DUBLIN, IRELAND (Team Geared Up) - Nigel Callender, sports scientist and of IrishClimbingCoaching has posted up on the discussion threads about an upcoming clinics he’s involved with in Ballyorgan, Co. Limerick (Google Map link) with a Mountain Biking Specialist from the UK, Sally Thomas.

Keep an eye on their website for updated details and booking info.

…..running performance and injury clinics on the weekend of the 24th-25th of May ‘08. Whether you’re a beginner who wants their bike set up correctly or a seasoned competitor who would like an injury seen by an expert in the field, the clinic will be just what you’re looking for.

- Neal :) -

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Here’s some more of these flying maniacs in wingsuits, this guy is known as “The Dude” (full post coming tomorrow on landing without a parachute (thanks to reader tipoff). These videos are incredible. Absolutely incredible.

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Follow Tango & Cash the NI MTB Boys in their latest adventure, To Err-igal is Human.

The mighty Mount Errigal, County Donegal. Basically a big 750-metre-high wobbly peat trifle with granite crushed nuts on top. We always wanted to have a crack at it on/with the bikes, so we departed Antrim at 5:40am on Saturday 15 December 2007, to climb the mountain.

We knew it was a carry to the top, so we padded the top- and down-tubes with pipe lagging from B&Q. It’s a good idea if you are going to be carrying for a long period.

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MS “Beluga SkySails” is the worlds first tanker to be towed by kite. The kite is 160m sq.

Ship christening of the worldwide first cargo ship with SkySails-System took place at the Hamburger Landungsbrücken/Überseebrücke on December 15th, 2007 – Milestone regarding the use of environmentally sound propulsion technologies at sea.

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The Kandersteg Ice Climbing Festival starts tonight in Switzerland. Love that event. Above is one of my photos from 2004 when I watched Ines Papart win first place.

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How not to launch an RNLI lifeboat from the beach. The on-shore wind blew this English crew back onto the beach, for a minute it looks like they weren’t going to get away. Massive seas. Watch this video. (Thanks diverman).

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All climbing have a great video of Will Gadd ice climbing icebergs from waterlevel. Massive icebergs too! Iceberg-oldering anyone?

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Adventure Race World Series has been announced in Ireland for June 14-21 2008. Location is South West and more details are available from Jan 11th.

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-Robin-

DUBLIN, IRELAND (Team Geared Up) - I took my self-built helmet cam out for a whiz today on the MTB in Howth. The below embedded video is the result. YouTube really pixelated it - and some silly trial logo has been put across it. Look around that when you watch! Some good downhill bits spread through it, but it needs to point up more.

If there’s no news between now & lunch tomorrow, next post from me, may be from Denver, Colorado.

-Robin-

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Biggest waves ever recorded in Ireland and they were surfed by Bundoran boys. RTE have streaming footage online. This will feature as the final scene in the film ‘Wave Rider’.

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Bren reports Chris Bonnington was in Ireland recently and climbed the Sugarloaf for old times sake. Pictured above with Joss Lynam.

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dunlaoghaire-lifeboat.ie has launched (RNLI) and have got a rather good little site & photo gallery.

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Tango & Cash - once you’ve got your green underglow lights on your bike I expect you to pimp your ride! This slideshow from the NY Times has 10 unbelievable photos of teenagers pimping their pedal bikes with large car stereo systems. Unce Unce Unce Unce.

Oh, and need breakfast on the move (during an MTB race)?

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Ahh the German Coast Guard - zis perzon iz wery new. This is funny:

Bit of fun that for a Friday!

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LONDON, UK (Team Geared Up) - Rick! Thanks for the email to let us know about your new features on Northern Irish TrailBadger.com which now allows the biking public to put up
Mountain Biking reviews and ratings.

where 1=rubbish thumbs down and 5=badger-tastic

We reviewed TrailBadger’s launch back in July, and the content is premium. Go check it out.

-Robin-

An Adventure in The Mournes, brought to you by Tango & Cash.

ANTRIM, NORTHERN IRELAND (Team Geared Up) - It’s dark, and raining… So, a quick shuffle through the archives and we’re back to sunny May 2007. The Mournes Seven Sevens, a particularly challenging long-distance foot-race every August, has left many a carcass quivering helplessly on the mountain.

In Tango & Cash style, trying to avoid footwork as much as possible, the natural way to enjoy all seven of the Mourne mountains over 700 metres, was to do so with the bikes.

Top of our kit list was plumber’s pipe-lagging from B&Q, taped round the tubing on the bikes, as we rightly anticipated we would be carrying them on our shoulders A LOT.

Our route, designed with the bikes in mind, was not the actual race route, but we topped all 7 mountains in fantastic weather (apart from a quick and ferocious hail-shower atop Bearnagh!)

We enjoyed superb, albeit technical, descents from Meelbeg, Bearnagh, Commedagh, Donard and Binnian - really top notch stuff.

Some great stuff also on the Brandy Pad, and from Donard under the Castles, and between the tors going up Binnian. The climbs were all on foot, as our singlespeed bikes were about 24 gears too high!

Terrible descents from Meelmore and most of Lamagan - pretty much unrideable unless well scouted first.

A long day, but well worth the effort. A few more snaps…

Never try a wheelie on the top of Commedagh in a cross-wind…

Great section between the tors heading up Binnian…

The Vulcan salute - de rigeur in the high Mournes…

The final descent from Binnian, back to Carrick Little - what a great descent!

The Seven Sevens on Bikes - The Route
All the photos from the day, on Photobox
Tango & Cash blog

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Congrats to Len Kelleher, Irish Freestyle Kayaker who won Gold at the 2007 Kayak Surf World Championships in Bakio, Mundaka. Great news! Len’s Blog

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Eoin discovered that top baselayer company NZ Ice Breaker state in their Privacy Policy that you cannot link to their website. Now that’s really not good for your SEO!

You are not permitted to reproduce, adapt, distribute or incorporate in any other work, in whole or in part, anything from this web site without written permission from Icebreaker. You may not create a link from any other web site to any part of this web site, without Icebreaker’s express consent.

Well guys, after you sue Google, you can sue me.

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I wish I was under 21 again! The Moutaineering Council of Ireland are holding a Youth Winter Skills course in Scotland. Eoin can speak out for these, they’re bloody good courses. Apply!

The MCI are also holding a Youth Climbing League in Ireland. All indoor, all before February.

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Check out Irish MTB Riders, Mel & Ryan Sherlock’s Blog. The photo above is from their site of the last race that Ryan took part in this season - the Irish Marathon Championships.

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Must go dig out some more links for next week!

-Robin-

LONDON, UK (Team Geared Up) - The brilliant SummitPost.org have launched MBPost.com, a version of their site for collecting and commenting on Mountain Biking trails around the world. Eoin announced in March that SummitPost had launched SPv2, and obviously this is part of the MB launch. They say:

Already we have hundreds of biking photos and information on over 100 mountain biking trails and areas. It is a fun site, and it definitely has the potential to be one of the best mountain biking sites on the web.

SP is a fantastic site for mountaineering, I’ve planned many routes from using beta from text & photos on the site about the peak we’re trying. Laminated SP print-outs always seem to make my pack lid pocket in the Alps!

Thanks to SummitPost.org for emailing this announcement to TGU!

-Robin-

LONDON, UK (Team Geared Up) - Irish mountainbiker? MTBIreland.com is for you. Their forum has 36361 Posts in 3624 Topics, not bad!

Also see the really busy EPICmtb forum. 13339 Posts in 1515 Topics must mean they are doing something right!

The Irish MTB community is alive and well and it seems, certainly vocal.

-Robin-

LONDON, UK (team Geared Up) - With such a good response to our top 5 mountain biking & snowboard crashes we’re going to continue the series! Today we look at the top 5 helmet-cam (head mounted camera) videos.

5th Place, skiing down the longest escalator in Europe (Angle Tube Station, London)…

4th Place, dropping down some big waterfalls in a kayak…

3rd Place, Red Bull Boys ride down through the inside of a skyscraper (inc crash)…

2nd Place, Speed Riding Down the Eiger…

And in 1st Place, and deservedly so…

-Robin-

(Image Credit: By the Author)