caitelliott.co.uk » irish mountain bike racing

Zürich vs Dublin

Cait — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 12:00:05 +0000

Alpine mtb

I’m starting to get annoyed with people telling me I must be in heaven coming from ‘flat’ Ireland to go mountain biking in Switzerland. Actually not quite. Think of Swiss mountain biking and you think of spectacular mountains, massive climbs and long technical Alpine descents. There is that but firstly I don’t live in the Alps, the hills around Zurich are similar size to the Dublin mountains. There are a few good trails that are very easy to get to from the city but far less of them and less variety than in Dublin. The hills are very steep so you climb from ages by fireroad because the singletracks are too steep to ride up, do one long descent and then repeat. I miss technical climbs and xc rides where you go for hours and barely see a bloody fireroad.

Powerscourt, Wicklow

Admittedly Ireland has no Alpine size mountains and there really is something amazing about riding in such spectacular scenery, but when it’s limited to 3 or 4 months of the year due to snow then its less of an advantage. For downhill and freeride Switzerland probably wins, uplifts and long descents make far more sense for this than small hills. There is also has the advantage of an extremely reliable and extensive train network so its easy to get to different riding locations at the weekend to get some variety.

Dublin mountains singletrack

Cycling is not a seasonal sport in Ireland. I can’t get my head around the fact that here everyone puts their bike in the cellar between November and March. Summer dust is all very well but mud and wet roots are my favourite biking conditions and make for good technical skills. We don’t have the option of skiing so you just toughen up (actually that is possible here 95% of the time too but most people seem too weak!).

Then there is the social side. Clubs here seem to be only for serious cyclists and most people ride alone or in small groups. There are a lot of people riding but so many of them can only ride downhill or else tear around the fireroads on pimped out bikes but have no skills or appreciation for what the sport is really about. I couldn’t imagine anything like the Epic Club race with 50 or 60 people turning up for some hardcore xc mtb fun and then having a laugh in the pub afterwards. I really think that for xc riding and training Dublin is one of the best places you can live. No matter what level you are riding at there are club rides, races and training buddys to make things more fun.

There is so much potential for mountain biking in Ireland, which is perhaps beginning to be recognised internationally, but not anywhere near as much as it deserves. But actually maybe we should keep quiet about it, keep Irish mountain biking for real mountain bikers – an influx of Eurogoobers could seriously ruin things…

Lugnaquilla, Wicklow

Offroad2Rio

Cait — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 16:00:27 +0000

Thing are coming together for the Offroad 2 Rio project, check out the website for more information:
www.offroad2rio.com
@Offroad2Rio

photo credit: Maciej Staroniewicz

Sticky Bottle article here
Bike Magic article here

Irish Marathon National Championships

Cait — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 18:47:05 +0000

I don’t want to write this blog post.

The Irish marathon champs were on Sunday run by MBCC at the Ballyhoura trail centre. I really enjoyed this race last year and the course was similar again, a mixture of man-made trail centre and muddy, rocky natural riding (though slightly less natural stuff this time). I didn’t specifically prepare for the race and not having done many long spins recently I was hoping a good winter base might drag me. I was wrong.

We started into a longish climb and I set a good but comfortable pace with Ciara McManus on my wheel. We were mixed in with the guys and for the first half hour or so it was incredibly frustrating getting stuck behind slow riders every time we turned into a singletrack, the trails are very narrow with no chance to pass people and I lost any descending advantage I had. Eventually I put in an effort to get ahead of a few people on a climb so that the descents could be ridden properly. Although not particularly technical some of the manmade stuff was actually great fun and I was feeling quick when I did get a clear run at it, lots of pumping sections, little jumps and bermed corners to skid around.

photo credit: Cieran Maunsell

Ciara was looking pretty strong on the climbs, making up the time I gained on the descents, so we were riding together much of the time. Initially I wasn’t too concerned, thinking I’d be better off keeping steady early on and attacking towards the end. Around two hours in she put in an attack on one of the climbs and got a decent gap, I was starting to suffer. At the top was a long, very muddy and slippery downhill section which was definitely my favourite part of the course – I pinned it all the way down, scaring the life out of myself totally off the brakes to make up 500m in a few seconds, awesome! The then next hill came and I was gone. I’d already started to get twinges of cramp and now my legs just gave in. My head soon followed and the final 25km of the race was one of the worst experiences I’ve ever had on a bike both physically and mentally. I felt like I’d lost my racing personality, I had no fight in me, I wasn’t even enjoying the descents never mind the climbs. I got dropped by Ciara and the group of guys we’d been around until then, and passed by others from behind. Stuck out on my own crawling along like a snail, it started to drizzle, there were some horrible strong headwinds, it was wet and muddy and I just didn’t want to be there. Not great.

Congratulations to Ciara, great ride. Thanks to MBCC for a very well run and event on a good course. Thanks to Think Bike for the bike service and lift down.

I’ll be back.

Irish xc National Championships – Kilruddery

Cait — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 13:33:13 +0000

photo credit: Andrew Lowry

This year’s National Championships run by Robin Seymour and Team Worc really showed Ireland’s potential as a world class mountain biking venue. The race took place at Killrudery Estate in Wicklow, a place that is normally off limits to bikes, with the Little Sugarloaf mountain forming a spectacular backdrop. The course was incredible, full of tight twisty singletrack through the woods, wall rides, technical rocky sections, and since we managed to escape the worst of the rain it was almost bone dry and even dusty. The atmosphere, familiar friendly faces and hassle free travelling makes racing in Ireland one of the most enjoyable experiences ever.

To win the National Champion title you have to be Irish, but this year’s race was made more interesting as we acquired a stray German (Mel Spath!) who was able to compete but not eligible to win the Irish jersey. Winning the jersey was my main priority but I was also looking forward to the additional task of trying to win the race overall.

photo credit: Cieran Maunsell

As we set off across the start field Junior Claire Oakely (WXC UK) shot off like a bullet and led for the first part of the course. I jumped into second before we hit the singletrack, concentrating on riding smoothly on the tight corners rather than getting sucked into chasing Claire. I eventually got ahead on a climb and saw Mel (Cycleways) not far behind. Despite the course having very little climbing, there were several short but steep power climbs which are normally not too my liking at all, but I was feeling strangely strong on them – the feeling of good power in your legs as you jump out of the saddle to attack a steep section is hard to beat! In fact the first lap was amazing, everything was so smooth and I felt like I was only cruising but seemed to be flying pulling a bit of a gap on Mel, great. The last part of the lap was flat and fast though and I knew that was where I was in danger of losing time to Mel and sure enough she wasn’t far behind. I lost a few seconds stopping at the feedzone to straighten my saddle which had been driving me crazy since I knocked it into a funny angle early in the lap, but stayed in the lead.

photo credit: VC Glendale

Although on first look the course didn’t seem hugely technical it took a lot of skill to ride smoothly and carry speed through the corners to save wasting effort. There were however a few tricky rocky sections mostly positioned at the top of the steep climbs to catch you at your tiredest. On one of these I dabbed and somehow spun my bike 360 degrees (luckily jumping off in time!) giving Mel a bit more chance to close the gap. Back on and re-composed I was having a great time, flying down the bomb hole at full pelt, skidding around dusty corners and hammering the little kickers. Then on the final wooded singletrack of the lap I dropped my chain and when I hopped off to put it back on Mel jumped in front. Bad timing too as it was just before the flat fast section. She had 20 seconds on me but I held on so that it wasn’t increased as we went into lap 3, though I lost another few seconds with more seat straightening at the tech zone.

photo credit: St John Walsh

For most of the next lap she was just in front and the cheers of encouragement from spectators telling me there was only 30 seconds gap helped to keep fighting. The gap increased a bit more on the flat section towards the end of the lap so that although not far ahead Mel was mostly out of sight. I went into the final lap hoping to give it one last shot at closing the gap but looking back I’m not sure how committed I was to this idea – I was riding hard but I should have been utterly burying myself and didn’t for some reason. In the end I was a minute back and felt like the race was too short and there should have been another lap – frustrating, maybe I could have gone harder on the last lap (easier said with hindsight) and without all my faff stops it could have been different.

photo credit: VC Glendale

Fantastic race, great course, great atmosphere and organisation. 2nd in the race but a consolation prize of my 4th National Champion jersey makes things a little bit better (results here). A get out of jail free card but I’ll have to get my finger out and step up a gear if I want it again next year since Mel will fully turned Irish by then and eligible for the jersey! training started this morning.

photo credit: Cieran Maunsell

A huge thank you to Team Worc and everyone involved in course building and race organisiation. Kilruddery is one of the best race venues in the world and it was a super professional event. Thanks to the Think Bike support crew for the pro tech zone assistance and pre-race bike tuning. Thanks to Stewart Carr and Carrie for miracle massages over the last few weeks, nearly there! Also thanks to all the spectators out on the course, most of the time I had no idea who it was shouting my name but the cheers of encouragement make so much difference.

photo credit Martin Grimley

Next up: Lining up with the world’s best at theOlympic Test event at Hadleigh Farm in 2 weeks!

photo credit: Chainreaction cycles

photo credit: MikeArmstrong

photo credit: Cieran Maunsell

Irish NPS – Tollymore

Cait — Mon, 16 May 2011 08:26:06 +0000

The fun began with a Thinkbike team pre-ride laughing and sliding our way around a brilliant course in Tollymore forest park. Tons of singletrack, lots of mud and roots, this was going to be good!

photo by Richie Byrne

I led into the first singletrack and set about chasing the back of the s1 guys who set off a minute ahead of us. I was worried that after all the dry dust in Spain I might have forgotten how to ride Irish mud but luckily it didn’t seem to be a problem. It was that perfect kind of mud, not too sticky and super slippery but if you hit the right line it was easy to go fast along the twisty trails.

photo by Graham Boyd

Out of the first singletrack and I had a decent gap. Into a good rhythm on the fireroad climb, nice slippy technical climb and more high speed drifting descents. Then chainsuck. Ok, don’t panic, plenty of time – sorted quickly, got back on, pedal pedal. Wow this is good, love racing in Ireland, if only we had more girls racing!

photo by Mike Armstrong

Another singletrack climb, oh no, what’s that, can’t pedal. Jumped off and tried to get the pedals going only to find my rear wheel had fallen off! Calm down still lots of time in hand. I’d lost the end off the quick release squewer but managed to find it in the dirt. Tried to screw it tight but wasn’t happening, faff faff, panic panic. I finally got the wheel in and tight but lost over 3 minutes and Ciara was now way ahead of me. Ok its racing time, nothing like having a carrot to chase!

photo by Graham Boyd

Unfortunately my little break meant most of the men’s field had overtaken me too and the amount of tight singletrack made it super hard to get past people. I gradually started picking people off but wasted a lot of time stuck behind slower riders. Maybe playing around in Spain wasn’t such a bad idea for training, I was feeling super confident on the technical sections and seemed to be dropping people on the climbs too. Into lap 3 I finally caught Ciara again and jumped ahead.

photo by Graham Boyd

Once I’d got a bit of a gap again I’m not sure I was racing flat out all of the time, I had some eyeballs out moments when I had chance to catch one of the guys in front, but other than that I was chilling out a bit and enjoying the riding, challenging myself not to brake and seeing how much I could pedal through the tight corners. Deadly! Then the last trail I was suddenly all over the place, riding like an idiot but managed to hold off a couple of guys behind me with an uphill sprint to the finish. Results are here.

photo by Martin Grimley

Thanks to Banbridge CC for putting on a great race and to all the spectators for the encouraging cheers. Also to Mel and Stew for the loan of a super fast racing machine.

Leinster League 1 – Bunclody, Wexford

Cait — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 22:36:45 +0000

The first round of the Irish Leinster League xc races was a chance to shock my system into intensity having done nothing since Spain. Changes to race categories in Ireland this year has made bigger ability based fields to help closer, more exciting racing and it seemed to work very well. I was up against Mel Spath who was sure to be fast after some recent tough racing in Cyprus, but we were also gridded with 25 fast cat 2 men.

The whistle went and we were off with Mel setting a fierce pace up a long fireroad climb so that I had to give everything to hold on. I knew she was trying to make me blow but its a catch 22 situation, if I lost her early on it would be game over so it was straight into the hurt locker – a lungs burning, donkey breathing, pain-fest and that was only after 2 minutes! I held on until the singletrack where I knew I could make up time but dealing with streams of aggressive guys and sliddery trails at the same time made it a difficult task. The day continued like that, kill myself to cling on climbing and slide down the hills as fast as possible to make up lost time. Feeling of Déjà vu here?!

The course was a proper technical Irish xc course, loads of singletrack with overnight rain making it super damp and sliddery. Steep sections and slippy rocks added to the challenge, as did avoiding all the people crashing in front of you, but it was so much fun (nice video of the carnage here). Every lap I pushed myself to go faster, sliding all over the place at high speed only made it easier. No brakes was optimal, drifting around corners and even jumping off drops – awesome!

I lost sight of Mel on lap 3 and started to drop off but found extra reserves in the final lap to try and catch a few guys and fight of others coming towards me from behind. Finishing with a mad uphill sprint to try and make up one more place added to the excitement. I was about 2 minutes back in the end but happy enough for the first race of the year, I got the system shock I was looking for (results are here). Definitely feeling better prepared than this time last year and some pain training in the next few weeks will get the real speed going. Next stop Sherwood Pines…

Thanks to everyone from Racing 795 for all the effort, brilliant course and really well organised event. Also thanks to all the Think Bike support crew and workshop mechanics for sorting my bike.