Club notes and weekly spin schedule

By peter@webme.ie | August 30, 2015

It was a very busy weekend in the club between sportives, club spins and open racing.

The club had a fine turn out of 22 riders for our annual “All Together Cycle” despite so many of our members being away in Kilmallock open racing. It was great to see a few new faces in the group today all enthusiastic about the cycle. It was a leisurely paced spin on the morning and the group did super staying together. In Ballina we all enjoyed tea and scones which kept us going for the homeward journey. Jan was kind enough to be our back up car today and she drove behind the group, so many thanks Jan. An enjoyable morning was had by all and it was great to see you all out today.

Group at the start of the all together cycle

6 riders from the club took part in the Upperchurch Drombane CC sportive where the focus this year was on raising funds to help send club member Peter Ryan to Rio for the 2016 games. Peter, who is now 25, lost his sight at the age of 19. Up to this he was a very accomplished hurler having played with the Tipp minors as well as his club Upperchurch Drombane. Soon after his diagnosis he took to cycling (tandem with a pilot) and has proven to have huge potential. In competition he is usually piloted by current Irish road race champion and previous Visit Nenagh winner Damien Shaw who led the spin from Upperchurch. The route was through Thurles, Templemore, Roscrea and back to Toomevara for a food stop. The 67Km to this point was covered at an average speed of 32kph which had some of us from the leisure group fondly remembering days when 25kph was a target! The average pace dropped obviously on the remainder of the journey through Dolla and Bollingbrook. Well done to Upperchurch Drombane CC on hosting a top class event. The KOM signs on Bollingbrook and the “Km’s to go” signs were a great initiative”.

Club members in Upperchurch on Sunday

Open Racing

We had a fine representation on Sunday in Kilmallock with 6 club members racing, four senior members Dan Hogan, Liam Callaghan, Eoin Woods and David Kyle and, in the Juniors, Eva Moynan and Joseph Donnelly.

In the youth section Eva and Joseph both had great races on what a tough hilly route, it was very fast paced from the start where they were averaging around 33kph, there was a lot of attacking and surging throughout but they both dug deep with Eva placing 5th and Joey placing 6th in their respective races so a huge well done to ye. Ye did yourselves and the club very proud.

Eva Moynan and Joseph Donnelly who placed 5th in their respective categories

Our Juniors, Eva Moynan and Joseph Donnelly who both placed 5th in their respective races

Meanwhile in the A4 category Eoin Woods had a great race where he took a fine second place after instigating a break for the last 14km but just lost out at the line after doing trojan work throughout the race. He is now upgraded to A3 and he is absolutely delighted with the result. All that hard training has paid off for you Eoin and a huge well done to you.

Eoin Woods taking second place in Kilmallock and has now moved up to A3

Dan Hogan was also racing in the A1/2 category today so well done to you. Liam Callaghan and David Kyle were racing in the A3 category and finished the course in the bunch so also a very well done to you all.

Joseph Donnelly, Eoin Woods, Eva Moynan and Liam Callaghan in Kilmallock

Next week’s Club Training spins are as follows:

PLEASE NOTE: We are moving Start times for the Tuesday and Thursday evening spins to 6pm and the Wed evening spin to 6:30pm due to the shortened evenings starting to become a lot more noticeable. “Hi Vis” clothing and lights are now required for the evening spins as it is starting to get quite dark towards the end of the spins.

Tuesday: Club training spin leaving from Moynans at 6pm. Avg speed on the evening between 28/30kph.

Wednesday: Club intermediate spin leaving from Moynans at 6:30pm. Avg speed between 25/27kph.

Thursday: Club training spin leaving from Moynans at 6pm. Avg speed on the evening between 28/30kph.

Sunday: Our club spin leaves from Moynans at 9am but this weekend it’s a spin with a difference. We will be cruising on the Shannon on the QE2 cruiser after we complete a cycle of approx 80km starting from Nenagh, on to Portumna and on to Mountshannon. There we board the cruiser in Williamstown Harbour and enjoy an hour long trip on the Shannon, visiting popular points along the way. Our bikes come with us and we will enjoy a buffet as we enjoy the scenery so we wont be hungry. The boat drops us off in Dromineer and we can then cycle home 🙂 The price of the trip is €20 and we need to know who is interested in going on this so please contact Jan ASAP.

A good few of our racers will be making the trip to Charleville to take part in the 2 Day stage race being held by Charleville Wheelers CC so the very best of luck to you all!

Dates for your diary!!

Club AGM – Monday 26th Oct – 8pm Dapp Inn

Awards Dinner – Saturday 14th November – Thatched Cottage Ballycommon(Details closer to the time)

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