Ireland’s Premier Mountainbiking Club™
Archive for year 2009
National Trails Day 2009
12 years ago
by Morgan
in announcement
National Trails Day is a celebration of Ireland’s wonderful variety of trails and a chance for everyone to enjoy some of our most beautiful countryside, forests, mountains and lakes. The date for this years event is Sunday 4th October 2009.
Similar to last year, MAD will be hosting a guided ride around the trails in Ballinastoe to mark the occasion. This spin will be appropriate for anyone – we’ll split into various groups depending on ability.
The mountainbiking session will start at 10am and finish at approx 1/2pm.
Please ensure you arrive in good time, that you have a bike helmet (no exceptions to this) and make sure your mtb is in full working order.
People should also bring a bicycle pump and spare tube, a drink and a small snack (eg; muesli bar etc..). Make sure to bring a rain jacket, just in case.
Directions to Ballinastoe are on the Coillte Outdoors website
Beginners Spin – Details for this Week
22 years ago
by Morgan
in Uncategorized
The second round of our Beginners Course takes place this Sunday at Leadmines, near Kilternan. We’ll meet and park at Palmers Pub at 9:40am and hopefully get going by 10am. See the previous post for details of what you’ll need. See you there.
View Palmers Golden Ball in a larger map
The EPIC Blast – This Weekend!
02 years ago
by Morgan
in Uncategorized
This Sunday, the EPIC Blast returns to Ballianstoe. Elite racer Ryan Sherlock calls it “one of the best one day events”. The Daily Mail says “we must ban this cruel and barbaric sport”. We say – if you’re a mountainbiker there’s nowhere else you should be this weekend.
There will be prizes from Saddle Skedaddle, Sony Ericsson and Maxxis and others. There’s also a gnarly Sunline bar/grip combo for the first lady in the main Blast.
Parking will be in a field just down the road on the Enniskerry side of the road.
Sign on will be open at 8.30
Park in the field please don’t park along the road, it upsets the residents.
There will be a mini Blast at 11.00 for the kids that are from Under 14 down (although bigger / more experienced kids can do the normal Blast.)
There will be uplifts on the day – but still a bit of a push/pedal to the very top
Practice is strongly discouraged!
Entry is €20 for seniors and Free for under 16/14/12/10/08 and if you need a one day licence thats another €15 ( that goes to Cycling Ireland)
MTB Beginners Series – Autumn 2009
72 years ago
NOTE THE NEW VENUE FOR THE FIRST SPIN
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| From National Trails Day |
We’re going to start our latest series of MTB beginners rides this weekend. Our first ride will be around Massey’s Wood – meeting at the Merry Ploughboy car park at 9:40am for a 10am start.
These spins are suitable for everyone – although a basic level of bike-fitness will really help. See the information on our Beginners Page for details on what to wear and bring. Helmets are compulsory for all riders – no exceptions under any circumstances.
Each week new riders will be guided around a different trail and shown how to deal with the obstacles they encounter. Experienced MAD riders provide advice on bike-setup and safety, necessary equipment and riding skills.
The rides are open to riders over 16 years of age. Riders under 18 must present a parental consent form to the club committee. Riders under 16 may attend on the condition that a parent also takes part and stays with the group at all times – please discuss this with the committee beforehand.
- Saturday September 12th – Masseys
- Sunday September 20th – Leadmines
- Sunday October 4th – Ballinastoe
- Sunday October 11thth – Kindlestown
Cycling Celebrity in the Park
22 years ago
by Morgan
in announcement
International freeride superstar Steve Scrivener marked his return from a summer in Whistler by organising a spin in the Phoenix Park for 1000 of his closest friends. Chaos ensued but he survived with only a few scratches…
Endurance Racing Roundup
02 years ago
Bontrager 24/12
At the end of July Ryan and Mel returned to Portsmouth to take part in the Bontrager 24/12, reported to be their most enjoyable race of the 2008 season. Once again they claimed the mixed-pairs title for the 12-hour event. You can read a full report of how they got on Ryan and Mel’s blogs.
Sleepless in the Saddle
Three teams from MAD headed over to the Sleepless in the Saddle 24-hour race at Catton Park, UK on August 8th. Morgan, Phil, Steve and Shane made up a team of four, while Paddy & Conor and Sean & Cormac made the unenviable mistake of entering the pairs category. You’ll find details of the aftermath in the forum. It’s only thanks to the tireless race-support from Aine that they made it back at all.
There are loads of photos from the race too including these from Aine and Morgan as well as official photos of Conor, Paddy, Morgan, Phil and Steve. There’s also write-up on the British Cycling website too, starring Phil! Full results and lap times
TransWales
Finally, seemingly having forgetten the trauma of last year, rigid-singlespeed-29er aficionado Ollie Castle has just headed off to take part in the TransWales mtb stage race for a second time. Seven days of slogging through mud and rain lie ahead. You can follow his grim progress on Twitter.
Glacensis MTB Challenge
02 years ago
by Morgan
in announcement
MAD member Arek Gogojewicz has just completed the Glacensis MTB Challenge – an 8 day stage race through Poland and the Czech Republic. Competing in the Solo category, Arek covered 515km of trails and 14500m of climbing. It’s great to see all the months of training, weight-shaving and leg-shaving have paid off!
Read more about the event at http://www.bikechallenge.pl
MAD Supporting Meteor Challenge
32 years ago
by Morgan
in announcement
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| From Meteor Photoshoot |
MAD were out in St. Stephen’s Green yesterday with Irish Miss Universe Diana Donnolly, getting rad in support of Meteor’s ‘Get on Your Bike Challenge’. The fundraising event sees Meteor staff and the Mountainbiking Association of Ireland team up and hit the tarmac in an attempt to cycle 630km, the distance from Mizen to Mail Head, all in aid of Children’s Charity Barnardo’s.
Meteor are sponsoring MAD for 2009/2010 so keep an eye out for the new team kit soon! Thanks to Liam, Jonathan, Barry, Morgan, Tom and Declan for being our male models for the day – it’s tough work but someone has to do it.
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| From Meteor Photoshoot |
KCapital Challenge
02 years ago
Killruddery is the opening round of the 3 race KCapital Challenge Series, www.kcapitalchallenge.com, being held on the Sunday 26th July.
Venue is Killruddery Demense, Parking and start is in the Belmont Area [old castle], which can be accessed from the Bray to Greystones road turning off at Windgates
Event will be a Mass start for all competitors at 12.00 Noon, and will be over a 35km course [2 laps], with all the flowy singletrack in Killruddery from last years Nationals as well as a big Climb up high onto the small Sugarloaf, and long descent too. As everyone is riding the same course we are leaving out ‘The ROCK’ but We’ve found something else as spectacular
We are going to run the Underage on a Mini Challenge Course, one loop, starting just after the start of the other categories.
We are having a Top 10 prize list for the 10 fastest riders overall and awards for the various categories, and the series then for the categories also.
Entry fees:
All Senior Cats €20
Juniors €15
Underage €5
**We are not running a two day event as previously planned, that idea went a bit pear shaped this year, So the Event is Sunday only. There is No pre-riding on Saturday 25th July, but you can see the course early on Sunday Morning, we will be open for sign on at 9.30, Sign on will close at 11.30am
Thanks Robin
See www.kcapitalchallenge.com for more info
Introduction to XC Racing
02 years ago
EPIC will be running an Introduction to XC racing in Djouce Woods on 12th july 2009.
Its one lap of the NPS course.
Its approx 7k long, technical and extremely enjoyable.
It will kick off at 12.00 along with the Sports racers.
Its €5 to enter, but you must get a one day licence on the day which is €15 .
This event is designed to test yourself and your ability to race or just have the craic, bear in mind that it this course is one of the most challenging XC NPS courses. Djouce being one of the finest places to ride your mountainbike.
Don’t miss it!
There might even be Prizes !!
Sign-on starts at 9.00 on the day.
