The oragnisers put on a fine show by all accounts, the course had long fireroad climbs and tricky descents which no doubt suited the westcork lads.

IN the junior cat, Alez Nowotynski had a flyer and despit no real compeition in his grade he put in a solid 2 laps and rode the entire course, despite a bunch of Elites walking sections. He has now all but secured the coveted winners jersey, which each category winner receives at the end of the series.

Alex Concentrating

All this is good training for the National points series in cross country (as opposed to Downhill, which he raced a few of in the last 2 years, coincidently that series now looks defunct for 2012) where no doubt he will have much tougher opposition, especially if he travels to rounds outside Munster. Rich again finished mid pack in sports.

In the Elite race it was all round rider Greg O C leading until Niall o Hara caught him near the end taking the win. Behind this there was a battle royal between Our own James Pittam(now MBCC) and Brian ‘Mcstud’ Mccarthy, also latching on to these was long time xc racer John Crowley of Killarney, having gotten rid of the kerry man, both James and Brian had mechanicals and had to run the last half lap, they were caught and passed by a couple of more fortunate riders but still had a good laugh running along with there bikes, Brian proving the better runner on this occasion.

James leading , John and ‘Mcstud’

Further back was James brother Rory, Back after a long break but who has been doing a lot of riding lately who finished strong despite lots of chain problems during his race.

All in all apparently it was a good hard days racing and a successful one for the WestCork contingent. Photos to follow.

James Pittam (from Johnstown) was back after injury riding a fine race in elites.

Ollie cornforth from Kealkil in the u-14 race

Alex Nowotynski 1st and Pat callagan 3rd

Donncha’s legs showing just how muddy it was!

Sunday January 29th saw the first round of an exciting new Mountain Bike race series kick off at Tracton Woods near Carrigaline in Co. Cork. The event was hosted by www.mbcc.ie which is one of Corks growing Mountain Bike clubs.

Despite some pretty wet weather in the days preceding the race a large crowd attended on the day with 109 adults signing on throughout the categories and 45 Youth riders racing. The trail was a testing course as the rain created a very muddy atmosphere. This was to be winter time Mountain biking at its best. Over the years MBCC have developed a fantastic club resource at the woods through Coillte where members can enjoy their training, sport and competition.

This years Kinetica Munster XC Series has 5 rounds of racing at the end of which overall Champions will be crowned. this being the first round, everyone was keen to see the “in form” riders would be.

The crowd showed some great support to the winners as they took their places on the podium just before the kick of the main event of Adult category racing. By now the start line had 150 Mountain Bikers, their family and friends gathered and the atmosphere was fantastic.

At 12 midday the main racing got underway with the Elite Category going first. Many of these riders are training 5/6 times a week at a very high level. 3 laps of grueling 4.8 kilometre track followed and the crowded were treated to thrilling racing. Host club MBCC’s very own Niall O’Hara took 3rd place on his home track. Niall is a rising star of XC racing. A team one two for Thinkbike.ie’s Richie Felle and Sebastien Roman was the settling of the results in this category with the rest of the field battling very hard for valuable ranking points. Of the Westcork riders Donncha o Brien was flying in 4th position until a lost gear cable meant he had to run with his bike for the last 1km and dropped to 6th, being passed by Cam Cornforth (soon to be 17 year old downhiller from Kealkil) who finished an impressive 5th. Also racing in his first ever MTB race and racing in the Elite category was top triathlete from Schull, Leon Whelton who rode to a fine 16th in the very tough conditions, Leon confessed after that he had no idea it would be so exhausting but that he was looking forward to more MTB racing.

The munster overall thus was, Niall o Hara, Brian Mccarthy, Cam Cornforth, Donncha O Brien, in that order. Top Munster racer Matt Slattery of Killarney CC was out injured but will be back at the head of affairs on sunday next in Fermoy.

Sports Men’s category followed with 2 laps of the course. These riders are just as keen as the rest and certainly the lead positions changed as the race progressed! Michael Hennessy from Fermoy took a fine win but it was Jonathan Maunsell of Team Ballyhoura who surprised many with 2nd place in just his 2nd year of racing. Jason Murphy of Killarney CC claimed third. The ‘Big Man’ Richard Thornhill had a fine race coming home mid pack (16th out a 34)

Team Ballyhoura were on a roll as Jonathans younger sister Leah won the Senior Ladies as well as the under 14’s earlier. This shows just how talented she is! Jennifer Fortune of MBCC finished second. We hope that more women will feel encouraged to come and race in future rounds. Its not as hard as you might think!

The Juniors category finished the racing off and Alex Nowotynski from West Cork put in a devastating performance to take a big win, certainly he is displaying all the attributes to make the jump into the Senior ranks as he grows, following him home in third was westcork local and new comer to the sort Pat Callaghan, a great result for the 2 westcork lads.

The day finished off with a well attended prize giving ceremony with a great atmosphere. The prizes were of a very high standard as the many sponsors were very generous. We would like to thank all the race marshals, medics and club members that made the day possible. Rothar Cycles Carrigaline, Eurocycles Dublin, Trailriders Ballyhoura, Dare 2B clothing donated prizes. KTM Bicycles Ireland have very kindly donated a bike worth €1200 as a prize to be raffled at the end of the series in May to all entrants. Finally Kinetica Sports of West cork have been a wonderful prime sponsor of this series.

Now the focus shifts to Round 2 next Sunday 5th at Corrin Woods, Fermoy.

More excitement as 021 Racing host this event.
Race details available on www.munsterxc.com and facebook.

Lil Tinski  bike 14.04 run 15.25 bike 14.20 total 45min dead

Tinski bike 14.40 run 21.20 bike 17.20 total 51.20

Pat bike 18.27 run 21.40 bike 19.17 total 59.27

The loop is 2.75km long and you will do it 3 times, bike, run, bike.
I will have some signs/tape up on the course directing you, although most will know the loop as the Introductory XC loop we did first on the last spin.

It will be in Timetrial format, that is, you start on your own and race against the clock.You can go as fast or slow as you like.

Results will be posted on here on Sunday evening.

There will be a spin after if there is enough people up for it.
The weather looks surprisingly good for Sunday morning at present.

*Off road duathlon is now being run on the day by Richard Thornhill, allround mountain bike man.

Cheers

Great track, real effort put in, so lets support this one.

More info at www.munsterxc.com

*Save some money!

On the MBCC website it says that for the xc bike race,  you will need a day license(20 euro) to race if you do not have  an annual one (90 euro if you are a member of a C.I club) and the entry fee is 10 euro. To save a bit you can simply join cycling ireland as a standard member (15 euro if you have not joined before) and day licenses are then 10 euro, so if you do say, 3 races in 2012, it will 45 for day licenses (3 by 10 and the 15) instead of 60 (3by 20). If your going to do more than this you should probably get a restricted comp license for the year, which is 90 euro as stated above.

Just said i would let yee all know.

Entry will be free and just like the recent rides there is no insurance cover. If something happens to you whilst out on your bike or running you are responsible for yourself, there is no club cover as mtbwestcork is not affiliated to any cycling federation, it is basically an online notice board, where individuals post where they will be riding or running, so when we meet up we are merely a bunch of individuals congregating to excercise together.

Details of Duathlon on Sun 22nd Jan@ 10am to follow.

We will build on our recent very successful ride on St.Stephens day and have another  spin in clashnacrona woods, near dunmanway on this sun morning the 8th of jan @10am

We will be riding the small XC loop (2.5km approx) a few times. This loop is probably easier than the last spin,  interesting and a good bit of excercise too.

All welcome.

See you there.

Donncha

well as ye all know I have been rockin the same Ancillotti thomaso DHP since 2007, its been to France for a few trips, lived and rode in Vancouver’s north shore/whistler sunshine coast etc  for a year as well as 4 full race seasons, so at this stage a bunch of parts are worn out and in need of being changed. (yes I Wear parts out not change em for the sake of it) stage one with help from OC tuning was the fox 40’s which have been upgraded to a 2011 model with Kashima sanctions and SKF seals for extra slipperyness.

Coming up next was the frame itself which was stripped down to the bare frame and got a nice rub of a combination of elbow grease and polish, the amount of dirt that came off the frame was scary. Why polished? One its lighter, two I don’t have to worry about the paint being scratched major bonus giving Irish uplift systems.

"Thomaso" on Cypress Mountain overlooking Vancouver...

Next up was a set of custom Decals made by Sign Studio in Skibbereen using the original Ancillotti decals as a base with a few personal details including the Cork crest and renaming the bike “Ricardo” instead of “Thomaso” and changed the colour from yellow to rebel RED.

Custom Decals from Sign Studio Skibbereen

Next up was the rebuild with a few new bits to add in, during the season I damaged the bash guard at the Cullahill race last year, I picked up a Gamut bash off Ben Reid at Yellow water and a chain ring and other parts from the Bike rack. The chainring went on fine but the Bash needed to be filed down to fit, no problem. After that a few straitline bits and pieces replaced a bunch of old worn details, bar end caps, seat post clamp. New bars from race face to replace my old ones that had served for 2 years, better safe than sorry when dealing with the controls.

The next thing up for replacement was the brakes, the Formula the ones on the bike have been my most reliable brakes ever but were getting a bit old in the tooth and needed either a full rebuild or replacement so I went for the replacement option and picked up a set of Formula mega’s direct from Formula. Hopefully they will hold up as well as the ones.

The overall colour scheme was rebel red, so as you can see the only things needed was the rest of the drive train, a Sram X9 mech mated to a XO gripshifter why gripshift, one im used to it two its lighter than a trigger shifter, 3 it shifts faster than a trigger and 4 it is a way easier to change cables than the sram triggers if needed in a Race situation.
What else the wheels are my trusty hope Bulbs with mavic 721 rims shod on maxxis rubber, usually High rollers swapping to spikes if its proper nasty and minions DHF’s if its proper dry (so never used them in Ireland) and always tubed tho ghetto tubless could be an option for Morzine trips.

Weight wise the bike comes in at about 41lbs with a sturdy build, the only thing I would see dropping a chunk of weight is the frame but if it ain’t broke why change it!!!!

arise Ricardo!!! the build for 2012!

Thanks to James from OC tuning, AL from the bike rack and Bob from Sign studio, now to go ride the Beast!!!

http://www.octuning.ie/

http://www.signstudiocork.com/

http://thebikerack.ie/

http://www.ancillotti.com/

The main objectives will be , to show the new riders all the different trails on offer, to suggest where people can do trail maintenance themselves, to get the community aspect of mountain biking going in Westcork, and reignite the club for 2012. We will be cycling for an hour approx, which will involve a few laps, we will ride all the XC (cross country) trails(these trails are suitable for beginners and require only moderate fitness)  We will also point out to the new riders where the Harder DH (downhill) stuff is. A Good working mountain bike and helmet required (obviously) If you cant get to this spin there will be others in the coming weeks. Hopefully we will have 5 or 6 out on Sunday, see y’all then.

Donncha