Celtic Chrono

I did not believe Ryan when he said I could do a good TT (he says a lot of things when the day is long ;)). But he was right - again. He so much trusted in my potential that he went far and beyond his husbandly duties and built me up one of the best TT bikes there can be once I knew I had an entry into the Celtic Chrono. For my first TT bike I thought it was a bit overkill and that the disparity between the level of equipment and level of possible performance bordered on Fred territory (the bike was only ready a week before the race), but he said as long as I give it my best I will have done it justice.

Celtic Chrono arrived and I started 7th out of 34 riders. Win/win situation: the fastest riders start last, so if I did badly than it's what my starting position would have indicated, if I did well, even better!

In Ryan's go-faster skinsuit! photo credit: Stephen Prentice

The race:
I arrived at the start ramp in time and even got my cleat hooked into my pedal before I was off (and yes, Fran, I started in the big ring this time!). I didn't fall off the start ramp either (for some reason that was my biggest pre-racing fear, next to making an idiot of myself). We had a good side/tail wind for the 8km, then a steep enough climb (small ring), but with a tail wind, so not so bad with a flatter road again. Then, when the road turned again at about 18km, there was a horribly strong and gusty side wind. So bad that I had to resolve to riding in the horns rather than the extensions for much of the way because I had a huge sail for a front wheel that threw me about like crazy. I just noticed I mentioned the wind a lot, but I think it was the defining factor for this race really. The good thing was that the concentration needed for keeping the bike upright took the focus away from the pain in the legs. I knew I was loosing time this way, but I thought if I fell off the bike and had to get back on I would loose even more time and what would Ryan say if I wrecked his wheels??? I was able to ride on the extensions again for the last 5km or so and arrived after 52min 16sec. In the end that was enough for 9th overall and first Irish rider, and just outside the UCI points by 3 secs. I think I caught a good day. How can I not be happy with that! The winner, Wendy Houvenaghel did it in a time of 48:35.

Results and write up on Stickybottle here.

A few general TT observations:

• Preparation is everything. Allow way more time you think you need to get your bike and yourself ready.
• It helps to have a bit of a nerdy expert for a husband who knows a bit about TTs (and has all the top-end aero equipment). I would never have been able to do this well without his advice (and equipment...).
• MTB training seems to carry over well for TT performance.
• Big aero wheels are hard to control in windy conditions.

A few special thank yous:
There are many people who have helped me in one way or another to even be able to start, let alone put in a good performance, but a few stand out. For mechanical issues: Dave Daly, Cathal Miller, Aidan Reade and Billy Walsh. For follow-car: Dave Daly. Jack Watson and Oliver McKenna for making sure I was the first Irish rider over the line and not the 2nd German. Paul Hicks for finding us a good deal on the frame. The girls for making it a fun event. 

Finally, I thought the race was very well organized and run, with closed roads and the marshalling spot-on - you know, with nothing to compare to I will take this as the standard now ;)

Gorey 3-day

So, I did the Gorey 3-day this year. The last two Easters I've raced the Ras Mumhan in Kerry as the only girl, but this year I got talked into doing the Gorey.

Stage 1: Blessington to Gorey
My head wasn't in it, PhD was taking up too much real estate. I was scared in the bunch of 180 riders (only 4 women) leaving the start, and sure enough, the first crash happened just outside Blessington when a rider crashed smack bang into a car. Not really helping my confidence in the bunch there. It took me about half the day to get used to the nerve-wracking experience of excited riders invading my personal space at over 50k an hour. Unfortunately I was sitting in the bunch too far back when it split over the hill in Hackettstown, so that I was in the group that arrived 5min down. So was the Manx girl, the only girl who made it into that group too.

Stage 2: 6.4km TT, no wait, 5.8km TT
Well, the finish line did come early, much earlier than advertised in the race booklet. I thought I went out too hard as usual, but looking at the power file I actually didn't pace it too badly. Not too happy with my average wattage though. The Manx girl gained 12 seconds on me. The question is: would I have been able to match her time if I was on a TT bike too?

Stage 3: 4 laps of a "24km circuit", starting at "Monument top Gorey"....??
Might mention Google Maps and course profile to the organizers... I finally got head around bunch racing again. Enjoyed trying to fight my way to the front through 160+ riders and actually made it to the front. Another proud moment for me was that I didn't sit up during the mayhem of the bunch sprint. I wasn't anywhere near the front, but I was with that part of the bunch that did not sit up but sprinted for the line. What a rush! The Manx girl was the same time.

Stage 4: Gorey to Blessington
I wish I could zoom myself up to the front in an instance. I could see a group riding off the front, not attacking, but just riding away nice and easy. You could see them for ages! But it took me ages to get to the front and by the time I was there, they were far gone. I rode in what felt like the front 3rd of the bunch for a good while, so I'm really happy with that. We never caught the group of about 21 riders, but our bunch still sprinted for the line, and again I was happy enough to be involved in the fast action. Pity they didn't bother putting the results in order of finishing, but I think I was about 35th of our bunch sprint. Manx girl was also in this group, so she won the overall.

Huge thanks are in order to the South Dublin CC who took great care of us girls over the weekend, especially Colm, Mick and JP.

So, now I've done it, but I think I'll be back in the hills of Ras Mumhan next year. Or maybe the Ras Chonamara, it's got hills too. I like hills.

British National XC Series - Round 1 - Sherwood Pines

I am trying to finish my PhD this year, so I am trying to keep traveling and costs to a minimum, but one thing that I decided to indulge in for racing abroad is the British National XC Series. At least I need to try and defend my overall win from last year!


This is now my 4th year of racing the series in the UK and it's like coming home to an extended family gathering. Traditionally, the series starts off with a flat course and I wasn't "disappointed". Not only was it flat, it was also a fairly "safe" course, not crazy drops or anything too technical - I think the most exciting thing that could have happened on that course was hitting a hidden wet root, but even that was unlikely with the dry weather lately. But, in a way, this type of course suited me just as well. I've done a lot more work on the road bike recently and am doing a bit more road racing this year, and am lacking substantially in mtb training and racing, not having done the heavily contented Cyprus Sunshine Cup this year. So, for my 3rd mtb race this season, if you count the other two training races, I was hoping I could get away with it.


Annie Last, the runner up of the U23 World Champs 2011, having placed 9th in the World Cup in SA just a weekend ago, was the clear favourite for the win. Annie is being supported by Lee Craigie in her hunt for Olympic qualification points, who has just come back from 5 weeks of racing in SA, so I knew her legs would be more accustomed to the speed and pain of racing, so I my plan was to hang onto her wheel. The rest I couldn't judge at all, it would come down to how they had spent their winter training and would have good legs on the day. However, flat races always skew the results, so you would never know who would come out of the wood work on the day.

We started off really early, 9:30am (which is really like 8:30am taking into account the time change), not a time I like racing at. I also didn't have a warm-up, arriving a little on the late side at race venue and running around like a headless chicken finding someone to do my bottles (thanks again to Angela Oakley and Matt Adair for their help). But at least the weather was beautiful and the sun had just started to heat up the air. Much better than last year when we had freezing fog!


So, now to the race. We started off and I was third wheel behind Annie Last and Lee Craigie into the first single-track section. For a couple of minutes we were riding closely together, but then the elastic stretched between Annie and Lee and me and the rest. Annie disappeared into the distance and I tried to hang on to Lee as long as I could, but my legs were filled with lead a couple of minutes into the race and never got better. I could still see her after lap 1, but then she was gone too and I was in no man's land, with a group of chasers closely in pursuit. I was kept on my toes for the next three laps, but kept the distance mostly constant between them and me to finish 3rd behind Annie and Lee. My best result in a UCI C1 race ever!

Full results can be found here. The British Cycling report here.

The G-ride

With Sherwood Pines only one week away and only one mtb race under my belt this year I was glad for another race opportunity at the G-ride, close to home. The G-ride was constructed by trail building legend Robin Seymour on private land at the Glendalough House at Annamoe. The race acted as a peek preview of the trails before they were officially opened to the public.

A pre-lap of the course confirmed what was promised: tons of flowy singletrack through a beautiful estate - something I am more used to see in the UK actually. The longest climb was done on switchback singletrack - possibly the only way to take the sting out of it.

 Enjoying the flowy single-track along the top section (photo credit: Richie Byrne)

The race itself was good fun. I had raced a hard 100km road race the day before, and went into the G-ride with tired legs and mind. I went hard for the first 2 out of 4 laps and eased off for the last 2 laps, trying to improve my technical skill and ride all the singletrack smoothly.

I recommend having a look at the trails when they are officially open if you didn't get a chance to race!

Now recovery week before flying to Sherwood (= less cycling, more PhD :)).

Results available here.

Thanks as well to Sean for the lift and his superb racing support service and Stew for lend and delivery of helmet and gloves!!!

1st round National Women's League, Bohermeen

I didn't know what to think of this race before I went, as I was here two years ago but due to a wrong shoe/mtb cleats/seized pedal problem I never got to race it. Watching it then didn't really make me want to do it either, with several nasty crashes happening in the nervous, early season men's pelotons.

This year the course was different from 2 years ago, but it was still known to be a flat course and it generally would come down to a bunch sprint. So I wasn't too enthusiastic, since I prefer the hills, but I thought it would be a great race to test my bunch sprinting again.

(Photo Credit: Bohermeen CC. I look too happy with 2nd place!)

The race was four laps of a 16.5km course and there were around 30 ladies signed up to race. The less experienced riders got a minute head start over the larger, more experienced group. There were attacks from the start in our group and even I tested my legs once or twice (yesterdays racing with the A3 men wasn't hard enough to tire me out to be content with just sitting in!), but nothing got away. This stoppy-starty way of racing meant we hadn't made up any time on the front group after 1 lap. In the 2nd lap (I think, it always becomes a blur afterwards) our bunch worked a bit better together and we caught the front group, but it turned out that two people had gotten away from them! After the 2nd lap, we were still down by a minute or so on the leaders. Then, Sara Ortiz had the great idea of trying to bridge across to the 2 leaders and attacked. She opened a gap quickly and I decided it was best to go with her. I attacked as well and chased Sara until I caught her about 8min or so later - she's definitely strong! Looking back I could see we had gotten a decent gap. Then the two of us worked together until we caught the two lead girls. It turned out they were both strong triathletes who had not done any road racing before! We worked together until about a km to go, where Sara and I dropped the other two, and then with 200m to go Sara attacked and I was too late to react, so she won and I came 2nd.

I really enjoyed the race, plenty of action, even though I messed up in the final few hundred meters, but I'm already looking forward to the next one, hopefully with more hills!

Official reports on StickyBottle and Women's cycling.

I am a sprinter!

Well, this weekend there was a choice of a few road races on and Ryan and I agreed on the Annaclone GP on Saturday up north, followed by the Trader's Cup race in Dundalk.

The Annaclone GP was a handicapped race and I, the only woman, raced with the A3s, off first, followed after 2.5min by the A2s and after another 5min by the A1s with Ryan in it. The course was 5 laps of a 12.6km course with a few little drags and shorter kickers, but no big climbs. The weather was fresh but dry. I had no idea how my legs would react in my first road race this season, but I had a good winter and was pretty confident that I would be able to stay with the bunch. However, the pace was superfast from the start and I had trouble hanging on when the attacks started in the first lap. Many times the bunch strung out in one long line and everybody was fighting to keep on the wheel of the next person up. I was doing alright on the climbs, but I had trouble to follow when the pace went up attack after attack, especially when the A2s had caught up with us. In lap 3 a sizeable group started getting a gap when we overtook a farm vehicle and I was killing myself to try and catch back on to them, dangling just behind them for a couple of minutes, going hard, in time trial mode, keeping the head down, looking back, nobody there, trying trying trying, but just not closing the gap down. When I had not managed to get back on before they started descending one of the drags, I eased off and rode steady until the bunch came along and could get had some shelter, or so I thought. The bunch must have decided to start chasing or something, because as we went up the hill through Annaclone, I slipped further and further back until I was the last wheel and just about managed to hang on until we started descending again and I could recover a little. But not for long, another few kilometers later into the 4th lap I couldn't hold the wheel and was dropped on one of the drags. I rode endurance and was happy when Ryan finally came along with a few of the A1s and I hung on to them for a while, happy that they were riding less surgy than the A3s. Then I was dropped again in the last lap, when Ryan decided to speed up a hill and I rode endurance to the finish mostly by myself. That was definitely a shock to the system if I ever know one, with over 10min spent in my anaerobic heart rate zone (my powertap is being serviced at the moment).

Well, I was truly shattered after this race and went for a sleep for an hour and a half after. But at least with Ryan's new podium legs, I had really good recovery, to be ready for the Trader's Cup on Sunday.

Unfortunately, the weather on Sunday wasn't as nice, with a nasty rain greeting us on the way to the start. Over 15 girls and about three over-50 guys were in my group. We had 3 laps of a 17km course and started steady. My legs were still tired from the race the day before, so I had decided to go easy all day and save my legs for the sprint - a tactic I had not tried before! There were many attacks along the way, but nothing got away. Not partaking in the action, it felt like a nice light endurance ride for most of it, interspersed with a couple of accelerations. I actually hoped for a break to get away that I could bridge across to, because I knew that any attempts of me to get away by myself from the group would be chased down immediately. In the final lap then Black Rose racer Sara Ortiz went, I bridged across hoping we could start a little breakaway group. Sandra Fitzgerald and Amy Brice also bridged across and I thought we had a good move, but the bunch chased us down before we could get properly organized. I knew I only had one more match to burn, and I actually wanted it to come down to a bunch sprint - I have not really tried bunch sprinting much. I knew the road would be wide and there should be enough space not to get boxed in. And with a 3 sec peak power of 1050Watts, I should be strong enough to outsprint most of the girls in my group. Well, on the way towards the finish line, with about 200m to go, our last remaining over 50s guy started sprinting and I stayed on his wheel, set up for the perfect sprint. About 100 meters before the line I pulled out from his unintentional lead-out and really kicked up my speed, crossing the line about 2 bike lengths before the next rider. The actual sprint was so short, it didn't even start burning. Wow, that must have been the easiest way of winning a bike race. I was previously told that I am not a sprinter, and I've generally stayed out of the heat of sprinting to the line. But my power numbers and the fact that Ryan even finds it hard to beat me in a sprint are showing the opposite. I can climb, but I am not a natural climber. I am not light enough to be a true mountain goat. My physique is much more that of a sprinter than a climber (actually more of a time trialist), I just never used that potential! I never really knew where to be or how to set myself up for a sprint or when to actually start sprinting, but I've been having a bit more of a look into it lately with Ryan performing lead-outs for me in training, and seeing how easy and painless it is to win a race purely on the final sprint, I am hoping for more races to end in bunch sprints now! While previously I would have animated the race with countless attacks, not wanting it to come down to a bunch sprint, only to be chased down by the bunch and tiring myself out, I now understand those girls I used to give out about, those that never do any work and just sit in all day saving the legs for the final sprint.... :)

The official report of the Trader's Cup race can be found on stickybottle, irishcycling and womenscycling.

Finally, racing season has started!

For some reason this year it felt like I was waiting forever for the first race of the season to start. The first race of the season is always long awaited and is usually a bit of a nerve-wrecking affair. In the past 3 years I tested myself against the best in the world in the Cyprus Sunshine Cup for the season opener and when I returned to Ireland it was all about who has had the better winter of training, Cait or I, leading to another high-pressured first home race.

Since I was not going to Cyprus this year (look at cyclingnews for report of the first race there and the high caliber of racers it has attracted because it's an Olympic year), I needed to find another race to let the pressure off. So it was great that Niall Davis from Biking.ie organized Round 1 of the Biking Blitz Series in Ballinastoe Forest, a forest within riding distance from my home - perfect!

Not only would the course be suitable to me at this stage as it's all man-made trail center singletrack and fireroad and thus doesn't contain any nasty surprises but it would also be a nice, gentle start into the racing season. I had ridden my (training) mountain bike once this year in January which ended in a broken rear hanger and as such has been gathering dust as I'm waiting for the new rear hanger to arrive and I've been doing all of my training on the road bike or on the turbo trainer in the last while. So I took out my racing bike on Saturday, the day before the race to do a practice ride around Ballinastoe, just to see if the bike still works and if I still knew how to ride a mountain bike. It would also be a gentle season opener, as Cait, my biggest competitor here in Ireland, has deserted the Irish MTB scene, having followed the call of the Swiss Alps and moved to Zurich. At least this meant I didn't have to go into the red zone like last year in our first race after winter training.

I really enjoyed this well-run race, loving to push hard but not having to kill myself. Unfortunately the months of hibernation had messed with my brakes and I eventually lost all of my front braking power and some of my rear brake in the first lap, having to take it slow enough on the otherwise super fast descents, which wasn't that much fun. Both came back to some extent later on, so that on the 2nd lap I could really enjoy these descents at speed. I knew I should have bled them after the pre-ride!

It was good to get the first race out of the system in this fun way. Now I'm looking forward to the rest of it!