Ireland's Best Dressed MTB Club

This week, Ireland's Premier Mountainbiking Club also become the best dressed! The short-sleeve jerseys have arrived at MAD HQ in Terenure, and are now ready for collection.

People will be free to collect a jersey from Mick or Paddy after a spin. They'll also be available for collection at NPS #2 in Ballinastoe next weekend, so you can pick it up then instead if it suits better.

The general consensus so far is that they look very impressive. MAD extends their gratitude to Mr. Gucci-O'Connell, who did such a fine job on the design.

Bank Holiday Weekend Spins

Theres a number of spins this weekend wiht something to suit most people.

Saturday 29th, Yellow House at 10am, advanced beginners (ish) - This'll be a fairly steady paced spin up over 3 rock and down the wocas to the road. From there we'll take the road back and cut into Cruagh woods before heading up back over tibradden and finally back over the top of fairy castle and 3 rock and down the club course/boneshaker. If the hills kill you this probably won't be suitable. (Contact me, 086 6087046).

Monday 1st, Yellow House at 10am, Seans Second Savage Sycle - Something similar to the last one of these spins. Non stop, race speed down towards Prince Willies. Exact route to be confirmed but the return will be the same as the way out so anyone dropped on the way out will be picked up on the way home. Bring food and water as this will be tough. We won't be stopping and waiting for people on this spin ... and that includes me :-( so no giving out steve (Contact Sean, woohoo.downey(at)gmail.com)

If people are interested in goign out on sunday let me know, though i may be sleeping that day.

Castlewellan Video II - The Sequel

Steve's video from Castlewellan, featuring the cast of MAD.

Underage Beginners Spins - May 2006

Richie Byrne, Cycling Ireland's underage development officer is running two underage beginner spins on Saturday mornings in May.

May 6th Meet at Dalkey Hill Car Park, Dalkey, South County Dublin 10.00..
May 20th Meet at St Annes Pk, at the Black Gate, Raheny , North County Dublin 10.00

These are introduction/progression spins for underage riders. Senior riders are welcome once they bring an under 12,under 14 or under 16. It will be very easy with an emphasis on fun and skill development and will last for about an hour.

You will need:

• a helmet
  
• Gloves
  
• A water bottle

You can contact Richie on 087 63760565 and richie.byrne@gmail.com

Castlewellan Video

Geoff's video clips of MAD riders during last weekend's NPS race.

Gallery is down

The MAD photo gallery is temporarily unavailalble. Due to the number of people looking at the Castlewellan photos we exceeded our bandwidth limit. We're trying to sort it out and hope to have the gallery back online soon.

UPDATE: The gallery is now back online!

Castlewellan Results

The NPS race season got off to a great start yesterday with the first race taking place in blazing sunshine at Castlewellan Co. Down. MAD was there in force, with 12 people racing (in Juniors, Sports and Experts) and several supporters along too. Mick unveiled the team tent, useful for post-race recovery and avoiding sunburn, and we were watched enviously by a neighbouring club.

As we've come to expect from XMTB the event was well run and the course well put together incorporating long tough climbs and tight technical singletrack. There were over 150 people racing and the new expert category was particularly hard fought. The full results are now available below.

The next race is in Ballinastoe Co. Wicklow in two weeks time. Hope to see even more of you there and maybe some podium finishes for MAD!

MAD Race Photos
Eric Blayney's Photos
Paul Byrne's Photos

Results:
Elite
Veterans
Masters
Expert
Sport
Junior

Castlewellan Report

Here Morgan, what are you at jumping the gun like that....here's a report on the day anyway....
I can safely say that by all accounts, that was a fine days racing, hosted by the good people of XMTB.
The weather was stupendous for racing, with sunshine, cooling breezes and a generally dry day.
First up for MAD were Paddy, Nigel, Marks x2, Judith, Tom, Thomas, Melanie and Oisin (well, ok, he's from UCD but we'll claim him for today!) in the sports race of 2 laps. Nigel suffered his customary fate of multiple chain-breakages, does he really have that much power in his legs???
I saw Paddy finishing, he looked absolutely shattered but very pleased to have done so strongly. Judith remarked that this is the first event she's actually competed in, and finished, riding well to come in 2nd place in her category. Indeed, the women's sports sub-category was dominated by MAD, with Melanie winning!
At 1:30, the expert and junior cats rolled (sprinted) off the line for 4 gruelling laps of what was a fantastic circuit. MAD were represented by Morgan, Ryan, Marc, Noel, myself and Steve (juniors) The pace from the off was furious as riders jostled for position up the opening climbs before heading into the tight, technical singletrack. Having the clubmates and supporters (thanks Lorna, Geoff and Mick who travelled but didnt race) cheering you on made a huge difference and MAD were certainly vocal in their support. I wonder just how Mark Cosgrove managed to keep popping up at various points along the track, if only I could cover the ground that well while riding!
With the adrenaline, grit, pain, determination, exasperation and excitement of the race over, we all retreated to the new MAD marquee where we kicked back and rested for a while. The marquee was a most excellent idea, fortunately we didnt even have to erect the walls of it, such was the sunshine! Such is the definition of cooleness that is the MAD marquee, a certain WORC member was so overcome with envy that he tried to cover it with a WORC banner during photograph time. The homemade treats of carrot cake, chocolate cake and flapjacks went down a treat with the copious amounts of energy drinks and water being sipped as we relaxed in the sun.

MAD Results:
Sports
6th Oisin Boydell
10th Mark Cosgrove
12th Paddy O'Brien
19th Mark Cromie
24th Thomas Posar
26th Melanie Sparth
27th Tom Heavey
28th Nigel Sheckleton
29th Judith Maguire

Experts
8th Noel Carr
12th Ryan Sherlock
21st Marc Pierron
23rd Sean Downey
25th Morgan O'Connell


Juniors
6th Steve Scrivener


Thanks to all for coming out and supporting the club and the event, especially those who didn't race (or don't even cycle!) but made the trip anyway.
Next race is in Ballinastoe in 2 weeks time......see everyone there!

Sean

"Mountain-biking" - the latest craze for teens

NPS Round 1 at Castlewellan

There's only 4 days to go until the first round of the 2006 NPS series. XMTB are holding the race in Castlewellan Forst Park, Co. Down. This is an excellent venue and they've laid out a fantastic course. There's always a huge turnout for this race and we hope to have a good contingent from MAD attending (see Sean's email for details). We'll need support and spectators too, so bring the whole family. It's well worth the journey

Race details
Driving directions
Course map

Kindlestown, Wednesday 19th, 6:30

Myself and Geoff and heading down to Kindlestown for a spin on wednesday evening. We're aiming to be there/starting cycling at 6:30 so anyone else who wants to come along is more than welcome.

That should be plenty of time to allow for a good few laps before darkness sets in.
Paddy

Roddy's Crash

Saturday 15th - Everybody!

hi,
Details for Saturday's spin are as follows. Meeting at Yellow House at 10am. We'll be heading up to Three Rock and beyond, but not too far. It will be a nice easy spin so everybody should come! We are aiming to be back at the Yellow House at 1:30 or so. If there are any riders that are 16 or under can you please email me so I can forward a parental consent form to you.

If you are bringing a few friends along make sure they get it filled out as well. This should be filled out and brought on the spin and given to one of the committee members, or whoever is in charge of the spin - It is vital. If you have a jersey payment outstanding can you bring that along too please?

Being the Easter wekend there will be some extra spins. Possibly on Friday, Sunday and Monday. Details will be posted in the next couple of days so keep your eyes open! There was talk of training spins on one or two of these days also, so come along - the first NPS is only a couple of weeks away! Any queries - give me a shout.

Nigel
poloholemint@gmail.com
0879335403

Man vs Bike Mountain Challenge

This is something new - a hill runner vs. mountainbiker race in aid of charity. Click on the picture above for more details.

MAD Storm Sea Otter

Well done to MAD racers last weekend in their various endeavours. Our secret weapon, Ryan Sherlock, had a phenomenal race at the Sea Otter Classic in Monterey, California. In spite of recent injuries to right arm and ribs, Ryan fought hard to finish in an incredible 4th place!

Full results are availabe on the Sea Otter website: http://www.seaotterclassic.com/2006/168.htm.

Not wishing to be outdone, 2005 club champion Sean Downey boldly flew the MAD banner at the 4th Interclub, coming in a strong 9th place.

With the NPS looming closer, these results are surely just a taste of the glory to follow...

April Ride Schedule

Date	Destination	Meeting Place	Contact
Saturday 1-Apr-06	Trail building in Kindlestown	Kindlestown, 10am	Morgan
Sunday 2-Apr-06	Regular Sunday spin Washed out	Yellow House, 10am	Sean
Tuesday 4-Apr-06	Interclub race warm-up	Ticknock car park, 7pm	Morgan
Saturday 8-Apr-06	A few laps of Kindlestown	Kindlestown car park, 10.30am	Hamilton
Sunday 9-Apr-06	Interclub League Round 4	Blue Light car park, 9am	Morgan
Wednesday 12-Apr-06	Man vs Bike	Kilmashogue car park, 6.30pm
Saturday 15-Apr-06	Easy spin - for everyone	Yellow House, 10am	Nigel
Sunday 16-Apr-06
Monday 17-Apr-06	Sean's Savage Sycle Spin	Yellow House, 10am	Sean
Wednesday 19-Apr-06	Kindlestown, around and around	Kindlestown car park 6.30	Paddy
Saturday 22-Apr-06
Sunday 23-Apr-06	NPS XC League Round 1	Castlewellan	Morgan
Wednesday 26-Apr-06	Kindlestown	Kindlestown car park, 7pm	Steve
Saturday 29-Apr-06	Slightly more advanced beginners spin	Yellow House, 10am	Paddy
Sunday 30-Apr-06	Sunday Sandwich Spin	Kindlestown 10.30am	Hamilton