First round of the biking blitz this weekend 7thFeb

[carr16v]

This Sunday the 7th of February in Ballinastoe, near Roundwood, Co Wicklow. First round of the MTB racing. Baggy shorts and super pro's. Great craic. Beginner friendly.
Who's going?

[Jonny_Irish]

I'm going

[NMcCord]

Coming back up from Cork Saturday night to do this . Great Crack they are .

[DavidC]

Best of luck lads. See you at the next one in Ballyhoura.

[frankb]

Should be sloppy tomorrow. Good luck boys

[BrianM]

Enjoy tomorrow folks, see you in Ballyhoura

[carr16v]

Will do. Going to be wet me thinks.

[niallomuiri]

Report..photos///anything...

[carr16v]

No photo's I'm afraid. Poor Nigel was under the weather. Got soaked the last 2 days. If I wasn't travelling with him I think he would of sat in front of the fire. Good turn out for today. Bloody freezing in the golf club car park. Miron was cycling around, thinking of going for a quick warm up lap. But after talking with us, decided to head back to car to keep warm. We stayed in the car until 1230, or 1225 as Nigel's clock in the car has been 5mins fast since he bought it. We got changed. Nigel's pulled a €1 rain jacket from the car as he wasn't in the humor of braving the cold, plus it was all he had.
Once up to the start if was a little warmer with plenty of tree's to shelter us from the wind. Met a few familiar faces on the start. Once the super pro's were off we started 3 mins later. The first climb from the start wasn't as easy as usual, probably due to the wind and cold and the rain had just started. That's my excuse.
The first single track was very slow as there was a few hairpins that people had to negotiate which backed everyone up.
The trails are a lot smoother as they have done a lot of work on them. One or two area's I actually miss as they were a little technical. By the time I got to the top, we had a little snow in the mix.
Got stick behind 2 guys on the single track who were happy to tail each other. I wasn't. Managed to get pass them but clipped 2 rocks with my pedals. A few f's were said. I knew my strength's were the single track, so tried to nip in front of people just before they dropped into the single track. A couple of super pro's came behind me and a few others on the single track. A couple of riders pulled over and I did a bit of an ambulance chaser and jumped into the middle.
Once through the single track the super pro's peeled left up the fire road and I chased the next group down the next single track. The guy in front was only a small bit slower than me,so some area's he was quicker but I would close back in on him.
Came to the last fire road and he passed 2 riders. Of course I also had to do the same. Nearly got the guy before the single track but hadn't quite got the legs. I sat on his back wheel all the way to the bottom, then for some reason he pulled over and let me through. I heard some shouts from Nigel's and pedaled as hard as I could across the line.
We didn't hang around as it was too cold.
Looking forward to the Ballyhoura biking blitz. Should have a few more 795er's for that one.

[DavidC]

Fair play Keith, good report. Was a fairly raw day. Well done to all.