Mark Hayden Memorial - Carlow

Before I begin apologies for the grumpy picture of myself, despite having the lovely new gear I was not really looking forward to this race.   I think this was a combination being tired of from the long drive and some hard training sessions I put in during the week, anyway I was here so had to give it a bash (a quitter never wins my favourite motto).  This was going to be a testing circuit of 3 x 33k laps with very few places on the course to recover.

I decided to play this race a bit more smart this week instead of jumping head long in and attacking, it was time to start racing and not using these events as training.  As you get to know the riders throughout the season you get a good idea who are strong and who are the ones to watch.  So after about 20k on the first lap I moved to the front and the first move I got into was with a strong rider, I decided to just follow him for a couple of km and see what would happen, seven more riders joined and we all started to work.  I had a fairly good idea that the break would see the finish before the bunch and gave it my all, unfortunately I was not going well and felt very sluggish and midway through the second lap on a particularly difficult stretch of road my legs I could not recover and I got dropped from the break and re-joined the bunch.

Slowly but surely other riders from the break began to re-join the bunch so I wasn’t the only one who was having it hard.  Five remaining riders just about held of the bunch which I was happy about as they must have been giving it a 110 percent just to stay away.  One lad from the original break got caught by the bunch with about 1km to go.  All I could say him at the finish was that cycling can be a cruel cruel sport sometimes.  Carlow Cycling Club put on a lovely spread of sandwiches and cakes and more importantly tea, and the chat with the lads is always great after the races.  I think it’s an Olympic motto “it’s the taking part that counts” and for me that’s particularly the case, it’s all about the craic and giving it a go.

 Cheers Paul

An Post Meath Heritage Cycle Tour: 29^th of July 2012

11km Family Loop, 50km Tara Loop €20, 100km Royal Tour €30, 160km Royal Challenge €35. Cycling Ireland members can avail of a 10% discount on their respective entry fee.  All details for the event are on http://www.meathsports.ie/  or  www.anpost.ie/AnPost/IrishCycling/An_Post_Cycle_Series/Meath

Already there seems to be a good numbers of Wheelers travelling to this event and the Roscommon Pink Ribbon Cycle.  So contact fellow members and we can try to travel in groups to make it easier.  It looks like the first event that Curlieu Wheelers will be in there new Club Gear.  So it would be great if as many members as possible could join us at one of the events.

Roscommon Pink Ribbon Cycle – Fun Cycle

FUN CYCLE

Roscommon Pink Ribbon Cycle, in aid of Breast Cancer Research (NBCRI),

will be held on

SUNDAY, 29 July 2012

All ages, all abilities catered for.

100k, 60k, and 10k Family Routes.

For more information call:  086 8196062 / 086 8417264.

L'Etape Tour

"From Curlieus to the Pyrenees"  Well done to all  of the team on the L'etape 5-peaks Challenge in aid of the Cancer Care West Lukemia Fund . Enda Madden, Brian Supple, Brian Mc Mahon,
Gavin Brennan, Joan Gardner and Dessie Mc Loughlin.

An Post Meath Heritage Cycle Tour: 29^th of July 2012

Early bird closes the 19^th and penalties will follow if you enter after this date. 11km Family Loop, 50km Tara Loop €20, 100km Royal Tour €30, 160km Royal Challenge €35. Cycling Ireland members can avail of a 10% discount on their respective entry fee.  All details for the event are on http://www.meathsports.ie/  or  www.anpost.ie/AnPost/IrishCycling/An_Post_Cycle_Series/Meath

Already there seems to be a good numbers of Wheelers travelling to this event. So contact fellow members or drop me an email and we can try to travel in groups to make it easier.  It looks like the first event that Curlieu Wheelers will be in there new Club Gear.  So it would be great if as many members as possible could  make it to this event.

 July 11^th/ Wednesday Eire Og summer Race League Round 5 @ Rosses Point Sligo.  Sign on at 6.00pm till 6.45pm. Race start at 7.00pm.

 Tour of Connacht 300km and 210km on the 4th and 5^th of August.

This will be a great event and with the L’Etape gang just back from their tour there will a few Wheelers gearing up for this.  The West Aware 2012 Tour De Connaught Charity Cycle is to take place over two days on starting on Sat August 4th and concluding Sunday August 5th. The aim of the cycle is to raise funds for Pieta House West, and to spread awareness of Suicide Prevention services available to people in Ireland currently. There is two routes planned a Gold Route (Day 1 190km, Day 2 110km), and a Green Route (Day 1 110km, Day 2 100km). This event is a Charity Cycle, therefore not a race per se. Closing date is July 19^th. Fee €75 (More info racedates.ie/road-cycling/west-aware-2012-tour-de-connaught-cycle-tuam-galway)

Tour De France Live coverage every day on connachtcycling.com .Thanks to Brian Nerney for the pictures he got a closer look at the action at the Start of the Tour.

Tuesday and Thursday Spins are still rolling out at 7.00pm from St Josephs Boys National Abbeytown.  The weather hasn’t been great for the last few spins in the evening so if you can make it out this week.  Make sure to come along.

Sunday Spin this week is 9.00am for advanced and 11.00am for intermediate.  Same start point. It’s the last spin for the L’Etape crew so why not come out and join us for the spin and offer them some encouragement for their trip ahead. Some members are heading on the 9^th and the 11^th and the big event starts on the 14^th so make sure to keep an eye on our face book page and curlieuwheelers.blogspot.ie for updates.

L’Etape 14^th July

 After months of training and preparation and regular spins over the Curlews in all weather conditions Joan Gardner, Gavin Brennan, Brian Mc Mahon, Enda Madden and Brian Supple will take on the Pyrenees on the 14^th of July

L’Etape du Tour – Pyrenees, is one of the most famous Tour de France stages, it encompasses 4 huge climbs totaling 4500M and will have close to 8,000 cyclists participating. Less than 1 week later the official Tour De France race will cover this exact route

They will be raising awareness for Cancer Care West Family Support Fund. We wish Joan, Gavin, Brian, Enda, Brian Supple and Dessie Mc Loughlin all the best for the event and make sure to follow their travels on our facebook page.

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;

Curlieu Wheeler s An Post Tour de Burren 2012 Saturday 23^rd June

Several club members travelled to County Clare at the weekend to take part in the An Post Tour de Burren. Wet and windy conditions prevailed as members tackled the various challenges that are part of the Burren countryside, such as Castle Hill near Doolin with a 16% gradient, and the infamous Corkscrew Hill from Ballyvaughan to Lisdoonvarna.

Veronica O’Connor, Aisling McMahon and Aine O’Connor completed the 60K challenge, while the Mullin Brothers; Kevin, Brendan and Martin, Kit and Ruth O’Connor, Donal and Sarah Neary, Ray Hannon and Declan Lavin all completed the 110K challenging route. Continuing their training for the Etape du Tour in aid of Cancer Care West, club members Enda Madden, Brian McMahon and Brian Supple, took the Fr.Ted 160K challenge, and were accompanied all the way round by fellow club member Aaron O’Connor.

The Northwest 100km Sunday 24th took more Curlieu Wheelers through a local route up the N4 from Sligo/ Ardcarne/keadue/ Dromahair and back into Sligo.
They had four seasons in one day with all conditions to contend with and the last 40km had a strong head wind just to make sure we enjoyed the final climb into Sligo.
It was a great safe route and will be in the calendar for next year.

 For some Wheelers it was their first 100km so well done to Joan Gardner, Brian Nerney, Connor Nerney, Alan Simon, William Little, Carmel Regan and members of the Boyle Lough key Triathlon Club who also took part on Sunday morning.

Also Well done to all members who took part in the Curlew Warrior Run and 10km Family Fun Cycle in Boyle. A busy weekend for all wheelers so make sure to keep it up and see you all at the regular spin Tuesday and Thursday evening at 7.00pm start point St. Josephs National School Abbeytown and 9.00am Advanced and 11.00am intermediate and beginners Sunday.

The Etape crew are holding one of their last fund raisers before they depart for France. They will hope to cycle on their turbo trainers in Super Valu Boyle this Friday from 2-7pm. They were hoping that a few of the other members could come in for even half an hour to shake a bucket and try and add to the already impressive amount they have raised for their charity. All funds raised go straight to Cancer Care West Family Support Fund so it would be nice to help as much as we can. If you can spare any time on Friday evening you can contact Joan on 086 0218919.

Connacht Road Race Championsh​ips In Sligo Sunday July 1st.
Sign on in the Teeling Centre Collooney, Sligo from 10.30 11.45.

Senior A1 A2 A3 & Junior,   5 & 1/2 laps = 100km

Ladies & A4,  3 & 1/2 laps = 65km

If you are doing events or out on a training spin please email the pictures to curlieuwheelerscc@gmail.com so I can get them into the herald, on the blog and facebook.  Make sure to keep an eye on the Sports section of the Roscommon Herald for the weekly updates