Had a few of days now, to gather some thoughts on the Three Peaks cyclocross. What to say. Well, its as barmy as its made out to be. But, it definitely wasn't the total torture-fest that I read about, over and over. Basically, every blog written about the thing has someone saying "never again". I'd be the saying exact opposite, completely enjoyed that. Ok, the weather was savage this year, in a good way. That helped distract from the pain of endless trudging up steep hills. I'd the mobile out snapping spectacular views every chance I could get. Some place on a day with good visibility. Bit like the burren, kilarney and wicklow rolled into one. They had a decent bit of rain in days leading up and the bogs were muddy enough to swallow man (woman) and bike whole. Saw a few people disappear in front of my eyes. The course was totally rideable, far as I was concerned. Once you got used to the strange sensation of being crouched in the drops and bike snaking around underneath. I put my two week training plan into action with a few trips down the 3 rock metro on the cross bike. Skills sorted. Actually, in terms of difficulty, anyone who mountain bikes around the top 3 rock, waterbars, etc. would have no problem in this place. In the three peaks, the decent off the third mountain puts the fear of god into ya. You're hiking up this gravel path, it's the same one you come back down. There's lads thundering past downhill, on fairly rocky ground, on the edge of control, yelping to get out of the way. All the time you're thinking, oh jaysus, I'm wrecked, I've got jelly arms already, I'm gonna kill myself at that. Then after all that, it's not half as steep as it looks and turns out to be a serious buzz, picking lines, bunny hopping gulleys, wishing the descent lasted longer! Just under 5hrs I got around which is respectable. Myself and Simon Keating (ex-member) we started on the back row, no great ambitions, just get around. Terry was off huddled with the elites, looking to sit on a pro's wheel out the road, very clever. Off the road and quickly into the first hike, it's really gas how steep the hiking starts. Crawling up a hill would be a fair description. Then, at the steepest and worst point on the whole route to come a cropper, some fella out stretched. Arm jangling, asking could someone pop his shoulder back in. Dunno was he planning to keep going a la Mel Gibson. Everyone marched by, what could we do to help. Its like the everest expeditions in the death zone, once you're injured, your toast and abandoned by your comrades. It sounded like the guy was used to the shoulder thing happening anyway. On we went on the adventure. Over the next couple of hours, came across a few more lycra clad bodies being seen to by medics on the top of open mountains. Doesn't bear thinking about, how this all works other years when the weather is brutal. Happy so to get around in one piece and soak up the post race chat with a few beers in the sun. Overall, an amazing experience. The race vibe is super laid back. We stayed in the bunk house on the start line (Yorkshire Subterranean Society) for £6. No frills and sharing one bed with 5 or so men I think, not a normal bed in case you're wondering, giant yoke of thing. And €120 for the the sail/rail with bike, so not too bad on the pocket. Bit of an ordeal getting there, no matter what way you do it. 5hrs by train from holyhead can quickly turn into 8hrs with a missed connection, bleeding virgin and song and dance they make about bringing a bike on the train. Back to normal life this week. See you out on the trails, need to dust down the mountain bike.
Few snaps here from the day...Epic at the three peaks
https://www.strava.com/activities/1201610853