Club Notes / This weeks spins

Hi all, we hope you had a good week

Tuesday and Thursday evening we had our usual winter turbo training sessions take place and they are going very well with members getting in some very good base training. By the way that Apple tart looked just lovely Mags, We heard it didn’t last too long. Its a pity some of us missed out on it, hint hint 🙂 Thanks Mags!  Well done to all again.

On Saturday we had a few club members go MTB up keeper, below is a short report from Pat.

“At 9am John Spillane, Brendan Hayden, Daniel Ronan and myself met at the very top of Step, it was very foggy and cold. We headed up the usual route and towards the top there was still a good amount of frozen snow which made it tricky especially on the descent 😳. We had clear skies and sunshine on the top of Keeper so it was nice.
On the descent we took a detour down one of the small rocky tributaries so that was fast and very enjoyable. We continued down the rest of the way reaching 58kph at one point 😰.
We cycled up the steep road section back to where the cars were parked, which some guys chose to walk!!! Wimps! Overall a great spin. The guys would like to thank John for bringing the coffee and biscuits for their post ride recovery”

Thanks Pat for your report.

Sunday Spin

We had great numbers out again for our club spin and on the morning they had enough numbers to split into 3 groups.  A green group,  an orange group and a red group. Below are two reports, one from the Green group and one from the Red group.

Green Group report

“Another well supported Club spin this Sunday morning.  After the usual segregation of members, we the green group set off on our out and back route to Birdhill which included a coffee stop at Applegreen, the motorway service station at junction 27.  Unfortunately en-route we had to conduct a puncture repair tutorial, twice! Apart from that unplanned stop, we had a very steady, manageable bike ride which was completed with an average speed of 20kmph. This weeks slight increase of temperatures really made for a more pleasant experience, especially for our newest member, who survived to tell the tale of last weeks freezing conditions, kudos to you from us all on completing your second group spin! We look forward to seeing you and perhaps a few more willing cyclists to join our green group, next Sunday”.

Thanks Noel for another great report.

Red Group report

“After the freezing conditions and dense fog over the last few days it was nice to finally get a good fine morning to get out on a bike ride. We had a great turnout of members on the day which was fantastic to see and so in turn we were able to form a large red group on the road. We had a steady spin out to Birdhill with everyone enjoying the company. In Birdhill we all started the ascent up the ramp to the Applegreen service station but once we arrived to the Applegreen, some of the dedicated group decided to get in some extra training by completing the ramp as many as 5 times to stay nice and warm while we waited for the other groups to join us, so Kudos folks! We all enjoyed our warming beverages and before long we were on the road back to Nenagh again. There were a few efforts put in on the way back, some good training and it got the blood flowing in the legs again after the coffee stop. The beauty of the new two loop Sunday spin means anyone under pressure for time can head home, so in Nenagh a few left our group and Borrisokane bound we were on loop two. In no time we had a lovely pace being set yet again but unfortunately our spin came to an abrupt ending when our unfortunate clubmate Harry, glanced off a catseye on the road which was enough to throw out his front wheel and he hit the deck very hard. At the time of writing this I do not have any update on Harry’s condition but we all wish him a speedy recovery and hope to see him back out on the bike again soon. Thanks to the club members of the Orange and Red group who marshalled the road, directing traffic and a big thanks to first responder DJ Roche of Roche sports in Borrisokane for assisting Harry while waiting for the Paramedics to arrive. Thanks also to the very kind lady, we’re sorry we didn’t get your name, for giving us a blanket to put over Harry to keep him warm, it was much appreciated. The kindness of people in this situation is incredible. When Harry was taken to hospital both the Orange and our Red group joined together and we had a steady, sombre spin back to Nenagh.”

Thanks Selina for your report and photos and the club wishes Harry a speedy recovery! It really goes to show that even the most experienced cyclists can be unlucky and we really need to make sure to take away from this that we can’t be complacent about the simple stuff we encounter every day out on the roads like cats eyes, manhole covers and even the painted lines can be treacherous in wet weather. It only takes a split second for your fortune to change so everyone needs to look out for one another by taking nothing for granted and calling out to the group anything that could cause an incident and also for the group to make sure and carry the call all the way back.

On Sunday a few club members took  a break from the road and went MTB up to keeper and below is a short report from John Foote.

“We made our attack from the car park at Knockanroe with Woodsie (Eoin Woods) providing the  encouragement. Liam and Woodsie took the lead and I struggled behind. The last section was tough and when I got to the top the lads were already making the soup. The soup and sandwiches revived me and after a quick change of clothes by woodsie we were off again only stopping for a quick snowball fight on the way down. The ride up to the carpark sapping the last of the energy out of the legs”.

looks like ye had a great time, very well done lads…

Thanks John for your report.

Mudguards!!!

Lads and Ladies, for everybody’s comfort please fit a set of mudguards to your bike. They have multiple benefits to you, your bike and your club mates! The last few days highlighted the need with the mixture of wet salted roads. It’s not only about protecting the person behind you, your own mudguards keep your back dry and stop the cycling pad getting wet and causing discomfort. Your bike drivetrain will be kept much cleaner and will not wear any way near as quickly. It’s just not clever to put up with getting all kinds of crud in your eyes and mouth, you won’t appreciate an eye infection or illness for Christmas so it’s well worth the small investment. If you’ve a set hanging in the garage then get them on the bike, if not you can give  Peter a shout and he’ll get you sorted.

Club Christmas Night Out!

Another date to be put in your diaries folks!! Since we no longer have our awards night in December, we are going to have one or two sociables near Christmas on Wednesday the 14th December in Rohans pub, Nenagh for one of their trad night sessions and we’ll be meeting at 8:30pm. We hope to see ye all there for what is guaranteed to be a fun night!

Club EGM & Club Gear fitting night

We’re ordering some club gear from a new supplier and as such we’re having a fitting night this Wednesday evening the 30th of November in the Dapp Inn from 6pm to 8pm where you’ll be able to see the range of clothing on offer and also place orders. We’ll also hold a club EGM just after the fitting session at 8:15pm.

This week’s Club Training spins (New Sunday Initiative, see below) are as follows:

If any of you are heading out for a winter spin put up a message on WhatsApp and you may get a bit of company.

Tuesday: Club turbo training session from 7pm to 8.30pm in Stereame. Contact Pat on 087 6744400 for details and directions. 

Thursday: Club turbo training session from 7pm to 8.30pm in Stereame. Contact Pat on 087 6744400 for details and directions.

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: Winter training spin leaving 9am from Woodies carpark. Route is decided on the morning by those present. If anyone wants to change the time for this put up a message on the Whatsapp group and see if it suits everyone.

Sunday: Leaving at 9am from carpark at Moynans. (This weeks mentor is John Foote)

Our new initiative is being very well received so we’re going to continue it. Depending on numbers, we’re going to split into three groups with defined speeds to try and help people get back out and make progress in both technique and fitness.

The 3 groups are;

1. Firstly a “Green” group that will be for beginners/leisure and that group will be held at 20-24kph average. This group will have a senior rider mentoring and controlling the pace to ensure it stays low enough for any beginners. If we don’t have anyone who wishes to ride this slow then the mentor will go with the Orange group.
2. The next group will be the “Orange” group which is an intermediate group and will be controlled at 25-27kph average. We have plenty of intermediates that are fit enough to control this group but for the next few weeks if we could get another senior rider to volunteer to go with them to help fine tune the groups riding etiquette and control the pace so the group works well together and doesn’t split, the same way the senior group works, it would be much appreciated.
3. Finally we’ll have a “Red” group which will do in the region of 28-32kph average depending on who is out.

These 3 groups are to split up in the carpark so there is no confusion about what group you are going in. The mornings mentor should take a lead in sorting this on the morning. All groups are going to do the same route at the start and we’ll be completing a short loop with a coffee stop so everyone gets to enjoy it, not just those doing a long spin. This first loop from Nenagh should only take about 2 hours cycling give or take (at green group pace) so even the beginners or anyone with time constraints will be able to come out and get back home early. The Red group will leave the carpark first separately, followed by the Orange group and finally the Green group. Leave a little gap (30-60 seconds at least) between groups so there is no confusion which group you’re cycling with. If you want to move up into a faster group it’s entirely up to you, by all means give it a go and if you’re suffering too much then the best thing is to let the group know you want to fall back to the other group and then turn around, keep moving to prevent getting cold and you’ll be picked up by the following group within minutes. Everyone at some point will want to give a faster group a go so don’t be afraid to have a go if you feel you want to, the lads and ladies will always be full of encouragement!

So, for this week’s route, we’ll be doing two loops with the first being 38km, Moynans – Coffee @ Obama Plaza – Nenagh, 38.5km. From there everyone can decide if they want to do the second loop which brings the spin up to 83km, Nenagh – Portroe – Ballina – Four sisters – Nenagh.

Have a great week out there folks!!