Club notes

We hope that you all enjoyed your weekend and thankfully we were blessed with fine weather.

Once again this year we were very lucky to catch a glimpse of Irelands biggest 8 day stage race The An Post Rás which passed through our locality on Tuesday last. This was a great opportunity for people get to see the professional and amateur cyclists mix it up on the roads at an unimaginable pace!! Every year we see more and more people out on bikes and it goes to show how popular the sport has become and it was just fantastic to see how many people came out to support the cyclists out on the road, even though you only get to see them for a few minutes as they travel so fast passing you. Over the 8 days the Peleton was averaging 49 to 50kph on distances between 140km and 160km over terrain that was far from flat, absolutely incredible fitness and stamina shown by these riders!

 

 

For the short time it was here it brought a lot of excitement to the area, it was a great race to watch!

The usual club training spins took place during the week on Tuesday and Thursday where there was good turnouts on the nights and we also had a couple of members who were out racing in the Limerick League.

The club race season is in full swing now and on Thursday evening last we had 10 members out battling in Road Race 5 of the series for the “Lookout Trophy” title. This weeks race started on the outskirts of Ballina and finished outside the school in Portroe, a total distance of 10km. Liam Callaghan proved victorious on the night taking the title with Eoin Woods and Eva Moynan taking the other steps on the podium so very well done to Liam on taking another victory and also very well done to everyone who raced on the evening. Read the full report here.

Saturday our race group covered a distance of 100km, The route was Nenagh, Balinderry via Puckane, Carragahorig, Borrisokane, Cloughjordan, Toomevara, Silvermines, N7 back to Nenagh. Well done to those who were out.

Sunday we had over twenty riders who took part in the normal club spin who all met at Moynans at 9am. This weeks route was Nenagh, Toomevara, Ballinamona, Fantane, Templederry, Dolla, Silvermines, N7 to Birdhill roundabout and back to Nenagh again, a distance of 75km.

The groups were equally divided between club racing and leisure/intermediate cyclists.  The conditions were ideal with memories of winter soakings and icy conditions now thankfully a dim and distant memory.  Everyone rolled out together with the full group staying together until Toomevara where the split took place with the faster cyclists upping the pace for the remainder of the route.  The leisure/intermediate group covered the same route through Templederry, Dolla, Silvermines and Birdhill before turning for home. The average speed of 27Km for this group shows how progress is being made with both average speeds and group cycling skills, so well done all!  It was nice also to have a “graduate” from the Women on Wheels programme joining our group, hopefully setting a trend for more to do likewise… Meanwhile the race group decided to extend their spin once they got to Birdhill by crossing the Shannon into O’Briens Bridge and on towards Killaloe where they once again crossed back over the Shannon and home to Nenagh via Portroe with the  group covering a distance of 95km on the morning. Well done to everyone who made it out on the morning and hopefully see you all out next week 🙂

Club text messaging service 

The committee has decided that there will be a new method of sending out notifications to its club members about upcoming events and spins. We will be changing our way of communication from text messaging to email coming into effect over the next couple of weeks. This is for a few reasons, the text messaging is very labour intensive to do, very costly and also with email we will also be able to fit more information as we are very limited with space in a text message. Each member will receive one email on a Monday with all the weekly schedule laid out and it will include details of the Tuesday & Wednesday evening spins, the race route and map for the Thursday evening and also the weekend spins details all in one email. The only time a text will be sent out from now on is in the case of an emergency for example if a race or a training spin needs to be cancelled etc. We need all members to send on their preferred email address where they would like this mail sent. You can text it to 087 9177355, email it to northtippwheelers@gmail.com, or send a direct message to us on our Facebook page. We do understand this system will take a little getting used to but we are confident it will be better way for us to deliver the info you need to plan your weekly activities to you. Please do remember if you need to contact the PRO about anything regarding the weeks events or anything else you can still text the number you all have or reply to any of the emails and you will get a response either way.

Next weeks spins

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

Thursday: Club road race no.6. 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 updates.

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

Sunday: Our usual club morning spin leaving from Moynans at 9am. This spin caters for all abilities, Leisure, intermediate and senior levels. Update on route will be posted up during the week so keep an eye out for that on our Facebook, Website, Twitter, and google plus pages. Everyone is very welcome to join us on the morning.

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