Race Day No.1 : Lacey Cup

First race of the 2011 season was today. We left Fermoy at 8.30 this morning and I have to admit I was very keen but also a tad nervous. The weather seemed to be good, the ground was wet but the sun was out and dried most of it up. Thank god. On the way I received a call from the coach - Stephen - just to give me some advice and to share his experience of the race as he got a great 3rd place in 2010. Thanks Steve, if you read this. Anyway when we got down to Tralee it wasn't too busy as sign-on started at 10.30 and thats the time we were there, on time as usual (Bet my teachers would beg to differ)! I signed on and soon enough Denny St. started to fill. We found a parking space for the camper, which can be difficult at times, and I began to prepare for the race which was kicking off at 12.15. At around 12ish I rolled out to the start and had a chat to a few of the lads.

At 12.15 the race started with the A4's first which have a 5min handicap on the A3's and a further minute to the A2's and further minute again to the A1's. When the flag dropped we started to race almost straight away. The Blarney team started to ride for the first kilometre or so until we took a sharp left where Olan Barrett and myself initiated a breakaway. I rode into the corner first and didn't touch the brakes and I'm guessing that's what did all the damage. When Olan rode past me I was expecting to see the green, red and white of Blarney pass but no we had a gap. Couldn't believe it really. Olan & I continued to ride on the real long roads leading up to the first climb at Camp, we were riding pretty hard as they didn't catch us because it's not easy to stay away when a group of 40,50 guys can see you the whole way, although it was never intentional! We caught the A4 group just at the start of Camp and went straight through them although they sat on and we just didn't have the fresh legs to shake them (well most of them anyway, we did try tho). Anyway by the top of the climb we were beginning to tire and at the peak some guys from the A3 group joined with us. A group of maybe 20-30 of us continued to ride and ride along the coastal roads of Inch until eventually at roughly the halfway mark the A1's and A2's after merging together caught us. When they caught us the speed really raised and I was always trying to keep myself in good positions in case of any attacks etc.. And I followed most, especially the ones that the favorites were in (Sean Lacey etc..). The last climb of the day came with roughly 10k to go. It was around 6km in length and was pretty nasty with 70k or so in the legs. Over the top of the climb I was still in the first bunch of around 25-30 riders and the legs were feeling good for the sprint although I never knew it was downhill all the way to the finish! I got caught out big-time here. The twisty roads coming down to the finish were hard to move up on especially when there was cars on the right that had to be avoided! So when the decent stopped we could see the finish and I was in the worst position possible. I was saying a word or two trying to move up but no-one wanted to move and worst of all the guys I was asking to move didn't even contest the sprint. Sickened! I finished about three-quarters way back or so in the bunch. Wasn't too happy at the end but I have to take the positives, I was happy with my overall performance and condition! Well done to Sean Lacey of The Edge who successfully defended his title. Also congrats to recently turned u23's Simon Ryan (3rd) and Stephen Clancy (6th) great friends and great riders!

Stay tuned over the next few days about whats coming up next week. Thanks to everyone for reading.

Eoin

Almost Race Time..

Hello there people. To say the least the last few days have been boring. Other than doing my bit on the bike I've just been lazing around on the couch. Exciting! Been for two physio sessions this week after my crash last Sunday in Mayo. Everything is relatively ok, apart from a possible hairline fracture in the elbow and muscle spasms on the whole right side of my body. But things are starting to look up. Muscles and cuts aren't as sore but I can definitely feel the elbow, but thank god for Savlon healing cream! I also went to the cinema yesterday and saw "Never Say Never 3D". Really great movie, shows people that any dream can come true. Bravo Bieber!

With the first race of the season only a few days away I said I better give an update in the case I mightn't be able to before the event, and with over 100 people racing last year the general feeling is that it's going to be bigger this year. It's the normal, apparently challenging course that goes from Tralee to Camp, Annauscaul and Inch and back into Tralee and with 3 former winners taking part this weekend it look's to be a great race. The race itself is a combined one, meaning that it is one big race (handicapped). There will be four groups with the first group of Category 4, followed by Cat. 3, @ 5 mins., Cat 2 @ 6 mins and the final group of elite riders will start 7 mins behind the Cat. 4 group. Enough on race details from me. If you want more details on the race Tommy Campbell of Cycling Ireland has a great preview on the race on his weekly "Weekend Round-up". Here it is - http://www.irishcycling.com/publish/news/art_5405.shtml 

Last years winner Sean Lacey

Paidi O'Brien could be racing this weekend
after spending the last number of years
racing on the continent with "An Post"

As you can see from my previous few blogs I'm really exited about the racing season kicking off. It's about time! Sick of riding my garden gate Lapierre and can't wait to get on the newly painted Trek. Speaking of Trek's look at this picture I've attached. Found this on Facebook, these packages await the Trek-Livestrong u23 team as they arrive at their camp . Wish Cycling Ireland could start to introduce some similar packages. 

Nice eh?

So, for now I'm going to leave ye. Might be another update before the race if anything pops up. Stay tuned!

Eoin

Camper Club Road Trip: Castlebar

Hello everyone, arrived home from Castlebar, Co.Mayo last night at roughly 5.30ish. What an eventful weekend! Unfortunately for me I didn't manage to have the best of luck. We arrived Friday night just to chill out so Dion & David wouldn't be wrecked on Saturday morning.

Saturday I planned on doing Stage 4 of the 2010 Junior Tour but, the unthinkable happened, I got lost! Doesn't happen very often but when it does it's not nice. I had the route details and map on the stem and somehow I still managed to get lost. Amazing! I knew that roughly 5km into the spin I had to turn left and go over some train tracks. So thats what I did and it was the wrong left. Turns out the left I was meant to take was a further few hundred metres up the road. I knew when I turned left I should meet train tracks straight away and I did, so I thought I was on the right road. So next on the map was a left at a T-Junction. When I took the left I realised I was going back into Castlebar after doing only 11km! So then I turned around and went back and took the right and the T-Junction (Went straight through) on the road to Ballinrobe. I basically got the whole spin messed up, but I still managed to get a decent ride in. For the rest of the day I just relaxed and listened in on some talks for the lads.

Then, Sunday I also planned on doing a stage from the Junior tour which I felt I knew a lot better. Stage 6. But on the previous day they were short of leaders in the groups and I had a feeling I'd be asked. And I was. I was a leader in the u16 "A" group, so as we rolled out of Castlebar we just started to get going at 40km/h+ when "bang" I was on the ground. There was a touch of wheels which was no surprise as the speed was fluctuating like a yo-yo. It wasn't the nicest thing to happen in the first few km's of the spin but I got up and got on with it. I was motor paced at speeds of 55km/h back onto the group. When me and Dylan got back on straight away we started to ride up and over. After a few km's of this the group was nearly halfed which made it a lot safer. Still dodgy, may I say! The rest of the spin was grand, was a bit stiff and sore but the worst thing was my hand, I took a chunk of skin out of it and couldn't put any pressure on the bars which was pretty annoying! Other than all that the spin was good, some talented u16's up there and that really showed in the last 10km.

Now I don't want to go on forever but I'll leave ye with some pic's.

This Pic of Limerick tunnel is for Reilly!

Now, next weekend the "Camper Club" will be going on tour again going to Tralee for the Lacey Cup. Hopefully I'll be recovered enough to race properly. Can't wait! More to come soon, stay tuned!

Eoin

Solid Weeks Training, Only a week to go!

Hello everyone, been a few days. The last few days have been great, got some really solid training in and hope to continue it this weekend. This week just involved some rollers and turbo sessions, which were pretty nasty as I'm pretty tired but I got them all done and I'm really satisfied with the week. An observation I've made this week is, I wear Lycra nearly 24/7. I wear it when I'm training and when I'm not I'm wearing my skins for recovery. Just something I've been thinking about. Weird? Yes! Just thought I'd throw that in.

Anyway, this weekend I'm travelling to Mayo with my Dad, Dion and my cousin David. The lads are taking part in the European Youth Olympic Games (EYOF) training camp which will be an aid for selection for the event further on in the year. I'm bringing the bike and I plan to do my weekends training up there. I think it would be a great idea to get away from the normal spins I've been doing all winter. I hope to ride some of the Junior Tour routes from last year. I'll have to look a little more into that and study them a bit more, just to make sure I don't get lost but I very much doubt that will happen. With the season only over a week away, a weekend away from home would be perfect for me and could be beneficial towards the end of the year. Change of plans, again, The PJ Logan Cup is not on the 27th of February but March instead so that means I'll be racing the Lacey Cup in Tralee. Looking forward to see if my hard work is really paying off when it matters!

Also this week the 3 time Tour Champion Alberto Contador has been dropped of all charges following his positive test for the banned substance "Clenbuterol". As far as I know Clenbuterol is a weight loss and muscle gaining drug. Contador tested positive for 5 pictograms (0.00000000005) of the substance during the 2010 Tour. A lot of people have very strong opinions on this case. Did anyone ever stop and consider that he may actually be telling the truth? He may be innocent? I can also understand all the suspicions of a blood transfusion. But, in my opinion, I believe he is clean. I also thinks it great for the sport that all charges have been dropped, but thats just me! What are your opinions?


So were leaving for Mayo tomorrow afternoon, hopefully a good weekend ahead. The "Windy Gap" awaits! Anyway I better get some sleep in as I'm wrecked, just said I better give a quick update of how things are going for me and hope to update again very soon. Stay tuned!

Eoin

Busy, Busy, Busy...

Hello there people. It's Sunday evening already, how depressing! In bad need of a few "lie in's"! Roll on next week. Had a tough week, on and off the bike. Just been going, going, going and I'm pretty tired now I must say. But thats nothing a good nights sleep and rest day can't fix.

Yesterday I had a decent enough lie in needed it after a tiring week. Got up around 10 or so for breakfast and got out on the bike at roughly 11.30-12ish. The ride was great enjoyed it a lot, but had a bit of "Deja Vu". Anyone remember my blog update when I talked about how for the first half of the spin I was flying with a tailwind and then turned and hit a savage headwind, well ya, that's exactly what happened yesterday. But one thing I was really happy about is I could actually see as the rain stayed away. Also I didn't have to clean my bike much which was great, for once! Overall I was and still am really pleased with the ride, was suffering a little on the climbs in the last half hour but I guess no pain, no gain! After the ride I just relaxed for the night, got a bit of work done. Also measured up my bike for the rider info and bike info profiles. All that's left now is to find someone who has Microsoft Excel so I can edit it and send it away.

Today was a completely different day than yesterday, to say the least. I traveled to Kanturk at 8.30am this morning to observe a selection ride for the underage riders which contained my brother Dion(u13) and cousin David(u16). The selection was for the upcoming EYOF Games camp in Castlebar next weekend for u14 & u16 riders. After their ride I planned on riding home. Of course the weather was great right until.. I decided to leave, typical! A big black cloud loomed in the distance, I was just crossing my fingers and hoping for the best. But, when I felt a few raindrops leaving Kanturk it was then I knew I was in for it. I wasn't 10km into the spin and it absolutely lashed out of the heavens. Bit of a reminder of Omagh last weekend. Usually I don't mind the rain but when it's cold and so is the rain it's not so pleasant. For a few hundred metres I also had hailstones hitting my face, ouch! So this "shower" lasted for maybe 15 minutes and then it stopped. As you can probably tell I wasn't happy. Freezing and drenched and still had the majority of the spin to ride. Wasn't one of my most enjoyable rides I must say, but I guess that's the joys of living and cycling in Ireland!

Well that was just a quick update on how my weekend went. As the title says I'm busy, busy, busy so I better  get going. Another update in the next few days, stay tuned!

Eoin




All the best to the An Post lads who are riding the Tour of Oman Tuesday! Have a good one!

Irish Junior Elite & Development Road & Track Squad 2011

Hello, I'd just like to start by saying, what a busy week! I barely had any time to update the blog but I better do it now while I have a bit of spare time on my hands.

Well I better explain the title, Thursday morning I woke up to a very pleasant surprise. I received an email from the HP Director Phil Leigh letting me know I had been accepted onto the Irish National Junior Elite & Development Road & Track Team for 2011. Of course I was delighted, what a way to start a Thursday morning! After reading the email and looking at the recipients of course I was anxious to see who my team-mates were going to be but didn't find out until later that evening, and I'm very pleased that all of them made it as well. But, not to forget, these squads are not closed and riders can be added or dropped from the squads at any time. I find this good as it gives everyone a better chance and riders will have to continue to perform throughout the season to keep or gain their place on the team.

Next on the cards they are going to be testing all 15 of us on the WattBike's for leg speed, peak sprinting power and 3 minute peak power (endurance). This is to build a profile of data that can help us move forward and identify our strong points and identify areas we may need to work on etc.. Personally I can't wait for the test I think all my turbo sessions should really take their place when it comes to this. We won't be long finding out! In addition to this test we are having a day on the Track on the 5th of March. Turns out the 5th will be a very busy day for me. Have to be up at Sundrive at 9.30 and back to Killarney that evening for 6.30. Looking forward to it regardless. Then we were asked to enter a few early season races so the coaches can further assess our racing style and ability. These races will then be used as a selection process for the Easter Stage races, like the Gorey 3-Day etc.. I originally planned on racing the Lacey Cup in Tralee on the 27th but one of these races they would like us to go to is on the same day. So thats the Lacey Cup out of the way and in comes the P.J. Logan Cup!


Cycling Ireland have a great report on their webpage about the camp in Omagh last weekend. One part I was particularly happy with was the credit us Juniors were given. For example: 


 Asked about the camp afterwards, Camp director Stephen McKenna said “it’s very encouraging to see such a strong turnout of riders from each part of Ireland, and also from England. We were particularly impressed by the ability and positive riding demonstrated by our Junior riders, and certainly we have a crop of great potential here for the future”.


Performance Director Phil Leigh commented, “I have been very impressed by the high standard and dedication of our young riders, their positive attitude against the challenging weather and road conditions were a credit to all of them. We had an excellent response from women riders for this camp in Omagh and from what we have seen over the weekend and in previous camps, we can now select riders for our Junior, U25 male and U27 female development squads for 2011.”


I was delighted to hear such positive comments coming from both of the coaches, and it's really great to know they have faith and belief in us Juniors. 


Finally I would like to thank my coach Stephen Barrett who has helped me to get where I am, and I can't thank him enough, Thanks Steve if your reading this. Anyway I'll wrap it up at that, and I'm sure there will be more updates soon. Hope everyone is enjoying the blogs. 


Here is a link to the squad - http://www.cyclingireland.ie/Home/High-Performance/HP-Documents/Junior-squad-2011.aspx 


Ciao,


Eoin

Development Camp Report

Hi guys, it's the day after Cycling Ireland Development camp and with a 3hour ride yesterday morning and 6hour drive home I'm pretty tired. So I better do this while everything is fresh on my mind. We arrived at 6ish on Friday night and settled in to our rooms, got something to eat, met the guys etc.. Got a good nights sleep in as we probably needed it for the the spin the next day.

Saturday - Waking up at 7am isn't the most pleasant thing in the world at most times, but this time wasn't too bad was feeling good and ready to go. Went for breakfast at 7.30 and was expected out on the road at 9.30ish. So I stocked up on some rice krispies and a rough scrambled egg that run straight through me (too much info, yes!). But anyway back to my story, we were ready to go at 9.30 and we set off. The first climb was expected around 15km in but no-one was too sure where it was and there was crazy rumors going around about it being 30%, so I was always trying to stay up around the front and out of trouble. When we hit the early slopes I was feeling quite good and new I could do something but wasn't sure how long the climb was so didn't know when to have a dig. About 400m from the top the pace got upped and I attacked and was first over the top! On the decent the plan was to slow us down and regroup before we got going properly again. The rest of the spin was ok, we rode into Omagh in a relatively big group and was an easy enough day! We then had squad talks from 2-6 and by the time that was over we were all starved, Dinner was next on the cards then chill out time.

Sunday - Woke up Sunday morning and was delighted to see it wasn't raining (yet, it was soon to rain). Went down for a big breakfast especially after hearing in the talks about how much calories we should be eating, scary stuff! Was planning on moving up groups but when I asked the coaches they said all Juniors were going together which I was happy about. We got going around 9.30 again and there was a bit of confusion in the first few km's. The Juniors were meant to wait at the hotel while the u25 men had a few minute advantage on us, but we just hopped in with them and it was one big group. There was motorbikes flying up the side telling the juniors to wait back and leave the 25's go first. The lead-car then slowed up and got us re-grouped before we started steadily riding up and over. After a few k's we started to catch the u25's again and some of them had a few accidents on the pot-holed roads. So inside the first 10km's or so we had to be stopped a few times, wasn't ideal as the first climb of the day wasn't too far in and had a bad warm up for it! We were stopped 2km from the climb so I knew that was a good time to be staying up around the top few riders and not to be dropping near the back or inside lines. So I stuck 2 or 3 wheels from the front and tried to stay off the front as much as possible, after all, they did say it was race mode over the hills! So about mid way through we were being slowed down by the car as we were catching the u25's again, couldn't believe it. Eventually one of the lads made a move past the car and I found myself following him. We rode through the group and there was lots of confusion at the top it was all over the place, not even sure if the selectors saw who was over the top first. Then at the bottom of the decent they gathered us all together for yet another stop and told the Juniors to go ahead this time and the rest to wait. From here on we were doing up and over and going hard over all the hills. It split up quite a bit and after the 2nd draggy section of the road there was a group of 9 or 10 Juniors and 2 coaches (Ryan Sherlock & Rory Wyley). From here on we continued to ride up and over and went a bit harder over some of the hills, until 15km to go when we were told to race. As you can probably gather it was pretty intense stuff. There was lots of attacks, I gave a few digs myself but never committed 100% as I knew I might need the extra energy and there was always the fear of the counter-attacks! ha. I was simply just following wheels and trying not to let anyone go. For the 15km it wasn't too pleasant there was always attacks even if they weren't from the juniors. I think there was meant to be a sprint a couple of k's from Omagh but nobody seemed to sprint. Were we all tired? I dont know..
When we arrived at the hotel I wanted to get out of the wet gear and hop in the shower asap to avoid any sickness. We were scheduled to have an Anti-Doping talk at around 1-1.30ish and after hearing the one at the last camp I was really looking forward to it. I find it very interesting and they really do educate you on how easily you can test positive. Imagine, you can test positive for taking certain types of Lemsip! Crazy! My Dad and I then soon got on the road for our 6hour journey. I think the journey up was better, we were a lot more tired on the way back!

Overall I think it was a great weekend. Love meeting up with the guys and having a catch up. Now I'm looking towards the first race of the season which is only 3 weeks away, and the shortlist announcements. Fingers crossed!

I'll leave ye with a picture of the bike. Bye for now

Eoin

Pre-Camp Update

So, I might not have the most news in the world at the minute but please keep reading. More exiting stuff will come, I promise!

The last few days have been busy been running around from place to place doing some turbo and roller sessions and a road session today. Yesterday, Wednesday, I was really exited as I was getting my racing bike back with all new components. I think I was looking forward to The groupset the most as it was new and I've been using Campag my whole life. So, just as I was riding it for the first time I must have moved 100 metres or less and a cable pulled from the rear derailuer, so no use of the gears and to make things worse I was going uphill on a 52/14, was great fun. Straight back to the bikeshop to get it fixed, Was disappointed he didn't fix it on the spot as I planned on going on a spin the next morning. Wasnt left with too much time before we left for Tyrone.

The plan was I would get it early this morning so I would get the chance to get a ride on it before the weekend. In case people are wondering I wasn't in school today as there was a retreat on and I figured taking a day off and getting a ride in would be a lot more beneficial. When I woke this morning my bike was back up and ready for me (Thanks Dad) and couldn't wait to get out. So I ate breakfast and headed out around 11ish and the weather was great, rain and wind, just the way I like it. So since I didn't have a computer on the bike I planned a route that would take me the time I had set out to do. The first few kilometres were strange riding the SRAM gruppo but after the first half hour everything was fine. Really great feeling being back on the carbon bike and even tho I didn't have a computer I felt like I was going a lot faster. Got some steep hills in today and also some long draggy ones, But most of the spin was relatively flat.

At the moment I'm resting up and really looking forward to the weekend. We should be leaving early tomorrow as it's a 5-6hour journey, since I have the 3G set up on the iPad it shouldn't be too bad as I can use the internet the whole way up. After this weekend there's only 2 weeks left until the season kicks off, with the Lacey Cup in Tralee being the first race on the calendar. Exiting stuff!

More posts to follow over the coming days on how things are going at the camp.. Stay Tuned!

Eoin

Update!

It's been a few days since I've updated this so I said I'd better give it a shot while I have a bit of spare time. Where to start.. That's what I always ask myself every time I write one of these, harder than I ever thought it would be to be honest, But here we go!

So since Friday I've been busy running around the place from house to house as the mother is away in the sun. I must say, I'm not missing her at all (No offence mam, If you read this). Really enjoying the new residence up in Strawhall for the week. Can't go wrong when you have Colin Eason as a neighbour! As I said on my last blog, my Saturday spin was doubtful. Well taking my situation into consideration I decided to give it a skip and rest up and definitely head out on Sunday. When I got up Sunday morning my back felt much better and I was happy I gave Saturday a skip.I decided I would go out for a group ride Sunday. The reason being if my back was giving any trouble I could sit around the back and take it easy, Turned out totally different! In -5 conditions we rode around the Silver Pail GP circuit with some of the underage riders for the first half hour of the spin then went on to do 2.5hours of climbing. Was great to be out with the lads gave me an idea of where I was at and gave me people to compare myself to, and some of these guys were after getting very strong! There was always around 4 of us who made it to the top of the climbs 1st and it wasn't too easy! Anyway it was a solid session and glad I did it. Good to have a bit of a chat and company as well.

So at the moment I'm looking after my back as much as I can, it's after getting a bit sorer today. Think it might be something to do with carrying around my rock of a schoolbag the last few days. Trying to relax now and keeping it in as good condition as possible which I need to, don't want to travel to Tyrone at the weekend to be having any problems. So now I'm really
looking forward to getting up there, hopefully we'll get some nice weather and routes.

Updating this from my iPad definitely takes more time so forgive me if there are any spelling mistakes etc.. I probably didn't give all the news but forgive me for this also. For now I have to run, bye for now.

Eoin.