Club Notes / This week’s spins
Hi Folks, I know we said there’d be no notes this week but given the weekends exploits in Charleville we’re taking a break from relaxing to update you all on an incredible weekend for the club (and Tipperary!!) 🙂
Open Racing
Club member David Kyle made the trip to Charleville, along with some great helpers in tow, to compete in the Charleville Park Hotel Two-Day race. It was a three stage event with a 90km rolling stage 1, a flat 6.2km time trial and a hilly 95km third stage.
It was a very eventful first stage with David getting a mechanical after being caught by a faller on one of the first climbs and was left with a bent chain! After some quick handy work, the support team got him going again but he had to work very hard to get back to the bunch. He worked hard for the remainder of the race but all breaks were hauled in to result in a bunch sprint and David finished up at the front putting himself in a great position going into day 2.
David got some good conditions for his TT the next morning and he posted a great time to get 11th and finish 33 seconds down on the leader.
Stage 3 kicked off at 12:45 and David started with the plan to stick with the yellow jersey and make a move if the opportunity arose. It was a race of attrition with a lot of climbing which suited him. He was in the lead group of 15ish and working hard but with some of the riders watching each other they were caught by the main bunch of 25ish with 5km to go which resulted in a bunch sprint, unusual for a tough stage like this. David finished around 12th which put him in 8th overall in the GC and took another 8 points home to move him up to A1 status.
A lot of hard training and sacrifices are made by both him and his family to race at this level and we are very proud to have him as a member of our club and we wish him the very best of luck in the top tier of racing in Ireland.
And here’s a message of thanks from David: “Thanks so much for all the messages and good wishes folks. I really want to express my deepest thanks to the club for providing such amazing support for the whole weekend…and what a crew it was! To Pat, Connor and Liam…thanks a million lads…it meant so much having ye around before, during and after and between each stage…it’s as much about the little things as it was about the big thing yesterday with my would-be race-ending mechanical on Stage 1…some quick thinking from the lads (and freakishly strong hands from Pat!) got my chain straightened just about enough to carry on…my bike was a wreck after the stage and by the time I got out home from the bike shop with new chainrings, rear mech & hanger, and chain I was way behind getting everything else ready last night for today so I had to leave some jobs for the morning and was able to get the lads to finish them off for me while I got changed/ready this morning…the advice, the craic, the chat, the coffee handed to me, the mechanical checks, knowing where the TT start was!, taking my gilet at the start line after my warmup, the encouragement, etc, etc…all these things added up greatly to helping and contributing enormously to the weekend’s outcome. I really appreciate you giving up your weekends and your own free time to support…kudos lads.
I also would like to say a huge thanks to Eoin Woods for so generously offering me his TT speed-machine and all the gear to use for this race…I’d have been at nothing without it to level the playing field.”
All in all, an absolutely fantastic weekend for David and the club who now has it’s very first A1 level rider! Unbelievable stuff and on the same day as a few other lads managing to put manners on a few cats and bring back Liam… Just Fantastic!!! Thanks go to Sean Rowe, Dave Coleman, John Coleman & Ian Redmond for all the excellent photographs!
Also well done to the lads and ladies who were out on the nice handy club spin on Sunday… 😉
This week’s Club Training spins are as follows:
PLEASE NOTE THE EARLIER TIMES OF EVENING SPINS DUE TO THE EVENINGS CLOSING IN. Hi-Vis clothing and lights need to be on your list if you are planning on staying out anywhere near dusk. If any of you doing the spins have trouble making the 6pm start let us know and it can be changed to suit. It’s your spin so let us know what you want…
Tuesday: Club training spin leaving from Moynans bike shop, Nenagh at 6pm. Route decided by the group.
Tuesday: Club spin 2 leaving at same time of 6.30pm from Moynans where the avg speed will be in and around 25kph mark. Short distances of 40 to 50km will be covered on the evening. Everyone is very welcome to give this spin a go.
Thursday: Club training spin leaving from Moynans bike shop, Nenagh at 6pm. Route decided by the group.
Thursday Club spin for our leisure / intermediate riders leaving at 6.30pm from Moynans, the avg speed will be in and around 25kph mark. Short distances of 40 to 50km will be covered on the evening. Everyone is very welcome to give this spin a go.
Saturday: Intermediate cycle 40/50km in distance, leaving Woodies at 7.30am. Anyone who wants to is very welcome to join in on this spin. You can contact William on 086 2447888 for more details.
Saturday: We’re going to temporarily suspend the Club training spin leaving from Woodies car park at 9am however if it suits any of you to go on a Saturday morning then use the WhatsApp group messenger to look for company. We’ll be bringing back this spin in October when the winter training resumes.
Sunday: Club spin leaving Moynans at 9am. For this week’s route we’re leaving it up to yourselves, either decide beforehand on Whatsapp or in the carpark before the off.
Also best of luck again to David Kyle who we believe will be testing out his new A1 race numbers in Wicklow next weekend before the season ends.