The Only Race in Town

The race: NPS (National Points Series) Round 7, organised by MAD (Mountainbiking Association of Dublin), on my home patch, Three Rock. Fast new trails were promised, expectations were high. However, the omens weren't good. A training spin two days before the race ended with a broken chain and my inability to find the course trails. It hadn't rained in four weeks, then bucketed down the night before and the morning of the race. Not good.

Malcolm (Richenda's older brother) and I headed up to Glencullen on Sunday morning to register and warm-up. This was the final round of the NPS, with overall positions at stake - but the only race in town was McG and Malcolm's head-to-head - he'd beaten me in both previous encounters, despite being a road-biker and only occasional MTB'er. But he was back on the rollies, out of shape and I had a good shot.

The broken chain on my hardtail meant I had to race my 'full-susser', aka The Beast - this machine was not built for speed, let alone to race. It weighs about 15 kgs and is quite possibly indestructible. In addition, I was having last minute 'issues' with my rear derailleur - too late to tamper with it in case I made things worse, balls. So I was to spend the entire race adjusting the cable tension on the gear lever as I rode, aware that another chain break was surely imminent if I put too much weight on.

High noon, and the race was off - we had entered the Sport category - 'only' 2 laps of a 6.2 km course - how hard could it be? The Elites were to later complete 5 laps - it's just another level. There were also Masters and Veterans categories. Depressingly, we are now officially Vets. Got off to an OK start, making good ground on the fire-road, climbing before dropping down a chute into the trees and some lovely singletrack to negotiate. In the next few minutes I would lose my bike computer (and 5 or 6 places finding it); crash on a tight bend - a spectacular 'endo', cracking shins, knees and shoulder, adrenaline pumping so I barely noticed; a short stop to adjust crooked saddle, post-crash. In all this time, Malcolm and I passed each other a number of times - this was going to be close.

Settling into a better groove now, and onto the big climb of the day, up to the Three Rock masts - just grinding it out, sun baking down, sweat pouring. Saw Malcolm sit down on the side of the track, assuming he had a 'mechanical'. He tells me he has crashed and burned. Surely winding me up? 'Eat my dust, dude'. From the top, a fantastic traverse on singletrack, getting steeper and a lovely drop back onto the fire-road - rockier now, white-knuckle. Back into the trees for a short loop to the start/finish line. Half-way.

The second lap was relatively uneventful - I finally found the legs, knew what was to come and started to actually enjoy the spin. But where was Malcolm? I knew he could catch me anytime so kept the pace up, no complacency here! On the final run-in now, some lad is right on my tail - WTF, is he trying to draught me on the steepest part of the circuit? Bloody kids. He clipped my handlebar sneaking down the inside, and I was on my arse again. Goddamn you! Only a couple of hundred metres to go, so I legged it after him. In the meantime, some other lad was gunning for me now - Malcolm? No. Onto the final drag, finish line in sight, he is all-out so it's a sprint finish with the crowd roaring - beat him by inches, oh joy. And that was it, race over, a great feeling.

I clocked 32 minutes or so per lap, for a 19th placing of maybe 50 entrants. The Elites would later be riding closer to 20 minute laps, and doing so five times. I should have placed higher really, and probably would have on my hardtail. I also wonder if I'd prefer a time-trial type event - these mass starts are just carnage, and it's almost impossible to overtake on singletrack for obvious reasons. XC is seriously tough - and I suspect I just don't have the balls-out mindset for this type of racing.

It turns out Malcolm had indeed 'bonked' on the first lap and was a DNF. This quote from the man himself surely proves ours is a rivalry of Nadal-Federer proportions: "Still sore over yesterday. I think it boils down to the fact that while I've been doing a reasonable amount of 65% efforts, I'd forgotten what 80%+ felt like and blew. So I'm slowly forgiving myself. But you rode well and can certainly count this as a pelt".

Less importantly, Joe McCall - who I mentioned in my previous Cyclo-Cross post - finished a close 2nd in the Elite race to wrap up the overall NPS prize. The winner on the day was Peter Buggle who I've met a few times up at the Blue Light. I would observe that he seems to like his Bulmers, and is 48 years old. Legend.

Ring of Kerry 2010

Got to Killarney after 7:00 pm on Friday and met up with the Tarrant clan aunt, uncle and cousins. James, the uncle, and Naomi, a cousin, were both signed up for the race. We toddled downtown to sign in and came back to assemble Naomi’s bike. She had just got a new one through the Bike to Work scheme. It will be fine for knocking around Dublin, but if I can remark that her bike lock seemed to weigh more than my bike, my heart sank for her there and then (She eventually finished at 7:15 on Saturday evening – all Steve Redgrave, but without the medas).

We three bikers went for a drink down town and watched Ghana throw it away. Kerry hospitality and gab meant that bed was a moving target. Poor enough night’s sleep despite being tired but woke to good, but very breezy weather.

Rolled out of the driveway at 8 o’clock and zeroed the clock at the Towers Hotel, we didn’t bother with the official start at the racecourse. We picked up James’ brother Billy at Fossa and pedalled on. I planned on taking it easy to Killorglin, but took it easier than planned to chat to Naomi. Passed a few tandems at that point but by then had already seen three unfortunates fixing punctures. I went off on my own from there and put the head down.

Coming out of Killorglin I wheelsucked a train of about 15 headed by the Oriel Cycling Club. The wind had picked up and was probably only 30 degrees off a full head wind. At this point the road rolls up and down quite a bit but it was all fairly relaxed at 27/28 kmh. Glenbeigh came sooner than expected and spectacular scenery followed. Out of Glenbeigh and feeling good I dragged upwards hugging the coast to Kells with great views of the Dingle peninsula. I had a good 20 minutes chatting to a work neighbour, but dropped him (Jaysus, you’d swear I was good at this cycling lark, stop laughing now) on the last 2km uphill before the gradual descent into Cahirciveen.

The full fury of the wind spoiled what should have been a blast into Cahirciveen. By now the scale of the event was becoming apparent as the road was clogged with cars being held up by bunches of riders that were hanging on for the first major break in the day. Speed was down to 10 to 12 kmh as I idled into the feed station with 66.5km done. Colaiste Na Scheilige was packed solid but a great break. I had thought about carrying on without stopping but I am glad I didn’t. Hunger knock would have ruined the rest of the day.

After food and water-bottle replenishment, things became more serious on the way to Waterville. I had my worst near miss ever on a steep down hill as a bottle fell off a bike in front of me and bounced just clear of my front wheel. Great crowd support in Waterville but Coomakista had me nervous. Map My Ride had been carefully studied so I knew where to pace myself for the 7 km of this climb. Scenery was staggeringly beautiful and there were plenty of glances over my right shoulder to admire Waterville Bay. The climb was dragged out rather than feeling steep, with great views of what lay ahead once I got around some of the corners. It was cool to see a procession of bright dots marking the road ahead, all moving steadily.

Coomakista topped out with 88km on the clock. I didn’t stop for the view and descended for the guts of 5km with most of it over 50 kmh. One of the best things about an event if this scale is that the roads are all but closed with plenty of scope to corner and maintain speed. A rattle had me worried and I spotted that the state of road had loosened a waterbottle holder so a quick stop was in order. After that it was a lumpy cruise to through Caherdaniel and Castlecove followed by one short, nasty dig at 7% which preceded a fast drop into Sneem with 115.4 km done

I didn’t eat much in Sneem, and with 60km or so to go, I was itching to get back on the bike. A lumpy ride of 27km to Kenmare started to sort out riders as the pace seemed to be dropping. By now many bodies were cramping onto bikes and some facial expressions seemed to be ushering in Halloween. I had a short break in Kenmare and chatted to a local who was putting his bike into a van. As a native, he had started in Kenmare at 6:15 so he was finished. He encouraged me that Moll’s Gap would be fine and that the distances were marked from 5km outwards.

Leaving for Moll’s Gap I had 142 km on the clock. I set off to Moll’s Gap with enthusiasm for the early part of it but it did get tougher. It is an easier climb than Woodcock Hill from the Moyross side but after 5.5 hr plus at that stage it was hard. Shortly after setting off I felt the early stages of a cramp in my left hamstring but I minded it for a few minutes and it faded away.

Like Coomakista, the road scales the side of a hill so there are great views of the progress of the climb. Unlike Coomakista, plenty of people were stopping to walk and get back on again. Naturally, this being Kerry, the cuter ones seemed to be feigning minor bike trouble or imaginary phone conversations to buy respectability. I went around the bend at the top of the Gap and stood on the pedals while a bus was waived off. After that it was helter skelter most of the way to Ladies View with one concerned motorcycle Garda waving at cyclists to slow down. Beyond Ladies View was the only bad part of the day as I was held up for ages behind a rented car that couldn’t find the courage to pass a slow cyclist ahead of it. Shamefully, I was at my xenophobic best on her back bumper.

I had tried not to set a target for the day, but 7 hrs of pedalling time was fixed in my mind. In Kenmare I felt it was on as I had 1 hr 22 mins left to do 33km. After Muckross I spotted the finish line and saw 6:59:20 on the clock.

I finished with 7:02 – that will bring me back for next year. In truth, I’ll be back anyway. It was a great day out and Kerry hospitality at its best. The organisation from marshalling, to food, to medical support was really top class.

I would like extend a big Thank You to Kevin McGrath, Redmond Burke and Declan O’Dalaigh who came along for some of the mad, long preparation rides in recent weeks. It can’t be easy to get up at 6:30 for 4 to 5 hrs in the saddle, when getting up an hour later for a saner distance would be an easier option. Cheer’s lads.

What is Cyclo-Cross?

Cyclo-Cross (CX) has been around for over a century, but is still relatively unknown in this part of the world - here's a good description in Wikipedia. As I mentioned in my earlier WAR post, I borrowed a CX bike for that event - it's a true hybrid, a racing bike which is robust enough to be used off-road. It also seemed like a perfect commuting bike, so I've since bought a Specialized Tricross on the 'bike-to-work' scheme. It makes a huge difference, especially on the climb home.

I've also tried it from the house to the top of 3 Rock, a savage climb at the best of times, and have beaten the 30 minute barrier which was impossible (for me anyway) on a mountain-bike. Within reason, it's been possible to do many of the off-road tracks in the Dublin Mountains - but there is a threshold of steepness and 'rockiness' beyond which you need a mountain-bike - the CX just doesn't have the required traction, braking power or comfort which fat tyres, disc-brakes and a suspension provide.

Some of you may have heard of Robin Seymour who "has dominated Mountain biking and cyclo-cross in Ireland and has been Irish Mountain bike champion 14 times consecutively between 1993 and 2007 and 15 times the Irish cyclo-cross champion. Between 1991 and 2008, Seymour was beaten only twice in the Irish cyclo-cross championships...".

As it happens, the current national CX champion is Joe McCall who's a neighbour of mine - I've chatted with him before and met him when heading out for a spin last night. He modestly mentioned that he's leading the Elite NPS (National Points Series) in mountain-biking - round 7 this weekend on 3 Rock and a couple of us are planning to enter. On CX, he told me he reckons "it's the toughest sport in the world, great craic!". I'll have my excuses ready if he offers to take me out for a pedal sometime.

Here's an interview with Joe after he won the Nationals, worth a read:

After yesterdays victory in St. Anne's Park in Dublin we caught up with the new cyclocross national champion to ask him a few quick questions.

mtbireland: Well it's been a long time coming Joe but how do you feel now that you're National Cyclocross Champion?

Joe: Thank God that’s over, that’s how I feel! It is great being a national champ. It’s a niche discipline in a niche sport, but its still good to win.

mtbireland: I have to ask about the age thing, at 37 years young do you think it's age is an issue in cross?

Joe: Sure it is. Age is an issue now in everything I do, biking, getting out of bed, etc. Everything is just a little bit more tiring.

mtbireland: Coming into the race how confident were you feeling?

Joe: Very confident. You have to be confident in cross. Its so friggin hard that you cant have any doubt. I considered myself the favorite and rode the race that way.

mtbireland: Were the cross champs a specific target for you?

Joe: Absolutely. Time is limited these days and training for cross is not too time consuming.

mtbireland: What has your preparation been like the past few months?

Joe: Prep was ok. I’m not living the life of a pro, day to day things are all in there.

mtbireland: What about specific cross training?

Joe: Yeah, that’s where this year was different. I did Robins Tuesday night training and Marks ghetto cross races at the weekend. Also, riding in and out was work was great, every light, every corner was a sprinting opportunity.

mtbireland: About the race? Did you have any specific tactics on the day?

Joe: Fla’ ou’.

mtbireland: How do you think the absence of Robin, Roger and Conor affected things?

Joe: It made the race easier for me, that’s for sure. After the 3rd lap I was able to back off and maintain the gap. I would have preferred if the guys were riding, I think I had the form to be very competitive. I would have still rode the race for the win.

mtbireland: Cross has gained a lot more interest in this country in the past few years, why do you think that is?

Joe: Because people are finally seeing that its actually the best sport in the world. No other cycling disciplines are you so out of control for so long. If you rode like that in XC or DH, you would be in hospital. I was sideways everywhere for 1 hour!

mtbireland: You did your first cross champs in 1991 and finished 3rd. How has the sport changed?

Joe: Better bikes, better riders, INFINITLY better courses.

mtbireland: Stilly question but for the 2010/2011 season will you be back to defend your title?

Joe: Defo, should be up north next year so hopefully I’ll get to ride against Roger, Conor, Lewis, Glenn etc.

The 3 Wise Men

On a brighter note, I haven't even been able to read to the bottom of this - it's just too funny: RTE Panel Gems.

100km M3 Cycle

Three weeks ago at my cousin's wedding, my uncle Padraic insisted that I join him on the M3 cycle - 100k on the new, yet to be opened motorway through the heart of Meath. Used to cycle with him 20 years ago, when the whole country was in a Stephen Roche / Sean Kelly frenzy. Haven't been on a bike since, but it was a memorial race for my brother in law Paul Healion who won a stage in the Rás last year but died tragically in a car accident last August - so where do I sign?

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/obituaries/2009/0822/1224253079404.html

Borrowed a bike from a tri-athlete friend who also sorted me with all essential gear - clip in shoes, padded shorts, jacket, leggings and even cycling socks.

Reasonably fit with Bootcamp over the past couple of months - but event specific training consisted of 20km on Tuesday - out the coast road but cramped on the way back 'cos the saddle was too high. Wednesday cycled through town and up to Blue Light to meet McG and the lads for a few pints. 40km wasn't ideal prep but all the experts are saying that I should be resting before the race anyway!



Incredible sight at the start line - over 1700 cyclists taking part - over 800 of those doing the 100km. Took the concious, informed decision to ditch my uncle (sorry Padraic!) - he was hanging back and cycling with some punters doing the shorter leisure and family cycles. No way, only hope I have is getting into a big group and doing as little works as possible. Stuck on the wheel of a friend for the first 10km, then he ditched me for a faster pace. Jumped into a group of 14 which was a mix of serious cyclists and punters in GAA gersets who were out for the day. Worked well at times, with the obvious exception of a Galway gersey who was like a wrecking ball in the group - swaying from side to side and varying his pace constantly. F$%king leisure cyclists!

Group from Dundrum CC got annoyed and hit the front - I jumped in behind while at the same time thinking that it might end in tears if I kept up their pace. Alternative? Sit in behind Mr. Galway - no way - go for it. Fantastic feeling - two abreast - draughting and taking turns at the front - feeling good. Loved this back in the day. Great banter and chat - enjoyed telling one girl that I started training on Tuesday - she nearly fell off the bike laughing.

Into the wind on the way out, so looking forward to turing around. 45k and still no sign of the leaders coming back on the other side of the motorway. Surely we can't be that close to them. 46, 47, wtf? They must be taking a different route back? Then they tear by - incredible speed. How are we so close? 49, 50k, no sign of anyone turning or the feed station at half way - 51, 52K this explains how we were so 'close' to the leaders. Nearing 53k and getting pissed off - every km we travel we have to travel back. Long, steep hill and the station at the top - f$%k.

Meet Padraic at the station and head back with him - jump in behind a group of 12 and we're flying - consistently over the 40km speed limit for construction traffic. Past Kells, Navan, Dunshaughlin and a puncture means we're down to a group of 4 - another and it's just 2 of us. I have to apologise that I can't stop to help for fear that I won't be able to start again!

Kms fly by and we see the finish line at the toll booth. Wave of emotion hits me - had been firmly concentrating on my time and wheel in front of me - but crossing the line I realise that it was irrelevant - it was all for Paul. Say 'G'luk' to my companion and cycle around on my own for a few minutes - picked up the certificate that would usually find the nearest bin - definitely not this time.

For the record, excluding the half way break my time was 3 hours 50 minutes - about 40 minutes faster than my target and a very credible 18 mph average. Now it's just to convince McG and Padraic that it's a once off and I won't be eating Dave's dirt on a mountain bike at Ticknock :-)

Tennis streak may never be repeated

So we have no classic Nadal v Federer final to look forward to at the French open this year.

Robin Soderling, whom Roger Federer beat in the French Open final last year in straight sets, beat Federer in the quarters this year in 4 sets. Soderling earned his first victory in 13 matches with Federer and when he was #1 too. Last year Rafael Nadal was #1 and Soderling beat him in the fourth-round at the French Open. The world #5 has some serious scalps under his belt. If Nadal wins his 5th French title he will reclaim the #1 spot.

Federer's loss ended his mind boggling streak of semifinals appearances in majors at
23, the 2004 Wimbledon to the 2010 Australian Open. The second best streak is 10, Ivan Lendl, 1985 US Open-1988 Australian Open.

If Soderling goes on to win his next two matches, Federer’s streak of 24 majors with either a win or a loss to the eventual champ also will remain intact.

Federer still holds the record for consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinals, with 24. Putting this unreal consistence in context the second longest active streak is Novak Djokovic’s four quarters in a row. Federer keeps putting himself in contention - Jack Nicklaus won 18 majors but he finished second 19 times.

Source Wall Street Journal

Perfect game ni-ni-ni 19, ni-19, 19

Dallas Braden threw the 19th perfect game in major league history on Sunday 9th May at Oakland Coliseum, with the A's beating the hottest team in baseball, Tampa Bay.

Story MLB.com