Biking Blitz Round 4 // Threerock - race report

Now, that was a tough one I have to say. The Biking Blitz Round 4 up on Threerock was my first XC race of the 2013 racing season and I've had lots of mixed feelings about the race. On one hand I was super hyped up about racing, the motivation was over the roof on the morning of the race day. But on the other hand I was worried a little bit as well about how well prepared I am and how well do I feel for a mountain bike race after the cold/flu I've been dealing with during the last few days...

One of the best thing about the race was the fact I'm living about 10 minutes drive from the venue, so there was absolutely no pressure on me. After my brekkie and the usual preparation I was on my way towards the angry looking mountains. The late Irish winter/spring/summer/autumn weather has not been exactly friendly lately, so I wasn't surprised when I've seen the temperature (2°C)...wasn't surprised either when I reailzed the snow was falling when I got there...

"It'll be grand!" they said, so I did not worry! (although rumor has it the organizers were thinking about to cancel the race due to heany snowfall...) After I got a parking spot I got my lovely looking race number picked up and had a lovely chat with few of my friends. And then it was time to get ready for the start!

I'm busy preparing my special...

... Paddy's Day touch for the race! The good 'aul Irish socks, can't beat them! :)

Number is on...

... let's go!

On the way to the start / finish area

Just before the start

I managed to get a nice starting position, took off from the third row to start the first climb. After the first bend I managed to stick to the leaders group. The plan was to do well on the heavy enough tarmac climb and take the rest from there...the plan did not work out quiet the way it was planned. The pace was maybe a little bit too much for me and when I started to do the first off-road bit I really felt I'm paying the price for pushing it a bit too much a bit too soon. 

After I got close to havin' a heart attack I finally started to settle down a bit and do my own thing. Got a little advantage on the climbs and was trying to be as fast as I can be on the bumpy and wet Metros. 

Getting the first lap done

Havin' fun during the second lap

 

I felt great during the second lap and I thought this is going to last 'til the end. Unfortunatelly this wasn't the case. Started to struggle on the climbs a bit but the bigger problem was the rough downhill. I was under a lot of pressure many times on the way down on those rocky sectors so I needed to let it go and forget about the brakes. I started to feel that my body takes more than I'm happy to deal with... Another thing that made the tough enough course even more tough was the weather. The temperature was bouncing around the 0°C and we got snow many times during the race. Ice cold puddles & snow flakes all over the place. Lovely! :)

To top all that I got a monster size mud/grit thing into my left eye during the third lap. Now, this definitely did not help on the situation that was bad enough already. Tried to get it out during the race but this attempt wasn't successful so I had to stop a few times to rub the crap out of my eye. Finally I got to the point when I was able to keep my eye open without having to blink in every 0.3 seconds ...so I kept going to finish my final lap. 

When I crossed the finish line and got off the bike I felt like I got beaten up and then got hit by a train just to complete the joy! I gave everything I had but it wasn't enough in the hard field. I finished 31st yesterday, managed to pick up a mid-field result in the Super-Pro category. I didn't have too high expectations but I was hoping to do better than this...

Did I enjoy the race? Yes, for sure! Did I have a good race? No, not really. Did I regret to race on St. Patrick's Day in the freezing cold conditions instead of sitting at home and watching the parade on the telly-box? Hell no!! 

I've had such a great buzz that is hard to describe! Got my lungs burning to bits on the steep-as-hell tarmac climb, got myself frozen to bits & temperary lost my sight thanks to the trails of Ticknock and the best of all is that I'm happy with all this. And as long this is how I feel after a race I'm keep coming back to race! :) 

But this isn't the end of my little story here. On the same evening I ended up in the Eye & Ear Hospital to get my eye cleaned out and checked. They have pulled out half of Threeock from my left eye which was a massive relief I have to say. After a quick exam they told me the eye got scrathced so I need to use antibiotic eye-drops for a week to get it healed and to avoid infections...Anyway, it's all sorted now, everything is good! Happy days! :)