Starting early this year // 1st cross training is done!

Ok, I know it's early and all but I just couldn't resist anymore! I was planning to keep cyclocross as a priority for this season and luckily I'm not the only one in Team ThinkBike. We have decided to get the ball rolling and start early this season. 

We had our first training session that was ment to be a "nice and easy cross spin" that turned into a proper fast enough bike ride. My team mate Liam is really into cross, so he was pushing us to our limits a good few times this evening.   

We went up to the Massey's Woods and after that to the Hellfire Club tonight and got a bit of everything: grass, mud, fire roads, roots and some nice amount of climbing as well. Was a bit funny to ride the cross bike after soo many months on the mountain bike. Would need a little more time to get the hang of it again! :) 

So, it has started. No turning back now. Will keep a mix of mountain biking and cross for 2 weeks and after that it'll be pretty much cross all the way! Well, that's the plan anyway. Bring on the racing season, can't wait!!

Threerock // WW // Massey's Woods - What a spin!

I got out on the bike for the first time this week, so I wanted to have the most of it! I got up nice and early, got my good breakfast and I was on my way up to the still cold but sunny mountains. The weather was decent but to be fair pretty cold though. Especially up on the opened mountain tops! 

Theerock, just before I met Joe & Mark

I picked my favourite place so after a quick warmup I was rocking on the trails of Threerock. I got up from the Kilmashogue carpark's direction. After the steady fire road climb I hit some of the sweet natural trails on the far side of the mountain where I met Joe McCall and Mark Kenny and I teamed up with them to get an even better spin on this great Saturday morning!

After a little more mountain biking on the familiar trails of Threerock we started to head up towards the top of the mountain on the Wicklow Way and after a quick downhill we got on this great single track called "Legend". 

This one was new to me, I never been on it before. But I will surely remember 'cause I definitely want to do it again 'cause it was a super forest trail. Quick forest trail with some sweet technical roots & rock sectors. The mud made it even better, I had so much fun to ride on it! Great stuff! :)

After this new part we got to the Massey's Woods where we hit some real high pace on the super fast downhill trails. Thankfully the place was pretty much empty so we could let the bikes go nice and quick! :) 

Once we finished our spin I started to head back home and by the time I got back to my place I got 43,5 km done under 2 hours and 54 minutes with a little bit more than 1000 m elevation gain along the way. I really appreciated the time on the bike, it was absolutely superb spin. 

It was even better 'cause I could join the guys, it was a proper XC spin with no messing around: nice pace, proper technical natural trails and good company! What else would I need to have a savage Saturday morning XC spin?! :)

Brilliant Easter weekend mountain bike spin

Today I visited two well known places on the bike. Most of the mountain bikers in Dublin know these places but for some strange reason I never been there before. One of them is The Hellfire Club and the other one is Massey's Woods. But let me go from the start! :)

This morning I met my friend Attila in Rathfarnham and after a short conversation we've decided to go and have a random spin up in the Wicklow. The weather was nice but not as nice as it was during the week. It was a bit coldish and windy, the sky wasn't clear at all. 

The first place on our route was Threerock just as usual. We climbed up on the road and from the lower carpark we hit some of the know singletracks. From the top we had a quick decend on the new trail and after we cycled some of the less common tracks also. It was great but both of us wanted to get out of there and get something else done. So we hit the fire road that leads towards the Wicklow Way and after we got to the trails we started to climb on it. By that time the weather got better also. We got the Wicklow Way's short stage done very quickly and we turned on the Dublin Mountain Way.

I never cycled that trail either and I have to say: it is great. I really did like it with all the water drains accross the trail, with all the big drops and of course with the board walk!! The board walk is so much fun to ride! :)

Our next destioantion was Massey's Woods. This place was absolutely new for me. This is a huge forest park with many wide and narrow trails. They are super fast trails and very enjoyable to ride. No rocks or roots on them, they are fast and smooth tracks.

Nice place to ride in deed! :)

The other great place is just accross the road and it's called Hellfire Club. Strange but true: I never been here before. After we left the carpark we started to climb the fire road but after couple of hundred meter we seen the BEST STEEP CLIMB around Dublin. Of course I didn't want to miss anything, so we climbed this mad thing all the was up to the top. It is not technical (except a short section with roots close to the end) but it is super steep. The gradient hit  even 38-40% at some places! This climb will be on my list if I want to ride some serious uphill trails. 

After we got up to the top we cycled back to the carpark and at theat time it was time to get home. Todays spin was great, we have done 45km on the bike in 3 hours time. The total elevation was 1000m this time, so we had plenty of cimbs along the way.

The profile of today's spin

And here is the map also

It was so nice to visit and explore different places, especially because they are so close to the city. I am sure I will ride often on these trails, they are great! :)