The Chairman Writes...
Hello MAD club members, here is a selection of delights for you this weekend.
First off Fergal will be carrying out trail repairs on Saturday, followed by some riding on Three Rock. It's an early start for this one - 8am at the car park.
Later on, Martin's gang of rapidly improving mountainbikers will be taking a ride over Three Rock and down to Leadmines. Despite what Martin says this won't be suitable for beginners, it's more of an easy/fun ride. Meet at the Yellow House at 10am.
The downhill track in Cloon is very waterlogged after the recent snow. EPIC have requested that riders avoid using the trail for practice this weekend.
On Sunday, man-of-mystery Shane Lavelle will be leading a rag-tag group of mountainbikers on a lonely quest around the trails of Ballinastoe. This will suit all of you who like a lie in at the weekend - meeting at Ballinastoe at 2pm.
posted by Morgan @ 11:18 p.m.
15 Comments:
At 11:54 p.m.,
glenn-danzig (aka barry o'brien) said…
morgan i thought the last of the downhill races was the 18th? or is that a different one?
At 12:16 a.m.,
Morgan said…
Hey, I think you're right young Barry Danzig. That'll give Steve and Fergal an extra week of much needed practice.
At 8:15 p.m.,
Stephen said…
Much needed, u cheeky ... :P ;) We can go as fast as we want, just dont want to.... hehehe
At 3:07 p.m.,
glenn-danzig (aka barry o'brien) said…
that was a great spin up everest today, too bad i forgot to bring my arctic clothing...
At 4:10 p.m.,
Ciaran said…
that was a great spin but unfortunatley we got seperated from the group up from the aerials[did you turn left for daggets halfway up?]
At 5:11 p.m.,
Stephen said…
Yes we did Ciaran. Where did you go???? We went looking for you and stood around for a long time.
At 10:46 p.m.,
Fergal said…
Aaay-up me hearties!
Mr Secretary here, bow your heads and give me praise!
Thanks for that.
Now then, what was I gonna waffle about?
Oh yes, first off, sorry Cormac for not being at Ticknock in time, but to be honest, I think I did u a favour:
It was TOUGH WET DIRTY work walking downhill in that slush, never mind uphill, totally soaked from the knees down, soggy boots and sore feet, scraped and scratched by evil gorse and sore arse after falling on it more than a few times (u can't see the slippy rocks and sliddery slush under the snow)
Those poor hill runners up there today - running in that mire of slush and scutter - yuk! Plenty of wet mucky bums on them - a lot of them girls too (oho!)
Met Shane and Martin who didn't exactly look psyched to up 3rok in that arctic-porridge.
With all that complaining done, I was able to do a bit of trail work up 3 rock, first up was that tree on the shaker of bones - sorted by the saw - yeah man! - chopped that ass!!!
Next-up an exit made from a singletrack/trail section onto the fireroad - if you were going down towards the MAD cc, and you turned LEFT at the end of the gulley/rocky trail instead of RIGHT (which would lead you towards the cc) you'd come into this trail - nice and smooth for the first bit, techy/rocky for the 2nd exit - then the exit to the non-compacted fireroad - now sloped-off - sweet!
fireroad which runs-up from the MAD cc exit.
Next-up the exit from no-dabs - not as firm/solid as it could be but not bad all the same - also did some drainage and rock work along the trail.
Have some photos of the good work- must match them up to a google earth map for ye - later....
Bye for now my eternally-loyal subjects
Mr Secretary
At 12:31 a.m.,
Fergal said…
in case you want an idea of the areas - it'll be a while before we can use 'em due to all that slush, hope the trees are not chopped before the thaw...
detail
overview
...now to order that freeride bike....
At 5:25 p.m.,
Martin said…
oucccchhhhhhhhhh 1st faceplant today in B/stoe! jasus I thought 3 rock was bad until I saw the upper and middle section of b/stoe today! I've the words shimano printed in me knee! anyway JUMPS = BAD
At 5:27 p.m.,
Anonymous said…
no no no your wrong
jumps = alot of fun
At 8:05 p.m.,
Fergal said…
oooh, sorry to hear that Martin, jump/drop training would be really handy for everyone.
Only thing is that there's nowhere with any progressive jumps about (ie; small, medium, large etc).
This could be a spring/summer project for us, as soon so we can find a suitable venue.
I'll keep it in mid for the MAD trail building team.
Anyone who knows of any suitable venues where we could build some training jumps/drops (nothing too big or dangerous) let me know, there's a bit of a freeride spirit creeping into the club ... I like it....
At 8:16 p.m.,
Stephen said…
The place to try them is on a wall that gradually gets higher the closer you get to the edge.
Apparently there is one just like this is St Annes park. Starts at about 1 foot and continues up til 5 I think. Theres also a really good one in Glendalough. Lots of fun.
At 11:16 p.m.,
Anonymous said…
Steve is dead right !!! St Annes is great for jumps of varying degrees, steep sharp ones to get your tail out, or smooth single or doubles to perfect the skills or scare the bejaysus - depends on your point of view. The "CHUCKIES" is the area to be, its on the north east corner of the park, the bit closest to the causeway. Loads of fun just watch out for the beer bottles and cans!!!
At 9:35 a.m.,
Fergal said…
A great spin in suprisingly warm sunny weather in K'town and GOTD had Judith, Tom, Birthday Boy, Stevie and myself happy we made the trek down south-ways.
Some sleepy heads in cars were observed on the way down, (I had to nudge Judiths car onto the off-ramp gently coz I didn't want to wake her up), but everyone soon perked-up once they got on their bikes.
Birthday Boy had forgotten to fill his feed bottle with Bucks Fizz and looked a little concerned, but once he got movin' he was fine.
A quick removal of some definitely non-needed layers (at the top of the K'town switchbacks and we were all set.
Some glorious mud which had the texture of molten-chocolate in places greeted us a various points around K'town but all was rideable.
The EPIC savage-spin pulled-in just as we were getting ready - they'd been swamped-out of Glendo apparently.
A quick chat then a quick lap and we were off to GOTD - wow what a place! little bit wet in places, especially the exit from the tunnel
of scutterous brown porridge, but the rest of it is just class.
The high-speed gulley-chute thing was a lot of fun, ya hear that Tom?
A LOT OF FUN!!
....for those lads who did it - those brave, those gnarrrrrly few....
There were kids clapping for us as we did the last lap of K'town
Some other great steep and fast sections too, I didn't know the place too well at all so was just
following Steve who was lapping it up on his big bike.
There were kids clapping for us as we did the last lap of K'town, they saw the matching jerseys and must have thougt we were sponsored pro-elite animal savages or something (we're working on the sponsorship).
Think they asked Tom for an autograph which he couldn't do as he was still rattling with terror at the thought of having to do the gulley-chute next time round AS HE PROMISED!! (we have good memories Tom!!).
Finished-up with a final lap of K'town a quick rendition of happy birthday for the lad who has just moved into Masters age category,
then into the cars and off home.
Hope everyone was able to avoid the crash after the Red Cow.......
Hope to see ye all at Thurs night race league at Leadmines - good craic, good course and great training
Bye for now!
Mr Secretary
At 7:05 p.m.,
Tom Heavey said…
yeah it was a great early morning spin, and k-town was very muddy in sections, but the old trailraker on the front kept things in order, the weather was very much on our side, and we even had to partially de-robe after a few minutes..
.the first time around that loop of the GOD was such a hoot, although poor old mark was rammed sideways by some brute...nice treatment on your birthday...
the ever satisfying billy whizz descent to the N11 and then we went home,...didnt we....oh yeah we did another lap of k-town, the mud wasn't too much of a factor second time around, its as though u adjust and get used to the slippin around of your bike, it slides and inch it slides an inch there, perfectly normal....
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