My preparation for the race hasn’t been perfect, jumping off the road bike in Shrewsbury on our John O Groats to Land End ride and flying out on the thursday before the race. To make matters worse people have been out here for weeks practising the stages. Unfortunately i dont think it makes it a very level playing field but i wasn’t the only one who was lacking in practise.

The loop was massive with over 1500 metres of climbing and it took 6 hours on race day to complete!

The stages were gnarly, loads of fast really rocky, technical gullies which were brilliant to ride, but some of the stages were 8 minutes long and with only one practise run on all of them, i was haemorrhaging time to others who knew the lines. I had a few huge moments going flat out of blind rises only to find myself in 4 foot deep rocky gullies where i thought there was a nice smooth trail.

However it was a rad event, i just wish i had more time to prepare.

My race day went amazingly bad, in fact i think it was the worst race for me personally in the 18 years i have been racing mountain bikes.

Stage 1 was gnarly and about 5 minutes long, there was a climb half way in and i snapped my chain at the start of the climb. Done. First stage and my race was already a write off. I ran as far as i could but got overtaken by 2 guys, losing over a minute.

I was so frustrated after such a big build up, but i regrouped and thought i might as well try and put some good times in on the remaining stages to see i am at. I managed a 30th place on the next stage which i am fairly satisfied with, considering my lack of practise.

The day took an even worse turn when i then snapped my chain again, hitting the bars flat out with my knee and taking a massive fast crash that has left me with a very sore thigh and walking like John Wayne. A lot of swearing and punching myself in the head later i was at the final stage just wanting to cruise down and not snap my chain again. This time my gear cable snapped and left me in the hardest gear, making me run (in fact mostly walk casually) the rest of the stage.

What a bastard.

Ah well it cant get much worse than that.

Big thanks to Steve and Tristan for the SPS support, looking forward to Hamsterley and racing properly.

I am just sitting down after almost 8 hours on the bike and it feels very nice to be off it.

We made it 105 miles down to Bonar Bridge on a very windy day, we stormed across the North coast to Thurso pretty easily with the wind mostly behind us, then turned inland when we had to fight the wind a lot more.

I have to say the last 30 miles was pretty hard work and my legs are definitely feeling it now.  Credit to Matt Loake, 3 of us sat in tow for a good 20 miles of the worst of it and he did a lot of work. Well he is an Expert level XC racer!

We are down to Fort William tomorrow and then heading down Glencoe on Friday so give us a toot if you are travelling up to Ft William for the BDS.

There are 8 of us riding for Cancer Research UK. Some of you may know Tim Morris, who runs Podium Catering at the World Cups for the Athertons and with his other half Karen. Tim was diagnosed with Mouth Cancer last year but thankfully had an operation and is in the all clear. Tim is the ring leader for the ride and it is cool to have such a good bunch of mates together to raise some money for a great cause.

Chris just summed it up well- “I would be feeling very smug with myself if i knew i didnt have to do it again tomorrow”

Donations on my Just Giving page would be much appreciated- https://www.justgiving.com/Neil-Donoghue/

A really tough weekend of gnarly, wet, rooty stages, a big lap and lots of sprinting. It was a really good challenge to show the best overall rider.

There was a mix of old DH tracks, flowy trail centre sections and then all out slog fests through 6 inches of mud, roots and rocks.

photo courtesy of Doc Ward

I chose to ride my Tallboy LT again after having a great result on it at the first round. I have been loving the Tallboy recently, after being one of those people who slagged off 29ers, i am now eating humble pie and really enjoying riding it. I took it up my local woods, Eastridge, this week and i could tell i was so much faster, i was jumping sections i have never jumped before in 18 years and railing corners like they were half as tight.

However i noticed the first chink in the armour of the 29er this weekend as some of the stages were so thick and gloopy, when the tyres got full of mud the bike was so heavy and hard to manouver. Ah well, it cant be better at everything. I am now really looking forward to getting my Bronson this week. I know i am going to love that bike.

Racing went ok for me. Stage 1 was good but i found it hard to push 100% on a DH track that i really couldn’t remember very well, only having chance to do 1 practise run on.

Stage 2 was a gnarly wet, rooty affair and when we got to it- after 300 or so riders had been through it was hard work, all was going good, keeping it upright after 2 major moments, but in one of the really dug out sections i landed right on a horrible little stump and blew out my rear tyre. I managed to get the bike to the end but felt like i lost all the time i had made through the hard stuff.

Stage 3 was almost exactly the same. I caught my 20 second man, Al Stock in the top half of the track so i was feeling good, but another clumsy mistake and another blow out on the rear. I thought my day was over but thanks to the marshall for a spare tube and i was away again, although very tired after 2 sprint stages and 2 super quick fixes and sprints to get to the top of the next stage in time.

Stage 4 was gnarly, a really hard, cut up top section, trail centre then a steep wet finish. I had a big crash in the fast slop and lost a lot of time and smashed my head and shoulder, luckily, into a fairly soft spot, just missing a tree.

Stage 5 was less dramatic, but very physical and i just felt lucky to have made it to the finish.

Local lad Gary Forest was on a stormer and would smashed the whole field if his freewheel hadn’t have broken on stage 4, so hard luck to him and the other local lad Mark Scott took his first Elite win, so well done to him.

I am glad to have come away leading the series with two second places and now i am preparing for my John o Groats to Lands End ride, any donations are much appreciated here-

Cheers!

Donny

The bike has been completely ‘Invsiframed’ from new, so the frame is unmarked in all the normal major scuffing parts. It has a few normal scratches under the BB etc but other than that the bike looks great.

It includes lots of parts that cant be bought- for sponsored riders only.

The spec-

Nomad Carbon frame- size medium

Fox 36 Float 160 FIT RC2 Kashima coated fork
Fox Float RP23 Kashima coated shock
Fox DOSS dropper seat post

Hope Pro 2 evo hubs with Syncros rims
Hope Race Evo X2 brakes in “team green”- cannot be bought, only available to sponsored riders.
Hope headset

Renthal Fatbars- cut to 720mm
Renthal Duo stem
Renthal prototype lock on grips
Renthal SR4 chain ring

E13 LG1 chain device

Shimano XT clutch rear mech 1 x 10 setup
Shimano XT shifter
Shimano XT cranks
Shimano XT cassette and chain

Continental Rubber Queen 2.2 UST tyres

WTB saddle

Price on Application.

Get in touch on neil@neildonoghuecoaching.co.uk or 07811 063489

The plan is for the guys to ride to Land End in 9 days. I will be riding the first 6 days down to Shrewsbury, where i will be packing my stuff and heading off to round 1 of the World Enduro Series in Italy.

Once home i will finish the ride from Shrewsbury down to Cornwall as quick as i can!

All donations to Cancer Research UK are much appreciated- http://www.justgiving.com/Neil-Donoghue

I have been cleaning kit and bikes all day after a really challenging first round of the 2013 UK Gravity Enduro.

Photo courtesy of Doc Ward

It was nice to have a stacked field of Elite riders with Dan Atherton showing up, it was always going to be a hard weekend to win.

I am really happy with a 2nd place behind Dan and it feels great to get a solid start to the year. I lost just over 34 seconds to Dan over the day, which i am actually quite happy with. I had an atrocious stage 4 where i tried to ride the whole stage, where everyone else was getting off and running it. I lost about 14 second in that stage to Dan. If you weren’t there- basically it was like the Somme. 2 feet deep mud in places that was riding through treacle. Not my idea of fun, but hey ho, you have to deal with what is put in front of you.

I managed to put over 40 seconds into 3rd place so i am happy with that. This round was definitely a physical challenge and that was about it. Not much in the way of technical riding, but i guess we will find the best all rounder over the year. I have to say i am looking forward to the Innerleithen round and i am just happy to have this one over and done with.

Photo courtesy of Doc Ward

I chose to build my new Santa Cruz Tallboy LTc for Afan and i think that definitely paid off. It is the first time i have ever ridden a 29er properly but it was the perfect bike for the stages, it rolls so fast over the bumps and i am blown away by the grip and the overall handling of the bike. Never have i just jumped on a bike and ridden it, only stopping to set the suspension, and had a bike handle so well. I had some mega 2 wheel drifts when i was really pushing it and never got close to a crash. I am looking forward to riding the bike a bit more.

Photo courtesy of Doc Ward

Thanks to The Steve Peat Syndicate, Santa Cruz, Royal, Hope, Continental, Shimano, FiveTen, Renthal, E13, Evoc, Fox Racing Shox, Mojo and Invisiframe for the support!

Oh and Horizon Motorhomes for putting me up in a motorhome for the weekend and the boys at the Trailhead in Shrewsbury for some last minute mechanics to get the Tallboy built.

If you are interested in racing Gravity Enduro or want to improve your racing skills why not have a look at the coaching holiday i am doing out at Pure Mountains in Spain.

I got the call on Friday from Ric at MBUK to see if i could be a last minute replacement for a guy who couldn’t make it, so i chucked everything in the van and hit the road on Sunday up to Innerleithen where i was to meet Ric and Andy and Aneela who run Gowhere Scotland
I have always wanted to get myself up to Skye and it was only a few days before i had been watching the film Prometheus and seen the amazing landscapes.
To say we got lucky with the weather might be an understatement, February in the highlands probably isn’t noted for having 10 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. I fell in love with the place and i am now plotting a way of getting back up in the summertime.

The Quiraing

Look out for photos in an MBUK sometime soon, Andy McCandlish got some amazing shots that do the scenery and riding justice and thanks to Andy McKenna from Gowhere for showing us around.
Another thing, if you are looking for some wild riding in Scotland i cant recommend Andy McKenna enough, he is a great guy who loves MTB and Scotland and seemed to know every mountain, trail and cafe on our drive from Inners to Skye.

Isle of Skye with Andy McKenna

24- 29th of July i will be running a skills holiday out at Pure Mountains specifically aimed at Enduro racing skills.
Whether you have had a go at racing Gravity Enduro or if you just fancy a challenge we have a holiday that covers the skills you need.

I ran a really successful skills trip last year that you can read about here.

Pure Mountains is a great setup with amazing riding including the local singletrack up in Sierra Nevada as well as a pump track and jumps in the grounds of the farmhouse. Not forgetting the lovely accommodation and facilities.

Here is the blurb form the Jenny and Tim at Pure Mountains-

Enduro Skills Coaching Trip: 24 to 29 July, 2013
This trip is for riders who are already racing in Enduro events, fancy doing so, or just want to benefit from learning Enduro-type skills.

In the morning coaching sessions, Neil will be concentrating on the techniques relevant to Enduro racing including: tricky descents, carrying speed without using too much energy, pumping and line choice. He’ll also look at bike set up and talk about race fitness. Each afternoon there will be guided rides when you can practise what you’ve learned. We’ll be mixing longer rides with intervals. We’ll also be sprinting some laps of the on-site short course.

What is Enduro?

Enduro is an exciting, fast-growing stage-race race format. The winner is the rider who accumulates the lowest combined time from the various timed sections. A typical one-day enduro race consists of 3 to 5 timed stages on technically demanding, generally descending terrain. These stages are linked by physically demanding, ascending, liaison stages. Although a rider’s performance on the liaison stages does not affect his or her result, there is a time-cut off and the rider needs to be fresh for the next timed stage. So, technique and fitness are both important. See the UK’s Gravity Enduro website for a info on their events.

Price for both trips: £599 / €690 per person, including eco-luxe farmhouse accommodation, Land Rover support, full board (except two dinners), beer and wine and Malaga airport transfers.

Contact us to book.

Or have a look at the Pure Mountains website

We have vouchers starting at £85 for a half day coaching that can be ‘topped up’ by the recipient if they would like a full day.

Half Day course £85

Full Day course £160