A dusty downhill race ?

So here we are guys, our first Downhill race of the year and what a benchmark it set.. the dusty track, the race atmosphere, the food from Kurt and Una, the general craic and of course the weather were all just unreal.

My weekend kicked off at about 8am from home in West Cork where I headed up to the race with Richie "The big man" Thornhill. As we arrived in Mallow after our 2 hour drive there was a mist covering the forest that made it look like a scene from a horror movie.. After we signed on we headed up to the top of Mt Hillary for our first drop in on the beast of a track. As the practice day went on the speeds began to get insane, my poor Kona Process 134DL took every smack like a champ and continued to accelerate everywhere (It really can do anything) as practice day continued the vest was pulled out as it just got too hot. Practice day ended on a puncture for me and I headed back to Tralee with my Paul Lenihane and Oisin Shanahan for the night.

Race day:
There we were, another clear hot day, the same roosty, dusty monster of a track we kicked off our morning with a track walk

 

For the day I decided I would go full Enduro and just pedal up the hill for all my runs so I just did one practice in the morning which went great, hit all my lines and mentally I was set.
Next came seeding.

For seeding I again rode to the top, clear head, excited for my run. I took off the start line for my seeding like a mental case on the sprint and as I dropped into the first corner my chain came off meaning I had to cruise the full way down until I went into the Gully. As I entered the Gully I went for a sprint having forgot about my chain and went straight over the handle bars. I rode to the finish in seeding and was sat dead last in the Senior Category. 

 Chainless in seeding

After half an hour of freaking out, I headed off for an hour of pedaling before my race run which seemed to do the trick, I rode my race run slightly cautious but still controlled and as I came into the finish I remained in the hot seat for the next 17 riders until the final 5 came down. I finished up fifth in the Senior category with a 2:14 just 4 seconds off first, a 41 second improvement from seeding. An absolutely sick weekend was had, a big congratulations to 021 Racing on running such a great event.

I Just want to congratulate my great friend Oisin Shanahan on his first win in the sports category, Oisin is a rider who is progressing phenomenally quickly and I am sure as the season goes on I will be trying to fight him off in the Senior category.

Also a big thanks to Derick Davoren for looking after any mechanical I had all weekend (mainly punctures), it was massively appreciated.

 

The Triathlon and College training.

The college life is pretty tough as you can see here...
Not being your typical Triathlon team here are me and my housemates Glen and Ciaran after a brilliant race in the college Triathlon.















 

Alex (Bike)                                        Glen (Runner)                                       Ciaran (Swimmer)

The I.T.Tralee Relay Triathlon was Organised mainly by Jackie Ruttledge a Health and Leisure first year in I.T.Tralee. Over the past 4-5 weeks every Thursday evening at 6:15 I have been taking out groups of participants along the 10km route in an effort to build there strength, fitness and mainly to get a few smiles on faces. The numbers grew steadily over the weeks and I was delighted to finally see just over 20 cyclists actually racing in the Triathlon about 10 of which had past been out with me.

 so.. the triathlon.
For us as a house we never felt as competitors in the Triathlon until we were actually on track especially as both Glen and myself were dying sick on the day. We started off with our runner Glen doing 5km in a strong field of runners and eventually bringing in the leg in about 9th position. From here I was set upon the roads of Tralee for the 10km bike TT where I pulled us back up into contention in 4th position and then we unleashed our swimmer who put in a super strong effort and held our position through to the finish. A great effort from a college house we were delighted to come away so well. I look forward to it again next year.

The banter....

 Training with my great friend Oisin Shanahan up in Tonavan after college.

 Mountain Skills Night Navigation.

 Rock Climbing Leader Training.

 Kayaking in Dingle

    Kayak rolling training in Castlegregory

 Kayaking with Fungi the Dolphin in Dingle

Mallow Pre race

An early morning start was had yesterday by Alan Connolly, Richard Thornhill and myself as we set off on a day of having the craic. first we went over to Torc, Killarney, Co. Kerry. Here we put in half a dozen runs down Torc Mountain with the Tralee Bay mountain bikers and a few wild deer that decided to join us.

 Richie "Big Man" Thornhill, Me and Alan "the beast" Connolly.. #teamwestcork

After several runs of Torc we decided to take our riding elsewhere, so we headed over to the Venue for next weekends Irish Downhill Mountain bike Series round 2 on Mt. Hillary, Mallow, Co.Cork. Apparently the only person ever not to ride the track I was absolutely shocked. The track in Mallow has the most diverse terrain from top to bottom I have ridden on an Irish downhill track. The trail goes from perfectly smooth flowy hardcore, to rocky drain gullies, to steep rooty turns. It is one of the races I am most looking forward to this year to say the least !

 Riding my Kona Process 134DL down the top section in Mallow DH

racing anyone ?

Its been just about a month since my last blog and a considerable amount has happened over the last four weeks including some of the best days of mountain biking I have had in my life.

Just a couple of weeks back I was shocked and absolutely ecstatic about taking the win in the overall of the biking blitz after a 3rd position in the final race in Ballyhoura on my Kona Process 134DL

The race was quite tough and consisted of a 17ish km loop with two main climbs both of which my Kona was more willing to go up than I was as it pretty much dragged me up both. I ran the first half of the race with my great friend Scott Wallace as he sat in behind me I attempted to get him back into contention in the Junior category but after a while I had not noticed he began to slip back and from here on in I was alone in persuit of the two men that were to beat me. I watched them trod away up the climbs in front of me but there was nothing I could do with no more power in my legs. Bringing home a third on the day I was more than happy with my results and then being surprised by Niall Davis (biking.ie) that I had taken the overall things just kept getting better.

Race chest cam from ballyhoura (4min edit)