Is it summer yet? Weekly Update

Right Bare with me I’m struggling with writers block today and seriously lacking funny!

I think its a Monday thing?

A terrible week of weather this week but still some good mileage in.

Both the Sunday spins this week fell foul of the weather due to wind and ice on Sunday morning, so no coffee spin or beginners spin to report on this week. This week it was great though to see some of the beginners group members posting some good solo spins on strava.

Aidan Crowley did a very impressive 60km+ 27kmph although i’m not sure I consider Aidan a beginner anymore. Catalina Gonzalez Oliva also has a ride posted midweek on strava too but is being shy with her mileage and keeping it to herself :-).

It was great to talk with Manus Mitchell tonight at Swimming and see his passion for the beginners spin, it is becoming a bit of a recurring theme that this group of people have really taken to the sport and it is great to see.

Junior Spin was also cancelled due to bad weather this week but Rachel Drennan still managed a hilly 55km on Friday to keep up her training ahead of the racing season.

Duathlon season started up in Limerick on Saturday and Our very own Triathlon representative Jonathan Finn made to trip up the road to take part on his new shiny bike. Jonny came 10th in what he describes as a stellar field including olympic hopefuls!?! I have warned Jonny about the pitfalls of drinking on a Monday night but some people never learn!!

Another Triathlon takes place this weekend on Saturday 28th at the Fota Island Hotel so any budding triathletes should get down there for a rare chance to tour the fine grounds of Fota resort and also have a crack at the tough hills of Cobh, Please slow down on any hill that i’m on the leader board of tho please. I’ll post a list later… Don’t worry its a short list! Very Short! ah whom i kidding I’m not on any!!!

you can enter here http://www.fotaisland.ie/Duathlon

Tuesday saw the usual spin leaving lakeview doing a gentlemen tour of East Cork With Paudie Murphy and Frankie Froome taking Lee palmer out for a pre Lacey cup warm up with David Coughlan also tagging along after hearing about hot cross buns being on offer at the food stop.

Thursday saw a very good group for a midweek spin again with about 12 out on the spin lead by Frank Cashman, Paudie Murphy on in Franks words “Flat route”! Yeah Sure.… Aiden Berry also made the peloton after frank had to wake him up and the star guest for the day was Nessa Roachford who just missed us all too much! A cold morning didn't stop us getting in a handy 100km although yours truly did abandon the group at the Cake stop very unsociably, Sorry about that!

Saturday Was the Lacey Cup and as you may have seen from my brief update yesterday it was a good day for Mctc. Its very early in the season and although the team have been putting in long miles together over the winter they're still at different levels of fitness but still some great results with Shane Fuller getting 5th in A4 and Sean Hughes getting 10th. Shane Fuller, Sean Hughes, Aj Murphy, Lee Palmer and Bart Bejnarowicz all there representing us. Shane sent me a brief update and I thought I would just post it here below for you:

Myself and Sean stuck together for the day Bart was with us on and off aswell , race started off slow with a strong head wind the bunch got on to the climb 5km 3% with 1 or 2 fellas up the road , rode up the first climb steady enough , the pace picked up for the last 1.5 km and that split the bunch a bit, myself and Sean and Bart stayed up in the top 15 /20 riders and out of trouble , then it was a bit lumpy for another 10 km or so till we turned left passed Inch beach and for the next 20 km was pretty flat we had a welcome tail wind at that stage I didn't see the speed drop below 40kmph for that 20k , we caught the last of the breakaway at the base of the last climb myself Sean and Bart moved to the front again and for the next 5km at 2.8% I focused on the wheel in front of me and ended up in a group of 8 at the top of the climb , Sean following not far behind and Bart not far behind him there was two sharp bends on the decent which we had recced on the drive to the race (along with the bendy tree which marked the top of the climb ) I sat at the back of the 8man group and was lucky to stay up when an aqua blue rider came a cropper in front of me I had to imagine myself on my mountain bike and some how found a gap between the rider and his bike with both wheels locked up , so I got on to the flat in one piece with 1.5km to go ,all though my legs were cramping up managed to stick on a wheel and finish 5th , Sean came in not far behind in the second group coming in 2nd in that sprint and about 12th over all , Bart wasn't far behind him , great race and can't wait for next week . Shane

Shane Did ask me to add in some heroic stories and acts of heroism to make it more exciting, but I think its exciting enough on what was a miserable rainy and windy day that most of us stayed in bed for. Well Done to all.

However just to please Shane I did find this pic from the dear death experience Shane mentioned in his report.

Is that heroic enough Shane?

The club had two other members taking part on the day riding for Osborn/Macarthy cycles Martin Cashman and Leonard O'Keeffe who both rode hard in support of their team leader Paidi O Brien who they got into the placing via their hard work through the race with him placing 5th in A123 due to their efforts. Well done Lads.

Club member and sponsor Aidan Crowley’s race team STRATA3-VeloRevolution Racing also had a good weekend on the Race circuit bearing the Midleton name proudly on their kit with new signing Stephen Murray posting a 7th in Kerry and David Coughlan posting a 5th at the Trader’s Cup, in Dundalk. Well done Aidan and team.

Saturday also saw the Club presenting Marymount with a sizeable cheque from the proceeds from the Cycle and Dine event held in October. I will have a separate update on this for you in its own right in the next few days as warrants its importance.

This week the Strava club has grown a few members but if your not on it get get yourself on there so you get a mention for any Sufferests you put in.

Below is the Leader board for the week and Yet again John Sharkey has again taken Top spot in the distance charts, well done John. Donagh McCarthy again makes the lists and well done to a new name there in the leader boards Reece Baldwin. Derry again shows up on the climbing leader board a real gluten for climbing punishment. Whilst Jason Bane had some impressive stats this week too. Third place on the longest ride was perhaps the most impressive of all tho…… ok ok i know I’ll shut up!

Right thats it for this week, we hope for better weather this week (not looking good so far)

Again big well done to all the lads racing this week, looking forward to more great results to come.

Oh and come on Lloyd you have to stop polishing that bike and get on the road and race at some point ;-)

See you all on the road. RW

Strong Day for MCTC, Lacey Cup 2015

Gales Force winds and torrential rain made it a tough day at the Tralee Lacey Cup today, The traditional season opener.

A strong Team travelled from Midleton CTC including Shane Fuller, Sean Hughes, Aj Murphy, Lee Palmer and Bart Bejnarowicz. The first race of the season is a tough one to judge for any rider/team but the Mctc team put in a fine display.

Sean McKenna of Team Aqua Blue took the win but a really strong performance was put in by the MCTC team with some top placings showing what we all knew already that this will be a great season for Midleton Cycling.

Shane Fuller was the best placed rider with a 5th Place in the A4 while Sean Hughes showed a great turn of pace to take 2nd place in the sprint for the line in the second group taking an at this stage unconfirmed 10th place. We have a great group of racers this year with more riders to join the group over the next few weeks. The winters hard miles that the lads have put in showed well today. The season is bright for Midleton CTC. Well done Lads

Catalina's Beginners Blog.

So 6 Weeks on, the beginner groups continues getting stronger as the weeks pass by.

Since my last write up, we have been out and achieved what some of us though was not achievable. But let me go first to week 5 just in case you weren’t there!

Week 5 saw us meeting at 9:30 in the Courthouse again, despite the freezing (and I seriously mean it) freezing fog!! To say it was cold it was an understatement. Still, a big group, around 25 I think with some new faces, made it that morning! Idea was to do around 60 kms, some inclines/hills (whatever you want to call them really) and maybe a bit of speed work! So, off to Youghal we go. We lost one of our road captains and Trish who was suffering badly with a cold/asthma and forgot her inhaler. Both returned back to Midleton before we reach Killeagh. Fog seemed to have lifted a bit after that, beautiful sun, a bit of heat (still freezing, don’t get me wrong!) ….and the Youghal bypass greeted us….off we go…I start cursing not having had breakfast that morning (DO NOT DO THAT AGAIN!) …but I keep pedalling, people pass me, but I keep going, I know the drill at this stage, drop to the small ring, and breath!!!! Everyone up the top waiting to regroup, and continue the journey after a little breather (and a bit of chocolate courtesy of Garry McGuinnes)….Off we go passing the roundabout, a bit of climbing but nothing serious…spectacular views, we got up to Kinsalebeg petrol station, where we stopped (Mags though we were having a coffee break, he!) our picture was taken , and we quickly turned back!!!!! Back to Youghal, where I was at the top for a while (not long before a hill where I drop to the back again!) and this time we stopped for coffee…only to be received by instant!!! Oh dear, we are not being very successful with our coffee breaks!! Anyway, there was another garage not far, so the group was split between the likes of “I don’t care what coffee I get as long as it gets me warm” and those who “need the real thing”! After the break, it was decided that the group was big enough to maybe split into two groups, so one group could go a bit faster! Here, I made the decision to try and keep up with the faster lads thinking, sure we are all “beginners”, and it’s almost “flat” all the way back, what harm can it do? Well, it went very fast, it was obvious that the group was breaking very quickly but I tried to hung there at the fast group…there was a fast changing chain , so they were taking turns going up to the top and lead, but I was not able for it….and first big hill, I was dropped!!! Now, I shouted at the guys to hold for me, I was sure I would be able to keep up, but they couldn’t hear me. Unfortunately we were far from the other group, so I had to ride back on my own. I want let you all know all that went through my head, but it wasn’t nice….Anyhow, I kept going, thinking, ok, just get home, just get home, but it was hard, I there and then realised the advantages of riding within a group, not only physically but also mentally…it’s so much easy!! Passed Killeagh, and debated to wait for the group behind me, but there was too far, and I didn’t want to get cold (fog hadn’t lifted there and again it was freezing), so I kept going….I won’t lie, I was hurt, hurt that I was not able to keep up, and also hurt that no one in the front group realised I was missing and waited for me!! But, Mags to the rescue (not only she does break coffee machines, but she also fixes things!!) she caught up with me before I reached Castlemartyr, and we rode back together…cursing this and that, fixing this and the other….and we reached Midleton!!! We were determined this was not going to break us, and glad it didn’t!!

So, when week 6 came, and we found out we were doing the Earthquake route, and all the climbs involved, some of us beginners had a bit of a chat via Facebook messages, and were afraid, very afraid of the task ahead, but determined to raise our voices (I don’t have to make a huge effort on that, you all know I am loud by now!) if the group was going too fast for us!! Lloyd was our Road Captain, along with Shane, Fergus and Dave O’Brien. I made sure I positioned myself to the front to make sure we were not too fast..but sure, I forgot my garmin, so I had no idea what speed we were doing…but it felt good, and in fairness to Lloyd, he keep looking back, making sure “I” was ok, and that everyone else was still with us. Small stop before we reached the Youghal bypass, we were reminded to use the gears for the climb, just to take easy, forget about anyone else, and just go!!!...when we reached the bottom of the bypass, someone had a mechanical…his chain broke!!It went all too fast, first we were all stopping, then we were told to go ahead…some lads stayed behind and fix it (we need a class on these things guys!) …and off we all went….some went fast, some went slow, but we all made it to the top.

(I was told Mags fell trying to stop when she got there, she got cleats during the week…I feel it’s important to know those things…I will be getting out with mine next week..and I’ll report back on one of my falls too..hehehe) . After a quick sip of water, a few jellies…off downhill we were…I am starting to like the descents after those climbs….apart from a stoopid car beeping at us at some stage, it was fun speeding a bit!! Little did I know what was to greet us after the roundabout…..a hell full of climbs…..but I was mentally prepared for it….I knew I was going to be slow, that I might be on my own for a while…..and off we went….it wasn’t as bad as I expected…J* (can’t disclosed his full name, sorry) joined us in Youghal, and he stayed with me during the climbs to Tallow….he kept telling me all about the hills ahead, how many how long..and I told him to lie to me, I would rather not know!!! Well, when I asked him to tell me the truth, he wouldn’t …go figure!!! Anyway, here I was puffing up the hill, when his phone rang…and he answered it…I couldn’t hardly breath and here this man goes cycling up hill talking on the phone!!!!! Fair play!!! ….As the group was spread up the hills…we regrouped a bit before getting to Tallow, a quick banana and some drink, and off we went again.There was some nice descents on the way….I loved every minute of it!!!

We arrived in Tallow, and we found a shop for coffee….panic when Mags was there at the top of the queue….and just before she gets there, the machine runs out of water….seriously!! Some people have gone to another shop, lucky ducks!!!! Anyway, the lovely ladies in the shop refill the water and we all happy enough to have got a hot drink!!! After everyone has had their little coffee and a bit of a banter, we are told there is yet a few more hills, and to Dungourney, bad road surface, but then it’s all downhill…do you believe them? I didn’t and right I didn’t!!! It was hilly, I wouldn’t call that a road, and surface was worse than bad…but we made it..I feel I have to mentioned here St. Fergus , Garry the Great, Mick the Merciless and Dave the Determined , as they all stay with some of us to make sure we were ok at all times…..Adrian kept going up and down, making sure we were not stopping, Shane was taking selfies on the road..even a video where you can check my lovely cork accent!!! And we made it to Dungorney, where we had one last stop, shared any left over jellies, food, drink , and as it was “mostly” down hill, we decided we were not going to regroup again..Some tough hills after Dungorney, but, I don’t know what’s up with me, they didn’t bother me as much, and I didn’t die on any of them….mmmm, do I like them, hell no!! But I am getting used to them!! Gary stayed with me, and Fergus with Trish, Deirdre and Mags were flying at the front…..Chats are great on those spins, we are all getting to know each other, and lots of friendships are being made…I have proposed a beginners graduation celebration of some sort!! So let’s bounce some ideas next week and see what everyone would like to do. Not sure what will happened after our 8 (or is it 10) weeks beginners group stint finish, maybe an intermediate group???. But what I know it’s that I am glad I made the decision to join the group, and that despite the ups and downs, I am still here week after week, with such great people and being encourage by everyone when I most struggle!! Let keep up the good work!!