Le Weekend - please read!
Hey all,
Just a few things to mention before the details of the upcoming spins -
This may sound complicated but I think that it's the best thing to do considering the Wales Trip. We have 30 people going on the trip so it will be split into a number of groups, depending on level of fitness. There is no doubt that this trip will be an excellent one but we need to make sure everyone can handle 2/3 days of biking in a row. As far as I am aware not everyone does 2/3 days in a row regularly, so now is a great time to try it!
What I would like to do is run a easier-paced Sunday spin that will start from the same place as the normal Sunday spin, but at an earlier time. If this works out we will all meet at a previously agreed destination and time. These spins are aimed at buidling up stamina and I think that it is easier to do in a group with people of a similar fitness level and ability. I think from now on this will be known as the Intermediate Spin. This spin may vary between Saturday and Sunday in the future but there will be at least 3 levels of spins at the weekend from now on - Easy, Intermediate, and the normal Sunday spin. Don't be afraid of trying a longer/harder spin!
Ideally if you are heading to Wales (or want to improve your level), then you should attend as many spins as you can, especially the ones on consecutive days.
The plan for the weekend is as follows -
Saturday - Martin's Easy/Fun/Beginner spins continue. This week we are heading to Tibradden via Kilmashogue. Meeting at 10am Yellow House sharp. It's a really good spin, especially the descent from Tibradden. It's likely that we will finish by going through Masseys Wood afterwards. Everyone welcome!
SUNDAY - We are all heading to Cloon Wood to cheer on all the competitors at EPIC's Downhill NPS race. We will have a few of our own competing at it and they will be glad of the support. The route will be the same for both of the spins, except the new group will have an extra hour to complete it.
Some LED lights would be handy for the spin home.
If you are unsure of which Sunday Spin to attend then just contact me.
Details about Night Rides will be posted over the weekend so keep your eyes open!
If you wish to discuss anything mentioned in this email, or any other club business then email me at poloholemint AT gmail DOT com, or call/text me on 087 9335 403
Nigel
Just a few things to mention before the details of the upcoming spins -
This may sound complicated but I think that it's the best thing to do considering the Wales Trip. We have 30 people going on the trip so it will be split into a number of groups, depending on level of fitness. There is no doubt that this trip will be an excellent one but we need to make sure everyone can handle 2/3 days of biking in a row. As far as I am aware not everyone does 2/3 days in a row regularly, so now is a great time to try it!
What I would like to do is run a easier-paced Sunday spin that will start from the same place as the normal Sunday spin, but at an earlier time. If this works out we will all meet at a previously agreed destination and time. These spins are aimed at buidling up stamina and I think that it is easier to do in a group with people of a similar fitness level and ability. I think from now on this will be known as the Intermediate Spin. This spin may vary between Saturday and Sunday in the future but there will be at least 3 levels of spins at the weekend from now on - Easy, Intermediate, and the normal Sunday spin. Don't be afraid of trying a longer/harder spin!
Ideally if you are heading to Wales (or want to improve your level), then you should attend as many spins as you can, especially the ones on consecutive days.
The plan for the weekend is as follows -
Saturday - Martin's Easy/Fun/Beginner spins continue. This week we are heading to Tibradden via Kilmashogue. Meeting at 10am Yellow House sharp. It's a really good spin, especially the descent from Tibradden. It's likely that we will finish by going through Masseys Wood afterwards. Everyone welcome!
SUNDAY - We are all heading to Cloon Wood to cheer on all the competitors at EPIC's Downhill NPS race. We will have a few of our own competing at it and they will be glad of the support. The route will be the same for both of the spins, except the new group will have an extra hour to complete it.
- Easy-pace Sunday (First Intermediate Spin) - For those of you interested in improving their fitness even further (especially those of you going to Wales and any other riders) then we will meet at 9am at the Yellow House in Rathfarnham. The pace will be the same as the Easy/fun/beginner Saturday spins. That point needs to be made clear. Ideally, if you are going on the Wales Trip then we encourage you to attend as many of these spins as possible in the coming 2 months. There are opt out points on the way if anybody needs to leave early. From now on this spin will be known as the Intermediate spin :D
- Normal Sunday - All others, i.e those of you who have done Sunday spins recently then we are meeting at 10am at the Yellow House. Destination will be Cloon, and depending on time after the DH race then maybe Crone.
Some LED lights would be handy for the spin home.
If you are unsure of which Sunday Spin to attend then just contact me.
Details about Night Rides will be posted over the weekend so keep your eyes open!
If you wish to discuss anything mentioned in this email, or any other club business then email me at poloholemint AT gmail DOT com, or call/text me on 087 9335 403
Nigel
Labels: spins
posted by Nigel @ 4:39 p.m.
26 Comments:
At 9:00 p.m.,
Anonymous said…
Hi guys,
can anyone offer me a lift to YH for the Saturday spin please? I'll be coming from Cabra.
Thanks!
At 10:14 p.m.,
Anonymous said…
Wont be on any spins this weekend as i sprained my wrist. Should be at cloon to cheer on the lads on sunday though. Here's hoping for next weekend being able to go out, new bike and all!!!
At 11:46 p.m.,
Nigel said…
Nice one Ciaran.
Can somebody help Rachael out please?
At 9:10 a.m.,
Martin said…
great stuff nigel, not sure about time constraints at the weekend ! but get the mesage loud and clear!
At 3:32 p.m.,
Nigel said…
If people are worried by time constraints, which is completely understandable, then don't worry about it.
In the long run, it will do everyone a lot of good to have a good few "2/3 spins in a row" under their belt.
At 3:46 p.m.,
Paddy said…
if people are worried about the time constraints then come along for the uphill to fairy castle and then head back down again. Even little bits like that will help massively wiht your overall fitness and stamina for wales.
Paddy
At 4:26 p.m.,
Fear is a Factor said…
Hi Rachael
I will be coming from carlow but I could swing through the Phoenix park if thats any help
Darren
0872474448
At 4:28 p.m.,
Fear is a Factor said…
Sorry messed up on the phone number
0872374448
At 9:33 a.m.,
Fergal said…
Great night spin last night in cold but excellent conditions - mostly everywhere was dry and fast. We (Tom, Paddy, Graham, Cormac, Alex, Fergal) did multiple loops of the MAD club course (while it still exists) which was a huge amount of fun except for the killer fireroad climb - a real buzzkill altogether!
Also met Andy, Oisin and Rob up there on the same loop.
Think Alex had some bike trouble so he headed-off a little earlier than the rest of us.
We ended with a blast down the boneshaker where I nearly met my maker ("met my maker on the 'shaker" - hey - a new song title!) you know where you put a bit too much weight forward and end-up nose wheelying and you dunno if you are gonna flip over the bars and wreck yourself or just about recover?
... well I just about recovered - a lot of loose rocks and deeply worn gulleys on that section are frightening the pants off people these days.
The brain-freeze I got on the way back to the car was killer, my ears nearly fell-off with the cold too.
PS: Oisin - hope you don't miss the cold too much over in Hawaii next week - though the cold will still be here when you get back - don't worry - safe trip!
PPS: come back with a freeride bike!
At 10:50 a.m.,
Tom Heavey said…
yeah conditions were good for sure, it was good to see a decent number of us out,..Alex & I climbed up from the gala shop to the aerials, have to say its much nicer than the climb up the road even if we did walk half of it...
After the first run down the mad club course I was shocked to discover the fireroad had been coated in hardcore, which has not been rolled, or do they just let it settle in?..it is horrible to ride on..I had a ball on the club course though finally rolled over that rock at the end of the first forest section...was good for training with all the climbing but in comparison to leadmines the reward is not great, we must look into some track building spots...hope everyone got home ok?
At 11:11 a.m.,
Paddy said…
Good spin last night alright .. and tom is right .. that fireroad climb is a killer now, the gravel seems to drag you backwards. Still, very good training with lots of short laps .. and i was actually flying along on the downhills last night (relative to my normal speed).
Poor Alex though .. he climbed all the way up the boneshaker and then promptly broke his freehub!
At 11:48 a.m.,
Fergal said…
what's that weird moving image on this post?
looks like Morgan's antics to me.....
At 12:13 p.m.,
Tom Heavey said…
If I'm not mistaken thats Dr.Lucien Sanchez, of Darkplace fame...As regards who placed it there heres cryptic hint#1. ligen...?
Classic stuff...
At 2:26 p.m.,
Fergal said…
well I don't like the look of him!
when does he get his life in order and start doing something gnarly on an MTB? or have I not watched it for long enough?
Nigel you geek.......
At 2:33 p.m.,
Oisin said…
I enjoyed the laps on Three Rock last night as well. Its a good way to organise a spin - you can go at your own pace, its fun trying to catch the person in front or keep ahead of the person behind, and you really push yourself so its good for training/fitness.
Yeah that fire road climb is a killer - it was bad enough before they put down all that loose gravel!
See yous when I'm back in a couple of weeks and good luck to those doing the downhill this weekend.
At 2:59 p.m.,
Tom Heavey said…
Man! Dr.Sanchez is well gnarly...How many odctors do u know that carry a six shooter on the wards :)
BTW-Enjoy your holidays Oisin!
At 5:17 p.m.,
Stephen said…
Hey guys, for anyone not a beginner:
Going to meet at YH at 10am, same as beginners and do the same spin just at a quicker pace. Any queries, Steve 0861653925
See y'all there!
At 8:06 p.m.,
Nigel said…
Tom will spread the good work about Darkplace as nobody believed me and Oisin. Morgan and his ladyfriend are on board now too. Everyone should buy the DVD, or ask me for a lend of it.
Also, my HTML editing skills are very limited. The image/video thing is not my work!
See ye all over the weekend!
At 8:12 p.m.,
Anonymous said…
ok then can i have a led of it
At 8:59 p.m.,
Fergal said…
that was a great spin today with the speedy lads.
Speedy Morgan and Speedy Oisin are getting way too fast.
Morgan admitted his single-speed training secret, but Oisin is holding firm to his sneaky technique that's making him so fast.
He'll soon but on spins with the ultra savages like Noel and Ryan.
Steve nearly roared the mountain down in rage as he broke his hangar for the 2nd time on the new machine - good to hear he is sorted for tomorrow though.
Myself and Robb thought we were deadlt lads from a ROAM video until we floored ourselves down that rocky descent on the way to Tibradden - ooh that's still sore!
In other exciting MTB news, I attended a small gathering of bikers for an RTE interview up 3 rock this morning.
It was arranged by Richie from EPIC who was highlighting the rampant destruction (clearfelling) of our beloved forests,
and thus the end of a lot of our favourite trails.
He made a call to the government to buy-back the land from Coillte for recreational users - ie; bikers, hikers, trekkers etc....
Hopefully it will make our beloved politicians sit-up and take notice of the carnage that is being wreaked upon our forests and mountains - these are valuable recreational facilities they need to be preserved, not just a source of cheap lumber.
The news report should be going out next Mon or Tues on RTE - 6 o clock news - tune in and you may see:
a huge gap jump from Dan Wolfe (here's my recording: gap jump)
Richie not using foul language during an interview (huh?)
a close-up of the MAD MTB logo (my gilet) - yeah! Ireland's Premier MTB Club baby!!
a gang of bikers (including me!) lashing around some familiar trails up 3 rock
'til the next time, keep it fast my beauties!
Mr Secretary
At 6:33 p.m.,
Stephen said…
Great day at the races today I think...
The course was fantastic, quite technical and rough at the top with a couple of challenging jumps and then a very fast second half of the course. Unofortunately, it was only myself and Fergal flying the MAD flag, maybe we can try and get a bigger possie out for the next one.
Was not very happy with my first run (clipped out in very mudy tech section and couldnt get clipped back in so crashed) but had a much better clean second run. Wont be holding out for prizes yet though ;)
Thanks to everybody who managed to get down to give a bit of support, it was really cool.... Will leave it to Fergal to write a better report.
At 9:46 p.m.,
Fergal said…
you did a good job yourself Steve!
hope you enjoyed your dinner!
yeah today was really great, it really opened-up another side of MTB altogether for me and Steve too I think
It's weird - it's like if you were doing that course as part of an XC spin you'd be picking lines and fussing over details and thinking twice about taking that steep drop to the fireroad etc..etc.. but come race time, there's just no time to think, take a big breath on the start gate and just get stuck-in and hang on!
The crowd at DH events seem very enthusiastic - special thanks to the MAD contingent of Marky "I'm-gettin-a-mini-dude" Mark, Paddy Judith & Inga of the chilly toes and fingers, awesome!-Morgan (hi-five!), 6-months-biking-and-i'm-a-savage-already Oisin, Nigel Darkplace fanatic, definite-DH-material-Robb who all bravely XC'ed their way over to Cloon and hung around in the cold and cheered us on!! (oh I hope I didn't forget someone!)
Conor was also there and Tom too, and fair play Shane for helping the epic lads out and appreciate your shouts of encouragement!
It was great to hear people shouting for you but also scary as you didn't want to crash in front of them!
Up on that start gate is really nerve-wracking - you clip-in, balance yurself, then hear the counter beep and down you gotta go coz there's loads of lads behind you raring to let rip!
I thought I could do DH until today - I was mistaken - today was the REAL THING.
Very fast, technical, scary, rooty and slippy but full of fun. Definitely something I'd like to do again, as would Steve, I think.
We'd rope Tom into having a go to...he was salivating while eyeing-up those full-suss bikes like they were 18, blonde and sporting lacy mini-skirts...Tom, you're a legend!
Morgan Paddy & Judith may take a little more persuasion but we'd try convince them to give the ole DH a go...
seeing some of the top guys doing what they can do was just inspirational, myself and Tom had mouths agape seeing some of the guys hammering thru the berms and over those jumps.
right, I've beers to finish, see ye on the trails soon ye MAD folk!
stay fast!
Mr Secretary
At 12:12 p.m.,
Nigel said…
Congrats to the virign downhillers. After seeing it I think it's something more of us should attempt. It's definitely on my list now.
Saturday spins went really well, although we lost a couple on Saturday - can everyone please take organiser's phone numbers, and as many members' numbers also. I obviously didn't have everyone in my phone - apologies.
Sunday 9am only saw 5 people turning up but thanks to them for showing - it was really enjoyable. Well done to Judith - absolutely flying. Spinning classes obviously working extremely well! Well done to other Nigel (McConnell?) and Inga on their first big spins with us. I found out that not bringing enough food makes a huge difference. I ran out of steam on the Road back to Tibradden. Mini Creme eggs worked a treat though!
Morgan's 10am Spin had 5 (or 6) people also, so all in all there was a good turnout for such a cold day!
Nigel
Any suggestions for next week would be appreciated. Shane has already suggested making a visit to Cloon so we can all have a go at the DH course. I think Saturday has the most votes for it so far. Anything else?
At 1:01 p.m.,
Martin said…
Sat easy spin from YH to Cloon is a good idea? and can meet up with the DHers? no idea of time or distance! seems a good distance!
btw last Sat was a good spin! and good distance! that blast throught Masseys at the end is a RUSH!!!!
At 1:15 p.m.,
Anonymous said…
http://www.irishdh.com/forum2/viewtopic.php?t=3619
results to dh
At 7:09 p.m.,
Stephen said…
Am talking on behalf of myself and Fergal here (ah why not!) but we are throwing down the gauntlet to the rest of MAD to be racing in Cloon on Sunday week. Also, am making an assurance that myself and Fergal will be under 2mins at that race. Those times set by us are not acceptable,(esp me with a bouncy rig!!!!)
Now theres some things to work on this weekend! Lets get training lads!!!
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