Post race update

Better mention the past week also. Its been busy in work again this week, but not as bad as previous weeks thankfully. Unfortunately my previous weeks exertions were still causing me problems, along with not getting 1 decent nights sleep all week. And to top it all off, my sinuses starting acting up. I'd been taking and OTC drug call Zirtek, but to be honest it only masks the symptoms and not getting to the root of the problem (to solve that I need Xyzal which is prescription only - grrrr). However the Zirtek was doing enough to let me out on the bike a couple of times during the week. We did a couple of spins in Glending - and one on Wednesday was particularly hard, and I also did the spin to work on Friday.

I had a totally crap sleep on Friday - and spent Saturday wondering around zombie-like for most of the day until I gave in and got a couple of hours sleep in the afternoon. I got another 10 when I hit the hay-proper that night, so it was nice to wake up this morning feeling rested!

However, I had zero motivation for this race - not sure why (maybe too much sleep :) ), just did not feel like doing it, plus my legs felt totally dead. I would probably have preferred watching the TdF and the guys hitting the Tourmalet. But meself and Gene headed over and hit the trails for a pre-ride. The course had been modified in order to remove some exceptionally schlompy bits. It became longer though and had lots more off-camber singletrack which was going to be tough with my Specialized Fastrak Control - which I think were designed by some lad in California who never saw sticky mud (or any mud for that matter).

After the pre-ride the legs were feeling better, but the mind was still not 100% on the race. So, we just hung about for an hour and took in some of the sport races before getting into the warm up.

The warm up was not so good - I just found it hard to get the heart pumping, so just wondered down to the start line and placed myself as far back as possible as I felt I was going to get in the way of faster racers.

Then the gridding started and it turns out it was gridded in the top 10 - feck it! The whistle went and I proceeded to have the worst start in an XC race - ever. I lost count of the number of riders who passed me before we even made it to the single track. And when I arrived into that I might as well have just ran the lot - nothing to do with the conditions - I just totally lost all understanding of how to ride roots. Once we got out into the open climb to XTC I was thinking of just heading down to Powerscourt waterfall and getting 99 from the kiosk. As usual though, once I was on the XTC berms I perked up a bit and started racing. An expert passed me and I just tucked in behind him for the first half of the first lap. I then had a bit of a tussle with Paddy Daly for the second half, but he pulled away at the start of the second (mostly down to me screwing up single track again, but he also put the hammer down in fairness). The course was not too bad - there were schlompy sections but drier lines were found and used. However it did not prevent the pedals getting gunked up with mud. This made clipping in and out a problem - which was more of a problem in this race as it was a very common occurrence for me. There was a fair old bit of running done and I was glad of the studs at the front of my shoes. The gears started acting up again, and there I was thinking I had them spot on, but they spent most of the 2nd lap climbs jumping about like crazy.

On the last lap I started to get even more sloppy, an over the handle bars moment, and a pretty awesome loss of control on one of the fastest bits of single track which left my handlebar pointing one way and the wheel the opposite way. I think I can put both down to the tyres though as both began with the front wheel washing out on pretty ok terrain. So with the national champs coming up next week and a crappy weather forecast until them, I've bought a pair of Hutchinson Python's, which should solve a couple of the handling problems.

I'm not sure where I finished in the race - it was top 10, possibly 7th, will know later on and will update. Happy enough with that - don't think I would have done any better even if everything went perfectly.

I also dropped the bike into OCtuning for a pre-Nation Champs service. Hopefully he'll undo the mess I've made of it!

Going to take it easy enough this week - might do an mtb spin mid-week and maybe a couple of spins into work, but that'll be it.

Thanks to Arek for the photos!

UPDATE - came 8th.

Still alive

Ok, tearing myself away from the PS3 to write this post :)

I have to say that the old mountain biking has gotten de-prioritised over the past couple of weeks in favour of work, house extension and the arrival of the baby. It's getting quite tricky to have time for all these various things, but one can only do one's best :)

I have been managing to cycle to work a bit. 3 times last week and twice this week. I really don't think I could manage 5 days in a row though - maybe it’s just the very warm, humid weather we're having at the moment, but after the 3rd day, I'm spent. I've also managed to lose more weight than I'm comfortable with loosing - down to 74kg's now. I had a 34ish waist at the start of the year, I'm heading to 30 right now! Defo not good, and will be working hard to get that weight back on - no matter how many pizza's and deserts it takes.

Another factor in the cycling is I'm not bringing all my clothes with me on the cycle. Before I was stocking everything up in work and just bringing me and a few bits in my pockets. But I've bought a North Face Borealis which is my new favourite thing at the moment and was only €40 in the North Face outlet shop in Kildare Village! So that's another few kg's I'm lumping around with me too. I'm taking the Giant a lot to work these days - really liking the acceleration and lightness (relative to the BeOne), but there is an annoying squeak coming from the rear wheel that has stumped the Cycle Superstore, but I'm dropping it back in today for them to take another look. It’s probably no effect on the bike, but its seriously effecting and annoying me.

So, 3 spins into work last week, and on Sunday I did a couple of hours blast in Glending, which was tough. Monday, Tuesday of this week was work commute, and last night was up in Glending but was more just to tap around. But I'm been off the bike for 4 days and my legs feel pretty dead. In general I feel pretty run down. Sleeping is tough with the weather we're having at the moment, but I think its also to do with poor eating habits over the past couple of weeks. With work so busy I've been skipping lunch a lot - just going for a sambo usually. I hope work eased off this week and I can get back to normal patterns. But it may be too late as I'm getting a sore throath right now, so a cold may be on the way.

Went out to Djouce today in the lashing rain to try out the nps course. It's pretty tough - lots of tough, technical single-track with very little let up, or even places to get a drink apart from the main fireroad, but you've only maybe 200 metres there. Some of the new sections were getting badly cut up today as there were a lot of people out pre-riding, so things could be tough come race time. The forecast is for the weather to improve later on the in the week so it might dry out some bit. I hope to get out again later in the week (providing I'm not in bed sick), to give it another lash.

Might try cycling into work on Tuesday and then a few sessions in Glending/Djouce up to the weekend - depending on how I feel.

Still no sign of my replacement Garmin – will hold off giving out until Monday though. Mind you, it’s nice to have one less thing to find before going for a cycle!

Back into the swing of things

After Sundays race, I took a break on Monday and cycled into work on Tuesday. It was nice to get back into the regular cycle's again. Wednesday myself and Gene did a bit in Glending, and again on Friday, but only for an hour.

Today I was out again for a hard hour up there and tomorrow will be more in the region of 2 hours. This is full on race pace, non-stop. The fact that most of the loop is single track makes it even tougher as there is no let up - you're constantly in and out of the saddle, power on, off and on again. Perfect!

The road biking is pretty much not happening at the moment. No real advantage to doing it now from a training point of view - unless there is not much on spin-wise and I fancy a change. That said there is a road race in on Tuesday in the Phoenix Park, which I might pop along to if work allows. The Giant is in the shop as the squeak from the rear wheel is getting louder. And between one thing and another I won't be able to pick it up until Tuesday.

3 weeks to the final NPS, so lots of time to get the fitness back, and some hopefully :)

Holidays and NPS 7

OK, so I headed off on holidays a couple of weeks ago with a road and mountain bike on the back of the car. I still had knee problems so the plan was to get on the road bike for the first week and then switch to the mountain bike for the second in order to be in some condition for NPS round 6 hosted by MAD (my club).

I was out everyday for the first week in super weather. The only problem I had was the road quality - which was crap to be honest. Towards the end of the first week my rear wheel developed a squeak which I put down to spokes getting loose (the exact same thing happened to me last year on the same roads). A local bike shop sorted me out, but 30 minutes into the next spin the squeaks were back. I decided I put the road bike through enough torture and switched over to the Cube. I only put in about 300kms' at an easy pace, but I felt it helped a little.

The weather deteriorated in the second week, but I still got out 3 or 4 times. There is a walking trail near the rented house which was super steep for about 200 metres, so most days I did an hour or so going up and down. Again, I was not killing myself, just getting the lungs and heart working again.

Despite all the cycling I still managed to put some weight on - there was plenty of good food and alcohol - it was a holiday after all! I also managed to break the Garmin. I had it on the road bike leaning against a wall when a gust blew it over. Normally the Garmin would be safe sitting on the stem, and the handlebar or crank taking the impact of the fall, but there happened to be a flower box right in the path of the Garmin and it took the full force. Its pretty much unrepairable but Garmin are going to replace it with a new one for €119 (its only £65 to replace it in the UK - rip off republic?!?!).

So that was it - got back on Saturday, just in time for the MAD hosted NPS race held up in 3 rock. It was a really challenging course, mixing some old and new singletrack with some fire road. After leaving the Start/finish area there was a short doubletrack climb up to the fireroad, which brought you up to the ariel's, into t-connector and a new and improved Rock and Roll. From there it was a challenging climb back up to the fire road on forest single track and rocky, sandy trails. I really enjoyed that bit. It was a scary sprint back down the fireroad before entering the new singletrack (Quack) which was good fun before hitting the start/finish line.
My main goal for the race was just to finish it in one piece and the bike to not let me down (which it did a bit in Killarney and Carlingford). I did lots of stretching in the morning and once we got to the race I kept stretching and moving. I did my usual pre-race stuff and warm-up - during which I did feel a bit of discomfort around the knee. I gridded in roughly the 3rd row back (there was about 30 starters). I was happy enough with that as I had no plans on racing any of the big boys. the start line was not on the lap itself but a couple of hundred metres down a fireroad, which meant the riders should be spaced out a bit by the time we hit the doubletrack. So Richie Byrne sent us on our way and just like Carlingford I felt everyone was going too slow for my liking so I blasted up to the fireroad taking 7 or 8 places.

Things settled down quickly once we got onto the fireroad climb and I eased off a little after remembering that this was my first race in 2 months and a serious injury! So I tapped along to t-connector and for the rest of the first lap just kept the bike and me moving. The second lap I got in with a WORC rider and Luke Manning (IMBRC). The WORCie was ahead of me and was handy enough on the fireroads, but had serious problemskeeping the bike upright on greasy single track - to the extent he was really starting to get on my nerves. Finally he managed to crash off the course which allow me and Luke to pass. Luke was ahead but had blown, but I was happy to keep in with his pace for most of the second and 3rd lap. The WORCie had returned so it was time to pick up the pace for the last lap. As we descend down the fireroad to the final singletrack, we both eased up - knowing that (in theory) the first person into the single track would leave it in front and just a hundred metres of fireroad to the finish line. Based on this fellas track record I was happy to let him in first, so off he went. I did begin to get worried halfway through the single track as he only unclipped once - definitely improved over the race. But he came off in a big was in the last third, and allowed me through - I think he had given up at that stage. I plugged away to the end of the single track, but ran the last 20 metres of it just in case and then sprinted to the finish line and 11th place.

I had a couple of tumbles - I cycled into a traffic cone when I was drafting up the fireroad - I split myself laughing, and came off in a big way in Rock and Roll which left a nasty gash in my knee.

The bike also took a hit on the chainstay - a nasty one too probably caused by a rock getting thrown up onto it on the fireroad. It think the carbon is ok, but can't be sure. Will get someone to take a look at it before the next race.

Overall though the race was a sucess for me. I woke up this morning with no extra pain in my knee and all other muscles just with the normal pain levels. Its 3 odd weeks to the last round hosted by Epic in Djouce, so I'll start to get back into proper training again this week. The nationals are a week later, which I think is what I'll be aiming to do my best in.

Weekend update

Right, been a fairly busy week on the bike - probably a bit too much as my leg can sore/tender afterwards. My holidays start this weekend, so I'll just relax for the next few days off the bike.

On Monday I cycled in and out from work for the first time in ages. Its a nice 22km spin up to the office with a short, steepish climb in the middle. I found it hard enough, and the laptop on my back did not help matters either.

Tuesday was a spin around Kildare with Gene. This was a fast one and we even got in a sprint finish where we got up to 52+kph on the flat. This was a spin I could have done without as my calf tightened up a lot the following day, but you need to test yourself I guess.

Thursday we went out on a spin around the lake in glorious weather. We kept the pace a fair bit down on Tuesday's spin but on Friday morning the pain was there so skipped the planned cycle into work.

I'm hoping a quite weekend off the bike will get the tendons and muscles back to where they were last weekend, but we'll see. I'm not too worried about the fitness side of things as a good hard week's work will get me close to where I was earlier in the year.

So, as I said earlier, its holidays for me so there won't be many posts as its a broadband unfriendly place we're going to. But I should still be twittering, so keep an eye on that.

Enjoy the weather!