imbrc.com
General Category => Racing => Topic started by: DaveyD on August 13, 2012, 08:54:14 PM
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This is probably already up but I didnt see it, So Whos doing it? Date has been moved forward this year
http://www.offroadcyclingireland.ie/wordpress/category/xc/
Also I just read on FB that Team Ballyhoura have added 10K on to course :-\
Thats gonna hurt! 75K in total
I did this last year for the first time and I didnt think it was a tough as Cooley thriller climbing wise, but its fast and that takes it out of you. Cooleys will be a good warm up event,
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Makes you wonder that an official event should have such and arbitary distance. I just checked the UCI rules and it says a XC Marathon needs to be between 80 and 100 kms long, maybe I'm reading the wrong rules...
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Makes you wonder that an official event should have such and arbitary distance. I just checked the UCI rules and it says a XC Marathon needs to be between 80 and 100 kms long, maybe I'm reading the wrong rules...
Too short for ya Micky C..??
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Too short for ya Micky C..??
I don't care about the actual distance but I love rules and regulations.
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Makes you wonder that an official event should have such and arbitary distance. I just checked the UCI rules and it says a XC Marathon needs to be between 80 and 100 kms long, maybe I'm reading the wrong rules...
I was sure I read before that it can be between 55 and 100K. Im sure the commissaries know the rules, :D Otherwise James might have to give his Champs jersey back from last year!!
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its getting closer to Michael C's distance- I heard through the grapevine its extended 75k now
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Hi folks, yes the marathon has been extended to 75km, but in fairness it doesn't feel that long. The route is slightly different this year from last year's race, to give the riders a chance to find their place in the race this year's start will take the riders on the public road for a fast downhill sprint into a gradual offroad climb and then some more tarmac descending, up a little fireroad into singletrack and past the Trail-Centre before entering the woods for the pre-lap. The pre-lap is a loop of 8.5 km (Munster XC Race Loop) that will bring the riders back past the trail-centre having climbed a little and descended a lot on singletrack and some natural trails with a few tricky features thrown in. Then it's off to do the race proper, this will take you on a tour of Ballyhoura giving you the very best of all the singletrack with the odd few off-trail excursions with a few kicker climbs and some natural trail and terrain until you meet the final descent to the Trail-Centre and the finish. There will be 3 water stations on the route so if you want bottles at these please bring them to sign on and place them in the boxes supplied. The last Lap cafe will provide much needed refreshments after the race, so if you are looking for a value for money race this year this is the one.
Cieran.
Team Ballyhoura.
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Forgot to register for this :-[. Registration closed at 6 today. tried tonight and regristation and payment went through.So if you hav'nt registered get the finger out!!!
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Looks like you made it in joe
http://www.offroadcyclingireland.ie/wordpress/offroad-racing/online-registration/
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Registration closed at 6 today.
Oooops!
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Registration closed at 6 today.
Oooops!
Your on the ball..!! There is always the mini marathon.... prob too short for you ;)
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It's either that or stay in bed...
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Remember to bring a spare mech hanger lads....you dont want to be stuck facing a 20km walk back to the start like i was last weekend...
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Yet another race I cannot do because….……
The pre-register and pay a week or more before the event is inconvenient for some people. I do not have easy internet access - nor do I want to forfeit money if for whatever reason I cannot make a race.
I don't understand it because the host club are missing out on income from last minute goobers like me. I have a valid Cycling Ireland license which states my race category so there is no issue with needing time to validate me.
Will not catch you on the trails,
Colm.
p.s. Hope ye enjoy yourselves, sounds like it’ll be fun.
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Yet another race I cannot do because….……
The pre-register and pay a week or more before the event is inconvenient for some people. I do not have easy internet access - nor do I want to forfeit money if for whatever reason I cannot make a race.
I don't understand it because the host club are missing out on income from last minute goobers like me. I have a valid Cycling Ireland license which states my race category so there is no issue with needing time to validate me.
Will not catch you on the trails,
Colm.
p.s. Hope ye enjoy yourselves, sounds like it’ll be fun.
Couldn't agree with you more Colm, I thinks its ridiculous that you have to pay beforehand, Have you tried emailing the club to see if you can get a late entry? Might be worth a shot.
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I thinks its ridiculous that you have to pay beforehand
You should try working the sign-on tent next time we have an NPS Davey. ;)
Its the way events are going these days... People had no problem paying well in advance of the Gravity Enduro's
I think if you mail teamballyhouramtb@gmail.com with your cat, ci number and details they may help you out.
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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?
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Best of luck to everyone heading down tomorrow...!! :)
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I was reminded again today how good the setup is down in The Ballyhoura's, endless singletrack, toilets, showers, bike wash, tea/coffee its just fantastic.
Fair play to all Team Ballyhoura for another fantastic event.
However I should have know this morning when I near scalded myself with my hot milk on my ready break that today was going to be eventfull. Myself and ryan set off at about 7 in order to get there with plenty of time to catch the feed stop buckets as they were leaving pretty early and missing them would be tramautic, so we got there with plenty of time to catch up with Craig and Joe and hear all the goery details of the now Infamous Cooley killer Sheep s**tinyourbottle bug, which I managed to escape. (Probably becasue I had no water to drink) anyway getting a bit sick of sitting around we prepared our bikes and got ready for the start.
11.30 on the button racing got underway with a steady pace onto the road and a loop of the lower trails, twice, On which I managed to get a puncture :-\ First one in a long time, cant even remember the last time I punctured, anyway there appeared to be a big hole in my rear tyre which goop wouldnt fill,so time to put on my only spare tyre. Needless to say I was pissed as I had managed to keep Joe and Craig in sight for this early stage and was feeling good settling in to the pace.
Fixing the puncture was torture seeing all the people passing knowing that I would never get back to where I was, I was gutted to puncture at such an early stage, anyway after fixing it and deciding to carry on as I Knew I was going to be in trouble if i punctured again So I started to get into a steady but fast pace and thought I would just pin it untill the 50k mark and then see how it goes.
Steadily started to pick people off and at about 15k and I was sure I was getting closer to people I recognized from earlier on the climbs, All the time still worrying about getting another puncture so I tried to take it somewhat easy without slowing down.
After getting back into the flow of things and enjoying the speed that ballyhoura has to offer I started to enjoy the course again.. Then It happened!!!!
No it wasnt a puncture!..... It wasnt a broken mech or hanger... It was a tree stump planted by the Devil himself!!
What did this tree stump do???
As it was statically planted on a sweeping righthander it was only ever going to catch someone, on day by the little piggy and not let go.
Thats right.. it managed to get one of its freaky offspring to trap my little toe between it and my pedal, and with me at near terminal velocity it was never going to be good. As it came loose my whole body managed to tense up knowing that that little piggy had its day............
I knew that familar pain as that little piggy has previous for not staying intact but kept gong in the hope that it wasnt really broken just a little sore!! :(
I rolled on a bit before deciding I would try and move it, that was the moment I knew I should just go back to the car and wait for Ryan. This was at the 18K mark so all I could do was roll on to the feed station and get directions home, all the time wondering if I would make another 50+K without moving it, so tried only to be quickly reminded that that little piggy was in a precarious position on the very extremes of my riding position and chances of not knocking were 0-none. So after a few roars of dissapointment (and pain) I got directins back to the start to wait for Ryan.
DNF's are not nice, especially when I was so looking forward to that race. I was/am seriously dissapointed with todays events, Dam dam dam.
Me and Ballyhoura have a bone to settle :D (Pun intended)
On another note, Jim, Micko, and craig had great races. as too did Ryan. I didnt get to see joe and Ger come in as I headed off home.
Thanks team Ballyhoura, I'll be back next year.
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Another great race that was very well organised by Team Ballyhoura they did a great job, this definitely gets my vote as best event of the year.
Thanks to all the people at the feed stations who were reading your number as you neared the feed station and handed you your water bottle so you didn’t need to stop!!
Race started bang on time and all was going well until I went to get a drink of water and found my bottle was missing, after some cursing I just had to get on with it and try and get to the first feed station
I had to drop the pace a bit as the more I pushed the drier my mouth got, I couldn’t risk taking a gel as they make you even more thirsty.
Things were starting to get really bad I just had to have water every puddle I splashed through started to look more tempting until I saw a group of lads at the side to the fire road that were out for a spin
One of them offered his water bottle and after a life saving gulp of water I felt I could make it to the feed station.
After a few more corners the feed station appeared water at last!!
A few more minutes gulping water and I started to feel better and increase the pace a bit and enjoy the trails, the whole course was so well marked with marshals at points where a mistake might be made.
The rest of the race went well and without anymore incidents crossed the finish line and saw Jim Hade there looking relaxed as he must have been finished a while!!
As I rolled back to the car park I saw Davey walking towards me and he filled me in on how he was almost minus a toe (hope it gets better soon!!).
Really great event and a great job by Team Ballyhoura, hope to be back for this one next year. :)
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Davey,did your toe look like this guys ouch!!! :-\
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtGtq2LKkHA&feature=youtube_gdata_player
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Jesus thats some report Davey..!! Sorry it didnt go well for ya.. Still not sure how you managed to break your toe off.. :-[
Hows the little piggy now..??
I wonder is big Ian in any danger of a late surge of goober points by you ;)
Well done everyone and to Micko who missed out on the win by 6 seconds :)
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That was a very well run event. Got down not really knowing what too expect.. speaking to a few of the lads I found out that I wasn't the only one feeling a bit sorry for myself last week, (something in tat Cooley water?) even Saturday I felt drained and was having 2nd thoughts about yesterday but as it was the last race I made the effort and am glad today.
I got a good start despite the fact that I was more spinning the legs rather than really pushing. That didn't last long though and after about 8k I started to lose contact with the lead group and the 2nd group passed me. I wasn't panicking yet but was struggling more than usual on the climbs and was finding it hard to get any momentum on the trails. Every time I looked around there were a few more chasing me down to soon pass. I was really struggling but trying to dig in.
Then at around the 50k point I started to feel a bit better and started to get into it. All of a sudden I was pushing a bigger gear on the climbs and getting into a rythm instead of grinding up. As I started reeling lads back and passing them it spurred me on and I started riding the singletrack faster and better all the time. I knew I wouldn't catch the main contenders but was passing most of the lads that had passed me when I was really struggling. On the last climb I passed 1 of the Speedy Spokes lads and he was on my wheel for a lot of the single track to the end and really kept me going cos even tho I wasn't sure what cat he was I wanted to drop him, which I managed about 3k out. Just as we were coming to the end there was 1 final kicker, I spotted Sean Downey (I knew he wasn't in the same cat but couldn't help going for it)just ahead and went to pass as I came beside him the dreaded cramp came, we were in the last k so I just managed to get up the last few metres then twas down a nice bit of natural trail through the trees and by the time we hit the fireroad with 500m left the cramp was gone. I rolled in behind Sean for 7th in Masters with the speedy spokes lad who it turned out was racing elites too a further minute back.
Well done to all the lads especially Micko for 2nd in vets was unlucky not to win.
Also I must mention Colm McGarvey from Epic who crashed on 1 of the boarwalks abou 10k from the finish and broke his hand, amazingly he rode on and hung on for 3rd in Masters - hardman of the year.
I was looking forward to the end of the season for teh last few weeks and will definitely take it easy for a few weeks, but I know very soon I will be looking for something over the next few months---ANyone got a cx bike in their shed???
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I wonder is big Ian in any danger of a late surge of goober points by you ;)
No chance, I dont even make the list this year after all that you and Ian have been up too :D