Irish xc NPS 1 – Slade Valley
Sunday was the first round of the xc NPS series, hosted by IMBRC in Slade Valley. The recent schizophrenic weather worked in our favour with hot sun making for an incredible days racing on dry, fast trails. Cait was representing UCD against a strong field in the elite female race.
“We set off up a fireroad climb, and coming to the top I put in a burst of energy to get into the singletrack first thinking this would give me a bit of control. Conditions made it very quick, but there were a few sly slippery roots to catch you out if you weren’t careful. Out of nowhere Mel Spath (cycleways) came from behind and somehow managed to get past me and two junior riders in front in one manoeuvre. Before I knew it i was chasing but got stuck in behind the two lads. Eventually I managed to get by but she’d pulled quite a gap and I couldn’t quite get back. I knew she was very strong having done a lot of international races this year, so it was a bit annoying, it’s much more difficult to keep up once you lose the wheel. I kept her in sights most of the first lap and people kept shouting that she was only round the corner so that spurred me on.
The heat was unbelievable, it felt like the Alps again, with sun beating down on dry dusty trails making it really hard work. I’m not complaining but I did start to feel a bit sick because of it at one stage! The course was great, a couple of longish steady climbs, a few steep kickers, and loads of fun singletrack that flowed really well. I finished second, 2.5 minutes behind Mel so happy enough with that.”
No comments:
Post a Comment