Curlieu Wheelers Cycling Club

Mullingar 2 day 2012 Race Report -Paul Byrne

I have fond memories of competing in this race.  It was in this race 20 years ago that I managed to get my first placing in a race, finishing 3^rd on the last road stage.  The race was organised by the Lakeside Wheelers.

There were 3 stages in total; 110 km stages on Saturday followed by a 3.5k hilly TT Sunday morning and then a 90k stage in the afternoon.  I had not raced anything like these distances so far this season let alone do it over two days.

The first stage was 3 laps of a 37k circuit and my plan on the first lap was to just sit tight in the bunch for the first 50k and see how the race developed.  Sometimes you need a bit of luck but unfortunately there where to many big teams controlling the race so it was very hard to get away. 
A bit of luck did come my way on the second lap, just as I was riding in the front of a bunch I glanced over my shoulder to see a crash so phew a bit of lady luck shone on me.    I seen the eventual stage winner attack with about 20k to go and i tried to chase but after about 10k I just couldn’t make the junction, and had to give up. I finished about 40 seconds down on the bunch with the stage winner a further 36 seconds ahead again.  The sad news was that the crash took out about ten guys and they failed to finish the stage.

It was an early start for me on Sunday morning as the TT started at 8.30am and I was one of the first of so I was on the road at 6.30am. I Finished 50 seconds behind the stage winner.   The stage winner from Saturday’s stage a guy from a club called the Phoenix Cycling  had done enough to hold onto the yellow jersey by 10 seconds going into the final stage in the afternoon.

The worst thing about double stages on the one day is hanging around particularly with an early start in the morning;  I must say Lakeside Wheelers made sure there was plenty of tea and made you feel really welcome, there was plenty of chat and banter and the afternoon stage was soon upon me. The stage was 3 laps of a 30 mile circuit.  

I had no choice but to sit tight in bunch as the race started off at very high speed.  With a lap to go the Yellow jersey disappeared into the bunch unable to do any more work at the front of the bunch with his team mate only able to go to the front whenever the pace dropped,

I really feared that he could lose the race because he had no support, we forget that cycling is also a team sport.  I then thought that the right thing to do would be to help them in whatever way I could, as my chances were gone.  The first thing I did was go to the leaders teammate and told him not to ride on the front anymore as there where to many other teams that should be on the front riding to protect their riders that where in the top 5, as they would only be too happy for him to ride at the front all day and then attack.  I said that the other teams will panic and start chasing and true enough that’s the way it panned out I said I’d help out in whatever way I can.

With about 10k to go the Yellow Jersey went to the front as the guy in second overall had attacked I helped out at the front as much as I could as his teammate could not help anymore and we brought the GC contender back.  I rode on the front of the bunch for the next 3 or 4 k to keep the bunch together, and then the inevitable happened my legs exploded with cramp and again had to just coast to the finish.  As I crossed the line a couple of minutes later I heard a shout from the other side of the road and it was the lad from Phoenix Cycling Club saying thanks very much as his teammate had won, to me that thank you is every bit as good as any prize.
Lakeside Wheelers put on a great event.  I’ve a good few races coming up in the next few weeks so hopefully my efforts over the weekend should pay off with a few results;