Ireland’s Premier Mountainbiking Club™
Posts tagged nps
XC NPS Course Update
Jul 1st
The MAD NPS crew have been busy all this week planning the season finale to the 2010 NPS.
From laptop programming to branch-lopping, all is going to plan! The bit of rain up on 3Rock this week is expected to have very little effect on the course we have designed and built for the race.
We have trimmed a few minutes of the original lap time by removing some climbs, accelerating/re-aligning some of the singletrack sections, and raking and smoothing out as many sections as we can.
Our intent is to provide the fastest and most fun course of 2010, and that you don’t even remember the climbs – just all the fun stuff! We are incorporating one of the driest forest sections in the whole of Ireland – Rock n Roll! This unique area never gets affected regardless of the weather and is currently dusty dry, a few slower corners have been by-passed to speed-up this whole section.
The open mountain/double track sections have had water channels cut-in and any puddles have been drained off down the hillside, we’ll also will be walking the course on the Saturday with mattocks and spades in hand to tend to any sections. More >
MAD NPS Course Preview
Jun 29th
The course is approximately 6.2 km long, taking about 28 minutes on a test lap for a fast Master (as ridden by test pilot Oisin ‘Bomber’ Boydell from Pronghorn Racing in dry conditions).
Start out on a short section of fireroad up from the carpark, then left and up the wide track and weave through the rooty short forest section and out onto the main ‘Strada Bianca’ fireroad. Hammer along this in the big ring, thinning-out the pack and trying to get a good lead on your opponents before slipping right and down the chute to ‘MX’.
Along MX, up the sharp short kicker and down the super-swoop, pop off the little jump at the bottom and on the gas again through ‘Back Breaker’ (digging this section nearly broke us!). Blast through the wide path and boost up the bank and into Rock n Roll!
Weave your way through this twisting fast & very dry forest, then out and up the short kicker of ‘Blue Oyster’ and onto the main fireroad climb. Crest the climb then left at the barrier and over the large slabs, left and along and down through the super-fast ‘T-Connector’ and warp down the sandy singletrack into upper ‘Rock n Roll’. More >
MAD Presents NPS Final Round
Jun 28th
The Mountainbiking Association of Dublin presents the final round of the 2010 cross country NPS on the 4th of July on Three Rock Mountain, Dublin. This will be an amazing race on a true MTB course featuring brand new superfast trails, courtesy of MAD Singletrack Engineering Dept. This race is also the fourth and final round of the 2010 Leinster XC League. Stay tuned for a course preview.
You’ll find further details of the event here - http://www.madmtb.com/nps2010
MAD Podiums at Dunmore NPS
Jun 28th
Dromara CC held the penultimate round of the XC NPS last Saturday and there were some great results in what some riders felt was the hardest race of the year so far.
Mel was first in Elite Women
XC NPS Round 1 2009
Feb 27th
Sunday March 22nd sees the start of the XC NPS with Round 1 being held in the brand new venue of Rossacrue Woods, Kilgarvan, Co. Kerry.
The race will be hosted by Killarney CC, and the Killarney bikers have been busy working on the track for the past few months clearing fallen trees, clearing singletrack sections and working on drainage.
The loop is approx. 5km in length composed of 2.5K fireroad with the remainder a mix of smooth fast singletrack and some further more technical singletrack.
The guys are also working on an additional section of technical singletrack so all in all, it sounds like a great venue to kick-start the season with.
Portaloo will be available and tea/sambos served afterwards to refresh the riders before the road home!
Accomodation suggestions:
- The Railway Hostel ph: 06435299
- The Whitegates Hotel ph: 06431164
- The Riverside Hotel ph: 06439200
- The Avenue Hotel ph: 0643522
Course pre-ride and Sign-on will be available on Saturday from 12 to 4pm.
Sign on will be open on Sunday from 9.00am
Only riders with race numbers are allowed on the course – no number = no practice/race!
Sunday Race timetable:
- U 8/10/12/14 start time: 11:30am
- U 16 Start time: 12.00pm
- Sports Start time: 12.01pm
- Ladies Start time: 12.01pm
- U 14 Start time: 12.02pm
- Elite Men Start time: 1.30pm
- Juniors Start time: 1.31pm
- Elite Ladies Start time: 1.32pm
- Masters Start time: 1.33pm
- Veterans Start time: 1.34pm
- Experts Start time: 1.35pm
The Under 12s and younger will have a race on their own mini race circuit, in and around the Start/Finish area
The Under 14s & 16s will race on the full circuit
Lap numbers will be assigned on the day.
Cross Country NPS Round Three
May 20th
The third round of the 2008 Cross Country NPS takes place this Sunday in Magheramorne Quarry, near Larne Co. Antrim. This venue was used for the first time last year and we recieved some good reports. It’s part of the Magheramorne Works redevelopment which you can read about here www.magworks.info.
Sign-on is at the Blue Circle Sailing Club (directions). Full facilities will be available (toilets! showers!) and there should be sandwiches after the race too (sandwiches!). It’s a bit of a drive to get up there but should be well worth the effort – especially as the new MAD 2008 club gear will be on display for the first time (and hopefully on the podium too).
