Back blogging

After a year away from my blog I thought it was time i came back with a few updates.
   As of February 2014 I was put on the Irish XC Youth Development Team as an u18. In 2014 however I will be leaving the Juvenile categories and moving to senior so this just gave me a brief one year experience of what it was like to be on a proper race team

The youth development team:
     The Youth Development Team was Started in February 2013 after many years of Cycling Ireland turning  a blind eye to youth development in the Cross Country discipline. The selection process was simple enough with two U14/U16 boys being chosen from each Irish province and one U18 boy being chosen from each province (there was some variation here however)
    The team was run by a Mr Jon Hynes who is experienced in the development of youth in many adventure sports. Jon throughout 2012 showed us someone to go to in the case of emergencies as well as offering us some invaluable advice at times, whether it be in relation to racing, training, strategies, mindsets and even setups as well as the odd spin to races for myself.
  Admittedly being the eldest on the squad I felt at times out of my comfort zone following certain ways in which the squad was ran but I do now understand that certain disciplinary actions are essential when dealing with people from 12-18 years old.
 Looking back on my 2013 season in relation to the squad now I feel it has done its job and I am happy to move on into my future of racing. The development squad has provided me with the solid race foundation which I lacked in my four years of experience before hand. I do feel as though I can reap the benefits of all we were provided with throughout the season e.g. Nutritionists, Sports Psychologists, Mechanic skills, Race preparation, training, warm ups,new friends, race mileage/experience and most importantly highlighting my weak points in which I aim to make my specialties for 2014.

Just having fun..

Its finally reached March.. Thank God.. The days are getting longer and the clock are going back.. Even quite amazingly the rain is subsiding slightly.
    My own Rowing season with Kilmacabea has finally Kicked off much to my delight and I finally claimed the Junior Munster XC champion with two 1st places since my last Blog.
   Lately i have gotten back into riding Downhill ever so slightly but only with the intention to get faster on my XC bike and just having fun, surprisingly i have found that i pretty much picked up where i left off speed wise still able to put in a pretty fast run however the consistency in the runs is lacking.. iv taken to crashing... alot..

Just a video of me being followed by Elite rider Paul Lenihane while on board a borrowed KTM Aphex, 2 weeks ago:

Dunmanway Steep track crash..

a second video where we actually completed the run.. but not a good one to say the least..

Dunmanway steep track full run..

With the XC Podiums hopping.. 

Im feeling pretty enthusiastic about the up and coming XC NPS season.. that is as long as my bike starts working nearly costing me the race in Munster series r3 with a snapped chain 400m from the finish line. I look forward to seeing the standard my fellow competitors are at after a long winter of training but knowing in my own right i am as fit and strong as iv ever been running a 12.11 in m last beep test and also knowing that come National Champs i will be peaking fitness through rowing.

Now for a few shots from Downhill lately ;)

Kinetica Munster XC series Round 1.

 Well, its finally reached that time of year where we sit on our bikes and pedal really hard around a track chasing each other, swearing the odd time, shouting "rider up", smiling for pictures (or not) , worrying about mechanicals,  getting more covered in mud than is possibly imaginable, wearing new lycra, showing off new bikes, comparing your new pshyical ability to the same time last year, trying to win trophies, complaining, thinking "who is this person in my way" , thinking "whos this person im getting in the way of", getting cheered for when you do something cool, looking at your heart rate monitor and thinking "Is that dangerous" , falling in the mud, smiling alot for absolutely no reason, wondering if your doing the right sport, saying "epic" quite alot, slagging the older people, slagging the younger people, knowing this is all you want to do, yet all you want to do is finish.
   But anyway..
The Munster XC series kicked off on Sunday the 29th of January with a rather unexpectedly large crowd of 109 adults signing on, and with us west corkers (Myself, Pat, Richard, Donncha, Cam and Olly)  putting a nice few marks on the leader boards.

 16th Sport - Richie Thorhill 

             3rd place (overall) Elites - Cam Cornforth

4th place (overall) Elites - Donncha O'Brien

1st U18 - Alex Nowotynski 

     

                                  1st u14 - Olly Cornforth 

9th Elites - James Pittam

3rd U18 - Pat Calnan

Just an Overall Summary of the leader boards,
1st u14-Olly Cornforth
1st u18-Alex (Me)
3rd u18-Pat
3rd Elite-Cam
4th Elite-Donncha
9th Elite-James Pittam
16th Sports-Richard

We are all Psyched for Corrin Woods, Fermoy,  on the 5th of February, I will post results and any pics. (:

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act but a habit.

 Saul Williams-List of Demands 

Trail Running motivation.

 sure as hell got me pumped today!

Went out today hill running (first of 2012) and dragged along my friend Pat Calnan from my rowing crew, i must say he did not seem to enjoy it quite as much as myself. We set off from my house in the pouring rain and 50km/h winds which was a whole lot worse up the mountain.

         We followed the same route as when i first did a hill run with Donncha and obviously this training is paying off because it was literally half of the effort at a slightly faster pace. We added in a 2km fire road ascent into the run also making it i think 14-15km ? Which we completed in One hour. Im going to try to keep Pat training with me regularly tho with the look he had on his face as we reached the half way point of the run today i see that as fairly unlikely.
    One last thing i want to mention is 1000mile socks, i have worn mine twice now and oh my good god they work amazingly, our run today started off through a bog where we were ankle deep in mud and soaked feet but no blisters, Thanks Bro for them :D

Next training session with Donncha sounds like it will be on Sunday when he finally returns from a family trip so the world can start spinning again.

"If it comes easy, if it doesnt require extraordinary effort, you're not pushing hard enough; its supposed to hurt like hell"

Peace out.

2012 If we go out.. We go out with a BANG !

Yesterday (Monday the 2nd) was my first ride on the bike of 2012, I , Richard Thornhill (Southern Extreme)  and Cam Cornforth (Kona Worlds Team) set off for a spin in the rather snowy and sticky Ballyhoura's and oh god it was a mean one.  I was taking my first voyage on my new Norco Storm cross country bike and i christened it well as Myself, Cam and Richie blasted out the Kilometers. With the Intention of doing the 17km we took off in what only could be classed as a sprint, soon passing out everyone on the trail centre trails, but as we carried on Myself and Cam got a tad carried away and decided "Era shur we'll do the 35km one" so again we took off full pace and at the next marker yet again changed our minds and opted for the 62km loop. All i can say is "this one is not for the light heart'd " . The trails have some amazing descents, one of which we session'd about 4 times it was so good, a 600m long section of 4ft high rollers, doubles and berms which were ride-able by any skill level.

     Eventually the cold set on us and with Cam suffering from cold hands, Richie bailing onto the short loop and Myself suffering from chilblain'd feet due to wet shoes so we picked up the pace. We arrived back to the car park 1 hour and a bit after rich in serious pain from the cold, a quick bike wash and shower in the unisex showers then we headed off back home to west cork.
        all in all, this was a good start to 2012 but the race season's have not kicked off just yet, I just wanna wish Cam the best of luck in the World Cup DH series on board the 2012 Kona Operator and riding for Kona UK / Kona World, Best of luck in South Africa man and all of them. I also want to thank Rich for Robbing his parents Jeep (imagine that carry on at 29 years of age)  and carrying us up for the day.
         My own race season Kicks off on the 29th of this month with the Munster XC series . Im currently feeling very fit and with another 3 months until the XC NPS kicks off I should be peaking with the help of god.
Id also like to mention My Rowing crew, I just want to thank all of the lads for putting in so much work over the winter and we will carry on in the gym up to April when we finally hit the water. With an All-Ireland finally in our sights this has to be the bang were going to go out with.
Thanks lads.

Its getting cold..

So all week i have been suffering with a cold all week after a very cold road run last Sunday throwing a serious spanner in the aul Training Regime. I did put in 2hrs of weights in the Gym Thursday night but it really did not help the whole recovery process. I finally got back on track this morning with a good hard run and a Turbo trainer session this afternoon.

   

  Over the last week the weather has turned a bit chilly so my road spins are now limited to my bedroom (my only flaw with road biking so far)  however it has just made running that little bit more interesting with the odd slip here and there and 2 nicely burned Lungs on me when I arrive home. One thing i have learned this week is really when your sick just rest, don't go out of your comfort zone because you may just burn out and this will slow down the whole recovery process. I went to Basketball Monday night and i was not able for school the next day i was in such a way. So really Sickness = Rest no ifs or buts.
          After my few days of rest i am back on form for another few weeks of training so I shall keep posting. bye for now :)

Road Bike fever sets in..

So about 2 months ago i invested in a Road Bike for my off season training, i bought a Giant SRC4 which over the last few weeks has clocked up some serious milage between my nightly Turbo Sessions and of course road milage.
Im purely writing this blog under ironic circumstances, those being, just 6 months ago i looked at road bikers as Lycra obsessed goons with no real bike talent but now, a few months later im seeing them in a totally different perspective. I am now sitting here at my computer and have not sat on the road bike in about 3 hours and im feeling jittery and that i need the handle bars in my grasp. It even lives in my bedroom literally a foot from my head when i sleep, in its comfy turbo trainer it sits quite contently.
Oh god... next thing ill be scraping together pocket money to buy razors because all this leg hair is heavy and causing me to much drag.
I shall keep posting as my Road Bike OCD progresses through the Winter until until then, Slan go foill.

                                     The Giant outside my house on a frosty sunrise this morning.