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
