NPS 3 - Lumpers Forest, Ravensdale, Co. Louth.

Greetings all,

Good day out yesterday in Co. Louth. I was competing in the Sports section. The course was fantastic! It started off with a long fire road climb which wasn't too steep so it was easy enough to get up. Then there was a drop into the single track section. The rest of the course was basically single track with a few small fire road sections going from one single track portion to the next. It was really dry in the forest which was good because you could maintain your momentum and it made the whole thing a little bit easier to predict. The course was the most enjoyable I've ridden yet, tight in places but generally very ridable. There were a couple of downhill sections that were quiet fast also but they were fairly straightforward.
One challenging aspect of the course was all the roots sticking out of the single track, you had to make sure and keep focused on the ground directly in front of you as well the what's coming up but these were mainly in the slower sections so it wasn't too bad.
During the first lap I let some guy overtake me as he was getting a bit aggravated. Anyway, he passed me and then nearly came off so I had to jam on the brakes at a bit of a steep bit and consequently came off and burst my leg off a rock. It was quiet painful, to say the least! So for about a minute I got really annoyed and decided I had enough of this racing malarkey and I was going to sit down for a while and take it easy. Thankfully, my leg was fine, just battered and bruised, so I got going again after a short while.
I spent the rest of the race playing catch up with these two guys in front of me. I passed one on the fire road climb on the second lap. The other, I passed near the end of the first single track loop. One of the elites was coming up fast behind us and shouting for me to get out of the way. After my experience in the first lap I was less than inclined to do so as I was worried the guy ahead would get away. I let him through anyway when we got to a place where we had to run the bike up a steep bit. After the elite rider went through I actually passed the guy in front of me by running up the steep bit and jumping on the bike before him. So away I went, he nearly caught me on the last fire road section but I beat him to the single track and finished about 20 second ahead I think. A great race altogether, really enjoyable. The guy who was just behind me at the finish shook hands with me after the race so I'm glad he didn't think my overtaking manoeuvre was a bit dodgy!
Don't know where I came yet, I think I might have come in 6th but it's unconfirmed as of yet. Morgan was racing also, not too sure how he got on as I didn't get to chat to him much after. So that was the race, the most enjoyable so far in my opinion, especially compared to the misery and carnage in Ballinastoe a fortnight previous!

Regards,

Aidan