Post by barryvankellett on May 14, 2012 12:00:21 GMT 1
Headed down to Cork on saturday afternoon with my Brother from Lakeland CC and David Montgomery of Banbridge CC for a spot of camping prior to sundays race.
Course was fantastic, but it was hard work for the hardtails. Very rooty and bumpy.
Had a class long fireroad climb start, about twice as long as most start line ones I've done before. Suited me. I was 3rd last off the line coming up to the tech zone half way up the hill, but wasn’t panicking - passed about 6 or 7 boys before the top.
As usual, rode pretty rough on lap1 and spent my time picking my way through and realising that most of the lines I went for in practise were pretty rubbish. It was a good course for passing though. The singletrack would split into 2 or 3 separate lines in places and all meet again a few yards on again so you could pass boys.
Lap 2 was much better as I reeled a lot of riders in on the long fireroad climb, laps 3 and 4 were my smoothest riding ones and I still snagged a few guys on 3, held off a lad who was on a mission to try and get me on lap 4 and passed the last couple of boys that I was catching glimpses off throughout the race just ahead.
I finished 9th in Senior 2 so was quite happy with that, still room for improvement and I dropped the chain a couple of times but they were only a couple of seconds stoppages.
Well Done to Young Monty though...
He was winning The Senior 2 race(!)until the last lap when a bad mechanical caused his rear derailleur to fall apart meaning he had to run 2/3 of the last lap - and he still beat me
He finished 2nd junior and 8th in S2 having ran a pile of it.
Simon Curry (Banbridge) had a good race in S2 taking 4th, Gareth McKee(banbridge/vitus bikes) took 2nd in Senior 1, James Curry (banbridge) was 2nd in Under 16 with some storming lap times and Stuart Ballentine (XMTB) was first Junior and well up in the S2 placings.
Well done to all.
You wouldn't have liked it Martin, far too dry and sunny and warm for your liking
IMG_8043 by barry_kellett99, on Flickr
Course was fantastic, but it was hard work for the hardtails. Very rooty and bumpy.
Had a class long fireroad climb start, about twice as long as most start line ones I've done before. Suited me. I was 3rd last off the line coming up to the tech zone half way up the hill, but wasn’t panicking - passed about 6 or 7 boys before the top.
As usual, rode pretty rough on lap1 and spent my time picking my way through and realising that most of the lines I went for in practise were pretty rubbish. It was a good course for passing though. The singletrack would split into 2 or 3 separate lines in places and all meet again a few yards on again so you could pass boys.
Lap 2 was much better as I reeled a lot of riders in on the long fireroad climb, laps 3 and 4 were my smoothest riding ones and I still snagged a few guys on 3, held off a lad who was on a mission to try and get me on lap 4 and passed the last couple of boys that I was catching glimpses off throughout the race just ahead.
I finished 9th in Senior 2 so was quite happy with that, still room for improvement and I dropped the chain a couple of times but they were only a couple of seconds stoppages.
Well Done to Young Monty though...
He was winning The Senior 2 race(!)until the last lap when a bad mechanical caused his rear derailleur to fall apart meaning he had to run 2/3 of the last lap - and he still beat me
He finished 2nd junior and 8th in S2 having ran a pile of it.
Simon Curry (Banbridge) had a good race in S2 taking 4th, Gareth McKee(banbridge/vitus bikes) took 2nd in Senior 1, James Curry (banbridge) was 2nd in Under 16 with some storming lap times and Stuart Ballentine (XMTB) was first Junior and well up in the S2 placings.
Well done to all.
You wouldn't have liked it Martin, far too dry and sunny and warm for your liking
IMG_8043 by barry_kellett99, on Flickr
