Messages

1

Racing / Re: Gravity Enduro Rd4-Carrick

« on: September 09, 2012, 09:19:45 PM »

seen mr mc cluskey descending stage 5 like a rocket.

Ha ha I lost a bundle of time on the muddy stuff at the bottom.  The event of the year without a doubt so much fun.  Heading there on a night spin during the week.  Carrick is going to become a mecca for enduro ridders, well done to biking.ie for opening up all the trails.

2

Spins (Public) / MTB Rendezvous Sunday 23rd September 2012

« on: September 04, 2012, 05:49:13 PM »

We have a plan for this but it's top secret because I haven't thought about it yet!  Let get as many old friends of the club out as we can, it's going to be some craic!

The offiical blurb

MTB Rendezvous Sunday 23rd September 2012

Revive your Ride on the ultimate Sunday spin.

If you are one of the hundreds of mountain bikers who head into the hills every weekend there is a not to be missed spin for you coming next month.

MTB Rendezvous is a new concept for an MTB spin gathering everyone for food and refreshments at the end of their cycle in Knockree Youth Hostel at 12:00 noon, Sunday 23rd September.

Catering for all abilities you can ride out with your club or regular cycling buddies and travel as far a distance as your legs will take you and from any starting point. The only requirement is to Rendezvous at 12:00 noon in Knockree Youth Hostel.

The concept was put together by a few old time mountain bikers from Dublin keen to create a social MTB event where all abilities could participate in. Trying to create a spin to suit the Super Pro’s and the local trail riders proved just about impossible as routes would be too severe or too tame. Either way everyone would split up and be spread across two mountains (not very sociable) within the first hour. So the idea was to reverse it. Let each group of riders or club choose their own preferred route and cycle out for 1, 2 or 3 hours where everyone would Rendezvous in the one place at the one time.

With Knockree Youth Hostel kindly providing the venue it has the facilities to cater for hundreds of tired and hungry mountain bikers. Nestled in between Enniskerry and Glencree and within view from Djouce forest and the Wicklow way, it is the ideal location for such a gathering and only a short cycle home on the road.

There is no car parking at Knockree so don’t forget to make allowances for your spin home. Enniskerry is only 6km away or take a short climb over the Featherbeds and then downhill all the way back to Rathfranham.

With the great support from all the local MTB clubs, EPIC MTB, Mountainbike Association of Dublin, IMBRC, Team WORC, Racing 795, Rocky Mountain and the Off-Road Commission, all the refreshments will be free to everyone who can Rendezvous at 12:00 noon.

Are you going to Rendezvous?

Further details and updates see us here http://www.facebook.com/bikerendezvous

3

Racing / Re: Marathon Champs 26th Aug

« on: August 25, 2012, 12:05:15 PM »

Hey Colm, I’m going to have to give tomorrow a miss too, still recovering from food poisoning.  Going for an enduro spin I wouldn’t survive 4 hours flat out, drop ya a text later. 

On the pre-registration thing why do they have to keep the money?  If you got it back (or at least a portion of it) a lot more people would pre-register.  I know it’s a risk for the promoters but at the end of the day is it fair to charge someone for a race they didn’t compete in?

4

Racing / Re: Da Cooley Thriller 2012

« on: August 16, 2012, 12:29:26 PM »

Slag me off will ya... your lucky I can never find your house!

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Racing / Re: Da Cooley Thriller 2012

« on: August 16, 2012, 08:53:13 AM »

I'm going, this could be my last chance to race in a national champs jersey:-)   I presume you can enter on the day?

no harm downloading the gps file for your Garmin as people have been known to get lost up there..! 

This is an understatement!!!!!  I haven't done the Thriller which is marked better but I've got lost at least once every time I've raced up there.  The open nature of the terrain makes it easy to miss turns when your racing hard.  Paul you'll be fine because you race slowly:-)

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Racing / Re: XC Nationals-Djouce Woods

« on: July 19, 2012, 12:44:34 PM »

Where's the bench cut climb we practiced twenty times!   Trust Stu to be the first person to get a strava KOM on the nationals course:-)

7

General Discussion / Re: gopro or contour..?

« on: June 25, 2012, 12:31:35 PM »

I have the Contour HD and I find the picture quality very good.  Where it falls down is the quality of the mounts.  The vented helmet mount shakes too much on rough trails.  Certain helmets work better than other but they should really have a better solution.  They also don’t make a body mount.

The GoPro is just ugly and bulky in comparison.  They have a cool body mount strap though.  I would say it’s more suited to Downhill than XC/Enduro stuff.  If I was buying again I would go for the GOPRO because you the most interesting videos are DH stuff.  The contour wins as a head cam on a XC spin though!

8

General Discussion / How should you vote on Thursday?

« on: May 29, 2012, 11:55:45 PM »

With the upcoming referendum the mountain bikers of Ireland are pondering on how to vote.  Here’s my handy guide to help you make up your mind. 

What is it then? The treaty amends the constitution so that governments of the future must adhere to budget deficits levels set by the EU.

How does this affect Mountain Bikers then?    Well this is a tricky question as no one can predict the future.  I have compiled an economic model to try assess the impact of various scenarios.  For simplistic purposes I’m assuming Ireland is sticking with the Euro and that the government of the day are as idiotic as all previous governments, two reasonable assumptions.

No vote scenario:  The government will cut spending due to lack of credit.  The reduction in expenditure will lead to job losses and falls in the price of non exportable goods and services.  As bikes are imported from Taiwan these will become relative more expensive to other items such as houses and haircuts.   Fortunately cuts in spending will lead to less state backed trail manufacture and cuts in enforcement of EU conservation rules.  More unemployment may also lead to bums living in the mountains creating cool naturals trails however my economic model is vague in the numbers of people who will go completely mad.

Yes vote scenario: The government will continue spending like there is no tomorrow.  Bikes will remain at relatively the same cost.  Tomorrow will arrive and the no vote scenario will play out for even longer. 

So my recommendation is buy a bike now and vote yes, that way you can afford the bike and you’ll get to ride some great trails later when the country runs out of money!

9

Racing / Re: NPS 2012 Rd4- Lady Dixon Park

« on: May 28, 2012, 01:30:34 PM »

S1 Jim ya savage!  Looked like a good race, well done to all that made the effort to head up on such a nice day.  

10

General Discussion / Random Post - Getting extra life out of Crossmax Hubs

« on: May 28, 2012, 01:22:13 PM »

This is for Pete, but I thought I would post it on the public forum.  The freehub on Crossmax hubs tends to wear out with use, eventually even if you replace the entire freehub body you will still have too much play.  Do not throw your 600 yoyo wheels in the bin just yet, you can just get oversize bushings that compensate for the wear.  The job is simple just cut out the old bushing and press in one of these.

http://www.ebay.ie/itm/Qty-2-Mavic-Crossmax-Freehub-Bushing-003-Oversize-/260460008332?pt=Cycling_Parts_Accessories&hash=item3ca4a0538c

The cassette will then sit tighter on the wheel getting rid of those sloppy gear changes.  A word of warning though, these only work if your hub is worn, otherwise the oversize bushing will be too tight and the freehub won't turn freely, or freewheel to be precise!

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Enduro / Re: Dh spins

« on: May 11, 2012, 04:01:02 PM »

I thought you were the official BMX and climbing wall committee!!  

The BMX is under Downhill, Tea & Picnics committee.  Climbing is unofficial.   Fortunately there will never be a boring walking committee, unless you set that up yourself!

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Enduro / Re: Dh spins

« on: May 11, 2012, 03:33:34 PM »

The official Downhill committee will be making a significant announcement in the near future!  As proper jumps and drops are dangerous we’ll be keeping the groups small to start with.  More information shortly!

13

Racing / Re: 2012 Summer Club League

« on: May 10, 2012, 12:29:02 PM »

That was a TOP CLASS biker we got in for the day to demonstrate which line not to take and how to preform a graceful dismount while still looking cool..!!

Self praise is no praise, Paul!

14

Racing / Re: NPS 2012 Rd2- Bellurgan Pk

« on: May 03, 2012, 08:29:27 AM »

Did anyone pick up and IMBRC Windtex I couldn't find it after the race:-(

15

Racing / Re: NPS 2012 Rd2- Bellurgan Pk

« on: April 29, 2012, 12:01:03 AM »

For those traveling down the race Senior 1/2/3 races is starting at the later time of 2pm.  Daft idea something that a committee man like Paul would come up with and vote for!