When I looked out the window this morning I thought: "...this is gonna be a savage day..." The weather was very bad with extremely strong wind and rain. The temperature was nice and warm at least but I wasn't sure that would be enough for a good race day out in Ballinastoe.
I've arrived to the place well in time so I parked close to the start/finish area and collected my racing number. Little bit of preparation and it was time to get to the start line.
I have entered the super pro category. We had to ride 1 big lap and 1 small lap around Ballinastoe trails. The start/finish area was right on the bottom of the fire road. It provided a great chance to settle into postition on the wide road before we hit the first technical decent.
12 o'clock sharp - START!!!
I was lucky to start from the 2nd line so on the fire road climb I could get into my own comfortable pace and get ready for the first downhill section. We were doing a good speed and got the big lap done quiet quickly.
The fire road was actually all right but the trails were very wet and muddy. All the rocks and roots were very slippery. Nice!
It was great to get closer and closer to the start/finish. There was this big old truck with proper music. The atmosphere was fantastic there! I could hear the music louder and louder in every second. Once I got to the finish line to start my second (small) lap I got brilliant cheer from my club mates (thanks to Adrian, Dave, Henry and John).
After I have passed them everything went quiet for a while again. Just the noise of the wheels in the mud... We have finished the second lap quickly as well and before I realized I was at the finish line. It's done! Great!
Distance: 20km
Time: 1 hour and 20 minutes
Thank you for Niall Davis and The Biking.ie for all the effort that takes to run an event like this. Very well organized!
The riders before the start
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