The Earthquake Spin Conquered

Sunday 22nd March was a target date for all of us in the “beginners” group!! We were taking part in the Earthquake cycle, raising funds for the Junior Cycle. It looks like €1000 were raised on the day. So, well done everyone for putting the hand in your pocket, and enjoy such a glorious day!!

I didn’t write anything about last weeks spins…I won’t bore you with the details (i’ve been told I write too much….really?), but we did the same route as part of the green group (ie, the group at the tail of the beginners). It was a small group, quite enjoyable, chats were mighty (it included toilet breaks for girls, with me having to take a detour in Olive’s parent’s house in the youghal road) and parenting tips to Ollie (who thinks he’s going to see the Frames 6 weeks after his lovely girlfriend is due to have their first baby….keep an eye on the tickets guys, they should be in done deal early june..but Deirdre and myself have dips…maybe we should take bids on the issue..will they or will they not make it!) The amber group, ie, the faster guys in the beginners group, were meant to do the same route as the Red group, Midleton to Dungarvan and back..but after a couple of punctures, they decided to go on the same route as us….that group is getting really strong, they were doing might average speeds going up those hills!!

Being Patrick’s day on Tuesday, and lots of us being off, it was decided that a few of us would go for a short spin, around 50km. There was another 2 groups out that day going for longer spins…Great to see the club catering for every single group and ability!!

We were amazed at the speed we managed, there was 7 of us that morning, Andrew, James, John, Mick, Fergus, Mags and myself.…having two strong lads at the front most of the way help! Andrew and James were at the front for most of it…and we went to Kent station and back, averaging 27km/h…our fastest average yet. Some of the lads did a bit more after that, but I had to be back home early to attend the parades with the family!! Legs were tired after sunday, but the feeling of achievement was awesome!

That brings me to Sunday 22nd!! I am told to be brief, will do my best!!!

There was a huge group at the Courthouse from early on! We signed on, took some pics of us beginners “girls”, and at 9:30 we set off..Firstly I must apologies to my friends from the beginners, as I was caught in a bit of a speed train, and went to fast to Youghal…there was 7 of us in the group, amongst them my dear husband, out with me for the first time, and let”s say I was trying to impress him!!! Richie, Pat, Teresa were with us too..and it was quite enjoyable….up to the bypass….I knew they would catch up with us by the time we reached the bypass…and they did…Well, I got the cold shoulder!!! I even was left speechless………but not for long!! From them on, I let the husband go at this faster pace and I stayed behind where I belong, with the people that have been with me for the last 10 weeks, the people that have suffered me slogging up the hills, never leaving me behind! You guys rock, you know who you are!!!! While the hills were tough, Deirdre and myself agreed they are definitely getting better…or we are getting better at climbing them!!! Obviously our speed dropped between Youghal and Tallow, but we were still going very strong, with Deirdre leading for a good while at the front doing speeds over 30km/h!

When we arrived in Tallow for coffee, surprise surprise, the coffee machine wasn’t working!!!! and Mags hadn’t got anywhere near it!!! Girls at the shop were kind to provided us with instant or tea…most of us needed a toilet break, and thankfully there is public toilets in Tallow…mmm, not sure if they are better than being outside….this is were Mags discovered something she didn’t know!! You are not supposed to wear underwear with you cycling gear…she still hasn’t recovered from the shock….and neither has the group riding in front of us when we enlighten her!!!

The bit from Talllow to Dungorney was tough..the legs were not responding after a break that was probably too long! But we were going to finish as a group…small group, but a fantastic group nevertheless! Richie was suffering the most, so we had to stop a few times to make sure he was well fed and hydrated….a stretch of the legs and a bit of a pet talk to convince him we were over the worse, and that we would carry him home!! As so we did!!! We dropped Ger and Adrian safely in Ger’s house (can’t wait to hear who got to the shower first!) and we got more washing tips from Ger’s lovely wife! It was only 7 of us left on the road at that stage…and once the last hill was finished, we sped up, and made it home with style…riding in the main street of Midleton, and around the roundabout to the courthouse!!! We took a couple of pics and congratulated each other for such a lovely spin, and for such a fantastic achievement! Comparing the stats from last weeks spin, they show we are definitely getting stronger..we were home a think 15 mins earlier, and averaging 2km/h more than last week!

I would like to suggest (again!) a graduation ceremony of some short for us beginners, meeting in normal clothes so we can recognise people if we passed them in the street!!! I am open to suggestions and I am volunteering to organise something if the appetite is there. So find me in Facebook and send me a message and will take it from there! See you all in the road soon!

Patricks Day update

Happy Patricks day all.

So Sorry its been a late weekly update and I’m afraid I will be brief this week.

This week saw an improvement in the weather and therefore a massive amount of miles done by Midleton CTC on bikes, in pools and on the running trails.

Such is the massive amount going on I just can’t keep up with everything going on.

And as Ive said before unless people let me know about all the cool stuff your doing its hard to keep up with you all.

This week We had the usual Tuesday and Thursday spins which as always were well attended as well as some impressive solo Spins done by all.

Saturday there were more well attended spins one led by Frankie Froome and another by Tony Fitzgerald and Barry McMahon.

The racing lads have seen a busy few days with racing at the weekend and again today in Carrick on St Patricks day with notably impressive performances by Shane fuller who finished in the main bunch in both races and is looking stronger by the minute. Leonard O’keeffe and Martin Cashman put in good efforts in support of their leader Paid for Osbourne Meats with him taking wins in both races. As well as Dominic Cashman placing on Sunday in the A4’s.

Johnny Finn took to the race track for the first time today and was 4th wheel when his race was cancelled due to a crash up the road, All the lanza hard work put in by Johnny really looking to have paid off. Well done everyone.

Sunday saw for the first time three substantial groups headed off from the Courthouse with red, amber and green groups making up the splits. All with Coffee of course.

Its great to see that we have become so strong after the raging success of the beginners group that we can now have three highly attended groups on the road of a Sunday with around 50 riders on the road.

The red group with a pace of 29kmph took a spin to Dungarven and back with the usual stop for the Guccis selfie.

While the amber group and the green group both doing the Earthquake 70KM spin.

The amber group averaging 26kmph and the green group just over 20kmph.

Pat Burke Kindly sent me a bit of a report on the Amber group spin:

I fell in with the Amber Group ably led by Barry Mc and Tony. This was the first spin for quite a few from the Beginners Group who were bravely setting out minus our stabilisers for the first time. We thought we were heading for Dungarvan but a series of punctures and a mechanical issue changed that. After a master class in puncture repairs from Tony and Jude we learned that 2 tubes is required for a reason!! A quick decision later and we decided to fall in with a tour of the Earthquake Route, sounded like a good idea at the time and ideal prep for next week. We'd been passed by all and sundry at the side of the road so there was a healthy air of suffering about us as we attempted to catch any of the peletons that had whizzed by us while stopped. We were soon trailing Barry Mc up Youghal Bypass hill faster than ever previously and with a now smaller number than had started. Trying to hide was out of the question with such small numbers and very soon the chat dried up as we turned for Tallow. Once we got the rhythm we were up and moving and we all obeyed the rule of breaking the rule that is the speed limit entering Tallow. A quick coffee and a promise to the nice lady of the shop that we'd write a strongly worded letter to the Manager who got rid of the bench outside the shop and we headed for home. More punctures and the group split again as the cold set in. Despite being out the day before for a 'lazy 100k' Barry Mc led us out and the group set to work. We managed to get up the hill out of Tallow and began to have a small sense of accomplishment as we stuck at it travelling at a new speed for all of us. I learned a very valuable lesson on the way in to Tallow which I'm happy to share with fellow newbies - having a chat at the front is all well and good if its a quick natter. I was yapping away high on adrenaline and admiring the view and didn't realise it until my legs told me to shut up! More concentration and less yapping in future for me. We came across fence cutting which added a whole new dimension to road debris and survived a 'speed wobble' that was scored at 7/10 for grace and poise in the fall - if nothing else we are merciless! Plenty of attacks and craic on the hill back to Midleton and another great day out chalked up. The Amber Group averaged 27k for the spin which was a quantum step up for us newbies. It was great meeting one and all at the Court House beforehand, there is a great spirit to this Club and that is testament to the Road Captains who each Sunday have guided us out and back. 3 different groups set out, there was a number of splinter groups emerged but it looked as if one and all had a good day out. While the step up in speed was something to experience the group effort got us around and the lessons from the previous weeks stood to me. I really enjoyed the buzz afterwards and was glad I did some stretching afterwards as I tackled the stairs this morning. Another milestone passed, Earthquake next Sunday with a number of the Amber Group talking about tackling it as a group together. Anyone else want to fall in with us? See you Sunday morning!

Sunday was also the adventure race down in Killarney where we were again represented well again by James Cronin who had a few strange encounters with sheep by all accounts? but thats not a story for here?!! Martin O’Rouke was on top form completing the course in a very handy time and John and Ailish Lynch took part together crossing the line side by side. Well done all.

Monday Night this week and Last saw the swimming lessons continue at the Fota Hotel with great success coming from those.

Manus, Colum, Noel, Adrian and Myself are really seeing the benefits from Marc’s coaching and completed around 78 lengths of the pool this Monday which is a mighty feat considering most of us could barely do two lengths when we started. Big thanks to Tim Mahony and Johnny Finn for getting these organised and to Marc Sanquist for the excellent coaching.

Today ( Patricks day) Again saw three large groups take to the roads in the glorious sunshine.

The Gucci spin as we will call it completed a nice 80km hilly spin in a variation of the earthquake spin with a little extra with a handy pace of 27kmph on the tough route.

A stop again for the obligatory Gucci selfie was made in Tallow where the fine breakfast rolls were duly sampled by certain members of the spin.

Fergus Blackmore lead a group of the newer members on a 60km spin into town and back with a bit of a climb to finish up towards lisgold with a nice pace of just below 27kmph.

This spin again was well attended and is great to see with the newer members (I refuse to use the term beginners anymore) really starting to get great speed on the road.

Start Posting some pics guys and Gals!!

The third group on the road was lead by the Piano Man Peter “I’ve nothing done” Moloney.

An early start was got in at 730 to enable us to get a mighty 125km spin in via Mitchelson Town and then up the Vee and home through Tallow.

Over 1300m of climbing was got in with Peter seemingly taking us in any direction he could find a climb.

A really great pace was set on this one with an average up the Vee of just over 20kmph and about 46kmph down the other side dodging the blue Sheep! Seriously the Waterford folk take this GAA stuff way too seriously! Blue sheep!!!

A mighty pace was set after the Lismore Coffee stop and a local Rival club were duly blown away on the run into Midleton.

Great personal Satisfaction was got by myself as it was my first time up the Vee, only tempered by the fact Lloyd just couldn't let himself give me the KOM in the sprint for the top reeling in by breakaway attempt sprint just before the top. Swine!!!

But don’t worry revenge was executed at the finish when again Lloyd reeled me in on the sprint for the town only for me to catch him napping when he thought I’d given in and pass him out! scores level Lloyd :-).

This was possibly the finest spin I’ve been on with bright sunshine, great scenery and even better company.

I must say I was particulaly impressed with Peters planning for this ride, he even organised a professional photographer to be waiting at the top of the Vee!

So a great week for Mctc with Three spins now well established showing how strong our club is becoming.

Sorry for the shorter report this week things have piled up on my desk.

Thanks to Pat Burke for the report to pad out the update :-)

I’m off on Hols tomorrow so there might be no update next week.

But Catalina will be writing a blog so you won't be disapointed.

Have a safe week on the road.

Better Late than never. Weekly Update.

Dia duit, Hello, Hola and Bonjour!

See that we've gone multi lingual! Flash huh!

Sorry for the delay in last weeks update but sure Tuesdays are boring anyway so hopefully this will cheer you all up!

Another huge week in the Club and the season is really kicking off now, so much so I can barely keep up with the goings on in the club and these updates are getting harder and harder to research.

All this researching though does show what a great state our club is in with really truly active members on all levels.

This week saw the return of the Lanza crew on Wednesday but not before they clocked in some more miles before hitting the plan and coming home to face the music.

Barry McMahon has not been seen since returning as apparently he blunted all his wife’s leg razors before leaving the previous week and is now in full grovel mode!

The Lads also decieded it would be funny to Leave Johnny Finn behind in a bit of a cruel joke having slipped out quietly on Johnny after he had made them attend a strange cinematic presentation of his collection of 80's sports jackets.

This week lots of members have been hitting big numbers on solo spins with too many to mention but some really impressive spins if you have a look through Strava.

The leader board this week is no surprise as usual the Mileage monsters John Sharky and Derry Cadogan have been hovering up road and sit on top of the leader board with huge miles followed closely by John Lynch who got in massive miles while on the “Training” trip to lanza.

Even more impressive if you check out John’s stats and the other Lanza boys was their climbing stats.

Huge numbers over the two weeks with John posting 8665m in climbing on the trip in the 6 days! Some one must have told them there was pints up them hills!

Well done Lads.

Club groups went out Thursday and Saturday this week lead by Frankie Froome Cashman and Paudie Murphy, as usual a good group out on these days with high paced spins.

Sunday saw the graduation spin for the Beginners and the 8.30 Coffee group decided to meet up with them in Ardmore for a huge club spin of nearly 50 riders coming back from Ardmore together.

The Coffee group spin was around 90km with a good pace maintained down to Ardmore, although a lengthy stop for a puncture did mean we had to cut short the mileage in order to make sure we met up with the Beginners in Ardmore.

The Spin from the main road into Ardmore was particularly fun with a pace of 37kmph averaged into town with Yours truly and Tosh sat on the front to make it a real rare occasion! One of us on the front is rare but both at the same time! I know I know you don’t believe it but it happened I swear! Those that were there will be talking about it for years! But don’t worry normal service resumed of me hiding on the way home, Tosh however took more extreme measures!

While we waited for the Beginners group to arrive into Ardmore a few of us decided to let Brendan Hennessy take us on a little site seeing trip down to the beach across lets just say marginal roads! This did unfortunately put pay to Tosh’s day who after another blow out had to call for a collection! Maybe being on the front with me previously was just too much for him? The view however from Brendan’s magical mystery tour was spectacular and worth the climb.

On the way back we stayed together as a huge group to the main road then split with a portion of the beginners coming along with the Coffee group up and over the bypass. There was a decent headwind at times on the way back and all the beginners certainly deserved the term graduation with them not looking out of place. Certainly the people I spoke to and rode alongside were really trucking, David White, Anita and Manus and Aiden Crowley all more than holding their own and I’m sure they can now move onto the Coffee spin if they wanted. Apologies to anyone I didn't mention but there was a lot of new names to remember so I didn't get them all. Well done to everyone on the Beginners spins over the last 8 weeks, its been really pleasing to see the group maintain its size and enthusiasm and I’m loving the name you've developed for your spin from now on “The Picnic Spin”.

Sunday saw racing take place up in Limerick and plenty of Mctc members in attendance. Strong cross winds proved tough conditions with a really high pace being set and plenty of crashes reported. Even finishing this race in tact was an achievement.

Shane Fuller, Lee Palmer, Dominic and Martin Cashman, Leonard Okeeffe ,(Osbourne meats McCarthy cycles) were all racing ,Sean Hughes was still out with a chest infection but will be back soon.

Dominic and Lee were both racing in the A4 Group, Lee was dropped along with plenty of others from the main bunch on the 1st lap of 3 when the bunch turned left on to the main road to Caherconlish and were met with a very strong cross wind which split the peloton.

Lee put in a great effort to chase with a group of about 10 or so and all though they didn't get back on Lee cycled away from them in the last km to the finish to take the sprint from his group. Well done Lee.

Dominic kept with the bunch but got caught up behind a crash were a fella cycled head on in to a car and there was body's all over the ground.

In the A3 race Shane and Leonard lost contact with the main group on Lap 1 of 4 at the same corner that Lee got caught out on , Shane chased back on for 10k finally getting back on just before Caherconlish where the climb began for around 2 km.

After a tough effort to get back Shane got dropped again at the top of the climb and chased for the next 25km full throttle getting in amongst the team cars and within 50 yards of the main group before the main peloton ramped up the pace for the finish leaving Shane to finish the race with a small group just behind. Shane’s Comment “never so wreaked after a cycle” showed what a tough day it was.

Leonard was not feeling the best after a long week of hard training and according to Shane his van looked too tempting as he passed it after falling off the main pack on the tough Caherconlish corner.

Martin finished in the A1 A2 race in the bunch his team leader Paudie o Brian 2nd Having yet again having been looked after by Martin all day. The best result though was all came home injury free which was lucky ,Shane tells me he saw 3 crashes in this race and afterwards it was like a scene from causality, broken collarbones and bandages everywhere. Tim Mahony has apparently capitalised on this information and is now running dado painting lessons for large groups soon.

Ok I know none of you know what i’m talking about there but to a select few thats pretty funny so just go with it!

Well done to all the guys Racing, its great getting the updates from Shane. Keep up the good work.

Ballycotton 10 was Sunday and we had plenty of participants Will Rock, Gary Neff , James Cronin and Brian Shanahan and I’m sure others but your all too shy to let me know so sorry I missed you off. Will and Gary both finished in around 1hr and 8 mins and James in 1hr16 with Brian a little further back but not much. Well done to all Mctc members that raced.

As the summer is going on with so much happening it is going to become impossible to call out all of you for the great runs, swims and cycles you do so I will be looking for volunteers to write up reports on races and spins etc that you do so we can make sure we keep the club up to date and give out deserved credit. As you've all seen Catalina has done a great job with the blog on the beginners spin and Shane fuller sends me great reports on the races. So if anyone else wants to write up reports on races they do Like the Ballycotton 10 please get in touch with me via the Social page on facebook and we will get reports posted on here.

Have a good week and be safe.