Sunny weekends biking

There was a fair bit of it, especially Saturday with the spin across to Ballinastoe,
then there was the Awesome Club Chairman racing over in the west....
Drop a line in the blog and let us know how you got on...

Ballinastoe Mountain Bike Trails temporarily closed

From CoillteOutdoors.ie

Sections of the Ballinastoe Mountain Bike Trails will be closed from Monday 21st January 2008 for a period of about three weeks. This is to facilitate the closing works which need to be carried out to ensure that the trails are finished to the highest quality standards. We would ask all trail users to respect the section closure and re-routing signs. Your cooperation with these temporary section closures will ultimately result in a better mountain biking experience.

Ladies XC MTB training course!

Howdy MAD ladies!
Beth McCluskey and Richie Byrne from EPIC are looking to run some Women-Specific mountainbiking training days with Glyn O'Brien.
Glyn is a very skilled and succesful MTB'er who runs training courses at all levels for various MTB disciplines - this will be for intermediate XC/cross-country skills training.

The proposed dates are either 9th February or 8th of March, both are Saturdays.

This kind of training is very beneficial both for casual biking and also for racing as your new found skills and awareness will help you overcome technical/difficult terrain and thus increase your sense of achievement and enjoyment of mountainbiking.

For further detail please contact Richie Byrne at richie.byrne@gmail.com or ring him on 0876376065.

Spins this week: The return of Nigel!!

This week sees the return of Nigel (above sporting the latest in uber-chic Belgian hairstyles) after a long absence from biking so there's going to be a spin on Sunday in his honour.
The venue will be a riotous rip 'round the Sugarloaf.
Meeting time/location is Kindlestown at 10am (for a few warm-up laps) and heading from there.

In other spin news, Shane Lavelle is running a lively gallop around the Leadmines on Thurs night-meeting at Palmers Pub in Kilternan at 7.00/7.15pm.
Plan is to do the course three or so times at a moderate pace.
Lights and usual kit essential. contact Shane at: 0863195936

Also on Thursday night The Power is going to be brought-on with a lactic-acid boiler of a spin around Ballinastoe with Ireland's Olympic XC (very) hopefuls Tom and Fergal.
Meet at the Ballinastoe car park at 7:30pm.
Pace will be blistering and will be excellent training for the K-Capital Cup which is inching ever-closer!

No spins are arranged for Saturday as this is an official club trailbuilding day and it'd be great to see people out helping-remember this is a great way to familiarise yourself with trails that you'd never find on your own!

Any other spin info let me know and I'll update this post.

Fergal
087-792-7730

For Sale - 2007 SPECIALIZED SWORKS EPIC

I'm selling my 2007 Specialized S-Works Epic. It was my race machine from last year and was built up in March 2007. I used it primarily for racing and very little for training (and if so, only in the dry!) – it's been sitting in my bike room since the Irish Marathon Champs (except for one spin and the MAD club champs in December). The bike is the best bike I've ever ridden and I will be racing on a very similar one next year. The bike did me really well (see 2007 results)

I basically built up the bike from separates as closely too the Specialized Factory Team bikes as was feasible. (They use some components that are just not durable enough or that simply can not be bought). Complete bike weight is sub 10kg. In comparison – a stock 2007 S-Works built bike weighs in at 11.4kg without pedals.


The components are as follows:

• 2007 S-Works Epic Frame
• 2007 Pace RC 39XC 100mm fork. Full service from pace with new uppers and upgraded lockout cable just before the marathon champs.
• 2007 Mavic SLRs - got these at the end of April – only used for racing – very few miles on them.
• 2007 XTR drivetrain/brakes
• 2007 Selle Itallia SLR XC Gel Flow (best saddle I've used)
• KCNC Seatpost
• Syntace F99 Stem & Duraflite Carbon Bar
• KLC Superlight barends

It also has brand new brake pads, KMC X9 chain, XTR Cassette, cables and a choice of tires.

I have lots of photos here which includes weights for many of the individual components as well as the original article I wrote about it here and some general bits and bobs here.

This is a pro level bike with only the best components used – it cost about 6.5k to build. I'm selling it for 3,500e. I have receipts etc... for everything.

I'm out in Dundrum and can meet up at anytime to show it off.

Please email me ( forsale (at) ryansherlock (dot) com ) for more details.

Ryan

First Trailbuilding Session of 2008

I knew you were all waiting eagerly for this one so here we go.
If we don't get something like the picture above built I'll be very disappointed.
Well, not really but we'll get as much done as we can.

Venue is 3rock and the date is Saturday 19 Jan 2008.

People will likely be making it up at different times so whenever you can make it up that'd be great, just don't wait until it's dark!

We'll be toughening up some sections near the upper aerials (eg; Satellite Run) to make them more schlomp-free so they remain usable even in soggy conditions.
Depending on availability of wood, there'll be some woodwork required too, the lead-in to the trail that Scrivo & Cormac & the lads built is fairly wrecked so could do with an extension of the bridge they built - we'll see how it goes.

There's amap below showing the various locations - just to be clear, we'll target getting Locations 1 and 2 done on Saturday.

Tools of the day will be buckets, shovel, rake.

Check out the work locations map here

Thanks for your help!

Fergal

Spins for the Week

In a display of unprecedented organisation we can let you know what's happening this weekend - and it's only Tuesday! This is sure to herald great things for MAD in 2008.

First off Tom is promising a Saturday Spin of Pain. After seeing his choice of underwear we all know what he means. The route is from Taylors up over Three Rock, Prince Williams Seat, Crone and back along Military Road. Possibly returning via Masseys wood. This is not a spin for the unwary and the pace will be chafing. Meet at Taylors at 10am.

There will also be the usual Saturday early morning road training spin - let me know if you want to come along.

On Sunday you can choose between two options - let's call them "the easy spin" and "the savage spin".

The easy spin begins in Djouce Lower Car Park Ballinastoe (venue changed due to damp) at 10am. This will be suitable for anyone but beginners would find it challenging. Then again, who doesn't like a challenge? Contact Martin for further details.
The savage spin leaves Taylors Three Rock just after 10am heads up over Three Rock and continues on to Prince Willies and on and on down to Powerscourt. Following sausage rolls at the snack shack it'll be a fast ride back to town on the road. Conor holds all the secret information about this spin.

We'll be accepting 2008 MAD membership fees and forms on all these spins. Cycling Ireland 2008 membership and race licences can now be purchased on their website too.

MAD Riders Spotted at Cyclocross Nationals

 
 

Full coverage of the event is available on Irishcycling.com and you can download the results here. There are loads of photos from Arek, Sean and Ryan too

MAD Club Champs 2007 video

Well, here it is, it has driven me into near-dementia trying to put it together
as my editing software is rubbish, so this is as much as I can put together without throwing the computer outta the window.

I tried the YouTube route and the video ends up looking rubbish so it is linked-off the picture below.

Give it time to download and then watch it.

Alternatively, download the AVI file here, but note it will expire on Thurs 8th Jan.
If someone wants to upload the file to a faster server then by all means give it a go.

If you don't see yourself in it, then you were obviously going way too fast, slow down, have a mince pie....

Fergal

Club Gear - Last Chance Saloon!

Hi folks,

Just trying to round up any more outstanding gear orders from our outstanding 2008 range.

We are particularly short of orders for:

-Jackets
-Bibshorts
-Ladies shorts
-Bibtights
-3/4 lengths
-Leg & arm warmers

Additional charges may have to be paid if we can't meet minimum order requirements, or we may not be able to offer the full range of gear. In order to avoid this, we need more orders!
If you think you'll need any new cycling gear in 2008, order it now - this is your last chance!

Click here for details

Anyone who has already placed an order will receive a confirmation email over the weekend.

Happy shopping
Sean