Biking Blitz Round 4 // Threerock - race report

Wow, what a day I had! I'm still buzzing after today's Biking Blitz Round 4 up on Threerock. This XC race was my first race of the 2012 season, so needless to say how excited I was about the whole thing. There was a cool detail as well: the fact the race venue is about 10 minutes drive from my home made the race preparation sooo easy. Woke up, packed my gear and got there in no time! Brilliant! :)

The view from my balcony at about 9 am this morning! Good start, isn't it?!  :)

So, after the extremely short journey I arrived to the Ticknock lower carpark and set up my base for the day. After I picked up my race number (that was super smooth thanks to the pre-registration) then I started to get ready. Just the last check on everything and after that I was on my way towards the upper carpark where the start / finish area has been set up. Now, I have to say it was good to see such a nice effort from the organizers to get a welcoming start / finish area that caters for eveybody. Well designed run of the course, good music, repair tent, bouncy castle for the kids and lot more. It would be cool to see this more often in the future! :)

Just a quick shot while I was chillin' out in the car

At the start line, all good to go (photo by Shay Barry)

5..4..3..2..1..START!!!

Off we went at 1 o'clock sharp and started our 4 laps on the 7.5 km long loop that was the distance for the Super Pro category. I was happy 'cause I managed to start from the third row, so I was nicely up on the front right from the start. Since the first climb was a pretty intense and at some places steep enough tarmac road I managed to stick with the leader group of about 10 riders and we opened up a nice and big gap by the time we got up to the top of the road. But I had to quickly realize that if  I keep forcing this pace for too long I could get into trouble soon, so I dropped back and started to settle into my own zone.

Rolling on the bone dry Metro trail (photo by Shay Barry)

In action (photo by Shay Barry)

I completed lap after lap on the dusty dry single tracks and fire road / tarmac climbs. The descents were really fast and so much fun. I honestly don't remember such dry conditions for long time, finally there was dust on the bike and on my legs instead of the usual creamy mud! :)

Dust, dust, dust! Lovely! :)

Every time I passed by the start / finish area the loud music and all the cheering from the spectators gave me such a big boost,  I couldn't believe the buzz up on the side of the mountain. It was just simply fantastic! :)

After the race: happy days, everything went well! :)

After 1 hour and 44 minutes I completed the 4 laps and crossed the finish line. The total distance of the race was 29.9 km and the total elevation gain was 802 m (check out Strava for more detailed info on my race data).

       I also have my lap times here:   Lap 1 - 24:18
                                                        Lap 2 - 26:10
                                                        Lap 3 - 26:50
                                                        Lap 4 - 26:55

Big thanks to Niall Davis & the Biking.ie crew for the great event! I would be delighted to see more XC events like this in the future! Everything was just simply great, I think it's needless to say more!

I had a great race day indeed and I'm very happy with my performance. I finished 17th today in a pretty strong field. I felt very good on the bike and I gave 100% during the race. Although it felt like 110% for the first climb when I went ahead with the leader group! Especially in a field with Peter Buggle, Richie Felle, Sebastian Roman Rakos and some very strong Elite category lads as well. Hard work it was to try to keep up with them but well worth the experience! Cool!  :)