USN nutrition list for 2012

So, here's a list of the USN products that Ill be using to help my racing, recovery and training. There's a lot of different things, so I'm slowly trying out each of the products. Ill do bigger reviews on each as the weeks go on.

So 1) USN Recover Xcell! This is going to be the most important product I think. Lots of training makes zero sense when your not recovered properly! The guys who train less always do better!

2) USN Vooma Gels - Massive re-sealable energy shots. 1 tube will last for a race.  There's 24 in a box. Use it, re-seal it, stick it in the pocket and away you go! Simple. And it tastes great.

3) USN CytoPower Hp - Go faster performance drink for racing mainly. Proper testing soon.

4) USN VO2Max - This is an interesting supplement and is essentially an iron supplement for increased oxegen uptake/production of red blood cells.  

5) USN Multiplex Sport -  Good varied amount of vitamins to keep the body in order.

6) USN Triple Omega  - Important omega 3, 6 , 9 fatty acids. Fish oil is the business.

MTB Movie!

Here's an amazing video about my mountain biking life. It was made by my great friend Brian Fortune who's a top, top film director.  Hope you like it!

Today's training - Mountain biking for 4 hours!

Ranelagh to Wicklow and back. Amazingly cold, Snowy at points tiring and fun!


I decided to see how far I could traverse up the snowy mountain!

Road Trip to the West / First Race of the season and a win!

Rd 1 Munster XC series! 1st Place

So, the races have started (very early this year) and I thought, the amazingly well ran  Munster xc race series would be a great way to get back some lost skills and stay in shape. I decided to make a road trip out of it and bring along some friends. Luckily, these friends were a horde of Finnish girls!

We stayed in a nice hotel in the picturesque village of Kinsale, saw some culture, ate some nice food, checked out the local 'nightlife' and did some ghost hunting around the medieval parts of Kinsale. But, best of all, we raced our socks the next day at the hugely technical and muddy race course just down the road from Kinsale.

These trails in Cork were incredible, they are kind of like some of the best parts of the Welsh mountain bike trail network but far far better.  However, its safe to say that I seriously need some mountain bike skills practice.. I could barely keep the bike upright at points. It was kind of shameful! All the winter's cyclocrossing has left my mountain bike skills run wild. But, it always comes back with a little work. Even Richie Byrne was having the same difficulty!

The race itself was short, just over an hour. Perfect for this time of year as I don't want to get too fit yet. So I took it not too crazy fast, and tried to go hard in the hard parts and easy in the easy parts. Simple.

 Sebastian, (the fast Chilean), went off from the gun.  I hung back just a little opting for a steadier start. I was kind of suffering, so I shouted at him nicely to slow down so I could catch up. There was also far too much mud being flung in my eyes from the wheels in front so I moved up to 2nd position towards the end of the long fire road climb.

Then came the descent of doom.. this trail was really insane. It was a long long downhill muddy chute with a sheer cliff drop on the right hand side. At the bottom, there was a sharp sliddery right curve, and we were greeted with slippery log bridge which brought you over a river crossing. A mistake here, and you would have gone white water rafting with only your bike for buoyancy! Wonder, how many victims  were claimed here, But i liked it!

Sebastian finished in 2nd which was great. It was really good to work together again in the races!

Really looking forward to testing out the new USN products once I get my initial batch (very soon!) The Vooma gels look like they'll keep the energy levels up in muddy races like these!

 Ghost hunting in Cork.. Had to be done!

Cyclocross Return

What a sport, I decided to give it a bash this year as I wanted to stay in better shape during the Winter. I started horrifically out of shape after a break from mountain biking and a lot of partying!

But,  literally every race, I made steady improvements and finished  a 7th overall in the Supercross Cup series, with some extremely tough competition.

Here's a video from one of the races, of me being a bit cheeky while everyone else was suffering! Or maybe i wasn't going hard enough... Hummmm

Corcaigh Park, Supecross round, crazy fast/flat/windy I did all the work, no one would help.


Kilbroney forest Park, Rostrevor, Crazy fast/Hilly/Windy. I did all the work, no one would help!

Tymon Park, had a great start through the Belgian mud pit, but then I started to suffer like hell pretty early on. and in fairness to Evan Ryan, it was me who didn't do the work this time for some time!! Finished 4th here, with some tough opponents.

Sadly, I had to avoid the Nationals like the plague, as I was in the middle of my final exams that week! I was intent on racing, and somehow doing both, but when it came to it, I couldn't manage the time!

2012 - Mountain Bike Racing Season Starts this week!

Its a new start to the season! and with that, I've found some new sponsors.

USN


 I'm seriously looking forward to trying out these products in racing / training, especially, the Cyto Power HP product! I have a sneaking suspicion this will be rocket fuel in the races! I will talk more about their sports nutrition products after some testing.


Jagwire

 Ill be using their hydraulic and gear cables for the 2012 mountain bike season! Time to pimp out the bike with their vast array of colours!


Looking forward to promoting these guys at the races and in training! Also, the mountain bike season starts early this year! Time to get ready for some trails!


Richie

Excellent end to the Season! Results /PIcs

So every Picture tells a story! here's a few mini reports of the last few races in picture form. Enjoy!

6th place - Elite National Cross Country Championships- 

Great race - finished 6th after puncturing on the first lap! caught back lots of lost positions and gave it socks!!  This was  certainly my best national champs performance fitness wise.  check out the sprint finish in the next photo. I would have loved one more lap though.. this is a reoccurring pattern around this time for me.

Sebastian Rakos -  The Fast Chilean  

My training buddy and an excellent friend- This guy is nuts on the bike! also a trained sculpture who comes from the high mountains in Chile. He's a very talented rider, and is racing road over here this year, as he could only bring a road bike over from Chile.  Next season, more Mountain bike races for him!

We've had some pretty hilarious training spins over the last few months including a car chase by the national park rangers in powerscort on our road bikes!! 

We make a good team, a dynamic duo, we're a force to be reckoned with! 

Glendalough Lake chill out spin 

Blessington training / ultimate chill out weekend 

I met the beautiful Heidi, a friend of a friend out in the middle of the Blessington lakes area for lunch one day at her family home. I decided to got there off road on possibly the nicest days of the summer..!  I made a giant adventure out of the whole thing. it was awesome..  Ended up staying much longer than lunch,   swam in the lake that day,  had amazing dinner and generally chilled out for night to the max, it was amazing! 

Back to Racing  - 12 Hour Mountain Bike Race   - 4th Position mixed Pairs

Crazy event, quite fun, i Cane'd it for each lap, getting progressively quicker as the 12 hours went on, and napped in between our 'relay' style laps.

 The night before was great fun, camp fires, bbq's lots of pasta! and some beer.  Also, I was hanging with some cool Epic mountain bikers which made it more fun!  I'd do it again!

Back to XC - Last National League Round - 2nd Place 

I was totally flying for this… The legs felt invincible and technically i was riding well, I had some great competition with Gareth winning on his home track. my last 3 laps were steadily quicker than his, so I think he was feeling un easy by the last lap.. I would have loved one more lap!!!! Sebastian was just behind at the start as we got in to the single track around top 5, from here i rode away in persuit of Garreth. Roger Aikan finished 3rd and Sebastian in 4th.   Luckily, after a few bad luck national league races i still kept my overall ranking to 5th position! 

Da Cooley Thriller Marathon 4th position

This was a great race, but my self and Sebastian had an all or nothing approach to our tactics. We knew Robin Seymour was racing, and knew he would be quicker on all the technical sections (probably, 70% of the race)  So the first hour includes a sheer climb up to the highest point in the Carlingford Mountains. Myself and Sebastian, simply went away from the pack early in to the race and climbed together to the top with a good gap over Robin.  We felt strong in the climb but when it came to the technical part of the race, Robin smoked us royally.. in hindsight, there was too much energy expenditure with our 'gun ho' fast start and we toasted ourselves. finshing 4th and 5th

National Hillclimb Champs 

My first time on a road bike for months. and I decided to give this a go. I became pretty ill with a flu the day before but still went for it, It was a humiliating race.. I had nothing, i'm best deleting it from my memory!! The flu lasted 2 weeks too, which showed my run down state after the last few weeks. Sebastian, also became sick too before the race and had a similar sluggish result.