3km to go. From there I upped it, putting in all the effort I could, and focusing on the finish line. I finished in 11:22, losing about 40 seconds to Sarah, dropping a couple of spots in the GC, and leaving me a bit of work to do in the afternoon. Could have been better but not too bad for a first time and without the proper bike for it.

Stage 3 – 86km road race
After a couple of hours for some food and coffee it was back on the bikes for the final stage, two laps of a fairly flat 44km loop on wider, faster roads than the previous day. It was a windy day so staying within the shelter of the group was important. I knew if I could get up towards the front it would make life much easier, but although getting there was manageable, staying there was another thing. Each time I made the effort to move up, I was quickly sucked to the back, finding myself having to work hard and struggle to cling on. Need to practice holding a wheel in the bunch! When the pace was steady my legs were fine but as I kept having to put in efforts to hold on I was beginning to tire.

Just before the end of the first lap we rounded a corner and the pace shot up. I was more or less and the back at the time and no matter how hard I pedalled it was as if I was being pulled backwards and the bunch shot on ahead. I tried a couple of sprint to get back but my legs were gone and it wasn’t happening. One last chance as the A1s came whirring by at a savage pace and I buried myself to try and follow but after a few minutes I was gone again.

3 of us rode the final 50km together, but with only 2 of us doing the work. Without the shelter of a big peloton it was really hard work, there seemed to be a strong headwind no matter which way we turned and I’m sure there were more hills the second time around! The route was a bit boring and there was definitely more suffering than enjoyment. With 25km to go one of the guys dropped off and I was out by myself on the windiest part of the course until the finish. Then with a few hundred metres to go, the guy who had refused to take his turn at the front all day decided to attack me, the cheek of him! I had to dig deep to find some extra energy and hold him off.

So messing up the last stage meant I lost ten minutes to Sarah and loads of positions overall. Report and photos on irishcycling.com Ah well, it was good experience and some good milage to train for more important races later in the year. I’d be interested to try again with fresher legs and proper preparation. Stage racing seems more fun than the one day road races, and although it’s no mountain biking, it did leave me with a strange desire to go back and do more. Oh dear.

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There hasn’t been a race in Castlewellan for a couple of years, so when I heard there was to be one as part of the Ulster League there was no question about heading up for some fun training. The course is tough, but it’s probably my all time favourite places to race, and a few changes meant it was even better than previously.

I lined up with Ciara McManus and Val O’Neil, and setting off up a fireroad climb at the start I had to be careful not to get too sucked in to the pace of the fast juniors in front – there was a lot of tough climbing in the first half of the lap. At the top of a new technical singletrack climb Ciara was still pretty close to me and I was having to work a bit to stay ahead. I tried to figure out if I was faster on descents or climbs so that I could plan an attack, but each time I stepped it up she’d appear not far behind so I decided to opt for a consistent pace and hope to burn her off over time.

Into the 2nd lap I’d opened a bit of a gap and she seemed to be dropping back so I took the chance to put in some effort and get out of sight in the long singletrack. Once you’d got up the pretty horrible big climb, the course was soooo much fun to ride. Tight switch-backing trails, with damp ground that was surprisingly grippy so you could really fling the bike around the fast corners. There were a couple of rocky sections that required some concentration, and a few rocky, rooty kicker climbs that filled the legs with lactic.

Into lap 3 and I couldn’t see Ciara behind me anymore so stepped off the gas a bit (mistake no1), my legs were a bit tired from 2 weeks of hardcore fun mountain biking following the nationals! I was busy chasing some of the guys until disaster struck – tried to change gear and my chain snapped. I managed to calm myself a bit after an initial feeling of panic and got the links sorted to fit a powerlink. I was fiddling for ages but couldn’t get the thing to close, my spare link was bent. Ciara came flying past and there was nothing I could do. There was no way I was dnf-ing so eventually I set off to run back to the tech zone (a long way!) until Oscar kindly gave me a link and I finally managed to fix it. According to my garmin I was stopped for over 9 minutes – ridiculous!!

Straight into a climb I put my head down and pedalled like hell to try and get back to Ciara, chances were slim, she was minutes ahead by that stage and there was only one lap left, but I had to try. It was so hard to get going again, out on my own with legs like lead and burning with lactic. On lap 4, reaching the top of the big climb for the last time I’d caught a few junior and expert riders but still no sight of Ciara and I realised it was probably game over. I tried to use the descents to make up lost time, hitting them like a maniac and pushing my limits technically. I might have lost the race, but it made the racing much more fun to be on such a mission. The last part of the course was brilliant, a very fast descent with a few rocks and drops, with wet mud making it pretty scary when you hit it flat out, followed by a worldcup style trail that swooped down through the woods over a couple of rocky walls into the finish.

So lessons learnt, prepare properly, check equipment works and maintain my bike – I knew the chain was worn but didn’t have a new cassette to put on so thought I’d get away with it. Also good to practice fixing things under pressure and having to work hard after a mechanical. I’m just glad it didn’t happen in an important race! Full results are here. Thanks to Xmtb for a great race, in the end the result didn’t matter, it was all about the trails and I could ride them all day – did another lap afterwards for the fun of it!

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