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Comeragh Cycling Club News
Ballyhoura 12/10/2008
Firstly, apologies. The site has been slow for the last while because I have been in the US and am in Dubai right now. 37 degrees and 90% humidity, never mind training, if you even walk outside you get cooked, suffocated or mowed down by a Bentley. You lot better take it handy on me when I get back and no laughing at my belly. I'm just big boned, I have a very big stomach bone in fact. Anyone got any duty free orders you need to get them to me by Thursday!
Anyway, Ballyhoura. There were no takers on the website so just Keith and I travelled up there. Keith had been up there before and it's just as well because I would have found the Ark of the Covenant, Shergar and Jimmy Hoffa's grave before I found the MTB center (for such a wonderful facility you'd think they'd spend a few quid on some roadsigns). That minor complaint aside, initial impressions were good. It was a sunny Sunday morning and there were a lot of cars in the carpark. The clubhouse type building was well done and I noted a bike wash also. Parking was a fiver and thats all you had to pay unless you wanted to pay 2 euro for a bikewash.
First off, I had a bad start, missing the clip of my SPD pedal and clattering my shins within a second of getting going. Keith was gone like a man / mountainbike / gazelle hybrid. This was to prove to be the pattern for the remainder of the day.
There are 5 color coded trails in total of varying difficulty and length, from a 6k beginners loop to a 53k elite circuit. We went for the blue loop, 41k and rated as "Very Difficult / Severe". I was unfazed, I had been on a mountainbike twice before, and 41k ? Pffff, these offroad lads are awful drama queens, 41k! Severe! Pansies. At this juncture those of you who have been to ballyhoura know that I would be eating my words and licking my fingers too some 4 hours later in addition to developing a healthy respect for our knobbly tyred colleagues.
The trails themselves are roughly a series of 10 minute singletrack sections, generally inclined slightly downwards, punctuated by a series of fire roads (wide gravel sections usually) which are generally inclined upwards. Our plan was that Keith would zip along the trails, whilst I followed a minute or two back screaming like a 12 year old girl at a westlife concert. We would regroup on the fire roads.
The course itself is amazing. It starts off in forests, barely squeezing your handlebars between the trees, opens out into fast descents on rocky tracks, in parts it's difficult to keep the wheels on the ground, I found myself airborne more than once (and I loved it). We rode through streams, across narrow bridges, along the sides of sheer dropoffs and along up to 500m sections of elevated wooden walkways where one slip would see you fall several feet either onto a soft marsh, or a not so soft tree root (a 50/50 chance I reckon). In short, its not for the squeamish and my previous MTB experience (2 spins in Portlaw), combined with my other offroad experience - bunnyhopping a kerb and riding on a footpath once on the roadbike - were no match for this kind of technical course. That being said, I am still alive so if I can do it, anyone in Comeragh CC can.
I had no major crashes on the day, both Keith and I were riding SPD's so there were a few close calls but nothing major. My bike came through it in as good condition as it started the day, which judging by the banging from headset was not great - Mark Nugent, I have a bone to pick with you when I get home !
My previous MTB excursions hadn't prepared me for the intensity of trail riding, it really is an all over body workout, by the end my back, shoulders, wrists, arms etc.. were all aching (Not helped by an arm to tree collision near the end)
A combination of lack of breakfast, MTB experience and indeed fitness ensured that I hit the wall after 3 hours. Keith luckily had some energy gels, now I would rather eat deep fried shoes that belonged to a leper than an energy gel usually, but never was I so glad to have one and it tasted glorious. I am assuming however that it's appealling palate was more a function of my starvation than any great flavour in the gel itself. I will confirm once I have had a strawberry and banana Powerbar Gel when I am not delirious with hunger. Stay tuned.
Another handy gadget was Keiths camelbak hydration pack. As you can see in the pictures it did make him look like a call center operative, but I can assure you it is a godsend. My standard bottle quickly became undrinkable, within 10 minutes it was caked in mud and half empty. I might have drunk centra in Mitchellstown dry on the way home. It was a hard earned and valuable lesson.
Before
Another tip. If you are not fit, or not confident on the MTB, go for a shorter trail. The fact is, it's not like a roadbike where you can ride to exhaustion and then limp home. On these trails if you get tired you get careless and make mistakes. I didn't really put a foot wrong once I got going for the first 3 hours (although I could have been quicker), however for the last hour I was making a lot of mistakes, the severity of which increased the closer I got to the finish.
Anyway, 4 hours later after only losing the trail once or twice (due to not paying attention quite franky), we made it back. A quick and extremely effective bikewash and 90 minute drive later I was home and nursing some aching joints. Would I do it again ? Absolutely. It's a long day out - we were gone at 8:30am and back around 5, but it is exciting, intense and probably a tougher workout that a road ride of similar length, we should arrange a club ride up there ASAP !
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