After the Icelandic volcano decided to stop making such a mess, our team flew to Ireland. Our main sponsor, Chain Reaction Cycles, has headquarters here just outside of Belfast. We are here to set up and test our new M9 Proto’s, get all our gear together, do some filming, take some photos and just generally get ready for the World Cup season madness.

This past weekend, we drove down to the South of Ireland to race a National, our first race on our new bikes. I have never ridden anything so much like peanut butter mixed with nutella in my life! It was crazy. By the time I got down each run, it looked like I was running 4.0 Gazzaloddi’s! All balled up with no grip and we were running full spikes! It was rad though, the top bit was fast with a few jumps and a fly off and then it was into the tight twisty woods full of mud, ruts and roots to the bottom.

Read the full story and see all the pictures now at Claire's Blog

• By Allan H