I went for a 3 hours training this morning before work. The plan was to get a proper XC spin done one more time before the race on the weekend. After an early alarm and a quick breakfast I was ready to go.
The first thing I have to say: I don't remember to ride in such a strong wind like we've had this morning. I really had to stay focused just to keep the bike straigt until I get out of the busy town and from traffic. And I think the whole thing just got worst when I hit the climb up to Threerock. Luckily I got into the forest quick enough and there I have been in a good shelter of the trees. But every time I got back up to the top where the aireals are the wind hit me like I hit a wall or something. It was serious!
Elevation / speed graph of the spin
As you can see it on the graph I could get a lot of climbing done this morning. The total elevation gain was 1177m and the total distance was 42,6 km. I didn't stop during the spin unless it was necessery and because I've been pushing hard I did end up with a high, 1630 kcal burning hard training session.
After a quick shower and a nice second breakfast I have my day ahead of me and the planned training for the day is already done. I think I have done everything to be prepared for the first NPS race!
The next XC race of the season that I defenitelly will taking part in is the Irish XC NPS Round 1. on the 3rd of April in Bellurgan Pk. Co. Louth, hosted by Cuchulainn CC. This race is going to be the first one of the "more important" races for me because the result counts in the overall result in the end of the season, and possibly most of the racers will be there from all over the country creating nice and big fields in all categories. Luckily the journey is not too long from Dublin so it will be an easy race to get to.
For more information on the race, please clickhere.
Here is a nice preview video of the race course (recorded by Cuchulainn CC)
After the long months of winter training and the 3 races I have done so far this year I feel good on the bike, I am excited about racing and I can't wait for Sunday! It should be a great day! :)
My next race is just around the corner so we went up to Threerock this morning to get some sweet training done. The plan was to push the climbs hard but fit this into regular mountain bike spin rather than do interval training.
I generally like all type of downhill sections but I have to admit it: I do need to get even faster on the way down. So my other plan for the day was to increase the speed especially on the technical decends.
Based on these goals we have had a great spin this morning. I was pushing myself close to the limit on most of the long and steep climbs and tried my very best to get superfast on the downhill bits also. We have covered the distance of 34 km in 2 hours and 30 minutes on nice and warm day.
Elevation and speed graph
After the spin I was happy with the result and I am looking forward to race this Sunday. Bring it on! :)
We just got back this morning from our weekend trip that we have planned like forever. My wife Anett, our friends Csaba and his wife Dori and myself were guests for couple of days in this beautiful holiday house close to Ravensdale, Co. Louth. All of us would like to say thank you for Ros and Barry for letting us stay there for the weekend.
After only 1 hour drive we got to the house that was a barn originally beside the 250 years old irish cottage. The cottage has been refurbished in a way that follows the traditions while barn building has been converted to a very stylish and fully equipped, double level home. It is fantastic, the view from the living room is stunning!
After we got all of our stuff sorted we went for a short hillwalk just to get to the fresh air and explore the place near by. This was during the aftrenoon and because it was still bright when we got back I have decided to go for a short spin on the bike. I couldn't wait more, the massive climb was very tempting to try! :)
After the short bike ride we got the dinner ready and settled in for the rest of the evening. The nights are still pretty cold so we prepared the fire that kept the place nice and warm for the whole night. It was so relaxing to have a seat next to the fire place after dinner and just enjoy the music and have great conversations. We have listened the Nirvana CD about hundred times! :)
After the long evening we all got to sleep but before that we have checked the bikes and all the gear make sure everything is ok for tomorrow's spin. The plan was: get up early and leave early. There was so much to explore, we have never been around there on the bike before.
On Saturday morning we were on the go straight away after a quick breakfast and the usual coffe. The house is on the side of the mountain and because of that we have hit the long and steep climb right after we crossed the gate. This climb is 2,5km long and the gradient is not less than 10%, somewhere even as steep as 25% which was pretty intense for sure. This long climb leads up to the top of Black Mountain that is 516m high. From the top we could see the Dundalk Bay, Carlingford and Slieve Gullion as well. Luckily the weather was sunny and warm.
Quick stop just to check the excellent view
After we left from the top we have decended on tarmac road for a little while and after hit the Ring Of Gullion Way marked walking trail and cycled on that for a short distance. After this we got to some boarder of private lands and we hit the downhill section of the day. This decend was just simply crazy!
It was actually allright on the top, so I started to ride it but I have realized fast enough it wont work, it has turned into this supersteep "wall". The place was full of massive rocks and huge drops so we ended up to carry our bikes all the way to the bottom. It was interesting experience! :)
After the impossible decend we got back to the house and we kept rolling towards Ravensdale to be able to start the big climb up to the top of Black Mountain once again from a lower starting point. In the main time the weather got properly warm so the second climb was even more fun than the one in the morning. We have settled into a good pace and we got up to the top again. It was great to be there!
It's done, on the top!
Graph of Saturday's spin
After the super fast decend to the top we got back to the house where the lovely meal was already prepared by the ladies, thank you! You are great, it was a life saver! :)
After a quick bath and the best lunch ever we spend the rest of the afternoon and the evening together. We've had a great weekend, we really enjoyed the time up there. Family, friends, cycling, good meal, country side with sheep, fire, music, Monopoly and lots of laughing...what else could we ask for?! :)
Video of the best moments
Photos:
In front of the cottage
Csaba on the top
Anett & me on the mountain
Sniffing out the lunch after the bike ride :)
Relaxing in the sun
Best lunch ever: egg-fried home made noodles with salad and non-alcoholic beer
I've had my well deserved rest after the race on last Sunday so it was time to get moving again and get some serious training done. I finished work at 4pm today, just in time to still get out on the bike while the weather is good. Luckily this afternoon was great: nice and warm with lots of sunshine.
Kilmashogue Climb
I think one of the best place to do interval training is the Kilmashogue Lane. I allways pick this climb if I want to do long enough training with steep gradient. So I got to my starting point which is the gate of the St. Columba's College. The finishing point of the climb is the end of the road up on the mountain. I have decided to ride the tarmac climb all the way up to the top and back 4 times in a row as my interval training for the day. Beside the training my other goal was to get a new personal best time on the climb to be able to set my goals for the future. This allways gives me motivation, something to work for.
So off I went to get done what was planned. Up and back, up and back... four times. It was great! I got pretty tired but I know this session was very useful for the upcoming XC races.
Details of the climb:
lenght: 2.43 km
elevation gain: 230 m
max gradient: 24%
avarage gradient: 10.56%
personal best: 12 minutes 19 seconds (on the XC bike)
Graph of the full training
The total training took 1 hour and 47 minutes and I got 35km done with the total elevation of 1007m. It was short but intense, I have burned 1200kcal during the training.
After the training I was very happy to see that I did get a new best time. From now on this is the time I would like to beat!
I have one more race behind me, this was my third race of this season. Today the ThinkBike.ie racing squad (Cait Elliott, Richie Felle, Adrian McLeavey and myself) travelled to race the Leinster League Round 1. The race was hosted by Racing 795 at the same location as last year, in Bunclody, Co. Wexford. After a not too long drive we got there in time, picked up our racing numbers and timing chip and we were ready for our practice lap. We have done only one lap before the race just to see what should we expect...this lap was very useful indeed.
But let's see the course now: one lap was 4.4 km long and because I have entered to Senior 3 category I've had to do 3 laps today. The race started with a long (1 km) climb straight away. I personally loved that because I could get settled into my own pace before we hit the first decend of the race. I started the race pretty far back in the field so I found this climb very useful.
I have to say: this course was one of the most difficult but the most fun to ride as well for long time. The rain at night turned all the decends into super technical and slippery. All the downhill sections were steep and they were full of rocks and roots. We had to get through three main sections of downhills in each lap. Two of them were in the forest while the last one was opened. It defenitely took all my skills to ride them fast and safe in the same time. Sometimes I felt I have no control over the bike it was so slippery. After the race I've heard they caused serious trouble for many riders but personally I say: they were brilliant, very challenging!
I felt great after the start but I didn't have any exact idea about my position because I started to catch up with the back of the Senior 2 field. After I started to overtake them the two categories got mixed up quickly. All I could do is keep an eye out for their numbers to see are they in my group or not.
After I have completed the 3 laps and I crossed the finish line I got the good news: I came 4th in my category. I am very happy with this result because my goal for the day was to finish in the top 5.
The race was successful for the ThinkBike.ie squad, we came home with a 1st, a 2nd and a 4th place. Well done!
The graph of my 3 laps race
Distance:13.4 km (3 laps)
Time:1 hour and 10 minutes Result:4th out of 50 (results arehere)
The organizers did everything they could to ensure the race is going all right. Thank you very much for all the marshalls and everybody from Racing 795 for the great race. Special thanks for the tea and coffe and also for the soup after the race!
Also a BIG thank you for my friend Csaba for the excellent cheering, for the photos and for all the help! Great stuff!
This race was perfect indication of my form for myself for the upcoming events and I am really looking forward for the next race. I hope I can improve my performance.
Photos
Fast dowhill (photo: David Tully)
The joy of the climb :) (photo: Aine Conneff)
On the long climb (photo: Aine Conneff)
Decending
Starting the second long climb (photo: Peter C)
Crossing the bridge
Close to the finish
Crossing the finish line (photo: Racing 795)
After the race
Soup party with Cait & Richie - Congartulations for both of you!
Today was perfect choice to go ahead and ride the next stage of the Wicklow Way: the weather was brilliant and I preferred a proper bike ride rather than visit the St.Patrick's Day parade in town. This time I wasn't riding alone, my usual training partner Csaba has joined also to complete todays stage up in the mountains.
Well, we did ride the whole stage 1.1 and 1.2 once again all the way from the Marlay Park but since the reports are up on the blog already I will only write about the stage 2.1 this time. Before I even start I need to tell you: this is where the Wicklow Way gets savage!
We started the stage 2.1 from Cloon and finished it around Djouce Mountain. From Cloon we hit a short and easy tarmac climb and then we started a long enough downhill towards the valley. After this fast tarmac decend we hit some sweet off road section.
It started wide like some fire road and got more and more narrow as we went along. It has reached the point where the path turned into a lovely, narrow singletrack. This track started to get steep and very enjoyable decend and because the place was muddy it was definitely lot of fun to ride.We have crossed a big, opened field and hit the Glencree River. It was beautiful to ride along the river and cross it over on the bridge.
After we have crossed the Glencree River the climb started again. It got steep straight away but it was only a short section on fire road. At this stage we got as far as Crone Woods where we crossed the huge carpark that was full of cars and people. So many people was up there, trying to enjoy the spring and great weather.
So after we have done all the fire road and singletrack climb we got to the best spot of our journey. The trail was just going along the edge of the cliffs they are surounding the beautiful Powerscourt Waterfall. I was amazing! I've never seen the waterfall from there!
The Powerscourt Waterfall from the top
The trail was going along the edge and started to get more and more narrow. On one side with bushes and on the other side with the railing. It was as wide as the handlebar.
After this section the route started to get difficult! What we have seen was amazing: we did not see the trail!!! All we have seen is cut off trees and hundreds of roots. Of course the mud didn't make it any easier. Never seen anything like it before! It was very tricky to ride, constant starting and stopping. This section was only about 150m long so we got over it quickly. But it didn't end there! We've had the steepest decent of the day: long and straight downhill with lots of rocks and drops on the upper section and super steep gradient on the lower section. This decend took us to Dargle River that we have crossed on a little bridge.
When we crossed the river we've had to face the most difficult climb of the day. It was steep and very technical with loose surface, very slippery grass and big rocks all the way up to the top. It was a real challenge after all what we have done since we left the Marlay Park. At this point we crossed over a gate with couple of steps, this was the point where we have left the Wicklow Mountains National Park. After a short downhill we have reached our finishing point of the day, we did not get any further than Djouce Mountain, we have done enough for the day. The Wicklow Way leads towards the mountain but we turned back at this point and decended to the the Djouce carpark. From the carpark we made our way home through Enniskerry and Stepaside all the way back to Milltown.
Best photos of the day:
General information on the terrain:
tarmac road
fire road
singletrack
singletrack with grass
technical singletrack with rocks
extremely technical singletrack with roots
river crossing (on bridges)
Difficulties:
some of the steep singletrack climbs are very technical
watch out for the extremely steep decends
the steep rocky downhill after the waterfall is difficult, only ride it if you are 100% confident
the edge of the cliff over the Powerscourt Waterfall is not secured with fence, watch out!
Today's spin was fantastic, for me it was the best way to celebrate Paddy's Day. Next time my plan is to ride the whole lot again from the Marlay Park and get as fas as Lough Tay, I hope I don't need to wait too long to do the next stage as my preparation for the big ride.
Some interesting datas of the day:
We have covered the distance of 57km in 4 hours and 5 minutes. The spin had 1377m elevation gain and it took me 1794kcal to get the spin done.
This graph shows the full spin (with each stages of the Wicklow Way marked that we have done)
