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.

Sunday Spins

Numbers were down this week for our club spin and on the morning they had enough numbers to split into the 2 groups. Below is a report from the Orange group and also from the Red group.

 Orange group report

We headed off on the planned route and early on we had one member complain, he left a warm bed and wife for a cold bike and road. No less than 1km in, Self destruction to his back derailleur left only three in the group to battle on. We continued along the route to bike – park via Cloughjordan  without any other instances where we had a warm coffee. After the break Liam changed up the route a little in a search for hills. In his endeavours managing to get us almost lost. Lucky we found our way back on to the Birr Borrisokane rd. A steady pace back to Borrisokane and on to Nenagh, where we all took our turn on the front to get us home. A good average pace of 24kph covering 65kms was done in warm sunshine. Well done lads.

Thanks Eoin for the report.

Red group report

This Sunday’s club spin for me took on a new challenge with an increase in distance and intensity. I questioned my fitness level, would I make it or would I miss the coffee stop and sweet treats  that I have come accustomed to on my Sunday morning spins, only time would tell. With my pockets full of go go bars and gels and 3 more very willing riders Rob, Nanno and Daniel it was time to go link up with Eoin, John and Liam who have been for the last few weeks race training together.  The route,  ‘The Lake’ widely known for its lack of shortcuts and suitable turn around points! It all started perfectly, until a blast of air was heard from Rob’s tire after about 20k, leaving Rob to decide next week was a better date for his 2017 lake debut and Daniel mistakenly been left behind at this point who we all thought was cashing in on Rob’s mercy puncture. Daniel we found out later completed the spin on his own, so kudos to you! After everyones training plan requirements were fulfilled the aim of the game was hold the wheel till the clock said, Stop! The result was of course a positive one, mission completed! On our trip of 120k we enjoyed beautiful winter sun and the icy wind of Clare and Galway. Thanks guys for the chance to test my fitness levels this morning and I’m delighted to report everyone’s rear derailleur is functioning correctly and perfectly in line, it might be a while before you all get a chance to see mine!

Thanks noel for the report.

Club Open Nights

Cycling Ireland Insurance

To all members, please note that your 2016 cycling Ireland insurance has now lapsed since the 31st of December. To renew, if you have not done so already, log  in to your account through cycling Ireland, and follow the simple instructions to renew your insurance as it is a requirement for every member to be insured while out on their bike.

This week’s Club Training spins 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 TBC)

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.

We’ll split into the different groups in the carpark, with Red leaving first, then Orange and finally Green. The routes will be similar with the same start, middle(coffee stop/change groups) and end. The orange and red groups will cover the same route but there is also a green group spin that should only take about the 2 hours cycling. For anyone reading this and sitting on the fence about whether to come out and give it a go, come on out and try it. You’ll be well looked after, just come in and be ready to leave on your bike at 9am from Moynans. Ask one of the lads to point out that weeks mentor to you and introduce yourself to them so they’ll know if they have any newcomers.

By all means don’t be afraid to have a go at moving to a faster group than normal as there will still be plenty of chances to cut it short or change groups at the halfway point.

So, for this week’s Green route, it’s: Moynans – Old N7 to Birdhill – Up the ramp to Applegreen for Coffee – Back to Nenagh

And for the Orange & Red it’s Moynans –  Portroe – Ballina – Cross bridge to Killaloe – O’Briensbridge – Left back to Birdhill after crossing the bridge – Up the ramp for coffee @ Applegreen – Left in Birdhill – Turn left just before Daly’s cross(after first traffic island) – Left towards Newport – Left towards Birdhill before Newport – Birdhill – Back to Nenagh 

Have a great week out there folks!!