Race this Sunday

For anybody who can't get enough of the racing scene, there's an Ulster XC round this Sunday (28th) hosted by Banbridge Cycling Club.
The race is at Bigwood, near Warrenpoint in Co. Down, the first time the club have used the venue, and by the sound of it, its a great course.
All categories are catered for, racing for Sports starts at 12, Elites/Experts/Masters/Vets/Juniors at 1:30pm
Entry fees are £8 Elites, £7 All Seniors and £6 Juniors.

If anybody is interested in heading up, let me know by email and I'll try to sort out transport again.

Sean

Things for your diary

Club League Round 3
Thursday 25th at 7:30
This event will be a hillclimb, starting on the road before turning into the Hellfire and up the fireroad.
The starting point is on the road up to the Hellfire from the Firhouse or Rathfarnham areas.
Coming from Firhouse, Climb up the windy road until you get to a t-junction, with a farm gste.
From the Rathfarnham direction, go right at the junction just after the Ballyboden roundabout, then the next left and all the way up the hill until you get to the t-junction.
If you are driving I recommend driving to the Hellfire and rolling down the road again, as there's no parking at the start.

Map

Also some advanced notice to allow you to clear your diary, the next round of the NPS is on in Ballinastoe on June 18th (Fathers Day so no excuses for not being able to get out of the house for the day lads!)

Club League Round 2

What looked like being an awful evening weather wise actually turned nice and sunny for the duration of the race. Again we had another good turnout from MAD though a combination of punctures and broken gear cables saw the end of ryan and morgans hopes of a good showing.

The results were as follows:

1 - Brian (IMBRC)
2 - Luke (IMBRC)
3 - Oisin (UCD)
4 - Nigel (MAD)
5 - Steve (MAD)
6 - Paddy (MAD)
7 - Ryan (MAD)
8 - Mick (MAD)
9 - Morgan (MAD)
10 - Fergal (MAD)
11 - Mark (IMBRC)

We'll post a league table soon to show how people are doing overall

Well done to all in Lumpers today

The torrential rain and a hint of mud didn't stop the brave racers of MAD putting in some fine performances today in Co. Louth.
In sports we had Paddy (9th) Melanie (14th) Mark Cromie (10th), Feargal(13th), Christian(18th) and Mick(20th) battling it out over 2 laps of a tight, technical fun course that seemed to leave all riders with a smile.
Ryan, Morgan(16th) and Piotr (9th Masters) competed over 4 laps in experts, we've also laid claim to Andy (9th) too.....Ryan suffered a mechanical but still managed to come in a very respectable 10th, Morgan beat his new nemesis Darragh Maloney by luring him into conversation on the last lap and then opening up a big gap, while Piotr drank only 1/4 of a waterbottle during the whole race.
Steve was unlucky to snap his seatpost on the first lap, while in second place in the juniors cat.

Results above are all based on hear'say so may be wrong, I'll update them when I see the full results.

The next race is the POG, hosted by Team WORC on the 18th of June in Ballinastoe (though not in the same area as the last race there, apparently) so we'd love to see everybody make the effort to get out for that.

Sean

Club League Round 1

Thanks to all who made it along last night for the first round of the club league at the Hellfire club. MAD put in a good showing, with Ryan taking first place in impressive fashion. Second went to Dave Barry of the IMBRC, with Paddy following closely in third place, then Morgan. Well done to Gerry Walsh, new to MAD, who put in a strong performance in his first race. Hard luck to Nigel, who retired after two laps with a mechanical.

Remember, league results will count towards the club championships, so anybody with their eye on the MAD Perpetual Trophy would do well to attend!

Ryan Sherlock	MAD	08:26	16:19	25:02
Dave Barry	IMBRC	09:25	17:58	26:57
Paddy O'Brien	MAD	09:13	18:02	27:39
Morgan O'Connell	MAD	09:47	19:18	28:16
Gerry Walsh	MAD	09:43	20:17	30:15
Nigel Shekleton	MAD	09:05	18:07	DNF

Our sincere thanks to Gar Maguire and IMBRC who hosted this round of the league. Round 2 will take place next Thursday 18th, at the same venue. We look forward to another good turnout from MAD.

NPS Round 3 at Lumpers

We're straight into round 3 of the NPS, this time in Lumpers forest, Co. Louth. There's a few weeks break after this one so make sure to get your racing fix while you can. Cuchulainn CC have laid out huge sections of singletrack trails. If the weather holds it'll be perfect.

Driving directions from the South: Take the M1/N1 north from Dublin. Through Ballymac roundabout, heading north. Second right (R174, 2.5k) on bad bend, for Ravensdale. Right at t-junction, 2k to Lumbers pub. It'll be signposted on the day before race.

Full event details
Dubious driving directions from AA

Well done to all in Ballinastoe

Well done to all the MAD riders who took part in the NPS round two at Ballinastoe yesterday. The big highlight for the club was the second place finish by Steve Scrivener in the Junior category. This was a well-deserved result, after huge effort and phenomenal improvement over recent months. Special mention is also due to Ryan, who finished 8th in the Expert category.

A summary of the results is available on the Sorrento website, we hope to have a full set of results and pictures to follow soon.

NPS Round 3 takes place in Lumpers on Sunday, so we're straight back into the next race again. This will require a co-ordinated travel plan, we'll have updates on this in the next day or so.

Please also remember that the club league starts this Thursday, 11th May. We're doing this in partnership with the IMBRC, and they'll be hosting the first round. People should meet at the top of the Hellfire, by the old house, by 7pm sharp, the race will be about 40 minutes long.

NPS Round 2 at Ballinastoe

The second round of the 2006 NPS series is on this weekend in Ballinastoe Co. Wicklow, organised by Sorrento CC. This venue is easily accessable from Dublin so we hope to have a good turn out. Contact Sean if you need any assistance with transport. Sign on starts at 11am but I'd recommend arriving in plenty of time to prepare yourself and do a practice lap.

If you haven't collected your jersey yet drop into the MAD tent at the race where all your dreams will come true. The MAD commitee will also be on hand to answer your club and membership related questions.

Details and directions

May Ride Schedule

The spins planned for this month can now be found on the new Calendar page.