“Everything just came together. I felt strong all weekend and found my flow on my new 29er”Three years ago, I set myself the goal of standing on an Enduro World Series Masters podium. To be completely honest, I doubted myself, on many occasions. My performance in Millau and Whistler at last years EWS rounds, left me questioning why I was even putting myself through such grueling racing. With each round becoming increasingly tougher, and competing at the highest level of Enduro in the world as a lone privateer alongside the professional riders, I really didn’t think my dream would ever become a reality and I honestly felt like giving up on my dream. "Am I really cut out for this'' was an internal question that seemed to repeat itself when I was pushing up near vertical tracks on the two hour liasons between stages. This is where the mental toughness of riders is really put to the test. So, with coming out of last season feeling fairly dejected from it all, I had time to reflect. I didn't want to quit racing at this level. With some rest and regeneration, I knew that I was cut out for it. I had it in me, I just needed to prepare better. I made the conscious decision not to stress about it over any more. I got stuck into a consistent training routine over the winter, regained my confidence and focused all my attention on winning on home turf. And that’s exactly what I did. 2018 started with four wins in a row, I was feeling on top of my game, strong and fit and of course having an awesome time on my bike. Hosted by the Blackhole Bike Festival, the fourth round of the EWS venue was, for the first time, spread across two countries - Slovenia and Austria. Both days started out at the race village in Petzen, Austria. Day 01 we pedalled across the border into Slovenia for stages 1 and 2, and back again into Austria for Stage 3. Day 2 was the same format, leading us to a different mountain in Slovenia for stages 4 & 5, with a 5km pedal underground transfer through a deactivated railway mining tunnel, then back to Petzen for the final and most epic stage, stage 6. EWS Race WeekAfter a long day of travelling, I finally arrived in Hober, Slovenia at 1am on Monday morning. It didn’t take me long to get used to the left hand drive after two hours maneovering along the tight, twisty turns through the Austrian mountains. I was very glad to put my head on a pillow, something that was to become a regular feeling over the course of the week!! I woke the next morning to the sound of the river outside and drew the curtains to reveal the beautiful hillside and on it a family of goats staring back at me. My usual routine during race week would be to open up the van door, but there was no ‘slumming it’ this time round, and I stepped out onto my balcony to take it all in and fill my lungs with fresh Slovenian mountain air. I spent the next hour building my Transition Bike, then headed into town to stock up on supplies in the local supermarket. By lunchtime I was at the Bikepark in Petzen, giddy to check out the race venue and to stretch the legs which were aching for a spin. I pedalled half way up the mountain and rode down the famous ‘Flow Trail’ which pretty much did what it said! The park was quiet but for the organizers who were busy doing the final preparations for the 400 racers and hundreds of spectators that were on their way. Tuesday – Track Walk Day Tuesday was spent walking three of the race stages. This is something that can be really useful as it firstly shows you what your up against, and secondly, it really helps you to remember the stage, especially important sections. I chose to walk stages 1, 2 and 4. Stages 3 & 6 were almost 6km in length so I decided to conserve my energy and leave them out. It was great to hook up with Becky Cook and Thomas Lapierre from the Orbea Factory Team and walk Stage 4 with them. The trails were bone dry at this point, which was to change come practice. Wednesday – Rest & Sign on Wednesday was spent getting everything ready for the next 4 days. Bike, gear, spares & food. At 4pm I headed back to Petzen for registration. By this stage the whole place was buzzing with campervans, bikes and team pits were all setting up. I got a tingle of excitement as I walked passed the team pits and saw the huge stage that was being set up. Practice Days One & Two On Thursday we practiced Stages 1 to 3 and on Friday, Stages 4,5 & 6. This was two big days, even with some shuttling allowed. The rain had made the tracks pretty wet and exposed the many roots lurking beneath the once dry, dusty soil. If it was to continue to rain, this was going to be one tough, technical race! In the evenings, after washing my bike, and feeding myself, I sat down to recap each stage by watching my GoPro footage, and wrote down any important features to watch out for and obvious fast lines. Knowing the tracks would change significantly over the course of the next few days, i knew they would be completely different come race day. However, remembering the tracks always was an advantage and could be the difference between winning and losing, crashing and staying smooth. Saturday – Race Day One Total Distance: 50.8km Total Climb: 1,364m Total Descent: 2,578m Stage 01 - 2.87km length, 337m descent From the race village in Petzen, it took us a good hour and a half pedal and hike-a-bike to get to the start of Stage 1. The stage was flat and physical, with lots of slimey roots but thankfully had dried up since practice. Result: 2nd overall Stage 02 - 'The Jungle' 2.54km in length This was an arduous stage with alot of technical features, steep off-camber roots and a very physical final section along by a river. I had a minor crash on an off-camber section but nothing major however it was hard to find my flow on this stage. Result: 2nd overall Stage 03 - EWS Trail Petzen 4.88km in length, -1083m descent Dropping over 1km in gradient this was one tough mother of a stage but it was EPIC! With such a long, physical stage, armpump was inevitable. However, you didnt have the luxury of having a break as there was literally no let-up on the physicallity of it. I caught up with a few riders ahead of me on a particularly technical section and then with the panic of it all, they crashed thus causing me to also crash! I couldnt unclip from my pedal as I was mangled in my bike and lost alot of time here. My arms were screaming towards the end, and after losing so much time with the crash, I pushed as hard as I could, giving it everything I had until I crossed the finish line. Result: My first stage win! It had been a really tough day with over 6 hours on the bike. The liasons between the stages were really hard and long. What kept me going was focusing my attention on not squashing any insects as I plodded up the hills, singing whatever song came into my head and keeping my heartrate in the 'Green' Aerobic Threshold Zone. For any of you sports science geeks, for me, thats anywhere between 140 - 150bpm. My heartrate had peaked to a whopping 182bpm on stage 3! Which is technically supposed to be my max heartrate! Sunday Race Day Two Total Distance: 45.7km Total Climb: 1,368m Total Descent: 2,448m Stage 04 'The Ridge' 2.38km in length, -515m descending I woke up feeling pretty fresh considering I'd had three long days on the bike and with the first race day being so tough. I was eating well and sleeping well, the key to getting through an EWS! Today was by far a better day on the bike with three awesome stages that were just so much fun to race. After the long 1.5hour pedal and a really steep and long hike up to stage 4, we were treated to an absolute belter of a track. The sun had come out and dried it up so it was now back to what it was purpose built for - loamy goodness! I felt super on this stage and although I caught some riders in front again with some time lost, I managed to take my second stage win! Stage 05 - Lost Goat 1.96km in length, -412m in descent After an insanely tough push up to stage 5, as well as the 25minute pedal through the mine, I was glad to have time to rest before dropping into this stage. I had another super run here. It was shorter than the rest of them and suited me as it was pretty similar to what I ride back home. I really enjoyed this stage, my Sentinel 29er flew and I held nothing back. I was to get my 3rd stage win on this one. Stage 06 Thriller Track Length: 6.05km This was probably, up there with one of my best race runs EVER in my biking career! I had nothing to lose, i was comfortably in 2nd place and was leading by just 11 seconds. I didnt set out to win the EWS but this was the point that I actually believed that it could be possible. All I had to do was ride smooth, stay clean and enjoy it, which is exactly what I did. I felt absolutely amazing througout this epic stage and couldnt believe how good the bike felt on this long, flat out track with its fast loamy sections and technical roots. It had dried up nicely so that it was just brilliant to race on. Coming over that finishline, I hugged my fellow competitors and that when I heard the announcement made that I had won! By a margin of just three seconds to Trek Gravity Girls rider Birgit Braumann. The amazing Mary Mcconnloug finished 3rd and held onto her overall series leader. She is truely an inspirational woman. "1st place in the Enduro World Series Masters Category! Such tight racing against Trek Gravity Girls Birgit Braumann just three seconds in it after 76 minutes of racing! Six stages, over 100km of racing over two days, almost 3000m of climbing, 5000m of descending and an impeccably well run event by the organisers, all I can say is this event was EPIC!" It’s to put into words how much this means to me and how fantastic it feels to achieve what I thought was unachievable. It wouldnt have been possible either only for the fantastic Enduro race structure we have in Ireland that has brought not only me on as a rider, but also so many other Irish and enabled us to compete against the best in the world! Thank you to everyone for all the words of support and messages, it really makes a massive difference to my mindset leading up to the race, while racing and when im struggling up those badass 2 hour climbs! Huge shout out to @Fit4Racing who have kept me strong and fit over the season with their Enduro specific programmes.
The Bike Rack Dublin for putting me on seriously the best bike I've ever ridden and keeping it in mint condition! A Transition Carbon Sentinel 29er. WTB for their awesome tyres. And finally to my team, Flow MTB who've kept me in the best kit I could ask for! 🤘 This weekend I raced my first every British Enduro Champs and first ever race in the Masters category! Being my third time to race in Innerleithin and Glentress, I knew that I was in for a week of awesome riding as the trails over there are just top class. After spending the previous weekend up in Fort William for the UCI Downhill World Cup, I arrived in Innerleithin on Monday afternoon. Set up camp at the Rosetta campsite, my usual, and got straight out on my bike to sample some of the fine trails Innerleithin has to offer. I spent the whole day on Tuesday riding between Inners and Golfie, meeting up with my race buddy and absolute legend, Rosalyn Newman for an evening spin. The weather was amazing all week so the trails were dusty and FAAAAST! Taking a break to rest up on Wednesday and Thursday, I was fresh for the first day of practice on the Friday. I hit stages at 'Golfie' with pro rider Becky Cooke who races for the Orbea Factory Team. It was fun trying to learn the stages while trying my best to keep up with her! Saturday we practiced the stages at Innerleithin and Glentress, home in time to make dinner in the van and get to the rider briefing back at the race village. After two days of really fun, chilled practice, it was time to get racing. I was feeling really good, practice had gone well, my nutrition and sleep was spot on and the weather was ace! The perfect remedy for the perfect race! The women set off from the race village just before 10am. With over 25 women racing, it was really cool that we each set off individually on the stage, each of us having a young local rider to roll down the ramp with. The whole event was organised so well. The transitions to each stage were tight, so there was no time for delaying or chit chatting. We set a good pace along the route to Innerleithin for Stage 1. It was to be my first race on the new bike, and with a weeks riding under my belt, I now felt really comfortable on my new Transition Carbon Sentinel 29er. A big change from last years 650b Patrol with the bigger wheels but I felt good on it within just a few days. Six stages, all very much like downhill stages and pedalling over 53km, it was going to be a six hour day on the bike. The sun was beating down on us all day which made the transitions that bit tougher. I didnt ride as well as I could have on stage one, with a little too much pressure in my back tyre, I felt a little out of control on the steep rooty sections. Stage 2 was a lot better and by the time I got to Stage 3, I was feeling my flow. Stage 4 was the steepest of all, nicknamed F.E.A.R, mainly because thats what it instilled in most of us!! I went for it and rode clean and loved every second of it! Stage 5 , nicknamed 'Awkward little f*#ker' was just that! It was physical and demanded every ounce of upper body strength as well as skill. Finally, we had the long pedal over to Glentress to the last stage of the day. The fatigue was really setting in at this point but with such a fab stage to finish off on, I couldnt but be excited about it and forgot about the suffering! I had the best stage of the day on this, winning it by just a split second! I finished in a time of 23.10, placing 3rd in Masters. Massive congrats to Rosalyn Newman who was crowned Masters British Champ and to Fiona Beattie in 2nd. These girls know how to shred! Massive thanks to TWEEDLOVE for an amazing event! These guys nailed it!
Thanks to my sponsors: Team - Flow MTB, dHARCO Bike - Transition Bikes Protection - ION Bike Mechanics - The Bike Rack Dublin Fitness - fit4racing.com This really was one of those races where every stage left you wanting more but also completely bust!Another weekend of super tight racing against Meave Baxter who got me again! This time by 2 seconds over 24 minutes of racing. We fought hard on each stage, and even though I bagged three stage wins, Meave's awesome bike handling skills on the toughest track of them all, Stage 2, gained her a 10 second advantage on me, enought to close the gap and take the win. The five stages were in prime condition. Built by mountain bikers, these tracks were fast, technical and pushed you to your limits. I finished every stage with nothing left in the tank with both leg burn and arm pump, it was one of those races where winter interval training really pays off! Something I realised I hadnt done enough of!! Im always grateful to be up on the podium, and this time with these two awesome riders, Meave Baxter and Ruth Doorley. Massive thanks to @biking.ie for by far the most fun stages to date this year! Well done Niall and crew👌 It was so nice to chill out for the rest of the evening after a full days practice and enjoy the stunning 360 degree mountainous scenery. I am looking forward to a visit to Mount Leinster again in July.
You know the race season has really kicked in when its |
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Stage 2 was the longest stage with a long fire road sprint that made me grateful for the winter interval training and gym sessions I had been doing. This is where it really counts. Explosive power is needed to keep going on these sections. Starting on this stage with fresh legs was a good decision and paid off as I finished with a 10 second lead.
Stages 1 & 3 were the more technical stages with some steep shoots, drops and tight technical sections through the trees. With the rain coming in, they were starting to get pretty slick and not much time could be gained on a second run. I raced stage 1 and 2 once and as I caught someone on stage 3, I needed to repeat my run to really smash it. I would have raced it a third time as I loved it so much! Would definitely head back to the Nagles to ride this stage again.
Stages 1 & 3 were the more technical stages with some steep shoots, drops and tight technical sections through the trees. With the rain coming in, they were starting to get pretty slick and not much time could be gained on a second run. I raced stage 1 and 2 once and as I caught someone on stage 3, I needed to repeat my run to really smash it. I would have raced it a third time as I loved it so much! Would definitely head back to the Nagles to ride this stage again.
Happy with how the race went, I certainly didn’t think I had done enough to take the win and to finish 34th overall so I was pretty surprised when handed my results. It was a great way to start the season, and is rewarding to see the hours I put in over the winter paying off. Still have plenty to work on - fitness, physical and mental strength as well as skills - you can never do enough!
Well done to all the girls I was up against, especially to Leah Maunsell and Lorraine O’Sullivan who I had the pleasure of sharing the podium with.
Massive thanks to Al Maxwell at the Bike Rack Dublin for tuning my bike which was, as always, flawless. Thanks to my sponsors for their support again this season:
FLOW MTB
Transition Bikes
Kaliprotectives
ION Bike
Ride 100%
WTB
Massive thanks to Al Maxwell at the Bike Rack Dublin for tuning my bike which was, as always, flawless. Thanks to my sponsors for their support again this season:
FLOW MTB
Transition Bikes
Kaliprotectives
ION Bike
Ride 100%
WTB
Awesome work put in by the MBCC crew down in Cork and to BikingDirty.com for a really fun race!
This was my third year to race the Redbull Foxhunt and am delighted to have kept my winning streak and finish first woman down! It was, by far, the most epic of them all! Not only were the jumps bigger and the track gnarlier, the rain the night before had made it even greasier than the day before which made for a very entertaining race! From start to finish, it was just brilliant craic!
Every year we've been chased down the hill by the Fantastic Mr.Fox, Gee Atherton, but this year we had not one but three foxes! Local legend Colin Ross and World Cup Champion Loic Bruni!
Every year we've been chased down the hill by the Fantastic Mr.Fox, Gee Atherton, but this year we had not one but three foxes! Local legend Colin Ross and World Cup Champion Loic Bruni!
Back at the race village, the atmosphere was electric with people and bikes everywhere, Dave Bullet on the mike entertaining the masses, the media crew buzzing around the Pro riders who in turn were busy chatting to the public, all keen to get their selfie taken with the legends!
Race Day - Morning Practice
With the excitement building the morning of the race, and that itch to get going, I was in the queue for the first uplift and headed for the top of the hill, right to where the race would be starting.
The hill was thick with mist as I pushed and peddled my way up the single track, keeping my eyes peeled for sneaky lines off the main trail, looking for shortcuts to avoid the masses and bottlenecks….not exactly the easiest thing to achieve! When I finally arrived at the top, I realised it was just me, myself and a few sheep! Not a soul to be seen! I took in the views of Slieve Bloom during the brief intervals of the mist clearing, picked my route and let her go. The track was noticeably greasier than the qualifying race the day before, with more exposed rocks on the top sections and just general slickness. I made it down, sticking pretty much to the same lines as the seeding run.
With the excitement building the morning of the race, and that itch to get going, I was in the queue for the first uplift and headed for the top of the hill, right to where the race would be starting.
The hill was thick with mist as I pushed and peddled my way up the single track, keeping my eyes peeled for sneaky lines off the main trail, looking for shortcuts to avoid the masses and bottlenecks….not exactly the easiest thing to achieve! When I finally arrived at the top, I realised it was just me, myself and a few sheep! Not a soul to be seen! I took in the views of Slieve Bloom during the brief intervals of the mist clearing, picked my route and let her go. The track was noticeably greasier than the qualifying race the day before, with more exposed rocks on the top sections and just general slickness. I made it down, sticking pretty much to the same lines as the seeding run.
Let the Carnage Commence!
I spent the next couple of hours just hanging out at the race village, washed my bike which was by now caked in mud, a change of socks and gloves and collected my foxhunt jersey!
A couple of hours later, and I was back on the hill, this time amongst a sea of red and feeling a very different vibe to just a few hours ago! There was excitement in the air as we lined up in our rows, ready for the Huntsman to sound the bugle and for the carnage to commence!
I spent the next couple of hours just hanging out at the race village, washed my bike which was by now caked in mud, a change of socks and gloves and collected my foxhunt jersey!
A couple of hours later, and I was back on the hill, this time amongst a sea of red and feeling a very different vibe to just a few hours ago! There was excitement in the air as we lined up in our rows, ready for the Huntsman to sound the bugle and for the carnage to commence!
After the drone zipped past us, we cheered as the bugle sounded and roared our way down the hill, avoiding bog holes, fallen riders and bikes! I had a great start, sticking to my line to the right of the hill, but when I saw the carnage at the bridge, I decided to hop the barbed wire fence, run my bike through the ditch and trudge along the long grassy bog, passing riders on the single track as I ploughed my way through. I somehow managed to make it back onto the single track without crashing into the riders coming through and hopped back onto my bike. My goggles had fogged up so much that I had to just race without them, sometime one-eyed which didn't help the cause!
Squeezing and elbowing my way past riders, cutting onto the grass, I turned left off the main track through the bog just by the wooden bridges and did my best not to get caught up in the carnage here where many riders were experiencing comical 'ham' moments! There were riders and even bikes literally flying through the air in front of me!
Squeezing and elbowing my way past riders, cutting onto the grass, I turned left off the main track through the bog just by the wooden bridges and did my best not to get caught up in the carnage here where many riders were experiencing comical 'ham' moments! There were riders and even bikes literally flying through the air in front of me!
Once through this section and the bottleneck of the singletrack, I opened it up on the top downhill track, hitting the jumps while trying to avoid crashing into riders, making some seriously hairy overtaking! Instead of following the more technical track through the woods which I had done all day for practice, I took the easier track to the left and cut through the turns, straighlining the track. There were so many close calls with oncoming riders it was insane! By now the adrenaline was pumping and I was in serious race mode! Back onto the track at Hecklers rock, I could hear the crowds roaring and oohing as I was almost taken out while hitting a jump at the same time as another rider, both of us landing in unison into a berm a little less than perfectly! With my eyes on the prize and it was every man and woman for themselves right to the finish line!
Stoked to finish 163 out of 404 finishers!
Stoked to finish 163 out of 404 finishers!
It was just an epic race and overall brilliant weekend. I don't think there were many who didn't have an absolute blast and want to go up and do it all again!
Congrats to PlushMTB and Redbull for a super job and for this awesome experience. Now for a little rest after what was an absolute adventure of a race season.
Till next year….
A huge thank you to my sponsors for their fantastic support this season:
FlowMTB
WTB
Transition Bikes
IONBike
Kali Protectives
The Bike Rack Dublin
OLFI Action Camera
TheLabGym
FlowMTB
WTB
Transition Bikes
IONBike
Kali Protectives
The Bike Rack Dublin
OLFI Action Camera
TheLabGym
USA - August
It was time to take a break from racing and do some real exploring! I spent a week road tripping with my friend from Arizona, travelling Route 66, visiting the Grand Canyon, the desert, Moab and seeing some absolutely stunning natural landscape that I will never forget.
The Grand Canyon
Upper Antelope Canyon
Walking through the sandstone walls of of the upper Antelope Canyon was like discovering a magical underground world. It was literally breathtaking.
Horseshoe Lake, Utah
Moab, Utah
Week 4 - Alpe d'Huez
Arriving in Alpe D'Huez late Monday evening, we set up camp just as the sun went down. The next day I did some exploring and headed off for a day of pedalling taking in the lower section of the Mega course down to Oz. I bumped into old friends of mine, who id met through racing and they mentioned that there was an Enduro happening the next day! ''An Enduro race you say''? I was on it! I emailed the race organisers and by 8pm that evening, I was down at registration getting myself signed on. This wasn't in my 'Mega' race week plan but I didn't care, this looked like it was going to be great craic, and after the disapointment of Millau, I needed some fun!
Wednesday morning, and I was up at the crack of dawn and at the gondola which was to take me down to Oz for the Enduro. It was a 3 stage race, completely blind and completely wild!!! We had no idea what we were about to get ourselves into!
We headed up on the gondola from Oz back to Alpe d'Huez for Stage 1. This photo below is where it started, as you can see, there was little to no tape to mark the course so it was pretty much a free for all and the blind leading the blind!
The format was that riders would race in pairs against each other. Because I was so late to register for this, I was thrown in with the Men! It also turned out that my 'partner' never showed up, so I had no-one to race against which had its pro's and cons. It meant that I, like 90% of the group, got completely lost on this stage which started on the top of this mountain. Once I found the taped single track, I was decending at top speeds for almost 20 minutes. Apart from the very confusing top section, this was an awesome stage, so I was pretty gutted when the race organisers cancelled the results from it due to the confusion.
Stage 2 was the old downhill track which you can see from the gondola as you take it up from Oz. As you can see from the photo above, it had plenty of steep, gnarly rock slabs with the odd crash mat thrown in...just in case : )
We had time for a bit of a track walk, so I picked my lines at the sections that I managed to look at. It looked steep but not difficult. It was dry so there was plenty of grip, I was really pumped for this one.
I had a great start and hit all my lines I had checked out which worked out sending me fast and smoothly down the rocks. I continued to ride well through this stage, but mid-stage, there were sections that were literally unridable and you had to dismount and carry the bike through giant boulders, rivers and ditches. It was great craic and so different to any race id ridden before!
We had time for a bit of a track walk, so I picked my lines at the sections that I managed to look at. It looked steep but not difficult. It was dry so there was plenty of grip, I was really pumped for this one.
I had a great start and hit all my lines I had checked out which worked out sending me fast and smoothly down the rocks. I continued to ride well through this stage, but mid-stage, there were sections that were literally unridable and you had to dismount and carry the bike through giant boulders, rivers and ditches. It was great craic and so different to any race id ridden before!
Finally onto Stage 3, another super techy and physically demanding stage that brought us back into the race village at Oz where I was greeted by race organiser and a microphone, asking me how I got on. When asked if it was as tough as the Mega, I told her it was on a parr! We had just raced three downhill tracks blind, with long fast and rough pedally sections, carried our bikes through rivers and over boulders and through fresh cut off-camber grass sections....yes it had been tough and intense and I had absolutely loved every second of it!
We all sat down to a super spread, live music, fantastic bbq and beer on tap!
We all sat down to a super spread, live music, fantastic bbq and beer on tap!
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