Good times, coming our way...
Hi Folks,
Well we are finally here, it seems like only a few days ago when I naively suggested we go to Wales, I thought maybe one car even two would be going, how innocent I was back then. I was so unworldy I even said, ' I'll sort it out'..Well much time has passed between now and then and soon, against all odds, we embark on our voyage of discovery.
I have heard much about this Welsh wonderland, the mecca of European mountain bikers, some even refer to it as the new Canada. Who knows what await's for us?...Well I for one am looking forward to it,as I trust are you... so I hope it's a great weekend for everyone and safe riding!
Tom
Labels: spins
posted by Fergal @ 2:11 a.m.
26 Comments:
At 2:20 a.m.,
Fergal said…
not exactly on topic but just a quick reminder of what makes us Irelands Premier MTB Club:
Rostrevor video
Note it's a big file (12mb) but a good file!
At 10:07 a.m.,
Unknown said…
Well done to everyone who took part! And especially well done to those 'beginner' who are new to racing!
At 12:06 p.m.,
Anonymous said…
I am trying not to be too jealous at the moment.
Hope you all have a great time over there and make sure you get some good photographs.
Cormac
At 2:19 p.m.,
Tom Heavey said…
i wouldnt go near ewe..
At 2:41 p.m.,
Fergal said…
classic Tom !!!
I was just in the Cycle Inn (bike isn't exactly in full health it turns out but should last the trip - new bottom bracket bearing set to install for a start...a few other bits too) and the lads were advising of an awesome trail called Climax -in a place called Corris, only 15 mins drive from Coed, it could be one for the Monday trip home ... one of them was raving about this awesome cake shop that does a curry soup - we'll have to sniff it out...
At 3:56 p.m.,
Ryan Sherlock said…
The video is cool - good job Fergal & Cieran.
At 5:39 p.m.,
Tom Heavey said…
Yeah the video looks great lads, ...Cormac we'll bring back copious amounts of pics no doubt, although bear in mind what happens in Wales stays in Wales, now where is that little baby sheep gone...
Best of luck to our riders this weekend entering the race in Lumpers? right?....
At 5:45 p.m.,
Fergal said…
nah, Lumpers got lumps knocked out of it by Coillte, Carlingford is the venue, 80% singletrack I hear, Mr Sherlock will be pleased....
At 6:10 p.m.,
Ryan Sherlock said…
Yeah, I'll be racing this weekend (I'm sure Sean is too).
I'm looking forward to it - all that single track. If the race was not on I'd be bouncy off the walls with all you guys getting off to Wales.
Have a great trip and remember, your not going fast unless you properly scare yourself at least once a day :)
At 7:10 p.m.,
Stephen said…
Have a deadly one lads, i'll be sipping on espressos or similar in Rome while you guys are testing out these world class trails for me! Hope to see a whole load of savager savages when I come back and a Tom that has satisfied his animal needs! ;)
At 9:07 p.m.,
Ciaran said…
well i hope your havin a good trip and martin doesnt get a punture! but we do have bad problem-no dabs is goin next week [sat 7th of april]
At 10:30 p.m.,
shane said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
At 10:43 p.m.,
shane said…
you better be having a good time over there
cold frikin weather over here
At 8:51 p.m.,
Dylan (Wales) said…
hope u guys had fun in my home
country,Wales.
Coed-y-Brenin means Forest of Kings(useless welsh info for ya!)
i live in the states now .Am a member of MORC(minnesota off road cyclists)chek out our website.
Dylan (x-MAD member)
At 10:19 p.m.,
Martin said…
just in the door frmo wales and the body is shagged! was a brill weekend ! and loads of deadly mtbing ! Wales ROcks!
At 4:34 p.m.,
Mark C said…
come on come on wheres the photos and the videos and the crack, you lads have been home since this mornin......
Seen Brians video of climax, looked deadly, jealous me....no, get well soon Brian, looked like a nasty fall
At 8:07 p.m.,
Anonymous said…
I hope you all had a brilliant time in wales. Mad got 2 podium finishers yesterday - Shane (2nd) and Ciaran (3rd) - on what i thought was a brilliant course, definitely my favourite race so far.
At 10:43 p.m.,
Sean said…
Not forgetting Inga's 3rd place in Sport's Ladies....although she didn't get her trophy. For some reason they presented the girl in 4th with it instead. But 3 podium finishes made for a decent weekend.
I think I'm fair in saying that myself and Ryan both had disasters. Ryan suffered 3 punctures and seemed to run more laps than he cycled, while I just couldn't get to grips with the course at all. I did enjoy the fireroad though :-)
Thanks once again to Shane and Oisin for the bottles and tech support, the Team MAD soigneurs did a brilliant job once again.
Sean
At 12:51 a.m.,
Anonymous said…
sorry about forgetting your podium Inga, and thanks again for the help with my bent chain.
At 11:24 a.m.,
Fergal said…
Wow!
A sunsoaked biking paradise with loads of woolly beauties in the fields, trails you couldn't make-up in your head, great company, mostly well-behaved bikes, hearty breakfasts, extreme (and some not-so-extreme) action footage, very few crashes and resulting injuries (hope your leg gets better soon Brian - mine seems ok, just looks like I spilled raspberry jam down it), did I mention the Sunday sunshine? yes I think I did, bizarre drinking games without the drink...oh there's loads more...I just need to do some work first in order to afford the next one.
THE VIDEO is in conception stage, can everyone who has any media from the trip fire it on to me at fergal.kilkenny@gmail.com.
If you have a lot of info, zip it up and put it on http://www.yousendit.com/ and I'll be able to pull it down from there , ideas for the video most welcome...
At 12:44 p.m.,
Ryan Sherlock said…
As Sean said, I had a pretty unfortunate race. I felt strong and was sitting in 5th on the first lap when my rear punctured. I fixed that (about 2:20 gone) and by the start of the 5th I was in 8th. Another puncture => 2.5km run with the bike through single track. I got a new wheel and then another puncture about 2.5km away from home => another long run...
I was a bit annoyed but felt good when I was riding. Thanks a million to Shane and Oisin! They did a great job (and helped to calm me down - I owe some of yas 2 tubes...)
Anyway, I'm off to buy a tubeless wheelset... :)
At 1:20 p.m.,
Fergal said…
hard luck with the punctures Ryan, hopefully Castlewellan will be a mechanical-free race for you.
well done to all other MAD racers also, we were thinking of ye when we were hammering down
the Cli-MACHX trail in Wales -
ye would have loved it-
4 minutes of full-on downhill bermed/bench-cut/northshored/bridged/rocky-dropped delightful full-speed terror.....still buzzing......
At 2:02 p.m.,
Tom Heavey said…
Well what an amazing trip, the weather was just perfect, great craic, I think I was the only person with a major mechanical issue,(Thanks 4 the bike Conor and my mechanic Rob ; )...
On Friday we rode The Marin Trail, which was a great XC loop with an excellent final descent, but saturdays discovery of CliMACHX is unforgettable, it was so addictive that a bunch of us did the whole route twice and then some of us did the final descent twice more, and twice again on sunday evening!!..it was such a buzz, words just don't do it justice.....we have plenty of photos and video footage that will be coming soon...(Hope the legs ok Brian?)..
It was great to ride CyB after hearing of it so often over the last year, it was the place that excited me the least although I still enjoyed my ride around the orange route,..For the final ride of the trip a few die-hards including myself returned to do cliMACHX twice more before we decided not to push our luck any further, on the drive back to the hotel myself and Nigel were discussung disc brakes and v brakes when I noticed my car had no brakes so we crawled home!...(not literally)...
I could write so much more, but to sum it up all I can say is what a great trip...Thanks to everyone who came and made it so much fun!...
Well done to our racers over the weekend, and better luck in the next round to those who were unlucky this time out!
At 2:39 p.m.,
Unknown said…
I know the "most mechanical breakdowns" award will have to go to poor Tom for bike and car malfunctions, and I think the "most punctures" award has to go to Shane Lavelle - the Gerbilator - for 3 punctures in the one day, two on his bike and one on his van! I also think the "car carrying the most injuried people" award will have to go to Ronan's car. He and Brendan had nasty crashes on the same day, resulting in a limping Ronan and wrist-strapped Brendan. Not wanting to be out done, I rode into a tree stump the next day and have some fantastic brusies, aswell as 5 home made paper stitches on the back of my knee!
All is all, a fantatic weekend! Wonderful weather, great company, wonderful food, fantastic trails. Can we go back?
At 10:00 a.m.,
Anonymous said…
I'd just like to say a big thank you to everyone in MAD, it was a great coupla days riding with a sound bunch of people.
Thanks for allowing me to come on the trip!
At 3:12 p.m.,
Tom Heavey said…
Glad you enjoyed it Ian! it was really great trip..
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