One of those "Man, this is something else..." moments

Wow, this is something that I just simply couldn't not post about! I like so many bikes out there, so many really nice bikes that I just simply would love to have. No surprise there I guess, I'm a cyclist. This is how things are with us! :) 

But every once in a while I come accross with something that I just simply say about: "Man, this is something else..."  I had one of those moments when I've seen this beast for the first time. So, I thought I share it with you and also keep dreaming about it! :)

Da Training. Da Preparation. Da Cooley Thriller again!

That's right! There's only a few weeks time left before Da Cooley Thriller XC Marathon, so I better get cracking! I raced last year and since I've been doing very little mountain bike racing this year I decided to do this race again this year. It's challenging, it's hard so I'm there! :)

From now on I'm trying to do a bit more specific training for the marathon race. Having longer spins with mix of roads, fire roads, singletracks & savage climbs. As part of the preparation I'm planning to increase the duration of my spins up to 4 hours, so I can handle the time in the saddle a bit better. Also planning to do long interval climbs 'cause there's lot of climbing on the race course. 

So, the plan is there. Nothing else left but do something for the goal and get ready for my next race on the 17th of August. Can't wait!! 

Evening XC spin in the sun // Threerock (photos)

Battle of the Boyne XC TT '13 // Race report

I just got back from Donore where I raced The Battle of the Boyne XC TT this morning. This was a charity event run by John Grifferty and all the money raised was donated to the Irish Youth Squad. 

Since the visitor centre is only about 45 minutes drive from Dublin I wasn't under any serious time pressure. Got up, had my brekkie and after my usual morning coffee I was on the way. 

You just gotta love the Sunday morning traffic!

After the quick drive I arrived to the carpark of the visitor centre there. Qucik prep and I was all set for the race. 

The visitor centre is a lovely looking place

Ready to roll :)

From the carpark we had to ride out to the start / finish point that was in the forest nearby. Basicly the race course was a nearly 5 km long XC loop with plenty of tasty stuff: fire road, forest trails, stinger climbs, loads of switch backs & tons of roots! Yumm, yumm, it was simply a small XC heaven indeed! :)

There was a 1 minutes time gap between the riders. I liked this a lot, there was this real TT feeling indeed. Go!! After the start it was basicly flat out as I expected it! The tough course demanded all the skills and focus I have to say. We had to do 2 laps on the course so I needed to pace myself well right from the beginning to make sure I won't get into trouble at the end. 

I crossed the finish line after 40 minutes and 50 seconds full on racing. I felt great and kind of had a feeling it was going well. After all the remaining riders crossed the finish line I just got the good news: I won! Happy days! :)

The coolest trophy for the winner! :)

This was a special day on the bike indeed: MTB TT events are definitely not usual (they should be 'cause they're so cool and also very challenging) and because it was a charity event that was supporting young Irish mountain bikers, I felt like I can help them a little bit. 

And on the top of that I won the race, so I'm very happy with how everything went for me today. Big thank you to the organizers for runnig the event and also to ThinkBike for the best team van for the race!

It's summer time!

If there's one thing that I learned about the Irish weather in the past 8 years is that the best way to take it is just simply don't care too much. Don't expect too much either, just simply take it as it comes. I also leared that the summer is not as warm, not as long and definitely not as steady as I'm used to, but once we have a week or two good weather that is really great! So, roll on summer, bring it on!! 

Bone dry trails

Dust or mud?! I think I prefer the first option! :)

Savage sunburn every now & again