Wicklow MTB Festival

prunudo

I see they are planning a festival of mountain biking on the May holiday weekend in Ballinastoe. Rather than having a round of Gravity Enduro it appears they've decided to make it a weekend event with different disciplines of racing on each day, Enduro, XC and Downhill.

https://wicklowmtbfestival.ie/

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid02zQXLmsXWsQ7MDR5KWt23ov3zQBZHAUGNppUdBJ23w2Ve9uNyhyu4M5CfKgNTPHvKl&id=61553588939137&sfnsn=mo

prunudo

..

Wailin

It's a good concept imo. It might create a good atmosphere that has been lacking at the gravity enduros. But ravens as a DH trail?! 7 stages grassroots style sounds like a tough day in the saddle too!

prunudo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121372472#Comment_121372472

Yeah, will be tough going, 30km x 2 🥵, although appears the cut off is 7 hours, so plenty of time.

sparrowcar

Great idea, bring the community together under one banner as such.

CramCycle

Love it, fantastic idea

Tenzor07

I'm sure it will be a commercial success for the company running it...

I see that biking.ie are running the biking blitz in Ballinastoe on the 4th of Feb, and then running round 1 of the "XC Nps" a few months later .. So it I guess it will be like 2 rounds of the Blitz...

prunudo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121374483#Comment_121374483

I'm sure it will be a commercial success for the company running it...

So cynical 😂

Wonder will they introduce any new natural elements or will it literally be all the current trail centre stuff.

PJ_RS1800

From the website on the NPS round:

"There will be lots of natural hand built sections alongside forest road and trail centre sections. Course preview coming soon."

Tenzor07

Will probably re-open some of the blocked off old sections on the left as you enter the forest and use the lower trail centre stuff I'd say...

Also wonder if that will mean they are effectively closing the trail centre for the day to all users who may not have any interest in the races...

Ceepo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121373327#Comment_121373327

Woah wait, what's this 30k business

prunudo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121389485#Comment_121389485

https://wicklowmtbfestival.ie/enduro/

The Course

The course is approximately 30km long with 7 downhill timed stages. You can ride the stages in any order, any number of times within the notified time limit, estimated to be 7 hours. The liaison between stages is not timed so you can ride at your leisure and catch up with your pals. The stages are technical and steep. Please note this event is not suitable for beginners. Your fastest times on each of the stages are added together to form your overall time.

Ceepo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121389547#Comment_121389547

7 stages over 30k.

Think I'll only do 2 runs on each so. Don't want to make a long day out of it 😂

Totally unrelated. I better up my fitness levels 🤔😂

Am I right in thinking that you ride an ebike. What's your range normally, I appreciate it will vary a lot. Would you be comfortable doing that 30k?

prunudo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121390974#Comment_121390974

Have both, anyone who says e-bike doesn't effect fitness is either lying or doing gym, turbo or normal bike training aswell.

I would say, given my current fitness (or lack of) I'm getting max 50km and 1600m of climbing with e-bike in trail mode and eco for all but the steepest of transitions. Thats with a shimano motor and 700w (i think) battery.

I'm surprised he's going for a mash up format with so many stages. Anything more than 30km of enduro stages on a normal bike is pushing the majority of peoples fitness I would imagine

Ceepo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121391004#Comment_121391004

I've actually both myself and totally agree with you on the fitness thing. Although I nearly convinced myself differently, that was until I went back on the normal bike again.

I've the ilolder Specialized Levo 500wh battery, and theresnot a hope I'd get that type of distance on it. I'd say 30k max and that's if I baby it around. Of course conditions play a part.

Don't really use the ebike much anymore really. Prefer the suffering of the normal bike.. Kinda😂

prunudo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121391185#Comment_121391185

I should add, that 50km would be really nursing and watching the cadence and range. Would have included sections on the road too. If the weather improves this side of Christmas I'll have to try another test. Lately I haven't cared about range too much, just been a case of getting out and making the most of a weather window.

Plastik

As a matter of interest, are ye saying that the ebike positively or negatively impacts fitness?!

prunudo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121428634#Comment_121428634

It negatively effects cardio, but probably improves upper body and trail fitness as you're getting more trails in the same amount of times imo.

Tenzor07

I've heard of some eBikers who after a spin get together to see who has the highest % of battery left, whoever has the highest % left wins! :-D

Gerry

This lines up with what I reckoned about ebikes...

I think theres a few categories of ebikers

People who just will not be able to have or gain huge cardio fitness and really need the help otherwise mtb is going to be utterly pointless, painful, short etc. I get it.

People who just aren't bothered with the fitness side and get their cardio fitness in other ways, if they want to - fair enough. I guess they will have/build a certain amount/type of fitness from doing a lot of descents.

People who are reasonably fit, and ebikes give them a longer spin, more downhills/quick uplift, in the same time.

The last category is interesting, as a lot of people there claim that they are still putting in the same effort and getting the same training from it, but I suspect this is not true for most people, and what you guys have said appears to back that up.

That its quite possible to put in a bit less effort than you would on a normal bike, but do quite a lot more km. Probably more than anything, its being able to avoid digging deep so often on a spin?

Am I wrong?

Max Q

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121575637#Comment_121575637

Yeah I'd say you're right on your last point about digging deep. My experience is that you definitely won't get the same workout on an e-bike unless you're only using the lowest level of assistance and are intentionally pushing yourself hard. The big advantage for me is the quick uplift getting up to the start of trails quickly or getting another run in. I've also stopped bringing my car up to the trail head as I can get there almost as quick on the e-bike. So for me it's the time saving that's the big advantage. I can get up and down for a full loop of the trails in under 1:30. It would probably be double that on an acoustic bike. While the cardio workout is less, I think the upper body gets hit harder on the e-bike due to the weight and the higher braking forces and cornering moving a much heavier bike around on the trails. You're still getting some level of a cardio workout also.

mad turnip

Was up in Ballinastoe today and did 6 full runs of the harder tracks. Ravens, Junkers, Peaty, Pig Dog, Glitch and the extended version of expressway from the top of the mountain. That added up to 31km and 1200m climbing. So two runs is going to come in somewhere near 2000m climbing.

That its quite possible to put in a bit less effort than you would on a normal bike, but do quite a lot more km. Probably more than anything, its being able to avoid digging deep so often on a spin?

Yeah this is very true for me anyway. Probably one of the better aspects of the ebike. On a regular mtb I would finish a big day on the bike absolutely wrecked. And once your home you just can't stop eating and shoveling the calories back into you.

I certainly prefer a regular mtb over the ebike, but overall at the years end I will have spent more time mountain biking on the ebike and if that comes at the cost of a bit of fitness thats ok. I do some other activites to keep fit but I'm certainly not as mtb fit as I was when I was pedaling analogue bikes all weekend long.