MTB Events February 2013

[DavidT]

Registered

[Mr Scuttleman]

I am keen to do race. Haven't cycled Ballinastoe before which would be a disadvantage. The main problem though is that I have a cold and am blocked up. These 2 factors lead me to skip this one, would want to put on a respectable show. Ballyhoura Brown is home to me and could put in a good show but have Christening that day. My race career is over before it's started! Looks like Strava racing for me or hold out for the over 50's racing!
Might go for a spin tomorrow if cold improving, that's if there's anyone left. Best of luck to all, should be great fun.

[DavidF]

fair play lads, looks like ye had the race faces on

i think you can safely deduce the finishing order from these photos:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set ... 922&type=3

[DavidC]

Over 400 riders in one race. How's that going to work? Well, if anyone could pull it off it was going to be The Inimitable Mr Davis and his http://biking.ie troupe. It was a simple setup really. Two options, Baggy Shorts or SuperPro, 14km or 28km. Rudolf, Brian Mc, DavidT and I signed up for SuperPros/28km. There were some questions to be answered. How was Rudolf's comeback going to go? Was I going to be able to catch McElwee after he humiliated me at the marathon champs? Would Tully get any Strava KOMs? Most important, how would we stack up against the field compared to previous years?
Some craic at the start. 150 SuperPros went off together 5 mins before the 250 Baggies. It was carnage, McElwee fell off the bike before he started moving! Anyway we got moving up 2kms of fireroad, then a bit of a queue at the first singletrack which thinned out soon enough. Despite the numbers I had very little traffic trouble, and my race went off pretty much without incident, except for the part where Rudolf passed me! Thought I could stay with him on the fireroads but he was far too quick on the descents and I had no hope of catching him. I could see Brian coming behind me for a while too but thankfully I managed to keep him at bay this time, unlike at the marathon champs. Hey Brian, did I ever tell you I'm ten years older than you?
Tough day out, 2 hours at avg 178bpm (that's about 90% for me). I finished a minute or two behind Rudolf, them Brian a few mins later and Tully a few more minutes later. All knackered, all big smiles. Great to see Rudolf back on top where he belongs like a great big target for the rest of us to aim at. That Niall Davis is some man. Over 400 riders to manage and he was cool as a cucumber.

[pjd]

Well done lads

[frankb]

well done today lads - 90% for 2 hours

[Rudolf]

It did hurt. Thanks Tully for collecting my race number as I had a relaxed aproach and nearly missed sign on that closed at 12. We al did the warm up together and were talking with a few racers along the way. The start was crazy on such a narrow fireroad but it went al good. I started in the middle somwhere and got caught up in the first single track. Brian passed me at some stage and i had to pedal hard to get him back. Managed to get Conway at the top of the loop and then let go of the brakes to get some distance. Used a bit to much energy on the decent and by the time I started the 2nd lap I was strugeling on the fireroad climbs. Had some ding-dong battles with various riders. Great craic and you push your self hard to reach the single track first. Finnaly over the finnish and the lads werent to far behind. To do 2 laps of ballinastoe in and around 2 hrs is not easy well done.
Tully thought he had done 3 laps

A big event with a relaxed atmosphere and still everbody was giving it socks.

[Orls]

Wow, so impressive! Well done lads

[BrianM]

That was some start line alright, never seen so many mtb's in one place! haha I did manage to move a few feet at least before a sharp stop in front that resulted in me falling sideways, some kind chap from one of the Dublin clubs swiftly gave me a hand back up and then off we went. I never feel right putting myself closer to the front of the starting grid so I started in the middle as usual but I ended up getting caught in a lot of traffic up the first climb & single track where I felt I had more climbing pace than those around me. It was fairly windy as usual up at Ballinastoe, made some of the flat sections feel uphill at some points. My fears were confirmed though and my pace on the single track was poor at best, plenty juice on the climbs where i would gain a few places only to be blitzed again on the trails, my weedy pen pushers arms struggled with fatigue early on. I managed to pass Rudolf on one of the climbs on the first lap, I think he was taking a business call at the time, about two minutes further up the climb he blazed past and that was the last I seen of him. Conway also disappeared out of sight shortly after Expressway. I had really hoped to break the 2hr barrier but it wasn't to be, coming in 3min over. All in a great days racing at a well run event, parking was a breeze etc, thanks also for the lads signing me on. Some good training pointers for me to work on for the coming season. Conway, this is only a temporary hiccup, normal service shall resume shortly

[BShaugh]

well done lads, sounds like a good day out