2012 already!   Been very quiet on the blog front since the Marathon champs.  The plan had been to follow up on the success of the marathon race with a blistering end of season race at the final round of the British XC series in Plymouth.  Didn't quite go to plan, really busy week in work and then the strains and stresses of managing the Cycling Ireland Off Road development squad who myself and Conor were taking by boat and van to the race ended any hopes of competing that weekend - too much travelling/organising/late nights etc = totally exhausted.  Not all bad though as the guys in the squad all proved their worth and came out with some brilliant results.

After a few more weeks out of action from a chest infection I didn't really get back into the saddle until near the end of October, well into the cyclo-cross season.   Conor on the other hand jumped into the cross racing with both feet competing in pretty much most of the Ulster series and having a ball while doing it.  Seemed a bit strange standing at the sidelines cheering him on!

The plan had been to try and give this winter series a whiz this year since I now had a bike and a title to defend.  Common sense prevailed though and I ended up just getting myself back on the bike and working back up to some sort of fitness.  I did compete at the Ulster Championship round with Conor at Ormeau Park in Belfast, nice and close to home so handy to get to, only to be reminded how hard cross racing is - 50mins of pure torture but I won against Gill Smyth and Claire Oakley.   My second outing at Rostrevor near Newry didnt go too well, legs werent riding well at all. Cross racing doesnt really forgive you for having any sort of "off day" so I pulled out to become a very vocal supporter!   Conor had a great race on his favourite course though.  December saw a slight adjustment to training schedule with a little bit of higher intensity work to try and prep ourselves for the inevitable 1hr torture in January.   All going well with a little blip called Christmas and New Year mixed in to make sure we're not all in tip top form :-)

So exactly a week after we've all celebrated in the new year the 2011 Irish National Cyclo-cross Championship was planned for St Anne's park in Dublin.  Never been there so wasn't sure what to expect.  Conor did a great job making sure his and my bikes were in tip top condition for the race and we arrived down nice and early for the start of the B race which Conor was riding.  Pre-riding the course it looked like a cracker, a mix of tarmac, grass (not too much now), singletrack (quite alot actually), twisty turns around trees, drops over banks, ramps and obligatory steps to run up PLUS is was dry and fast.  A bit of an odd feeling having to ride drop offs and single track on what is effectively a road bike, but what the hey, seems the thing to do in the winter!   Conor blasted off at 11am for his race with 40 other riders for 7 laps of the course, each time coming round with a big smile on his face.  After about an hour of racing he rolled over the line a little worse for wear but happy and just missing out in the top 20, great result for Conor the mechanic! 

The main race was set to start at 1pm, originally five women had pre-entered but on the day only three of us signed in.  Not too sure what happened to one of the other competitors but Mel Spath was unable to enter as her UCI national status still hadn't been updated to Irish, so that left Claire Oakley and Gill Smith as the competition on the day.  Gill had been riding cross all winter and had been getting stronger as the racing progressed and Claire is known for her strength on these flatter courses - flat stuff isn't really my thing - so it could well end up a competitive race.   Us women got gridded at the back of the race - not too sure if I like that policy - and off we went.  I found it hard to get going, even harder to get passing as soon as we hit the singletrack.  I'd had a good race with Vet rider William Mulligan the previous champs so I tried get up to speed with him, but between the crowded field and my poor technical skills and VERY un-smooth cornering he opened a gap that I wasn't able to bridge, although for over half the race we always seemed to be the same distance apart!  I dropped Claire on the 2nd lap and it was a matter of trying to not lose more than 1 lap down to Elite men winner Robin Seymour and trying to beat the 2 or 3 men I kept yo-yo ing places with.  With two laps to go however I started to tire and an increasingly sore back and stomach cramps started to distract me from the racing meaning I lost 2 places - booooo.  Upside of the coin however is I won the women's title for the second year - yeah!

Congratulations to Robin Seymour for winning his 18th National title and to Greg May and the rest of WORC for designing a really fun CX course.

So excellent start to 2012!  See you all on the trails and race course.

Getting back from Spain late on Sunday night/early Monday morning set the scene for a busy week of catching up at work, trying to recover from a week in the mountains, get a little bit of training in and prepare for the National Marathon Champs the next weekend at Ballyhoura MTB trails on the Cork/Limerick border.

This would be the second year the National Marathon Champs would be held in Ballyhoura, a mixture of man made trail centre trails, fire road and some off road relic cart tracks to link sections together.  I had done the race last year and finished second to Cait Elliott having been caught out by the change in weather and ending up with a touch of hypothermia by the time I came in.  The decision to ride this event had been a toss up between it and the Ras na mBan international women's road race which I also competed in last year and enjoyed greatly.  This year however the road race had been extended to 5 days ending on the same day as the champs.  Mountain biking is always my first choice so we headed off down the other end of the country Saturday afternoon to arrive late enough at the hotel in Charleville for a hearty meal and ready for the next day.

I was kind of nervous about the event, still feeling some fatigue from the holiday and additional "error" in training on the turbo in the middle of the week - cant understand why that thing hurts so much!!! - but a cold/hot bath and massage from Conor would surely sort that out.  Unfortunately "princess and the pea" syndrome struck and I couldn't get a comfortable night's sleep, sort of dozing all night, and come the morning struggled to get motivated.  Why on earth can I not get these things right before "big" events!!  We headed on to the race venue and signed up with Conor choosing the shorter race for the day, and  got our bottles, heads and supposedly bodies ready for the challenge ahead.

As I lined up beside Cait I wasn't sure at all how this would pan out, right I thought, let Cait set the pace today cause I'm too damned tired!  So off we went up a fire road climb into the start loop.  Sure enough Cait set a fast enough pace but I worked hard to wake up and warm up and just keep on her wheel.  Into the first section of singletrack it was clear that I wasn't able to keep in contact on the descents, a mixture of lack of speed/confidence and probably a bit of tiredness.  However I was in luck and between Cait getting caught behind slower riders and me being able to catch up on the climbs I stuck to the back wheel of the Treck like glue.  Eventually warmed up I felt that the climbing pace being set by Cait was a tad less aggressive than I expected, a little on the flatter and steady singletrack trails and noticeably on the steeper and longer climbs, hmm was this a game plan or was I actually climbing better on the day?   I noticed Cait needing to get out of the saddle on a steeper kick up and shortly after I spun past to see what response I'd get, none.  Interesting, hmmm, ok so hit the singletrack first and see what happens, a while after I managed to drop Cait on a climb as one of the McCabes shot past me and I jumped onto his wheel - not for long though that guy is fast! - but long enough to break the bungie cord between me and Cait.  I had built up a good lead but of course true to form we hit a descent section of REALLY sketchy wet and rutted cart trail and I slowed right down only for Cait to catch up.  Fortunately for me there weren't alot of passing opportunities so when we hit the next feed station I made sure I was first out onto the next climb, able to head off on up what can only be described as the most torturous long, head wind blocking fire road drag, only for the fact that it went on for fecking ages!!  After that it was a case of just keeping the head down and truck on, trying desperately not to lose too much time on the singletrack which was getting harder all the time as tiredness was making my eyes bleary and my brain mushy.....  The last hour of the race was hard, the cold was starting to creep in and like the Cooley Thriller I started to fade somewhat myself, something I need to work on for the future I think, but I eventually crossed the line 3hrs45 minutes after starting, 20mins faster than last year and covered in wet gritty mud.  I was really happy that despite not sleeping the night before and all the other doubts about even finishing I had crossed the line in first place - National Marathon Champion 2011!!

Conor had a blast in the shorter race, taking out his Specialized hardtail in race conditions for the first time, which he reckons is a speed demon, coming in mid pack at 14th spot. So all in all a brilliant day and great result for Team Summit!  The race organisation was spot on, from sign on to signing off.  We started on time, the feed stations were well manned, the course in excellent shape with some clear work having been done to make things run smoothly.  Well done to the organisers and l

After the little "meltdown" we experienced at the last XC race, partly brought on by the realisation that we would have been in Colorado and not cold wet Ireland and the resulting feeling of needing to "get away" we booked a last minute break to the Sierra Nevada Mtns in Spain.   This region has become a recent favorite of ours, partly due to the fact that if your time stretched and only have a week to spare you can be pretty much guaranteed good weather, and partly because you can spend an entire week in the high mountains.

So at the end of August off we headed to Guejar Sierra a little village just northeast of Granada.  While the most popular part of the mountains for tourists are the southern slopes and villages like Lanjaron (full of old dolls and men trying to rejuvenate themselves with the spring water), Orgiva (full of hippies, crusties and wasters) and the high mountain villages of Capilliera and Bubion, Guejar is our personal favorite as it is fairly non-touristy and has easy access to some fantastic high mountain walking trails which can also be ridden.

We enjoyed a week of all day rides, chilling in the sun and enjoying the relaxation of tapas and mini beers.  A highlight of the week was our Wednesday spin from Guejar Sierra to the refuge Pena Partida, a 3hr climb to 2500m, which after lunch was followed by a 2hr mixture of open field single trail descents and alpine forest descents back to the local river ravine followed by an undulating and sweeping ride along the Vereda del Estrella back to Guejar.   We also spent a a day over on the other side of the mountain range climbing from Capiliera towards Mulhacen to try and figure whether it would be possible this year to ride between Guejar and Capiliera.   Unfortunately Conor started to suffer from some serious IT band induced knee pain so things didnt quite go to plan.  On our penultimate day we did the obligatory trip to the top of La Valeta at 3400m - it would be remiss not to!! - with the hope of going further into the mountains and taking lunch at the Laguna Caldera Refuge, again a late start and and the realisation that we were probably quite knackered after a week of biking scuppered that plan, however we enjoyed the banter with all the other bike tourists got a good look at the trail towards Capiliera from the top of the mountain, something we were never quite able to do as our previous visits had been blighted with snow cover.    The views that high up and the landscape are just unbelievable, its like being on the moon or mars!

On the last night we made a final trip into Granda - only 30mins by bus and a decent priced taxi ride back - for a little bit of nightlife and craic.  Not to be disappointed we came across a culture night which involved a live spanish band with loads of grannies and grandas dancing away, a couple of spanish hen and stage parties  - very subdued compared to uk/irish ones but still dressed up in some mental getups - and the only place I have ever come across which sells ice cream, donuts, coffee and alcohol until 2am in the morning!  Next day we finally made our way back towards the hot, humid and resort filled coast - yuck - and decided to make plans for epic mtb rides and overnight mountain adventures for the next time we venture south.

Not too sure if its a good thing that you have to check over the old training diary to remember what's been going on over the past two months!  Anyways the 12 HR Bull raid definitely announced the start of the marathon "season" for Team Summit proper.  A little blip in the endurance schedule came the weekend after the 12hr with the last XC national series race in Castlwellan.  While it was a great course to ride round, the twisty techy nature of the descents and slippery slidey track meant it would be really hard to race on at any great speed.  Both myself and Conor lined up for the start, but whether it was residual fatigue from the weekend before or just not being in the XC state of mind, both of us DNF'd with frustration on how the race was proceeding not really the kind of result you want but I guess these things happen sometimes.

The next weekend we travelled down to Carlingford for the famous Cooley Thriller MTB marathon.  Promising to be a long hard ride up over the Cooley Mountains, this is one of the best attended marathon races on the calender and this year proved to be even bigger.  Organised by the masters of endurance - the McCabe bros and Co - we would be lead for nearly 50km and with around 1600m of climbing through forest roads, mountain singletrack and open moors, including the long steep drag up to the Ravensdale Mast.  I was pretty lucky to get a good place near the front of the 200 odd strong field as the race was lead to the start area with a parade around the village and off we set along the base of Slieve Foy to start the long slog which would take some riders up to 7hrs to complete!  The start consisted of a run along the base of Slieve Foy forest and off towards Omeath before the long climb up to Ravensdale Mast.  From the start my legs felt pumped and fatigued and all the fast guys dissappeared off into the distance but surprisingly I was able to gradually pull back places as we climbed up towards the Mast.  Soon enough I came up to Myles McCrory one of Bike Pure's founding members and we found ourselves pretty much yo - yo - ing between places as I climbed faster and he descended fast until the cord broke and he tired.  Somewhere around the 30km mark I came across a fallen IMBRC rider who looked like they had a pretty bad crash and a touch of concussion.  A 10min break to make sure the guy had no broken bones and was able to at least start moving towards an aid station I continued on and eventually caught up with Myles who had shot past me as I "first aided" but who seemed to have ended up with a slightly mangled front wheel.  The last hour of the race was a bit of a torture session as tiredness set in, and although I could see that I had started to catch up with a small group of lads in the distance tiredness and frustration with the lack of speed meant the usual fun climb up the green mile was more of a slog.   I had nearly forgotten the mental strength required for this type of racing!
But the green mile represented the last climb of the day and it was a fast technical descent back down the mountain and into Carlingford to be greeted by the timekeepers, supporters and some not too tastey Monster Energy Drink, crossing the line officially in 3hr30mins - a little faster than my 2009 time so pretty cool.  Kind of wishing I hadnt stopped to first aid as it looked like I could potentially have knocked another 5 - 10mins off that!  But I hope the IMBRC guy got home ok!  
Conor came in later after 4.5hrs on the mountain, not a happy chappy as he suffered from cramping pretty much from the start but a good result nonetheless considering he doesn't ride for longer than 2hrs at any one time :-)

Last weekend saw the beginning of the endurance racing proper.  I was feeling a bit run down at the start of the week between racing, travelling and running around the weekend before in Perth so it was a last minute sign up for the 12HR Bull Raid MTB event held at Bellurgan Park just outside Dundalk.  Conor and I entered Team Summit as the mixed pair team in the 12 hour event on Thursday and on Friday evening got our shizzle together, packed the van each with our Specialized full susser bikes and headed down to set up camp for the weekend.  The event set up was top notch, a pre-marked pitch for our gazebo and race equipment, timing chip between us and a pasta feed the night before.  Saturday morning dawned after a little bit of a restless night not having slept in a tent for about 2 years, and after a quick race briefing at 7.15am the race was ready to start.  Conor opted for the first lap out, obviously a better starter in the morning, and off he shot at what looked to me like XC race pace rather than endurance pace!   I spent the next half hour trying to sort myself out and wake up, get my legs moving, all the stuff you need to have sorted BEFORE you start a race....  After about 40mins I spotted Conor coming across the one road crossing and into the final section of the course so off I headed to our pitch ready to take over.  A quick swap of the timing chip and off I went.  The course started off climbing almost immediately, including a torturous field climb which would gradually get harder as the day progressed - really hard on you when your starting cold.  After that it was into the forest for a quick descent and a little double track relief before hitting the XC course which had been used at the start of the year for the first NPS (post here).  The XC course was a tough 5km route which included twisty draggy climbs, fun bermed descents, technical rooty and rocky sections and one or two rock drops - not a lot of scope for resting - after that it was a blast through some barley fields before hitting the final section of the lap through a narrow section of singletrack forest, not as flowy as the xc course and really bumpy in sections, and on into the start/finish arena.  Having only just warmed up on my first lap and given Conor's first lap was a little off the competitor's pace I opted for a second fast lap XC style and bombed through the transition.  Second lap was hard going, still a bit cold and tired but I reckoned we had made up some valuable time and handed over the next lap to Conor and readied myself to get some rest and a bite to eat.  We'd agreed that come mid way we'd each do a two lapper to allow the other to get some lunch and some real food into us.  So after lap 6 I took over lunch race duties and let Conor organise getting "the dinner on".  Again laps 7 & 8 were a hard fought 1hr 27 of racing, enjoying the trails and riding hard on the climbs, always catching a glimpse of riders up front and enjoying getting to pass at "Ciara speed".  I passed the buck onto Conor looking forward to a near 2hr lunch break and some food as hunger was starting to rumble.  Having sat down, changed out of my damp gear, feet up, coffee on the go, a little risotto, ham & cheese bagel I started to get sleepy - gosh am I gonna be able to keep this up?  After about 50 minutes Conor arrived back round looking a little out of kilter and hot and bothered "I cant take your 40 something minute laps!" he said exacerbated.  It didnt seem like Conor was going to enjoy doing another lap back to back so I offered to go back out and let him gather himself together, got changed back in to my gear and off I went.  Good job actually cause it seemed to have wakened me up after my little "sleep".  Conor took over again next lap after which we agreed I'd do another double and we'd each finish on a single lap allowing me to do a final lap at around the 11hr30 mark.    As the day wore on tiredness started to creep in and although mine and Conor's lap times were pretty consistent within a minute or two, my heart rate gradually declined until the last lap where I struggled to average more than 143 bpm.  Both the legs, arms, neck, back... in fact entire body hurt, I was so glad to be on the Specialized Epic for this race!   Last lap was a bit of a pootle in the park, and the slower I rode the more I started bumping into things and stalling over obstacles, good job I wasn't doing this for any longer.   I crossed the line after doing 9 laps and a cumulative 15 laps between us, being handed a bottle of beer as I stopped - just like the Breck Epic, nice :-)   Big smiles and hugs from Conor as we realised we'd made it through the day.  Later as we queued for the BBQ after trying to get cleaned up a bit we waited to find out how we'd done.  Unlike the other mixed teams we didn't really have a game plan for the day and weren't really paying a whole heap of attention to who else was out on the course when we were, just a case of gun it and see what happens.  So it was a pleasant surprise to find out we'd won the mixed categories with a lap in hand, Conor's first ever race win so he was well chuffed - good work Team Summit!!

Later that evening we all crowded around a huge camp fire and everyone shared their stories of the day before eventually hitting the tent for some much needed snooze time.  Next day we packed up and I left Conor to drive back to Newry to his folk's house while I took a little pootle back over the Cooleys on the bike - nice day in the mountains.

With the nationals over the next few months are going to be more endurance based with the 12hr Bull Raid MTB race, Cooley MTB Marathon and National Marathon champs all still on the cards.

The two weeks after the nationals was spent getting some more quality training in to try and increase my endurance power.  The weekend after I met with Cait and Mel for a ride in the Wicklow Mountains guided by Cait who not only managed to get us lost but also escorted off some farmers field!

Still there was still one more potential XC race on the cards.  Conor and I would be travelling with the Ulster & National Cross Country development squads to Perth in Scotland for a round of the Scottish XC league, myself as team manager/co-ordinator and Conor as trusty mechanic.  The team's practice lap the day before the race revealed an exciting the well designed course again with killer climbs, mental steep descents and plenty of flowy singletrack.  Hmm I thought, this would be nice to race!  After consulting with the riders and the rest of the crew it was agreed that it would be a shame not to test the course and I signed up last minute on race morning.  Lining up on the start line it was clear most of the elite riders were either on holidays or with prior commitments with only 3 elite women signed up.  At these scottish races, ALL the females are set off at the same time, elite, junior, youth etc with the categories being gridded from elite back.  So as the gun went off and we shot down the fire road it was hard to tell who you were racing against and what category they were in.  A group of  four of us headed up the first steep climb in top position, the other girls setting a blistering pace.  As the lap continued we dropped a rider down to just three of us, and we yo-yo'ed positions.  One of these girls Lucy Grant - an under 16 rider by the way! - was setting a blistering pace, racing me like there was no tomorrow.  Going into the second lap i thought, holy moley I cant keep this up for another 3 laps and asked her what category she was in, only to find out she was doing 2 laps.  After that she backed off a bit and I didnt see her again - I suspect we were both relieved I asked that question!  And so I continued working hard on the climbs and having fun on the sketchy descents, finally coming in to win over 12mins in front of Morven Brown.  The rest of the crew also had a good day with three more podium finishes so a good weekend had by all!

The National Champs were held in Kiruddery Estate just south of Dublin, a course which is one of my favourites and which always promises good riding.  We headed down the day before for race practice and I wasn't disappointed.  A 5km loop which doubled back on itself allowing for great spectating, loads of tight twisty singletrack, technical rock sections and the obligatory rock drop AKA Tombstone.  Practice went well, a little cautious on the techy stuff as I was still nervous about re-injuring the wrist but good nonetheless

Race morning arrived and we headed down from the hotel to be greeted with a dull windy day which threatened rain.  The course however was still bone dry and holding up well.  Warm up went well until we were told it would be delayed for half an hour as someone had come down badly at Tombstone and needed to be taken to hospital.  Finally we were gridded up, 7 other riders in the women's elite category including myself, Mel and defending champ Cait.  Off we shot with junior Claire Oakley setting a phenomenal pace.  I followed suit but was on a cold start so Mel and Cait both passed me going into the singletrack.  I got stuck in behind Mel and we each passed Claire as she blew up on the first short kicker of a climb.  Once the course got techy the two girls pulled away and I struggled to catch up.  The next couple of laps I spotted them as I entered the start/finish, but going into the third lap my rear wheel came out of the drop out on a kicker section.  I opted to change the wheel over in the tech zone as I didnt want a rear wheel indicent on a descent and ended up losing even more time as Conor searched the overly crowded feed zone for our wheels.   After that I kind of lost my race mojo although I still worked hard around the course.  In the end I came in 3rd sport behind Mel but 2nd in the Champs race as Mel is inbetween nations at the moment having only recently obtained her Irish

So I get back from Dalby and the next day head down to A&E cause my wrist is killing me.  Three hours later and I'm in a cast after being told I have a broken scaphoid bone and I'll be out of action for at least 6 weeks - damn!  Actually it wasnt so bad, two weeks later and I'm told it is infact another less slower to heal bone and am sent off for three weeks in a fibre glass cast and confined to the turbo once my knee gets moving again.  The time off the bike wasn't a bad thing, I got my PT wheel serviced and concentrated on the tonne of work I had let build up.  After 5 weeks I was let out of the cast and into a re-movable splint.  That weekend I decided to give a local XC race a shot - Dunmore "Mountain"  - part of the Ulster XC league.  Legs were fresh, wrist not too sore.  The course wasn't disimilar to the WC in terms of consisting largely of two killer climbs interspersed with smaller gradients, although not nearly as technical.  Mel Spath made the trip up from Dublin for the day so would be interesting to see how I faired.   The climbs were indeed a killer, I put most of my effort into steady climbing and feeding and was pretty wasted by the end - but not too exhausted.  Finished 5mins down on Mel, not too bad considering the lack of consistent training I thought.

The next day I thought I'd give the Ulster Road Race champs a go since it was less than 10mins from my house.   About 10 women turned up including ex National Champ Heather Wilson.  From the start it was clear that my legs weren't gonna let me do much in terms of big efforts after the previous day, but what the hey just keep trucking!  Heather kicked off middle of the 2nd lap so it was down to the rest of us to duke it out for 2nd/3rd spot.  I upped the pace and broke the group into a smaller bunch of myself and 3 other riders.  I worked hard for the rest of the race, a little too fast for the others to come through but not enough in the legs to break away!  In the end it came down to a bunch sprint, which I never manage to get into. 

The next weekend I heard of a race up north which included a mountain loop - interesting I thought.  So off I headed to Ballymoney for the Ras Loughguile.  Again about 10 girls showed up for 4 laps of a 10km course followed by a 30km loop around some lonely mountain in the middle of Co. Antrim.  As usual I got impatient with the lack of pace coming from the group and I spent alot of time on the front and playing around with attacking on the 2km climb on the sort course.  Come the kick up to the mountain loop and myself and Geraldine Gill kicked off the front.   That road was steep!  Whether it was the playing around on the earlier laps or poor gearing, Geraldine gave a little kick which gave her a gap of about 5 metres was we hit the first descent after which she pulled away as I struggled to keep my speed on the skinny tires.  After that it was effectively a time trial back to the finish, every so often I would make up some ground only to be distanced again on a descent into a torturous head wind.   I started to fade on the final 10km not bringing enough to eat as it was originally advertised as a 56km race!  Second place again nonetheless.

Oops been a while since I posted any updates on the old blog, partly due to being so busy over the past few months.

The Dalby BMBS race had been a great booster in terms of racing and I was looking forward to the World Cup at the end of May as a test on the course.  The run up to the event saw a mixture of training and racing, the last race being the Irish NPS at Tollymore Forest the weekend before the big event where I had a lead on Cait Elliott for all of two laps after she had a slight mechanical, but where she caught me again on the last lap, something wasnt right, I was struggling to keep the intensity up.  The week up to travelling to England was spent resting and preparing and myself and Conor as TeamSummit headed off for the long drive from Scotland to the northeast of England.   We arrived at Dalby late on Thursday evening to see world MTB champion Jose Hermida spinning his way through the village.  After a long queue to register on Friday morning it was time to get a couple of practice laps into the course.  The course hadn't changed much from the previous round of the British Series with the sole exception of a slight change in the start area and the added section at Dixons Hollow through a cool BMX style course as well as a "Bus Stop" section out of Worry Gill.  As the previous month I decided not to ride Medusa's and riding the drop out of the Bus Stop was causing problems, however I figured I had two days to sort it out so no worries - nailed it on my last practice!

Friday evening was spent watching the ProSprint Eliminator in Dalby village, what a mental way to spend your world cup race prep!  Conor had signed up for the Dalby Dare citizens event which took in the World Cup course and some more trails surrounding, so after another short practice lap on Saturday morning we got Conor ready for the Dare and off he went.    One and a half laps of the course and into the surrounding forest and after 1hr 24mins Conor was back with a big smile on his face - 66th position out of 208 riders, not bad for someone who doesnt train!

Sunday morning arrived and I was feeling good after a good night's sleep despite having to move the bed into the living room cause of noisy neighbours.  Warming up I was feeling a bit nervous but the fact that I had been here before at the British round made things more relaxed.  We were called to the holding pens and the top three lines were gridded leaving the rest of us to elbow into the back rows.   Finally we were given the 15secs to go warning and BANG off we went like a shot with the obligatory tangle of bikes just infront of me which I managed to avoid but which meant a harder sprint down the road into the start loop where everyone bailed in at once and it was all argy bargy and elbows everywhere.  Things started to spread out a bit after Dixon's Hollow and I could always see Cait Elliott just up ahead.  Pace-wise I was struggling with the grassy sections around the feed zone and the climb out of Medusa's, although I managed to hold my position up the really steep twisty climb out of Worry Gill.  So I could handle the steep stuff but for some reason couldn't keep my legs going for the other sections, the bike was feeling dead or maybe it was my legs!  On the second lap between feeling a bit off after the climb and somewhat distracted by the argy bargy behind me I came a cropper on a technical descent around some rocks and went over the handlbars with a heavy thud, my right knee hitting a large dressed trail stone.  After getting ridden over by upcoming riders I brushed myself off and headed on down the trail, but something wasnt right - my knee swoll up like a balloon and every time I shifted my gears my hand gave out to me.  The next two laps were mentally and physically hard, just trying to keep going, little did I know at the time but I had broken my wrist and given my knee a serious case of bursitis, so whether it was a culmination of tiredness and being banged up I was finally pulled at the end of the 4th lap under the 80% rule just behind Cait, not great but to be honest I wasnt complaining either. 

After the race we spent some time watching the men's race and doing some promo work for Bike Pure - an Irish based clean cycling organisation which has some great professional rider supp

Its been a while since I raced in the British MTB Series, well over a year to be exact and in that year it seems that mountain bike racing in the rest of the UK has exploded with massive numbers in all the categories, so much so that Conor missed the entry for the Open mens race as it filled before close of registration - bummer!

I was looking forward to racing at Dalby, its a world class course being the venue of a round last year's and this year's XC World Cup and of course there would be a good field of 20 riders in the Elite women's race.   I was buoyed by the good result in the Irish NPS two weeks previously so I was really hoping for a good result.

We arrived on Saturday about lunchtime and I set out for pre-race practice to discover an amazing trail with loads of switchback singletrack, board walks, step descents and the obligatory short steep climbs which seemed designed to make you pay for all the fun riding elsewhere.   There were two sections of course which concerned me as I seemed to have developed a mental block over the winter so I needed to be able to decide how to ride these sections in practice.  I took a look at the drop off into Worry Gill - a 1.5m drop into a corner - and decided that the B-line wasnt any slower so opted for that and moved on.  At Medusa's Drop - a steep descent containing a series of short drop-offs - however the B-line seemed WAY too long to take so I convinced myself I HAD to ride it no matter what.   I must have spent well over an hour and tried 20 times to "go over the edge" into that section but my head would just say no - I could see the line I wanted to take, even imagine myself riding it but every time I just froze!  In the end I was getting tired and frustrated so decided "maybe I'll ride it in the race". 

Race day arrived bright and early - we were off at 9.30am - but I hadn't slept much worrying over not being able to ride Medusa's so after a short warm up on the turbo and with a fuzzy head I got called to the front of the grid and lined up beside Cait and her team mate Jessica Roberts.  The gun went off and it was clear from the start that I wasn't able to get myself going in too much of a hurry so I decided to sit behind Cait and see how things went.  The first lap was fast enough and I soon discovered that taking the B-line at Medusa's only really lost me about 10 seconds which I made back up on the climb anyway.  It was on that climb I discovered Cait wasn't riding terribly strongly on the day so it was a case of heading on by myself and trying to bridge the gap to next spot.  At the end of Lap 2 I heard that I was in 7th spot and I could see 6th (Melanie Alexander) going though the Start/Finish just as I entered the field, and I could see her again on the climb up out of Medusa's and so it continued for the remainder of the race.  Each time I would make up time on that one climb and each time I would somehow manage to lose it on the upper section of the course.  Sleep deprived fatigue really set in mid way through lap 3, so in the interest of actually finishing the race I had to back off and just put my head down and ride through the final two and a half laps.

So I finished 7th spot overall, somewhat off the pace - more of a marathon race pace than a XC race pace - but that was my own fault for letting stuff worry me too much.   I really enjoyed the course, had a great time riding it too, I now just have to focus on my technical descending and not worrying too much!

Well we've finally got round to updating the website and blog for 2011, I know a little late in the year but things have been very busy.  I'm managing the National development squad for 2011 while Conor's been working hard on getting bikes sorted for 2011.  I'll be riding the new Specialized Epic Carbon Expert courtesy of McConveys Cycles in Belfast, while Conor has been working hard to upgrade his 2010 Epic Expert to the new 2 x 10 groupset. 

The year got off with a great start with me winning the 2010 - 2011 National Cyclocross Championships in January, a great boost of confidence and a good idea of starting fitness levels for the new season, great to build upon.

Last weekend I took part in the Ciclisport GP Road race, taking on the A4 men on a 4 lap 64km course that saw some pretty lumpy sections.  The pace was a little slow at times so I was always eager to keep things moving taking plenty of turns on the front - these road guys can be soo lazy, keeping their little legs safe until the final sprint!  The aim was to stick with the bunch which I did with ease, just missing out on the sprint finish.

This weekend was a real test of how things have been going training wise.  The first round of the Irish National NPS series at Bellurgan Park, Dundalk.  I had arrange to meet the development squad to do some pre-race practice laps the day before and soon discovered it was gonna be a tough technical race, with a leg sucking gravel singletrack climb and loads of singletrack descending - infact about 95% of the course - with two major features, a scary step into a drop off and a gap jump into a berm.  We spent practically all day at the course and by the end I had managed to nail the gap jump but my lack of recent off road riding and lack of confidence on my new steed just couldn't being me to drop over the ledge - so chicken run it was (not good!)

Race day arrived and I discovered it was just me and Mel Spath lining up for the race.  Mel's a really good strong rider with loads of international riding under her belt so it would again be a good test.  We were lined up in the new category system with the Senior 2 men (all 40 odd!).  The start was manic with a mass sprint around a field.  I got caught up in the crash just over the start/finish line and watched Mel disappear off into the distance. It was then a battle to get into the first section of singletrack where everything stopped and a queue formed, oh for feck sake I thought there goes my race!  The rest of the race was largely spent stuck behind slower riders (on the climbs) who would then descend like mad on the descents, so I never got any passing opportunities and the boys were reluctant to let anyone by - except Robin Seymour of course.  The course was riding very differently from the previous day, with the night's rain leaving everything very greasy.  I ended up washing out and crashing about half a dozen times during the course of the race and between this and getting stuck behind other riders I was VERY frustrated for the whole 1.5 hours we were out there.   I could see Mel every time we came through the Start/Finish "Arena" but I could never actually make that much time on here once I got back into the singletrack.   In the end it was a second place finish for me on the day, overall a little under a minute behind Mel who wasnt without her own problems on the day, having very little front brake.  A good result nonetheless. 

Conor raced in the Senior 3 race, 3 laps of the course, he found it very hard but really enjoyed the technical nature of the course and considering he does no training didnt do too badly either!  So not a bad day out for Team Summit!!

So next weekend its back on the road bike - is this a good idea considering my atrocious technical abilities at the moment I ask myself - before heading to England and the second round of the British MTB series at Dalby Forest.