Club notes

Hey Folks, finally the club notes are here after a very busy weekend!!

Firstly, on Friday evening, we had the sixth of our 6 week spinning classes in Busters Bootcamp. Nine people turned out and another great, tough session was had by all! This has been a great success to keep everyone’s legs in shape over the cold months and we’ve decided to carry them on until the end of month.

Saturday‘s race training spin was fairly lacking with only one member heading off from Woodie’s carpark due to the large amount of racers making the trip to Caherconlish to take part in Rás Luimní on Sunday. They were saving the legs for the always tough race as it’s round 1 of the Cycling Ireland National Series so it brings some serious competitors from all over the country.

That brings us to the Sunday race report… We had a great turnout in Caherconlish with a lone A3 rider and seven A4 riders taking to the roads with some 300 others on what was a lovely morning for racing!!

Liam Callaghan was our sole representative in the A3 race but unfortunately fell victim to the chronic pace that was being set and the strong headwind didn’t help his case! He managed to stick it out for 2 laps of the 31km course but then called it a day. Fair play to you Liam for racing today!

We had much better luck in the A4 race with a strong performance from the lads and more points earned! Unfortunately one club member, Eoin Woods, took a nasty tumble just before the finish when another rider clashed with him. He was well in contention for a top 5 finish before this and was feeling very strong but it just wasn’t to be his day. We’re sure that soon your luck will change Eoin so keep going!! Nanno Vuyk had a great afternoon out, but was so excited to get going nearly took off in the A1/A2 race but thankfully this was pointed out to him before they started! He was going very well in the main bunch but found the amount of riders on the narrow roads very frustrating as the pace was constantly accelerating and then braking heavily all race long. The only way he felt he could move up was by going in the right hand lane and meet the oncoming traffic, which he wasn’t prepared to risk. Therefore he sat in the pack and tried to move up whenever there was a gap. When the speed went up hitting Herbertstown for the second time he still had about 30 riders ahead but there was a bad crash just in front of him when entering Caherconlish which he luckily managed to avoid. Everything came to a standstill causing him to lose touch with the lead group with only 2 km to go. That is the joys of racing but at least he survived to fight another day! Gary Rowan also turned out for his season opener but pulled out after one lap of the course. We also had three members taking part in their first ever open road race, Owen Hynes, Joe O’Connor and Joey Donnelly. Joey did very well and stayed with the group for a good while but found the pace very strong and pulled out after one lap. Joe had a fine performance and finished strong just behind the second bunch which was held up by the crash. Owen had a fine showing and finished the course which given he is still coughing from a bad chest infection and is only getting his training back on track is great going. Fair play to you all lads as this was not an easy race to pick as a starting point but I’m sure many valuable lessons can be taken away and now you’ve all got the first one down!!

Last but certainly not least in the A4 race, for the second week running David Kyle’s form is really shining through and we have a new A3 rider in the club after only 2 races!! David also found the riders were very jittery in the bunch all day and got several handle-bar bumps from behind and a very scary wobble in the first lap when a rider pushed up beside him and knocked bars! After that he focused on staying in the top 10 as much as possible to try and stay out of trouble. David had a similar experience to Nanno and watched as riders continued to take risks moving up blindly on the right-hand side of the road and then encountering traffic, forcing them to squeeze suddenly into the side of the bunch. He was concerned about coming downhill in the village into the final sharp bend in a bunch, and after being bumped one time too many, decided to have a go off the front inside the last 6km. He got maybe 700m or so up the road but he fell foul of the cross-winds and after about 2km found himself back in the bunch with 4km to go. Having used a fair chunk of energy he then faced having to recover in time to be in the mix on the final 900m up to the line. The expected swarm for the front happened coming into the final bend but thankfully he didn’t get boxed in, as he feared, and it opened up just enough coming down the hill in the village to follow a rider making a dash for the lead 300m before the bend and pulled away enough to take the turn in clear ground. As you would expect in a race like this all hell broke loose as everyone exited the turn and buried themselves starting the climb up to the finish with riders all over both sides of the road and cars coming down the hill. He was very lucky as he felt his back wheel wobble and heard the ensuing crunch of crashing bikes as the rider who clipped his wheel went down taking several others with him, including Eoin Woods. After that when the road leveled he was able start moving up again on the left-hand side as those who had gone too deep on the initial gradient fell away. At that point his legs were starting to give but inside the last 100m, as another crash was happening on the right, a gap opened in front of him and he dug deep to get up for 5th place, only about 4 bike-lengths behind the winner. He finished feeling very relieved and fortunate to have stayed out of trouble in what he said was the most nerve-wracking race he’s done to date. He is delighted both to have made the jump to A3 racing and to have achieved 2 out of 3 of his pre-season goals in only two races.

Thanks to Limerick Cycling Club for all their hard work running this event and the efforts of everybody who helped out on the day, especially the stewards and bike marshals to ensure a safe circuit, were greatly appreciated by all who took part. As always the hospitality in the local hall was most welcoming and much appreciated.

Also on Sunday our leisure spin was the first of note in three weeks due to very poor weather recently. The beautiful bright morning was a welcome change with over 20 cyclists in total taking on the trip to Birdhill, Montpelier, Daly’s Cross and back.  It was lovely to see some new faces in the intermediate group which is going from strength to strength. The senior group covered the same route and for the last 10km did a constant roll over which kept the group together while giving everyone a good workout.

Having consulted widely (with our wives/mothers) and taken advice (from our wives/mothers) that it may be a good move to postpone the university spin, which had been planned for next Sunday 15th(Mothers day), for one week to allow members give breakfast in bed and/or prepare lunch for the aforementioned!! We will have a regular spin on Sunday next (possibly with a green theme 🙂 ) – details later this week.

On another lovely note we would like to congratulate Eoin and Dorothy Woods on the arrival of their new beautiful baby girl Lauren Ruby last Thursday!!

The usual spins will continue next weekend so keep an eye out on the website and Facebook for updates during the week.

For any more information on club events or membership please contact our club chairperson Pat Bergin on 087 6744400.