CX World Cup round for Dublin in December

columbus_66

Great video, looking forward to the support race now.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121414893#Comment_121414893

Looks so painful watching his body movement. No gloves too the mad feker.

fat bloke

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121415788#Comment_121415788

Met Éireann rain radar Saturday night into Sunday morning.

I made sure and got my long spin in today

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121417180#Comment_121417180

Sorry to be pedantic but that is Sunday morning not Saturday night 😁

Updated forecast says it starts at 5 and will have light rain all the way to 4pm.

Richard Hillman

The course looks a little bit better this year. The only real interesting parts were around the "stadium" section and the equestrian ring with the sand. The equestrian ring is gone but there's sand elsewhere. It looks hillier than last year, which was a bit of a criticism that it was too flat.

columbus_66

It's a fairly hilly and testing circuit, maybe not as tricky as last year. I didn't see any wheel tracks in the sand in the support race, but most of tomorrows field were riding it, shows you the difference.

fat bloke

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121415061#Comment_121415061

I appreciate how the above might have been confusing.

gmacww

It’s a good course. Like last year it’s a power course. Bit more hilly in the back section. Nothing big all small little leg stingers. Sand area is long. At least it felt like that to me running through it.

Decent hill that wasn’t there last year after passing the equestrian center. Today we’d a bit of tar to run up to it. Be interesting tomorrow to see if the barriers are pushed in to force them onto the muck.

Rugby hills slightly changed from last year. The second and third climbs I didn’t even attempt. Think only LS made it up the 3rd one last year. 2nd one is like a wall. Drop out of the hills not as severe as last year. They’ve softened it up but once you’re out of the hills Christ. Sludge, muck and pain.

this.lad

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121417394#Comment_121417394

Saw them training this evening, the trek lads rode all of that back section with the exception of the last steep hill.

Should be great racing tomorrow

Morris Garren

Can't wait to see it now; wasn't up to racing it today so will land early tomorrow. I'll gladly avoid Rockshore but at least we might have a better set up overall. Tea and Sambos in the backpack, a bit GAA-shtyle but once the racing begins and rain starts we will get stuck in. Hope our local riders enjoy the experience and no doubt the cheers will be enormous

RikkFlair

I'm giddy with excitement. First time attending a pro cycling event since the Nissan classic. Yeah I'm that old 😂

retalivity

About to jump on the bike and take a spin out from Dublin City centre. Didn't realise the Juniors were on so early, until I looked at my ticket!

Morris Garren

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121419655#Comment_121419655

The Rockshore and Guinness is ready to go-- plus its 21 euro for a chicken burger+chips--- maybe it's diamond flavoured mayonnaise on top-- but the atmosphere is building nicely. Great day for cross racing, U23s about to kick off

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121419863#Comment_121419863

15e for a burger and chip at the "Smash Burger" stand and 7e for a Guinness.

Not bad for 2023.

The music is absolutely authentic on point levels of sht too.

Benny Cake

Where can you watch on tv?

Dodge

Was on Discovery +

Mens race was incredible

Morris Garren

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121420852#Comment_121420852

Fantastic race-- brilliant to watch

breezy1985

Mens race was much better than last year. I was half expecting them to track stand in the mud there at the end.

daragh_

Men's Elite was class. Well done to all the Irish Racers today. They did us proud.

mewso

Great time out there today bar the absolutely horrible cycle home.

retalivity

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121421266#Comment_121421266

It was miserable, the weather really turned just as the racing finished.

That was a great day's craic, special mention to the saxaphone guy who apparently could play anything, and the crowd with the chainsaw at the bottom of the last steep hill. Shoes ruined, clothes soaked, and about a million photos/videos.

Iserbyt is tiny compared to nearly all the other guys.

cletus

First time at a CX event. Thoroughly enjoyed it, and have added it to next year's calendar already.

I was expecting a lot more in the line of stands and stalls, though. I thought for sure there'd be bike shops etc. selling stuff, as well as stalls selling Belgian frites and waffles

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121421528#Comment_121421528

Last year there was only a Cycling Ireland merch stand and a poor coffee one. This was a vast improvement and hopefully it will be better again next year.

CrowdedHouse

Any official attendance figures?

cletus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121421601#Comment_121421601

Hopefully so. It's a pity, because there's huge scope for it there.

Either way, absolutely cracking day out. My young fella couldn't believe how up close you could be to the action

deise08

Missed out last year, so was making sure I didn't miss out today. Disaster start to the day for me. Late starting out, totally disoriented myself with them roadworks. Eventually got there, and phone wouldn't work with the rain. Aagh. Eventually got in halfway through the women's race.

1st event, and loved every second of it. The muck, the getting soaked, the atmosphere, everything. So worth it.

That sax guy was brilliant. Actually thought it was part of the dj music until I saw him.

And wow, until you see them in the flesh, you don't actually appreciate how amazing these athletes are. You think you do watching them in tv, but to see it in real life. Just wow. They truly are Elite!

They all were amazing.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121421787#Comment_121421787

I spent most of my time near the climb on Rugby Hill just after the big screen and it's absolutely insane how steep it looks looking down.

It's a mud wall. It makes no logical sense that someone can get up it.

rayzerp

Typical blinkered performance from RTE that a round of a world championship held in Dublin doesn’t even get a mention on the sports section of the app.

this.lad

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121422040#Comment_121422040

I think that's as much to do with cycling ireland etc. not promoting it. Today was a great family day out and could only help grow the sport. Where the media did cover it, the focus was more on who wouldn't be there rather than who would! There's such little imagination around promoting it.

I'd say that the attendance was well down on last year. I don't know if anyone who isn't a cyclist or cycling ireland member would even have heard of the event being on today.

That aside, it was a great day, great racing. They just go for it. Course completely changed once the rain started around the 2nd lap of the women's race.

Irish riders were great, they get very little chance to compete at this level, it's a shame.

loyatemu

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121422040#Comment_121422040

It was featured on the 6 o'clock news.