Saturday fairly flat course - Clonard to Kilbeggan and back.
Clonard Road club Ras Naomh Finian,
First race is Cat-1 and Cat-2 at 11am sharp (small handicap for Cat-2 Riders).
Second race is for Cat-3 (11:05 start)
Third race is for Cat-4 (11:10 start)
Sunday Newbridge Grand Prix, hilly, with a hill that could apparently see the race winning moves on as its tough enough. It's just over 50km for A4s.
Thinking about tomorrow Donough - really depends how the weather looks! I've done it the last 2 years and it's a reasonably handy one - 75kms but only one climb each way!
Racing Sat 9 March in Clonard & Sun 10 March in Newbridge
I am thinking of it too, weather tomorrow is meant to be best of 2 days I have heard, Sunday turning v cold, not been on bike since tues and feeling lazier than usual....
managed to get around the race in clonard today. had good legs, finished with the bunch, but was in a bad position to contest the sprint, well happy to have avoided the earlier pile ups. bit of a funny thing happened heading up the main st in tyrellspass, a fella two bikes ahead, took the wing mirror clean off a parked car. thanks be to god he stayed upright with his souvenir. chatting with donogh and mick afterwards, both went well in their race.
Racing Sat 9 March in Clonard & Sun 10 March in Newbridge
Very well organised race today by Clonard CC. A4 was the usual comedy of errors with 3 crashes that I saw today, no one badly hurt as far as I know, A3 had its share of crashes also with one lad with a broken collar bone. I decided to try to work to try and avoid a big bunch sprint at the end, but I was not good enough to really influence things, no one was, so crazy gallop ensued. My sprint was finished when a fellow decided to practically give me a hug in the sprint, despite me pushing him away he kept coming back, roadies???? Michael was somewhere close by and from what he was saying it must have been comical/scarey watching it but we stayed upright and had a quick chat afterwards to make sure we understood that I didn't appreciate his attentions......
I was really put off by what's going on in the local road races (at the lower level - A3 and A4), I would really love to do more of them but it seems like it's not worth the gamble. Perhaps the organizers could ensure that the finishes are on climbs to avoid the carnage? That's something for the roadie AGM I suppose..
check out Facebook, theres murder going on about the entries and the crashes at races..Cycling Ulster have put a cap on numbers entering and I think so have CI.
Racing Sat 9 March in Clonard & Sun 10 March in Newbridge
Caper Argus tomorrow http://cycletour.co.za my favourite road race event ever (thus far).....35 000 riders on the road, nail biting stuff, but seriously teaches you how to ride well in a bunch.
Racing Sat 9 March in Clonard & Sun 10 March in Newbridge
There is loads of surging and slowing in A4, you have to be watching carefully to make sure you know what's happening, even then bad luck can occur, I was riding a straight line today and a lad nearly took me out of it at the finish, I dodged bikes on the ground twice, last week I was inches from hitting a lads back wheel as he cut across me in the sprint... He went on into the prizes and might end up A3, A3/A4, all the same....
in fairness its always been like that , there seems to be more incidences the last couple of years though..I think huge numbers coming from sportive riding and not really understanding bunch riding at all, tactics or where their supposed too be . Thank God theres no Phoenix Park races anymore ask Doris,Ken and Morty about what they were like !!
Richie you hit the nail on the head, every week in the A3 and A4 races there's crashes,ye the Phoenix Park race were mental, you could imagine them now. I did the A1/A2 race in clonard and nearly died, but enjoyed the pain, my plan is to do the easier/shorter race's this year, so next stop the Paddy's day race in dunboyne and the Gorey again this year.
I was talking to a few A1s and A2s and my opinion is that if you want to ride in road races, then you need to be on proper road spins with a proper road club. theres not enough respect for road racing from people not riding with road clubs. You have sportivers, mtbers and triathletes turning up with no experience in bunch riding, no understanding echelons even adjusting to which way the wind is blowing.,
You should not be allowed ride in a road race without being vetted by a road club, theres too many crashes and people who think road racing is just riding a bike.
Theres only one spin worth riding on if you want to be a road racer in EPIC and thats Mortys one out in wherever the hell it is at least then you will get experience from riding with somebody who knows what they are actually doing.
I only do road spins that mimic mountainbiking but after 25 years in Cycling I know what a real road training spin is and I have more respect for the road than most of the people turning up for A4 A3 races..
Saturday fairly flat course - Clonard to Kilbeggan and back.
Clonard Road club Ras Naomh Finian,
First race is Cat-1 and Cat-2 at 11am sharp (small handicap for Cat-2 Riders).
Second race is for Cat-3 (11:05 start)
Third race is for Cat-4 (11:10 start)
Sunday Newbridge Grand Prix, hilly, with a hill that could apparently see the race winning moves on as its tough enough. It's just over 50km for A4s.
Thinking about tomorrow Donough - really depends how the weather looks! I've done it the last 2 years and it's a reasonably handy one - 75kms but only one climb each way!
Racing Sat 9 March in Clonard & Sun 10 March in Newbridge
I am thinking of it too, weather tomorrow is meant to be best of 2 days I have heard, Sunday turning v cold, not been on bike since tues and feeling lazier than usual....
managed to get around the race in clonard today. had good legs, finished with the bunch, but was in a bad position to contest the sprint, well happy to have avoided the earlier pile ups. bit of a funny thing happened heading up the main st in tyrellspass, a fella two bikes ahead, took the wing mirror clean off a parked car. thanks be to god he stayed upright with his souvenir. chatting with donogh and mick afterwards, both went well in their race.
Racing Sat 9 March in Clonard & Sun 10 March in Newbridge
Very well organised race today by Clonard CC. A4 was the usual comedy of errors with 3 crashes that I saw today, no one badly hurt as far as I know, A3 had its share of crashes also with one lad with a broken collar bone. I decided to try to work to try and avoid a big bunch sprint at the end, but I was not good enough to really influence things, no one was, so crazy gallop ensued. My sprint was finished when a fellow decided to practically give me a hug in the sprint, despite me pushing him away he kept coming back, roadies???? Michael was somewhere close by and from what he was saying it must have been comical/scarey watching it but we stayed upright and had a quick chat afterwards to make sure we understood that I didn't appreciate his attentions......
I was really put off by what's going on in the local road races (at the lower level - A3 and A4), I would really love to do more of them but it seems like it's not worth the gamble. Perhaps the organizers could ensure that the finishes are on climbs to avoid the carnage? That's something for the roadie AGM I suppose..
check out Facebook, theres murder going on about the entries and the crashes at races..Cycling Ulster have put a cap on numbers entering and I think so have CI.
Racing Sat 9 March in Clonard & Sun 10 March in Newbridge
Caper Argus tomorrow http://cycletour.co.za my favourite road race event ever (thus far).....35 000 riders on the road, nail biting stuff, but seriously teaches you how to ride well in a bunch.
Racing Sat 9 March in Clonard & Sun 10 March in Newbridge
There is loads of surging and slowing in A4, you have to be watching carefully to make sure you know what's happening, even then bad luck can occur, I was riding a straight line today and a lad nearly took me out of it at the finish, I dodged bikes on the ground twice, last week I was inches from hitting a lads back wheel as he cut across me in the sprint... He went on into the prizes and might end up A3, A3/A4, all the same....
in fairness its always been like that , there seems to be more incidences the last couple of years though..I think huge numbers coming from sportive riding and not really understanding bunch riding at all, tactics or where their supposed too be . Thank God theres no Phoenix Park races anymore ask Doris,Ken and Morty about what they were like !!
Richie you hit the nail on the head, every week in the A3 and A4 races there's crashes,ye the Phoenix Park race were mental, you could imagine them now. I did the A1/A2 race in clonard and nearly died, but enjoyed the pain, my plan is to do the easier/shorter race's this year, so next stop the Paddy's day race in dunboyne and the Gorey again this year.
I was talking to a few A1s and A2s and my opinion is that if you want to ride in road races, then you need to be on proper road spins with a proper road club. theres not enough respect for road racing from people not riding with road clubs. You have sportivers, mtbers and triathletes turning up with no experience in bunch riding, no understanding echelons even adjusting to which way the wind is blowing.,
You should not be allowed ride in a road race without being vetted by a road club, theres too many crashes and people who think road racing is just riding a bike.
Theres only one spin worth riding on if you want to be a road racer in EPIC and thats Mortys one out in wherever the hell it is at least then you will get experience from riding with somebody who knows what they are actually doing.
I only do road spins that mimic mountainbiking but after 25 years in Cycling I know what a real road training spin is and I have more respect for the road than most of the people turning up for A4 A3 races..