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The second round of the 2008 Irish DH NPS will take place on the weekend of Saturday and Sunday 26th/27th April 2008. The event, organised by Flow Racing is being held at Carrick Mountain, which is located in the eastern foothills of the Wicklow Mountains. It rises directly above the village of Glenealy on the R752, midway between Rathnew and Rathdrum. The mountain is, bar a few large rocky knolls, completely covered in forest. There is a network of forest roads on the hill, with long straights, steep slopes, hair-pin bends; the forest roads, with their sand and gravel surfaces, ascend to within 100 m of the summit.
A view of Carrick from the Southwest
The course itself has almost been finalised, there are a few tweaks which remain to be completed just before the race weekend.
Race organisers would like to point out that Coilte have instructed us to inform everybody that this Forest is not a mountain biking forest, we have been granted special permission on a once off basis pretty much to run a race here.
We would also like to stress that any form of motorised vehicles (i.e.) Quads, Minibikes etc…are banned from this race event. Failure for riders to adhere to this rule will put the possibility of holding future events here in serious jeopardy, if anyone is found with any motorised vehicles in the woods it will result in rider disqualification from the event. Uplifts will be provided on Saturday and Sunday, providing plenty of time for practice under Ambulance cover.
Track Description
Uplifts will drop riders off above the start of the track, therefore you roll to the start…making life that bit easier.
The track starts with a short firebreak sprint, picking up good speed exit off to the right and onto the run up to a sizeable kicker, which if hit at the right speed will give you quite a boost…
onto an open, loose off camber section, straight on with all the speed you have carried from the kicker into the first left hand berm which shoots you down onto the firebreak, a short sprint, and into a chicane of sorts, with a sharp right followed by a quick left which turns rather slippy, flat out, carry your speed as best you can without slipping out around a few roots that are only showing now! Into a wee forest section, a wide open left hander with two line choices, get around that and out onto a short rough section, watch out for the pothole…hit the firebreak again, blast on a bit, hook a left into a bumpy rough section, into a nice compression, scrub over the mound and down a pretty rough chute, lean right and pull the bike out onto the firebreak again…
A wee compression…
Exit from the chute…
Once you exit the chute and are back out on the firebreak again, pedal a wee bit, then there is a left into what can be quite a tricky little hip, the jump can send you quite a bit, get the landing right, and you are shot out onto the firebreak again, start pedalling to pick up more speed, you cross the first major fire road, hit a kicker, which sends you onto a bank and down into a rather slippy compression, hit the mound at speed, try and keep the bike under control, into a loose rocky, slippy, muddy right hander, compression, watch out for the tree stump…shoot out onto the firebreak, control your speed, pull in left into a wide open entrance to a right hand berm, stay off the brakes if you can, exit this section at speed and immediately try and turn in left on possibly one of the trickiest corners to get at speed! Enter the next section if you have made it around the corner, flat to the mat down an old walker’s trail, out onto the firebreak; hit a little natural rock garden, and almost instantly you start picking up speed, and you realise that you are going proper fast, and at this point you need to start braking, but it is kinda slippy at the same time, as you reach the bottom of this section you have to cross a fire road with a nice sloppy, muddy wet patch in the middle of it all…
Cross the fire road and you are pretty much past half way down, this is where the track changes from being dry to sloppy muddy conditions, hit the first bus stop of this section, and drift right around this corner, change direction as you are exiting, and get ready to enter the ‘G-spot’ berm, it can kill all your speed if you are not careful.
Pop out of this berm, and pedal on down and around to the entrance to the Eucalyptus trees section. A tricky right hander, carry speed as best you can to try and get the double, land that continue on down a bit of muddy single track, over another hump land that swing up to the right into a small bomb hole, swing a left and down the bank onto the fire road to prepare for the entry to the last section…
Roll into the last section, hit the left hand berm, shoot out of that, and it’s a right, left, straight, right, left, right, big jump…hop over a fairly big root, gap the ditch and onto the fire road for the last time and pedal as hard as you can to the finish line!
All in all it’s a pretty flat out track from top to bottom…I know everybody will really enjoy this track! See you all there…
Please note that riders who don’t have a complete licence , a valid receipt from cycling Ireland or a letter from their club secretary that their licence has been paid for, will need to buy a day licence . All under age riders (under 18) must ensure that a parental consent form has been completed and either sent to Cycling Ireland or given to the race officials on race day
Flow Racing would like to remind all riders and spectators that the race is on Forestry Service land and as Downhill Mountain biking relies heavily on the Forestry Service for race venues it is important that the positive relationship that has been built up by the race organisers is not jeopardised by leaving litter in the forest.
Please note the day licence fees for U14/U16 and Junior riders. U14/U16 riders must pay a €5/£3.50 fee and juniors a €15/£10 fee rather than the €5 previously charged. Please note that this is consistent with day licence fees in other cycling disciplines. All riders are also asked to provide details at sign on of any club, sponsor, team that he/she is representing so that the details can be included in the race reports and give the clubs, sponsors, teams a well deserved mention.
Saturday
Sign on: 9.30am – 12.00pm and 1.00pm – 3.00pm
Practice: 10.00am – 4.00pm
Sunday
Sign on: 9.00am -10.00am
Practice: 9.00am – 11.30am (10.30am – 11.30am full runs only – no sectioning!)
Course inspection: 11.30am – 12.00pm
First race runs: 12.00pm approx. onwards
Entry fees – (Standard at all DH NPS events this year)
Elites/Seniors/Masters/ Vets/Super Vets/Sports/Ladies - €50/£35
Juniors/U16/U14 - €30/£20
Guidance on age categories –
Elite/Senior/Sports (aged 18+) Masters (30+ in current year) Vets (40+) Super Vets (50+)
Junior (born in 1990/1991) U16 (born in 1992/1993) U14 (born in 1994/1995)
** If you need help or advice on what category you should be in either by age or ability please speak to the Flow Racing Team on race day and they will advise.
Race licence - (day) €15 or £10 (price set Cycling Ireland). U14/U16 €5 or £3.50*
If you intend to race regularly consider an annual licence – it can work out cheaper, particularly for younger riders. The licence fees are available on the Cycling Ireland WEBSITE
Uplifts
Uplifts will be provided on both Saturday and Sunday. Riders are reminded that they need to have a race number before they ride the course. Any rider caught riding the course without a number plate will be disqualified from the event. NO sign on means NO number board, NO uplift, NO authorised course use and NO MEDICAL COVER!
Parking
With regards to parking, it is being cleared up at the moment as to where cars can park, it will be posted on the forum as soon as we clear it up.
There is no camping permitted.
* Because riders are passing residents’ houses on the way to the track you are kindly asked to respect these people and their environment, they have been kind enough to allow us to run this event, one objection from them and access to the Forest to run races would never be allowed again. So please, don’t make excessive noise, throw litter anywhere, or cause any problems with the residents of the lane that you will be walking up to get to the track. Thank you.
Walking the course
All riders are welcome to walk the course. Riders are however not permitted to push their bikes up the course and risk disqualification for doing so – this is applicable to all practice/race sessions. Please stay outside the tape if pushing up the course.
Weather
Accurate weather forecasts can be found here for the Wicklow Mountains HERE
Getting to Carrick Mountain, Accurate directions can be found from Google maps HERE and directions to Glenealy from Dublin can be found HERE at the ‘A’ marked on the map you should take a right to head for the GAA pitch car park. There will be signs up on the roads directing you to the race as well.
From the N11 take the Rathnew turn off head into Rathnew. When you get to the stupid small roundabout (little white one painted on the road). Take a right and head for Glenealy. When you get to Glenealy there is a right turn signposted for Ashford. Take it Go up the road about 200m and there is a GAA Club on the left park there for now unless its the race weekend. There will be other parking available then. Get your bike ready and then start to pedal back towards Glenealy there is a small road/lane on youre right which will bring you to the forest entrance. Go to the very end you will end up in the driveway of a house its a right of way so just head straight on into the woods. The track is fairly easy to find.
For directions from other places try the AA route planner for details, using Glenealy as your destination.
Accommodation
There is one Bed and Breakfast in Glenealy
http://www.irishtourist.com/details/kilpatrick_house.shtml
The nearest big town being Ashford, Rathnew, Rathdrum, there are several bed and breakfast’s in these towns, which can be found using Google.
If any further information is needed please feel free to put a post on the forum where we'd be only willing to help with as much information as possible. In the meantime, see you in Carrick.
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