Club notes

What a fabulous Easter weekend we’ve had, and still a bank holiday Monday to go! The weather has been excellent so it was great to see so many out on the bikes over the weekend.

We had a few lads out for the Saturday spin where the lads got in another bit of valuable training on the upcoming VNC A4 route ahead of the race in 2 weeks time.

On Sunday we had around 30 out on a lovely sunny Easter morning where we, as planned, took on half of next weekend’s Kildangan Centenary Challenge. Before the off it was decided that given the lumpy nature of the route it would be hard to keep everyone together and we would separate into two groups from the outset. A few intermediate lads decided to test their legs out and tried starting out with the faster group but, as you would expect, when the roads started to get difficult it wasn’t long before the pace took its toll and the lads fell back but were swept up by the following group. This is great to see and for the lads who tried and fell off, don’t let it put you off trying again as the next time you’ll find that you get that little bit further. Also don’t feel too bad as the pace was really pushed on up the front on the way out, up the climb to Coolbawn and then on to Ballinderry with some slagging leading to attacks and then the ensuing chases. A couple of our racers who opted for the easier club spin instead of going to the race in Laois were heard commenting that the race would’ve been easier!!  🙂 All were smiling at the end after having completed what turned into a fantastic tough training spin. 

Meanwhile the leisure group also completed the planned route and were even treated to some Easter eggs(aka rocket fuel, as some just took off after consuming them) by Mike Molamphy in Coolbawn on the way back… This was much to the disgust of the faster lads who later found out and got none! They just shouldn’t have been so impatient to get home so quick 😀

 

A very enjoyable sunny morning spin was had by all.

Meanwhile a few of our racers, Kevin Byrne, David Kyle and Tommy Hanrahan, travelled to Rathdowney to take part in Rás an Laois.

Kevin took part in the A4 race and for him it was a pretty uneventful race (thankfully) with the bunch staying together pretty much, except for a break of three which got away near the end leaving the rest of the big bunch (maybe 50 or 60) to contest the sprint. Kevin was in the main bunch all the way around, but in the end, couldn’t find space to wind up a sprint. Well done Kevin on getting another one under the belt and finishing safely.

David and Tommy took part in the A3 race which was 3 laps of a flat 28km course with not enough lumps to shake up the peloton. Both of the lads were looking to avoid the dangers associated with a bunch sprint and both were active towards the front, getting into several breaks, but the course and the pace suited the sprinters with no group able to break the elastic and get a break to stick for any length of time. There was no stopping the bunch from sprinting this one out and while setting up for the final push to the line, both of the lads got pushed out into the grass verge in the gladiatorial combat that is bunch sprinting. This effectively ended their chances of victory and both lads finished strong in the main bunch just outside the points. There was seemingly quite a few crashes in the bunch during the day so thankfully both managed to stay out of harms way and get another good days racing in the legs.

Next weeks training:

Tuesday: Training spin leaving Moynans @ 18:30

Thursday: Club race – TT1 of the JJ Moynan TT series – Sign on outside Moynans @ 18:15 – Entry €5 with race licence (Limited or Open)

Saturday & Sunday spins – More info to follow later in the week. On Sunday we have one of the featured cycles in our leisure calender with the Kildangan Centenary Challenge. More details here. They are offering a discounted rate for club members signing on as a group of 5 or more for the event.