XC NPS Round 1 – Djouce Woods

by Barry Kellett · April 20, 2015

Yesterday saw Round 1 of the Irish XC NPS take place at Djouce Woods, Co.Wicklow.

Dromara had a small travelling contingent down at the race representing the club at the top level of Off Road racing available in the country. Robert Davison and Davy Broome were competing in the Senior 3 race, Peter Davison making his Junior S2 debut at this level, and myself still moaning at having to race Senior 1.

When travelling to any big race, it is imperative that you prepare well. Fuel well in the days before hand. Make sure your bike is in tip top condition. Pack your mud tyres. Be sure to have your race bottles mixed up the night before and ice cold in the fridge. Pack your helmet, shorts and Jersey and shoes. Never forget the shoes. So as Davy Broome scrambled around begging all of the morning racers to borrow their shoes, I continued my pre race preparation by eating my muesli and fruit and having a sleep in Chauffeur Grimleys race bus after getting a few practise laps under my belt.

Being round 1, there is no gridding. It is a free for all. With 25 Senior 1 riders, it was more of a free for all than in previous years and I would need to get the elbows out. I advised Davy of the same as he is very keen to do well. Robert was a bit more relaxed about the whole thing, his main goal was to not get caught by son Peter. With 69 riders in the Senior 3 Holding area though, a good start was imperative.

Davy managed to bag himself a 2nd row starting spot. However, on the whistle, his borrowed shoes proved troublesome and he missed his clip in twice with the cleat in a different position than he was used to, and as he started powering off, everyone around him had already hit maximum overdrive – sending him backwards. As I always said, you can’t beat the overtaking buzz and he set about doing just that, powering and cruising through the field to bag himself an 11th spot, narrowly missing out on his coveted top 10 due to a flaky chip timing system. He tells us.

Unfortunately for Robert, the day has come. His offspring is now considerably faster than him. But also faster than the rest of the Senior 2 Junior Field as Peter came home in 1st place and takes the leaders Jersey into round 2 of the series, a superb result for rider and club.

As for myself in Senior 1, I had a good start from a bit further back. Some hesitant grass cornering from guys who don’t race CX, leaving just enough space for my 740 bars to get through. Seymour made his way through the few in front of him early on and powered off with ease. Peter Buggle was the only man to contend after early leader and regular at DCC club nights, Lindsay Watson (Plush MTB) suffered a snapped chain within the first 10 minutes. That left about 5 of us sniffing after 3rd place.

Personally, I was climbing really well, and I needed to be. Bike handling and knowledge of the trails was costing me 20-30 seconds on two of the three main descents as all the Expert Cycles guys showed that brakes are just for show, and the finish line. There were some Incredible skills and descending on show. I was pulling back time on the couple of short climbs but ultimately the effort was costing me. I finished in 6th place, not far off Alfie Wallace in 5th who gave me a great race through out.

All in all, it was a great day out on a brutally hard course. Thanks to Team Worc for hosting. Thanks to Martin Grimley for getting me there. Thanks to Ronan Campbell of XMTB(ex DCC) for doing bottles for me. And finally thanks to everyone for not giving me too much stick for running this section in every lap…