Haven't been out with the club in ages, but still alive! Last few months have flown by with work in bloody Finland of all places and Clare's been pretty sick, but better now, we hope.
Anyways, Kanturk is in the neck of the woods that I grew up in, in Duhallow in NW Cork on the edge of Sliabh Luachra, 5 miles from Newmarket, my home place. As a child I used to hear about a bike club based about 10 miles away called Duhallow Wheelers and I often dreamt of joining up, but without a bike and family interest it was a problem. Anyways last weekend was a great chance to return to race around the roads that I grew up on. 4 stages over 3 days, a lot of new stuff to learn, you're never too old to learn.... right?
Stage 1 - Saturday - 68km - 900m climb
Great lumpy stage, leading inside last km I thought I was going to bloody win, but blew up and rolled in.... Didn't care really about GC, I should have, I lost 9 seconds.
Stage 2 - Sunday - 8km Time Trial
Never done one of these before, borrowed a set of clip on aero bars from Peter O'Farrell, stuck them on, Paul Harrington ( all ex rock climbers here) gave me a funny TT helmet... He offered my a skin suit also but modesty prevailed :-) .... 8km and 12:32 later it was over... average speed of just over 38kmph. I could have gone harder but didn't have a clue, ended up 17 out of 66 starters, 53 seconds behind the winner, he won the overall at the end and 3 stages... But here's the ting, the winner of the A2/A3 TT over same course did it in something like 10:32... savage!! I enjoyed this, bit like CX, its just balls out by yourself.
Stage 3 - Sunday - 57km
Bunch sprint - was getting up, but bad crash right in front of me about 50m before the line put paid to that, just managed to get around it, not the first time this year came home in the bunch, one lad went home with a broken pelvis.
Stage 4 - Monday - 68km
Once again a good circuit, attempts at .breaks but nothing was getting away again, big lad in yellow was savage at protecting his lead and ended up winning the stage. I again rolled in behind in the sprint, but learning a lot about positioning for these gallops, hope sometime I can put the learning into practice.
So ended up 17th overall, if I hadn't wasted the 9 seconds on the first stage then I would have got 12th, but still 63 seconds behind the time trialling, 3 stage winning banger that won! Still, he wasn't that much of a banger, if he had been in the A2/A3 race he would have ended up somewhere mid field, so fair enough.
Very well organised by the club in Kanturk, great pack of lads and I loved hammering around the roads of my childhood with a bunch of other mostly middle aged Lycra clad dreamers ;-)
Apologies for offending any MTB'ing sensitivities should any of you have wandered into this section and read this post. Hope to start getting out again soon on the MTB to entertain with my pathetic efforts ;-)
Anyways, Kanturk is in the neck of the woods that I grew up in, in Duhallow in NW Cork on the edge of Sliabh Luachra, 5 miles from Newmarket, my home place. As a child I used to hear about a bike club based about 10 miles away called Duhallow Wheelers and I often dreamt of joining up, but without a bike and family interest it was a problem. Anyways last weekend was a great chance to return to race around the roads that I grew up on. 4 stages over 3 days, a lot of new stuff to learn, you're never too old to learn.... right?
Stage 1 - Saturday - 68km - 900m climb
Great lumpy stage, leading inside last km I thought I was going to bloody win, but blew up and rolled in.... Didn't care really about GC, I should have, I lost 9 seconds.
Stage 2 - Sunday - 8km Time Trial
Never done one of these before, borrowed a set of clip on aero bars from Peter O'Farrell, stuck them on, Paul Harrington ( all ex rock climbers here) gave me a funny TT helmet... He offered my a skin suit also but modesty prevailed :-) .... 8km and 12:32 later it was over... average speed of just over 38kmph. I could have gone harder but didn't have a clue, ended up 17 out of 66 starters, 53 seconds behind the winner, he won the overall at the end and 3 stages... But here's the ting, the winner of the A2/A3 TT over same course did it in something like 10:32... savage!! I enjoyed this, bit like CX, its just balls out by yourself.
Stage 3 - Sunday - 57km
Bunch sprint - was getting up, but bad crash right in front of me about 50m before the line put paid to that, just managed to get around it, not the first time this year came home in the bunch, one lad went home with a broken pelvis.
Stage 4 - Monday - 68km
Once again a good circuit, attempts at .breaks but nothing was getting away again, big lad in yellow was savage at protecting his lead and ended up winning the stage. I again rolled in behind in the sprint, but learning a lot about positioning for these gallops, hope sometime I can put the learning into practice.
So ended up 17th overall, if I hadn't wasted the 9 seconds on the first stage then I would have got 12th, but still 63 seconds behind the time trialling, 3 stage winning banger that won! Still, he wasn't that much of a banger, if he had been in the A2/A3 race he would have ended up somewhere mid field, so fair enough.
Very well organised by the club in Kanturk, great pack of lads and I loved hammering around the roads of my childhood with a bunch of other mostly middle aged Lycra clad dreamers ;-)
Apologies for offending any MTB'ing sensitivities should any of you have wandered into this section and read this post. Hope to start getting out again soon on the MTB to entertain with my pathetic efforts ;-)