I imagine the last thing anyone is contemplating today is entering another stage race but I'm contemplating entering this. I need something to replace the Gorey. June bank holiday weekend and it looks fairly savage with a hill climb TT and a mountaintop finish.
Can't afford another weekend away and it's high time I started spending more time on the MTB anyway. A stage MTB race... that's what I would do if there was one!
Stage 1 done this evening. A nice handy 50k to start things off. There's a few mountainbikers in the bunch, Mel and Cait racing in the ladies race. There doesn't seem to be any flat roads in this county. 2 CAT 3 KOM climbs today, I blew my load a bit early on the first one and got over 5th which gave me no points. I kept my cool a little longer on the second one but still gave one bloke a deadly lead out, I hung on for 2nd over giving me a couple of points. The last 6k were downhill and it finished in a bunch sprint so I just kept it nice and safe finishing in the bunch.
The hill climb TT in the morning should see the contenders show their hands. I'll give the KOM's a bash in tomorrow afternoons stage and see how that works out.
I was 15th in the TT this morning and started stage 3 in 16th, 1.20 down on the leader. A couple of lads got some time on the bunch in stage 3. I finished in the bunch. I was away in a couple of different breaks for a few km today but the yellow jersey did some monster work pulling everything back. Hopefully I'm still top 20.
Tomorrows stage is a beast with a mountain top finish. I reckon I'll hide and hope my legs still work after 95km to get me up the climb.
I imagine the last thing anyone is contemplating today is entering another stage race but I'm contemplating entering this. I need something to replace the Gorey. June bank holiday weekend and it looks fairly savage with a hill climb TT and a mountaintop finish.
Can't afford another weekend away and it's high time I started spending more time on the MTB anyway. A stage MTB race... that's what I would do if there was one!
Stage 1 done this evening. A nice handy 50k to start things off. There's a few mountainbikers in the bunch, Mel and Cait racing in the ladies race. There doesn't seem to be any flat roads in this county. 2 CAT 3 KOM climbs today, I blew my load a bit early on the first one and got over 5th which gave me no points. I kept my cool a little longer on the second one but still gave one bloke a deadly lead out, I hung on for 2nd over giving me a couple of points. The last 6k were downhill and it finished in a bunch sprint so I just kept it nice and safe finishing in the bunch.
The hill climb TT in the morning should see the contenders show their hands. I'll give the KOM's a bash in tomorrow afternoons stage and see how that works out.
I was 15th in the TT this morning and started stage 3 in 16th, 1.20 down on the leader. A couple of lads got some time on the bunch in stage 3. I finished in the bunch. I was away in a couple of different breaks for a few km today but the yellow jersey did some monster work pulling everything back. Hopefully I'm still top 20.
Tomorrows stage is a beast with a mountain top finish. I reckon I'll hide and hope my legs still work after 95km to get me up the climb.