Club notes

We hope that you all enjoyed your weekend.  There was plenty of spins on offer during the week to suit everyone. We now have spins happening on 5 days of the week and they are growing in popularity.

Tuesday evening last we had our normal club spin that left Moynans at 6.30pm and also there was a good representation of members at the Limerick League race. Wednesday we had our intermediate spin that left Moynans at 7pm.  Everyone is welcome to join in on these good training spins on the evenings all you need is to hold a cycling Ireland licence.

Thursday evening we had the second TT in the JJ Moynan TT series. We have been blessed with the weather since the race season started and we had 13 club members out racing against the clock on the evening. The TT was 16km in distance and started at the Roundhill then heading to the Fivealley roundabout and back to the yellowbridge to the finish. There were yet again some very fast times set on the evening despite the tough headwind we all faced on the outward journey and congratulations go out to Pat Bergin who set the fastest flat time on the night in a time of 22mins 40seconds which is great going and congratulations go out to our joint TT2 winners on handicap times and they are Eoin Woods, John O’Carroll, and Joey Donnelly who couldn’t be separated on points on the evening. Well done to everyone who raced on the night ye are all making such a fantastic effort in supporting our own club events this season so keep up the good work.  You can read the full race report of the evening here.

Thanks go out to Tracy & Vic for the photographs, Jan for timekeeping and Conor for marshalling and keeping us safe on the road, your help is very much appreciated.

Sunday we had a total of 8 club members who took part in Keeper CC’s  inaugural club tour which started in Newport where distances of 55km and 110km routes were on offer. Most of our members opted for the 110km route on the morning testing the legs out on the hills of Co. Tipperary. For keeper CC’s first tour they had a super turnout with over 90 cyclists signing on at registration. Our members said it was a superbly run event with excellent marshalling at all the junctions on route and despite the very blustery conditions a very enjoyable morning on the bikes. Well done to Keeper CC for the excellent organisation and the very warm welcome our members received on the day.

Also we had our usual club spin that left from Moynans at 9am. There were ten cyclists out for this spin today with 5 from the leisure group and 5 from the senior group. The leisure group departed from Nenagh first, but they were caught by the senior group just before Toomevara and the seniors continued on the planned route which took them to Dunkerrin, towards Shinrone and back to Borrisokane from there they continued on over to Ballinderry where Harry was unfortunate to have a mechanical with his chain broke. Luckily for him, John Foote lived nearby and came to the rescue! They removed the broken link and they were soon on their way again. On the way back to Nenagh there was some shelter for the lads from the very strong cross winds and luckily the rain stayed away, the group finished strong averaging 30+kph and a total distance of 90km was covered by the group on the morning. Meanwhile the leisure group did the same spin but from Borrisokane turned back to Nenagh a total distance for them of 65km. So very well done everyone who was out sporting the club colours.

We had two members open racing on Sunday Kevin Byrne in the A4 category in Newcastle west, Co.Limerick in the “An Caislean Nua classic” and David Kyle in A3 category in the Shay Elliot Memorial in Co.Wicklow.

Kevin’s race went well for him today and he finished 13th in the A4 category in what was a very fast bunch sprint and he won the Masters 50 category which is fantastic going. Kevin, that’s something to be very proud of 🙂  The race was held in atrocious conditions and was raining all during the race, strong wind added to the degree of difficulty. There was one long drag on the course which went on for almost 5km but the gradient wasn’t steep he managed to stay in the middle of the bunch but used the drag to move up on laps 2 and 3, on lap 3 he was near the front after the drag but lost a few places on the descent he was forced wide on a hairpin bend with 1.5km to go and again lost a few more places but the run to finish was straight and wide and managed to move up in the sprint but couldn’t get into the top ten. Overall Kevin was very pleased with the result but a little disappointed that he didn’t get into the points. Kevin, keep up the good work and very well done on your great achievements today.

David went a little further afield to the Shay Elliott memorial race which took place on the rolling roads of Wicklow with the tough climb up Glenmalure (3km long with an average gradient of 8% and maximum of 15%!!). David’s plan was to watch the principle juniors and get in the right position for the key move. He managed his position fairly well for the first 42km or so, sticking close to the right wheels and moving up when they did, then the road turned west and out of the urban Rathdrum area onto a very narrow road right at a time when he was in the middle of the bunch and there was little or no room to move up. This continued for the next 10km or so up until the climb and he managed to squeeze up where he could to get to within about 40 from the front, but for that whole 10km he knew the race was slipping away! After initially getting held up at the start of the climb due to lack of space, he was feeling very good on the climb and continued passing others all the way to the top, but well before the half way point as the road widened he could see the juniors were already gone.  He crested the climb and pushed hard over the top and on the descent to get onto a group of 5 riders.  Four of them worked reasonably well together after the descent to drive the pace and were closing the gap to the leaders until a marshal at a junction was less than definitive on which way to go at a round-about and half went left, half went right. The break in the pace as the commissaire came up and confirmed it was left allowed another group of 15 or so to get on with 7km to go. Unfortunately it was another day outside the points for David but at least it’s more good experience and training and another tough race under the belt so very well done!

 

Well its hard to believe its only one week away everyone, a day out not to be missed!! It’s our annual Club Tour Of Lough Derg and it takes place this Sunday 17th May from the Lakeside hotel in Ballina. We take great pride in our tour making sure that everyone has an enjoyable and safe day out on the bikes with our club. Over the years our tour has become so popular that it is one of the main events to attend on the sportives calendar and that makes us feel very proud indeed. A lot of work goes into organising an event like this and there is alot of behind the scenes work done by the committee and members but it is very rewarding when you see happy faces and positive comments from riders after the event.

We will have Tea/Coffee before the event at the registration area and there will be a food stop in Portumna forest park where you will be provided with welcoming tea, coffee, sandwiches, cake etc and the stop is just about on the halfway mark. We will have back up vehicles on the route with the groups so you’ll be safe in the knowledge that you are not on your own out on the roads. When you arrive back to the hotel we’re sure you’ll appreciate the hot showers available in the leisure centre and after you can all enjoy some lovely hot food in the hotel. We would like to welcome everybody to join us next Sunday 17th, you will be made most welcome. We would like to thank all the neighbouring cycling clubs that have been advertising our club tour for the last few weeks it is very much appreciated indeed folks and we look forward to seeing you all out on the day!

The design of our new club gear is now finalised so here is the finished article!! We must say thanks for all the lovely comments we’ve received on the design, we’re going to look fantastic! 😉 Big thanks to Aidan from Velo Revolution for doing such a great job in very little time for us.

The order is going in Monday evening so there’s still time to get any last minute orders in, just text Owen on 087 0523275 or email him at ohynes@gmail.com.

Next weeks spins

Tuesday 12th May: Club training spin leaving from Moynans at 6.30pm. Route as usual decided on the evening. Avg speed on the evening between 28/30kph.

Wednesday 13th May: Club intermediate spin leaving from Moynans at 7pm. Route decided on the evening. Avg speed between 25/27kph.

Thursday 14th May: Club road race no.4. Sign on is at 6.15pm at Moynans. Route details will be posted up during the week so keep an eye out on the Website,Facebook,Twitter and google plus pages for update.

Saturday 16th May: Club race training(structured 30+kph) and intermediate (26/28kph) spins leaving from woodies car park at 9am. Routes decided on the morning.

Sunday 17th May: We will be hosting and taking part in our own annual club Tour of Lough Derg that starts at the Lakeside Hotel in Ballina, Co. Tipperary. We expect to see big numbers of club members out supporting your club on this very enjoyable day out.

We accommodate every level of cycling in our club, there’s something there to suit everyone and provide training spins during the week not just weekends. So do join us for these you are all very welcome.

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