Profiles

Profile date: March 2008
Name: Ryan Sherlock

Club: MAD
Bike(s): 08 Custom Specialized S-Works Epic, 08 Specialized Tarmac Expert, 07 Giant XTC Composite
What got you into biking: My brother who lives in California was a roadie and I was over for a summer working for a tech company.
There is a huge biking community there so I decided to buy a mountain bike and be like everyone else in the area.
I rode it for a few months when I was there, then, when I came back home it sat unused for a couple of years.
In the summer of 2005, I decided to start riding – I rode a couple of times a week and then in November I bought a full suspension XC rig, upped the riding to 4 times a week (couldn't get enough of it) and then another 6 months later when I started to race, started to ride more.
Now, everyday :)
Best biking music: Trance/Dance type stuff – I listen to Tiesto a lot
Dream bike: My Epic :) I love the thing, it is super light and fast but still nice and bouncy.
Years biking: 3
Best ever MTB moment: I don't really have one that stands out above everything else – I love racing, especially in the big races with all the nerves.
On the other hand, my cycling trips abroad have been tons of fun.
Everyone should head to New Zealand at least once :)
Worst ever MTB moment: Don't really know either – I had a couple of falls by myself that I barely scrapped myself home from...
Best trail/race & why: Some of the trails in the trail parks in New Zealand, super long and super flowy with lots of different lines (I had a 6inch travel bike so I could take some of the drops :)).
Worst trail/race & why: I pretty much like everything but one thing that usually lowers my appreciation of a trail a lack of elevation change...
Lycra or baggies: Lycra – baggies are too hot and unless you have a lowered saddle get stuck on it.
One sentence to describe your bike riding style: Fast and consistant when I'm not going like a donkey ie this year!
'A friends' sentence to describe your bike riding style: Likes to climb? I seen myself riding in a video for the first time a few days ago and it looked like I pedal reasonably smoothly – I guess this answer is pretty boring...
Coolest piece of kit you own: Probably my Epic, although another cool thing is my Specialized 2D helmet – it's crazy light.
Your MTB alias/what you'd like to be called by your biking' buddies: Errr, ahhhh - Ryan?!?
Can you do DH as well as XC: I have been known to (I own a full face helmet and all the pads) but I'm a bit to much of a chicken for the big jumps – I just don't want to hurt myself :P
Anything else you'd like to share? I keep a blog of my ramblings – it is mostly about biking but sometimes about work or travel. I started it because I wanted to write something that I knew other people may read
I would have to write sensible – I wanted to keep/get some writing skills. Now, I like it because it is a bit of a race/travel diary.
I always laugh when I go back and ride about my Vietnam trip :)

Profile date: June 2007
Name: Paddy Daly

Club: Rocky Mountain / K-Capital
Bike(s): 07 Rocky Mountain ETSX 50 , 07 Rocky Mountain Slayer SXC 70,
07 Rocky Mountain Vertex Team with custom blk/white paint and prototype carbon back end , 07 Vertex red/white (still to be built ! Doh) Rocky Cross bike
What got you into biking: Sense of adventure - thought FairyCastle was Everest
(I was 12)
Best biking music: Arctic Monkeys
Dream bike: Its one of the above
Years biking: 17
Best ever MTB moment: Roc d Azure last year, 4,500 entrants off in waves of 500 - 5 hrs plus of wheel to wheel flat out racing - nuts
Worst ever MTB moment: Breaking my wrist while cycling off a 3 inch kerb
Best trail/race & why: Roc Roc Roc Soooooo much fun
Worst trail/race & why: Hummmm, try to enjoy them all to be honest
Lycra or baggies: Lycra
One sentence to describe your bike riding style: Fast and consistant when I'm not going like a donkey ie this year!
'A friends' sentence to describe your bike riding style: Savage ?
Coolest piece of kit you own: The Sugoi team clothing we have this year, sweet stuff
Your MTB alias/what you'd like to be called by your biking' buddies: Padzer the animal - (more likely the pussy in real life)
Can you do DH as well as XC: Er eh kind of ............No

Profile date: Jan 2007
Name: Oisín Boydell

Club: MAD and UCD
Bike(s): Giant Trance, Specialized Stumpjumper hardtail, Kona Blast with slicks and rigid forks for commuting and an old hacker bike for cycling to the pub.
Best biking music: Nothing but the sound of tyres over gravel, chain slap and the wind in the trees.
Dream bike: Something a bit more 'freeride' such as a Giant Reign X, the new '07 Santa Cruz Bullit or Yeti AS-X.
Years biking: About 10 years
Best ever MTB moment: Doing the GLC drop in Whistler Bike Park.
Worst ever MTB moment: Crashing on the woccas and getting concusion - I still can't remember a few hours from that day.
Best trail/race & why: Best trail is 'A river runs through it' in Whistler - super technical with loads of north shore style woodwork. Best race was probably the Epic Blast last summer cause I liked the mix of XC and DH.
The marathon champs were also good and you certainly get your moneys worth - ~5 hours of riding!
Worst trail/race & why: Anything with too much fire road. Boring.
Lycra or baggies: I find a bit of both is the most comfortable - definintely baggy shorts though.
One sentence to describe your bike riding style: As fast as I can go.
'A friends' sentence to describe your bike riding style: As fast as he can go.
Coolest piece of kit you own: My Giant Trance. I have it built up exactly the way I want it.
Your MTB alias/what you'd like to be called by your biking' buddies: Thats a tricky one - let them decide.
Can you do DH as well as XC: Sort of - I'm working on it.

Profile date: Jan 2007
Name: Pete Stanley (Stan)

Club: Mountain Bike Club Cork (MBCC)
Bike(s): Santa Cruz Blur 4x, Santa Cruz Bullit, Norco Bigfoot, Haro BMX
Best biking music: AC~DC
Dream bike: My Santa Cruz bikes….
Years biking: 6 on, 3 off, 2 on. Gutted that I quit for those few years…..broke student.
Best ever MTB moment: Too many to list, everyday on the bike is class
Worst ever MTB moment: Tearing my groin open off my handlebar…..never use foam grips.
Best trail/race & why: I have loads….Tracton, Mallow DH, Rostrevor, Plenney (Morzine) and many many more.
Worst trail/race & why: Cant think of any. They are what you make them.
Lycra or baggies: Lycra shorts under baggies
One sentence to describe your bike riding style: Flow, pump and jump
'A friends' sentence to describe your bike riding style: “Does he ever stop doing f@ckin wheelies?”
Coolest piece of kit you own: My Totem 2 steps on my Bullit
Your MTB alias/what you'd like to be called by your biking' buddies: Stan/Penguin (ma ma ma ma ma ma ma)
Attend any DH race and you will hear it.
Can you do DH as well as XC: Better than XC, but that’s not saying much

Profile date: Jan 2007
Name: Martin Lynch

Club: MAD
Bike(s): Stumpjumper Comp 07 and Kona Caldera 06
Best biking music: Tiesto
Dream bike: Stumpjumper Pro
Years biking: 1
Best ever MTB moment: Boneshaker no dabbing
Worst ever MTB moment: Crash in Masseys on 1st spin!
Best trail/race & why: Leadmines "its fast"
Worst trail/race & why: none
Lycra or baggies: both
One sentence to describe your bike riding style: SLOW
'A friends' sentence to describe your bike riding style: VERY SLOW
Coolest piece of kit you own: Night Lights!! they are BRIGHT!
Your MTB alias/what you'd like to be called by your biking' buddies: Speedy Gonzalez
Can you do DH as well as XC: No

Profile date: Jan 2007
Name: Judith Maguire

Club: MAD
Bike(s): Giant Anthem (ladies version of course!)
Best biking music: Anything pumpin' from from the Chillies
Dream bike: Think i have it for the momemt
Years biking: About 4
Best ever MTB moment: Still waiting for it!
Worst ever MTB moment: Wiping out on a Trail in Rotorua MTB park
Best trail/race & why: Marin Trail Wales because i stayed on my bike and went fast for me!
Worst trail/race & why: Any pure downhill trail, because i end up walking them
Lycra or baggies: Baggies
One sentence to describe your bike riding style: Only need one word 'Girlie'
'A friends' sentence to describe your bike riding style: 'Strictly wheels on the ground'
Coolest piece of kit you own: My stripey thermal leggings of course
Your MTB alias/what you'd like to be called by your biking' buddies: , us girls don't really do the alias thing
Can you do DH as well as XC: Thats a definite no, way too scary!

Profile date: Feb 2007
Name: Jeremy Heffernan

Club: Mountain Bike Club Cork (MBCC)
Bike(s): Saracen Mantra (XC pimped), Giant Glory 1
Best biking music: Anything fast.
Dream bike: Intense Socom fully loaded!!
Years biking: 2 on a bike, numerous supporting (early 90’s)
Best ever MTB moment: Les Gets/Morzine 06
Worst ever MTB moment: Pushing to the top of the 1st Blast, crashing on the start line and wrecking my gear hanger.
The walk down was a b@stard!!
Best trail/race & why: The Blast… pure mental!!
Worst trail/race & why: Nothing yet!!
Lycra or baggies: Baggies all the way!!!
One sentence to describe your bike riding style: Dodgy but getting there.
'A friends' sentence to describe your bike riding style: “Tell him its Corrin woods and watch him go”
Coolest piece of kit you own: Hans Rey 50/50 rasta pedals
Your MTB alias/what you'd like to be called by your biking' buddies: Hefner
Can you do DH as well as XC: Oh yea, without a doubt

Profile date: Feb 2007
Name: Ross McClure

Club: EPIC
Bike(s): Giant Trance, Salsa Bandito, Hawk FS/CC (crazy German lightweight fully) and Giant TCR
What got you into biking: It's a form of escapism from the rat race of life.
Best biking music: Lynyrd Skynyrd of course!
Dream bike: Spin carbon hardtail with FRM Airway carbon fork and Ritchey carbon disc wheels
Years biking: 10
Best ever MTB moment: Too many to list.
Although my first ever 24hr race was pretty cool even though I was nearly dead after it.
Nothing beats the atmosphere at the start line of a 24hr.
Worst ever MTB moment: Realising that having a 16.9lb hardtail doesn't make you a super fast elite racer!
Best trail/race & why: Arches loop in Utah.Only found it on my second visit.
An absolute must for amazing scenery and a good bit of climbing for the closet roadie!
Worst trail/race & why: Big Bear Calif, it's a really nice town but the trails are overrated.
Lycra or baggies: Lycra, always lycra.
One sentence to describe your bike riding style: A weight-weenie obsessed closet roadie with a penchant for all things anodised.
'A friends' sentence to describe your bike riding style: see above
Coolest piece of kit you own: My Lightweight carbon roadie wheels. They spend 99% of the time off the bike for fear of getting them dirty!
Your MTB alias/what you'd like to be called by your biking' buddies: Rosco, the Dukes of Hazzard theme goes with my taste in music.
Can you do DH as well as XC: Hell no, I'm really a roadie you know.

Profile date: March 2007
Name: Brian Rogan (aka: The Durty Dog, pka: Trail Thrasher)

Club: EPIC
Bike(s): 02 Cannondale (now my commute bike) 04 Stumpjumper & 06 Enduro
What got you into biking: No excuse not to living so close to the mountains
Best biking music: I just listen to the voices in my head, sometimes they sing to me which makes me go faster!
Dream bike: One that's made of chocolate.
Years biking: On & off since 1998
Best ever MTB moment: Receiving morphine in the French Alps 2005
Worst ever MTB moment: Waiting for morphine in French Alps 2005
Best trail/race & why: There's a few, most of which are in the Sierra Nevada Spain - Long, gnarly downhills, yeah baby!
Worst trail/race & why: Mach 2 in Wales - Too long, too crap and done with a torn feckin hamstring - there was a funny talking sheep though!
Lycra or baggies: Baggies, although I think it would be great craic if we all went naked, even just to see the the reactions of the walkers
One sentence to describe your bike riding style: World Feckin Class Dude!
'A friends' sentence to describe your bike riding style: Feckin Brutal Dude!
Coolest piece of kit you own: That's got to be my Mickey
Your MTB alias/what you'd like to be called by your biking' buddies: want to be able ride so fast that the feckers don't even know who's past them.
Can you do DH as well as XC: Yarp!

Can you swim?errr........

Profile date: March 2007
Name: Sean Downey

Club: MAD
Bike(s): Scott Comp Racing MTB and Paul Milnes CX bike
What got you into biking: I went to school at the base of the mountains and all my friends used to go biking. I went along one day and naturally enough, got hooked.
Best biking music: Anything that matches a pedalling rhythm and doesn't get irritating
Dream bike: tbaScott Spark LTD, Scott Scale LTD, Sworks EPIC or Giant Anthemspan>
Years biking: 3-ish
Best ever MTB moment: 2nd in an Intervarsity race, Jan 2006. To date my only podium finish on the MTB
Worst ever MTB moment: Heat stroke an hour into a 9 hour ride in a heatwave in Spain. I'd happily have laid down and died.
Best trail/race & why: Kilruddery - fast and furious
Worst trail/race & why: Anything gloopy
Lycra or baggies: Lycra. Baggies just don't make sense.
One sentence to describe your bike riding style: I like going uphill
'A friends' sentence to describe your bike riding style: He likes going uphill too much.
Coolest piece of kit you own: Pimpy silver & carbon Shimano shoes, Blue tyres.
Your MTB alias/what you'd like to be called by your biking' buddies: Don't care what they call me so long as I'm far enough ahead not to hear it!
Can you do DH as well as XC: Hell no, going downhill is only a means of getting to the next climb!

Profile date: March 2007
Name: Steve Scrivener

Club: MAD
Bike(s): A custom Bianchi XC bike and a new and very formidable 2006 Giant Reign 1
What got you into biking: My brother and dad did it but I was too young to go out with them.
There was just too much desire there so one day I made the purchase of a Kona Blast and I haven't looked back.
Best biking music: Hmmm... Daft punk (harder better faster stronger)
The Chemical Brothers. Anything really fast and encouraging
Dream bike: At the moment, my Giant Reign is the bike I have dreamt about for years and finally have.
Would not change a thing. It's perfecty!
Years biking: 2.5
Best ever MTB moment: Finishing the Marathons Champs was really good...
Worst ever MTB moment: God, can honestly say there have not been many... Landing on my head and messing up my neck was not nice. Snapping the derailleur hanger on my new Giant on its first spin.
Best trail/race & why: Castlewelan, absolutely love the course. Time and time again, it just seems to have the perfect amount of everything.Top of the Sugarloaf to the bottom is fantastic
Worst trail/race & why: Sorrento 2006 race, far too much fire road
Lycra or baggies: Lycra for XC baggies for DH
One sentence to describe your bike riding style: XC when XC is cool, DH when DH is cool and everything else at all other times.
'A friends' sentence to describe your bike riding style: Hard on the trails, harder on that poor bike, guess which one shows....
Coolest piece of kit you own: Fox 36's
Your MTB alias/what you'd like to be called by your biking' buddies: Scrivo I guess, but most people everywhere call me that
Can you do DH as well as XC: Two DH races under my belt, hungry for more...
More?: Favourite trail food: Turkish delight, handy and really easy to eat no matter how tired you are!

Profile date: March 2007

Name: Rory Walsh Club: EPIC
Bike(s): Specialized Epic + Ridley crossbow crossbike, Something xc carbon next on the list.
What got you into biking: Broke too many 10 speed racer frames going off road as a kid, so when I heard mtb's were coming to ireland in 86, I got myself one.
Going up Treerock back then, walkers thought I was mad but applauding, wow their not so applauding?
I was 16 when I saw a poster in the bike shop in Rathfarnham village (gone long ago) advertising MTB spins
from the Yellow House in Rathfarnham.
I had an old pronto fully rigid frame with various bits, so I went along on my first spin with them,
some time early April 1988, just before Easter.
There was Peter and Conor Byrne and Dave and Ger on their Diamondbacks, another guy turned up on a
custom-built Overberries bike worth ten times my bike.
I remember the look on there faces when they saw him and looked at me, a 16 year old kid on a garden gate
frame of a bike, probably thinking I would be dropped.
Anyhow I lasted and the guy on the Overberries got dropped straight away.
We went over the featherbeds and up Ride Rock to Powerscourt.
This was pure adventure for me as the furthest I had been on my bike was Glencullen.
That spin got me hooked, and I nearly failed my leaving cert the next year because I was too busy out on my bike.
I was the 1st Irish rider at the worlds in Ill Ciocco Italy in 1991 where John Tomac won.
I did a bit of racing Grundig world cups in Scotland, and some other UK races.
I stayed with MAD when the others were going off starting their own club, ELMA (East Leinster Mountainbike association)
with Richie Byrne and Betterman and Mr Editor on MTB Ireland, but eventually I got fed up being broke racing
in 1995 after being fulltime for a year, it just didn’t pay the rent.
I only just got back into it last year joining EPIC, and getting a 7th @ the XC Nationals, nice to know I can still go fast,
but nothing serious now, just having a laugh.
Still a lot of the same old faces and some new faces.
All in all, its nice to be back out on my bike in the great out doors.
Best biking music: Something chilled, Beuna vista social club!
Dream bike: Carbon Specialized epic which would weigh half my bike, or that 6k Scott.
Years biking: 21 on a MTB
Best ever MTB moment: Finishing the nationals last year, and riding at worlds in 1991 both DH & XC in Italy.
Worst ever MTB moment: When I’m not riding, being injured, no complaints really.
Best trail/race & why: Metabief-france in 93, 3 weeks of ski lift up and DH ing back.
Worst trail/race & why: That beach race in kerry years ago, Where the tide came in and wrecked my bike.
Lycra or baggies: Lycra over Baggies.
One sentence to describe your bike riding style: Slow starter, then when I get going, I like seeing how many people I can catch.
'A friends' sentence to describe your bike riding style: Gingerly around the corners.
Coolest piece of kit you own: My epic which is my first full sus bike with disk brakes.
Your MTB alias/what you'd like to be called by your biking' buddies: Anything but early in the morning.
Can you do DH as well as XC: Absolutely, just wish I could afford a nice DH bike this year. People who do both are generally better all-rounders.