K Capital Cup R4 Castlewellan.

This weekend saw the final round of the K Capital cup run off in Castlewellan. The event was hosted by the XMTB club and atttracted record numbers for them, so a well done is due there!

On to the race!

Myself and my Leisurelakes team mate Paul made our way to the course on Sat from Carnfunnick Caravan Park in Larne (Paul was caravaning there) to sign on and do a pre-ride. The course was in great condition, very dry and had lots of testing singletrack. We rode about 2 laps at a good pace! To be honest I really was feeling shit and had my doubts about Sunday!

Later on Sat night we enjoyed a BBQ put on by mrs Mac, which went down a treat and I think got me feeling myself again!

Now to race day! I arrived with around 1 hour to go to the start, pulled the bike out and went for a warmup. I did around 1/2 an hour and felt just ok!

Our race was to be 5laps or 26km, I got gridded on the second row due to the points I amssed from rounds 1 & 2 . The start as always, was fast and furious, I got an okish start and managed to go into the first ST in 7th behind Ben Reid. I obviously knew this was a good wheel to follow, and it was! no mistakes here! I followed Ben up the steep climb and made up a few posotions to 5th.

For the next few laps I made steady time on Osin Boydell and managed to pass him soon after this pic above, which put me in 4th. I then caught luke at the end of the 4th lap for 3rd but was soon passed again for 3rd on the climb at the start of the 5th lap. I once again caught Luke on the ST at the top of the course and was sure I would take 3rd, but I messed up a rock Drop-off and never really got back on terms with Luke! Aw well im happy with my 4th spot!

At the finnish I could safely say it was the hardest day Ive ever had in an XC race as the ST was so demanding and the Climbing was so steep! I also want to say how good my bike was, I decided to again race the Cannondale Rush, it was the perfect tool as I could bomb over all the tech bits and remain fresh from all the bumps! Its one amazing bike!

Ben Reid won the Race with Gary Henning second, Luke Ireland 3rd, myself Michael Holland 4th, Osin Boydell 5th and overall series victor and Donacha O'Brien 6th. Well done everyone.

My teammate Paul had a great race came 3rd after a heavy fall! im sure he would have done better if this had not of happened, but thats the luck of the drawI suppose! He'll do better at the NPS in Ballinastoe this comming weekend, im sure of it.

Overall for Lesiure Lakes it was a great weekend with a 3rd and 4th! and Overall league places of 3rd and 5th!

Results can be found here at www.kcapitalcup.com

Our next race is the first round of the Irish XC National Points Race in Ballinastoe, Co Wicklow this comming Sunday, its gonna be a cracker!

Revently Watched Movies

Recently Myself and Sinead have watched a couple of comedys, one was Freddie Got Fingered and the other was Van Wilder. Both where very funny and well recommended.

Tom Green Syars in Freddie Got Fingered and reallys adds his zaney comic genius to the role, it really is way out there! no other way to describe it.

The basic story line is Toms carachter has to find his way through life to find his inner talents and unleash them to the world - these are in the form of annimations! Throughout the film there is so many litle gags its hard to identify which one is the funniest!

Overall its an 9 outa ten in my book for just being different!

Van Wilder

This is another University comedy, its quite funny. Basically it follows a hip Alpha male student named Van Wilder, Van finds out that his really rich father has stopped his collage funds and wont pay for his 7th term at uni as he believes Van is wasting his time! Van then takes matters into his own hands and starts his own business Van Wilder Party Lasison! Pretty self explanitry!

Wilst all this is going on Tara Reids carachter, who plays a journlist is assigned to do an article on Vans party hero status, and in turn ends up falling in love with him much to the dismay of her current boyfriend who could best be descrided as a tit!

Its a good movie and well worth the watch 8 outa 10, though I hear Van Wilder 2 is better, so have to get the mitts on that!

Lakeland RR No1

Last night I made the 1 hour trip to Enniskillen for my Road Clubs first League race of the season. The race attracted all the usual entries from our neighbouring clubs and id say we had a total of 35-40 competitors on the start line.

The course was one loop of 23.5miles with some slight hills but nothing to sever. The Race was as usual run as a handycap event with 4 groups of varying ability on the road. Each group had around 10 riders so in theory the fast men who would start last, would hopefully catch the slower riders about 2miles from the finnish and so leaving everybody on an even keel to fight for the sprint!

I went in the last group or the scratch group, which was good fun as we where all challanged or pushed near/over our limits to try and catch the groups in front of us.

As expected we caught everybody at the half way point and the cat and mouse games began between myself, Paul, Brian, Dane, Raymond and Kenny Boylan.

Brian Mimniagh ended up the deserving winner and, I think this could be his first win in a RR?? (could be wrong) once again a very hard fought and deserved win. Kenny came second after being outsprinted by Brian and about 30 secs later Paul led our group in followed by Dane and Myself.

I have to say its great to see the Omagh Club back on form and winning races, as I have alot of friends in the club and would regulary go training with them, I know how hard theyv worked as a team over the winter and thankfully the results are coming in for them and long may it continue.

As for us Lakelanders where still fired up and seem to be going strong, where really looking forward to the interclub races this year as we have defo got some more competition in the form of Omagh, East Tyrone, Fintona and Emyvale.........Ohhhh cant wait!!!

Mc Cann Cup RR Omagh

Last weekend I had the pleasure of taking part in the McCann Cup RR In Seskanor near Omagh.

The race was run on the popular 9.7mile Seskanor circuit and finished as usual outside the Halfway House Bar and Restaurant.

The race got underway at 1pm with the A race going first and the B race after. I took part in the A race with Lakeland team mates Dane Dunlop and Kenny Boylan. See the pic below.

Also in the race was my long time mate and top class cyclist Paul Mulligan riding this year for Omagh, and on great form looked like the favourite, so I was going to try and do what I could to see Paul win. Which as it turned out wasn't much!

On the first lap I felt fine apart from a bit of asthma which I knew would go away, the only difficulty I had in the early stages was my lack of acceleration, which got better as the race progressed!

On the second lap Paul took matters into his own hands and launched a barrage of attacks which nearly killed me! I thought Fuck hes strong! He was, as in a blink of an eye Paul had created the race winning break! Along with 5 other guys they formed a break which stayed away for the rest of the race.

Unfortunately I didn't get in the break as I was sleeping at the back as usual! Paul ended up 5th which is a great result and in my opinion had the ride of the day!

I finished around 10th or so in the main bunch which I was happy with!

My only gripe is when will some of the guys in the bunch ever fuck up and stop slobbering about wee minor things, because at the end of the day where all there to have fun! That might sound blunt but thats the way it is.

My next race is the first Round of our Club League on Wednesday night in Enniskillen, then its the final round of the K Capital Cup in Castlewellan on Sunday.

K Capital Round 3 Djouce Woods

K Capital Round 3 was held on the 6th of April in the now famous location of Djouce Woods in Wicklow, which is incidentially just down the road from the site of round 1!

The course was a mixture of some traditional features knowen to many, such as XTC and GC with the inclusion of some really new wicked sections. On such was a really off camber peice of singletrack just after XTC which led out onto an open mountain traverse, another such inclusion from last years NPS course was a roling 50ft drop in to a river, which had to be crossed! In all the course was great!


Run Ye C**T Ye lol!




The race went quite weel for me as I managed a 4th posotion, my first result im really happy with this season! I hope to repeat this 4th.

The first lap went off quite fast, and I wasnt able to follow the 4 guys in front as I didnt seem to have a good sprint or acceleration after the flu ive had, but I was able to ride at a fast consistant pace! My laps where all fairly consistant so I was able to pass people who started too fast, which brung a smile to my face!

One of the more promising things I took away from this weekend was I now have the confidance to attack a climb, and I also know my endurance is spot on as I could have gone another hour at race pace! Time for an endurance race I think!

On The 50ft Rolling Drop Into The River Crossing (Its steeper than it looks)

Stuck In The River Crossing!

PJ Logan RR Coisland

The last weekend of March always signafies one thing for RR in the North, the PJ Logan Cup. Its a RR in the memory of Local UTV Presenter Adrian Logan's Father who was always heavily involved in promoting and organising Cycling in the north.

Well for my race it was short and sweet! I got around 2 laps (20mlies) and that was enough for me, my chest and throat where still killing me with the flu! Not to mention being caught in a split because some fella couldnt take corners arragh!lol aw well, looking back on it mow its funny at how crap he actually was! no names will be give but if you catch me at a race Ill gladly point him out!

As I pulled out, I started to think of how much different the atmosphere between the Road Racing and MTB Racing actually is, or as a mate of mine puts it "Roadies...... There a shower of hateful Bastards" and he is right all they do is shout and squeel like little girls about not doing work!....... who cares??? why not enjoy the race instead of runing it for the rest of us!?

Ok rant over. Anyhhoo well done to the Island Wheelers for organising a really well run race, and for the facilities on hand ie the showers and food!




Just rounding the final Bend, before pulling out!

K Capita Cup Round 2 Moneyscalp

Round no 2 of Irelands K Capital Cup was held at the picturesq venue of Moneyscalp Wood, Co Down just a few miles outside of Newcastle.

I unfortunatley did not race this event as a relapse of the dreaded flu had set in to my chest making me sound like a train, so I opted for the easier option of watching the fun!

Watching the racing was good fun and quite enjoyable, Myself Terina and Marks Cous watched the Sports Race to Cheer on Ronan, Mark and Phill.

The sports race was won by a Scottish Fellow Dug Sheer by about 20mins we later found out he was actuall an Expert! Why bother in my opinion?

Mark, Ronan and Phill all pulled out due to colds and the tough nature of the track! Well its no shame in my book as anyone who has the balls to start one of these races needs a medal!

On to the main Races which where intresting to watch to say the lest! The speed at which some of the riders tackle Technical bits is astoinishing! I was so impressed with My Teammates Pauls speed, of course Robin Seymour was fast to but some other riders like Laim Mc Greevey, Willie Mulligan, Gerry Mc Cabe, Aidan McDonald, Joe Mc Call, Ryan Sherlock really impressed with their skills!

I had a really good day even though I didnt race, so that proves to me that watching a race is also good fun!

K Capital Cup Round 1

The first round of the UCI world ranked Kcapital Cup took place over the Weekend of March 9th 2008 in killruddery, which is near Bray in Co.Wicklow.

The Course was designed By Robin Seymour and the team WORC'ers, so it was always going to be a challenge from the start, and true to form it was. The course winded its way up, over and along the surrounding hills and forests to provide a 'nicely' technical and quite flowing course.

The main obstacles/technical/pure feckin class hi! sections where: The Rock, which is the tricky and technical decent off the first climb, The mucky fire road (as I call it) which is in the middle of the lap and provides a great strength sapping, bike handling, line finding challenge to the riders and the infamous climb up to and including the bomb hole! Put simply this section required skill!

The Course Map

As this was to be my first race as an expert, from moving out of Sports I didn't know what style of racing to expect so nerves where on the higher end of the spectrum!

Our race was due to start at the now usual time of 1:32pm just after the Junior men and before the Masters.

OK cutting to the chase, my race started well as I climbed up to the top of the main climb in 3rd with a group of 6! However from there it all went pear shaped! on the decent I sorta lost interest and in turn lost speed which in turn gets you passed lol! Pretty much the whole race was like this, I couldn't summons my legs to provide me with the power I'm used to. I don't know what went wrong with me?? It could have been that I had just recovered from a nasty flu or I was just having a bad day. Either way I still managed 11th and 10 points which I was happy with given the situation.

Exiting a Section (It was a wee bit mucky in places)

On a more positave not I got to meet up with all the friends from last year and hear about their races, and their good results, which I love hearing and discussing.

In all it was a great day out on a memorable course.

XMTB Winter Leagues R3 & 4

Ahhh the first league of the year is now finished and I got 5Th overall! Pleased with that as I seemed to get stronger as the races went on!

Round 3 was a variation of the first two courses but was probably the best course layout for Castle Park, it was fast and flowing singletrack wit some good length straights and of course the BMX track.

Grahme won again at this round despite our best efforts! myself and paul took up the early running for 2laps and thought we where the ones to beat! not so as Grahme outclassed us, Paul managed to stick with Grahme and finished 2nd, I got 4Th after being passed by Neil. Best result of the league so was happy with that!

Round 4, the final round was the final time that the Bangor course will hold a race as there is a new Olympic swimming pool being built there!

The race never really got going for me as I had the beginnings of a flu (which I'm riddled with now) and I had already been out the day before for 5hours on the mtb so the legs could have been described as heavy!

Grahme won this race again and now looks set to become a great elite, best of luck for the upcoming season! He beat Neil in a sprint for the line, both guys where pushing today!well done both of use! Paul got 4th and I got 5th after battling with Simon Curry and Ross for most of the race.

there are some photos on Andy's website http://www.mitzelphoto.fotopic.net/ checkout the bangor posts.

Cheers

Micko

January 2008! A new Year!

So wer now well into the new year and the novelty has thankfully worn off.





Its been a while since I last blogged (over a month) but things for me have went well. Had a good Christmas and new year with the family, and got in some good training with paul, think most days we got in 3-4hrs on the mtb just riding trails!

Ive switched teams for this year to LeisureLakesBikes.com for all MTBing but im still with Lakeland RT for the roadie events!





The traditional January-Feb XMTB League has now got under way with 2 of the 4 races already run off and victors decided. They are great races for getting into shape for our UCI E2 Ranked Kcapital cup series, beginning in March. Cant wait!!!!




Round 1

Glen Kinning won the first round in Bangor in a total mud pit,(Well done Glen, you where like a KTM 250 when u passed me) though it was good fun and the course was intresting, designed by Robbie and the XMTB Crew It was just under a mile long per lap, and around a 100ft of climbing a lap, not much but enough to shock the winter training legs!





From the off myself and Paul got good starts and led into the first turn 1st and 2nd, a group of the top guys formed at this stage, including Paul, Glen Kinning, Lewis Ferguson, Robbie and Tim Edgar. I managed to stay with this group for half of the first lap but then I drifted back very quickly o 13th or 14th on the 3rd lap! Dam I thought all this hard training and for what!?





However on the 4th lap my for dramatically and suprisingly returned???normally when I drop back thats it! I started to make progress in the slippy conditions and one by one I worked my way up to 5th (Tim) at this stage I was getting tired so 5th turned into seventh after on small hill! aw well thats where I finnished up! Happy enough with that result considering its the first race of the year! Paul came 4th and almost beat our commonealth games representative Lewis Ferguson! Not a bad days work for an auld boy!lol















My new bike was some job, pitty about the rider!



Glen and Myself Rounding The Bend On The BMX Trak.



Round 2

Round 2 took place last Sunday (27th Jan 08) on prety much the same course, altougth run in the oppisite direction and Handycapped for a bit of added spice!

A total of 38 riders took to the start and all left in our applicable groups. Andy slotted me in the second last group away, with Paul and Robbie making up the scratch group.

Once again I got a dream start and led my group for the first lap and half way around the next until the same god dam thing happened as the previous round! my body shut down for a lap. Laps 2 & 3 where pain, hard work and depressing! depressing as I had let 2 of my rivals (Grahme & Phill) away and where approx 2mins in front at this stage! not good! As withe the previous round my form came back on around lap 4 and started to make inroads on the feild, then Robbie passed me! The man is an animal and a great rider! Still in all, I was making up places so I was happy!

In the end I held off Paul and nearly caught Phill! Ohhh if I only had another lap! aw well thats racing!

I can now come away from these 2 rounds and know that my fitness is spot on and im able to last the pace, and then some, I just have to work on my slumps in the first 1/3 of the races, shouldnt be so hard to sort out.

Cant Wait for the next round! Its gonna be a cracker!

Cheers all for reading this bullshit!

Micko