2014 in numbers

That was another fast year to me. A lot has happened both on and off the bike. It's time to check what I've been up to in 2014, so here's my stats for the year.

Distance:                             3900 km

Training time:                      221 hours and 30 minutes

Elevation:                            68712 m

Rides:                                  117

Races:                                 1

It's not a whole lot I think (I know in fact). One of the main reasons for these numbers and the lack of training in 2014 was the fact that we have moved country and there was a ton of stuff to be done in relation of that. Big operation it was that took a lot of my time. 

Funny enough to see when I compare these numbers with last years stats: got out a lot more often and done more elevation also than in last year but the mileage was lower 'cause I didn't do any road training (on a road bike) in 2014. 

If I have to sum up my year in one word that word would be AWESOME! Loved every minute on the bike and I hope 2015 will be just as good as this year was if not better. There's a lot of racing on my bucket list, so roll on 2015!! :)

2014 video, thanks to Strava 

Last spin of the year, good bye 2014!

On a cold winter day...

Can anyone tell me any better than this: sitting in the sauna on a cold winter day?! Can't beat it!! I simply love saunas so I visited tha Family Home this evening and had a savage 30 minutes session. It was brilliant! Felt exhausted but good and I'm sure this wasn't my last time in the sauna this winter. ;)

Let's wake up from the Christmas hibernation

Christmas was brilliant but it was time to get up from the sofa and start to burn off that 28 million calories that I had during the Festive Season. Today was an amazing day for it: sunny, -2 degrees. So I wasted no time, got the bike out of the shed and I was on my way up to the top of the nearest hill. 

The savage climb got the system going again

Riding the 29er today was a real joy. And the sub-zero conditions were nice too! Was good to get the legs turning again and was good to get some fresh air into the lungs. Happy days! :) 

Christmas in my home // Photos can say it all! :)

"The Tree"

Little bit of a preparation

Hmm...it's not very wintery, is it?

A Must-Have Decoration :)

Building Lego together is fun

Bike related present, woo-hoo!!

Yummy orange cream soup

Traditional Hungarian salty jelly, made from pork, served with bread and vinegar to sprinkle over it. Sounds a bit rough I know, but it is absolutely lovely!! :)

Merry Christmas everyone!

This Christmas is going to be a bit more special: we'll be spending Christmas home again. We haven't been home for the Festive Season for a good few years. It's also going to be special because we are spending Christmas in our own house. Will be great to have the family over and spend time together. My little son Rhys will love everything I'm sure, he loves the tree and the lights too! :) 

So, it's Christmas again. It's time to get the decorations out of the box, wrap all the presents, get the tree dressed up & eat all the yummy goodness! Let's do it! :)   

Merry Christmas everyone, have a great time!

Message of the day

Hollókő, where the time has stopped

Today the weather was super nice, so I decided to visit one of my favourite places near my home. Hollókő is a truly special place that is part of the World Heritage. It's a small village where the time has stopped: once you step into the Old Village it seems like you have travelled back in time a couple of hundred years. The streets, the buildings and the generally everything has been kept exactly the way it has been back then. Visiting a place like this is absolutely amazing I have to say. 

Riding as far as Hollókő from my place was perfectly suitable for today's training spin, ended up doing 60 km just under 2 hours and 30 minutes. It was good enough to get the legs turning and enjoy the still very mild Hungarian winter. And of course it was lovely to visit this spot after so many years, I'm sure I'll be back more often from now on! :)

#yummyumm #treat #hardtoresist

The Bike Shed Project // Part 1

My own bike shed...not just a shed for the bike though but something like a little workshop type thing that I can use for maintenance and for all my bike needs. This has been my dream for a good few years and the time is finally here to get it done!

Still a lot to be done but it has started to look like something that I was thinking about. 

I love working on the bike and keep it in a good order. This bike shed (when it'll be ready) will be serving me well. All I need to do is finish it. The next big task is getting the heating sorted and a workshop stand is also a missing piece of tha puzzle. But I'm sure it won't take long before these things are no longer an issue! :)

#crosscountry #wintertraining # Hungary

Love living the country life

Life is nice and quiet these days and I have to admit that I love this change. Leaving a big city like Dublin behind and move back to my small country village again is nice in many ways. Don't get me wrong, I loved every day that I lived in Dublin since 2005 but I can't deny that how much I enjoy living the country life again.

One of my favourite job of the day

I enjoy the peaceful flow of the everyday life and also love taking care of things around the house. It is nice to live life like this. Yes, there's a ton of advantages of living on a big city but somehow I would rather prefer this calm type of life.  Clean air, no traffic, very quiet evenings and the hills just 10 minutes away. What more could I ask for? :)

My future bike shed, just the perfect size for what I need it for!

There's plenty of things that needs to be taken care of around the house, one of them is the "Bike Shed Project" that has started to shape up slowly already. But let's say more about this some other time! ;) 

 

Quick update

Huh, it's been a while since my last post. I've been extremely busy with moving house and get everything sorted after we have moved back to Hungary.

Not going to bore you with all the stories, the only thing to report is that cycling is going good. Not doing much though...but every time I manage to get out I'm havin' a blast on the bike. That's all really! :) 

Hopefully the next time I post something I will be able to tell more about my cycling related "adventures". 

Blast from the past // My first bike

I was going through my old stuff here in the family home just a few days back. Found a big bunch of old photos and I came accross this real treasure: a photo of my very first "proper" bike that I first built when I started mountain biking.

This baby started as a standard mountain bike. Wasn't for mountain biking or anything like that at all. Then I started to save money and upgrade the bike slowly. 

It had steel frame and got an RST-180 suspension fork fitted. It had rock solid 60mm travel. Had "V" brakes with "must-have" brake boosters. I was running 3x8 gearing and wheels that were built on steel rims. To finish the machine I got rizer bars and a man sized saddle bag that was big enough to carry food for 3 days! :)

Every time I look at this photo I remember how much fun it was to get out and ride this bike up in the mountains. It was about 1999 and it ment the World for me back then. Beautiful memories indeed! 

  

 

You gotta love autumn!

Falling leaves. Trails are covered. Slippery conditions. Foggy forest. Early evenings. Stunning colours. Fresh air. Not too cold just yet. 

The change is in the air, you know something is up. I just simply love mountain biking in the autumn. I don't know what's with me and the autumn, but I honestly love every bit of it!

So, I do my best to enjoy every minute of it before the proper Hungarian winter hits us! :)

Home sweet home

Ok! Let's get started!

So, this didn't take long! Landed only a few days ago but wasted no time: got the 29er built and took it out for a spin around the old trails. It was a glorious day with clear blue skies and mild temperature. 

I went out for a short spin only but I loved it so much. It was nice to hit the trails where I was training and riding 10-12 years ago. Savage experience! 

Hoping to get out again asap but I'm mega busy these days, so we'll see what happens. Let's hope for the best!! :)

I'm back in Hungary, a new chapter is about to start.

We have finally arrived. Living in Hungary again after almost 10 fantastic years in Ireland. So, I guess this is going to be a whole new chapter here.

Training and racing is planned for 2015 and I hope to show some insight of the mountain biking life in Hungary. There will be plenty of tales to tell, so stay tuned! :)

All packed, ready to be shipped...

So this is it I guess. After a good wash the XC beast is packed away and it is ready to be picked up and to start it's long journey back to the family home. Wrapped everything nice & good and I'll be riding it again before I know it. Have a safe trip "partner", see you soon! :)

Good bye Ireland, I will miss you!!

Big change is coming. Possibly the biggest in a long time. I have been living in Ireland for almost 10 years but it's time to move on. We have decided to move back to Hungary and settle down. So, it was time to have my last spin around the well known trails that I have ridden so many times and raced on often in the last decade. 

I wanted to breath in the true essence of Irish mountain biking that I love so much. What other place I could pick than Djouce to have a blast? And to be properly authentic I managed to pick a day with lashing rain. Slippery roots, mud and tons of fun on the technical trails!! What more could I wish for? :)

Ireland is a truly special place to ride mountain bikes and it will be missed big time! All the savage singletracks, the steep climbs, the super techy descents and the stunning views have added a fantastic chapter to my mountain biking life.

Thank you Ireland, you're wonderful! Slán! :)

#Ireland #bestgreenever

Race Face - Narrow/Wide Single Chainring

It has been a while since I got this lovely looking Race Face Narrow/Wide single ring specific chainring fitted on the bike. It's a rough guess but I'd say I've done about 750 km on it and I can tell only good things about it. 

I was running a single ring setup before but because it wasn't anything specific I was running into problems. But this one is a different ball game altogether!

Tech info:

• Narrow Wide tooth profiling ensures ultimate chain retention
• Stiff 4mm plate thickness and I-beam construction transfer loads without flexing
• 7075-T6 aluminum, aerospace grade strength
• Reversible laser etched graphics.
• Compatible for 9, 10 and 11 speed.
• Sizes: 30, 32, 34, 36, 38, 104 BCD (4 bolt)
• Weights: 37-57g (36T – 50g)

Thoughts:

First of all the weight of this ring is impressive in my opinion. Yeah, "it's only a chainring" but still, it is very light indeed. 

I picked up the Race Face Narrow/Wide ring because I heard a lot of nice things about it from friends and racer mates. I wanted to run a 1x10 system that can be 100% reliable without using a chain guide. I was after simplicity that can serve me well all the time without any hassle. And this chain ring deliveres all that! :)

Have been using the system in tough conditions on the rough trails of the Wicklow Mountains and it didn't drop the chain. Not even once. Impressive. 

So, I'm 100% happy with this ring and I can only recommend it to anyone who is fancy to do some single ring conversion!

Ballinastoe // What a spot!

Simply love finding new trails!

Familiar trails are good. Familiar trails are fast. Familiar trails are predictable. Love them indeed...but hey! What's better than going out for a training spin and just take a random turn here and there. Riding into the unfamiliar and unpredictable? 

Every time I find a new trail there's that very same buzz that I felt for the very first time when I started mountain biking. Every time I come accross deadly little shortcuts, nasty little drops or stinger climbs I feel like I'm getting the spark back again...and again...and again! Simply can't beat the feeling!! 

So, here I am again. After finding a new trail and going through the same "emotional" roller coaster that reminds me why I started to whole thing. And the best thing is to know that it won't be long before it happens again...and again...and again!! :) 

Just a nice photo

XC Marathon Nationals VS. Casual Sunday Spin

Skipping a race that I normally would love to do isn't a nice thing. I wasn't racing the National Marathon Champs because of a load of various reasons. Let's just say I couldn't make it happen. But hey! Today was still a brilliant day to ride my bike, so I decided to make the most of it!

Teamed up with my fellow Hungarian mountain biker mate Gyula, and went out for a good, old fashioned XC spin around the Seahan. The weather was simply unbelievable: stone splitting sun & dusty trails. In fact I don't remember riding on such dry trails here in Ireland before. I could get used to this I have to say! ;)

Dusty dry trails as far as I could see

So, we went around the reservoir, then climbed up to the top of Seahan, stormed down back towards the quarry, did another quick lap around the reservoir then turned back towards home. We did all this in a very well behaved pace, it was a cool "social spin" type of a bike ride. 

Ended up doing a bit over 2 hours today. Was brilliant to ride the 29er today but I had only one thought in my had the whole way: This is great! But man, I wish I could be in the Masters field up in Rostrevor right now!!

ESI silicone grips // Every word is true!

Heard so much good about them already and since I'm also selling them in the shop I figured I'd give them a go. Picked up a nice pair if these ESI silicone grips and I have to say that I'm pretty impressed with them!

Here they are, a set of grey "Chunky" ESI grips on the XC bike

Heard they are super-comfortable. Heard they absorb more shocks. Heard they are very durable. Heard they have very solid fit on the bar. Heard they look cool. And I have to say that's all true! Brilliant grips they are, much nicer than and lock-on or foam grips that I tried before. They have a fantastic feel and excellent grip in every conditions. Great choice, no regrets here! :)

Wicklow MTB Adventure