The Silver Pail always has a special meaning to me as its the race that I have been doing since I started cycling and of course as it is around the roads in which I spend a lot of time on. Unfortunately for me I never seem to have any luck in the race. In saying that, I was 2nd in 2010 but thats the best it has been. Crashes and mechanicals have hindered me in all my other runs in the race. This year however I had good legs just couldn't get away! I attacked time and time again and followed a lot of attacks but unfortunately was pulled back each time. I gave a big dig inside the final kilometres to be caught again and swarmed by a peleton racing for the win. I rolled in at the back of the peleton. All in all, it was great training for Ras Mumhan which started 5 days after the Silver Pail. Not too much else to say on the race!
 |
| On the attack out of Glanworth! |
The Kerry Group Ras Mumhan is probably the most prestigious and hardest stage race Ireland has to offer apart from the UCI 2.2 An Post Ras. It has been a big goal for me this year and it was a race I really wanted to do well in as it was the first real "tester" of the season here in Ireland. With small, rough, hilly roads in the Kerry countryside a good weekends of hard racing was always in store. Plus with 180-odd competitors from the best in Ireland has to offer to Italy, Holland and the UK it was to make the suffer-fest even more immense...
On paper, Stage 1 was set to be the "easy day" at 105km of mostly flat roads but everyone had fresh legs and it turned out to be a little different. Going into stage races its always Stage 1 that is the daunting stage (Well, for me anyway!). It's pretty unusual when stage races are won on the first day but they can definitely be lost and nobody wants to lose time. With the summit finish on the Conor Pass on Stage 2, the plan was to stay close to the front on Stage 1 and not lose any time as I knew Stage 2 was going to be the decider.
Turns out it was a good day for me. The first 20km was very fast (50km/h + average) but then for the next 30 or 40 odd kilometres the race was on narrow, rough, lumpy roads which split the bunch in two (literally). After these challenging roads the race was quick but was never too hard, for me anyway! I was lucky to have good legs and after a crash scare inside the last 20km, in which I had to stop for, I got back on and managed to get in a group off the front containing the likes of Paidi O'Brien and Adam Armstrong but we were shut down like everything else was throughout. After many attempts inside the final kilometres from riders to try and go it alone a group of 80 or so riders came into Killorglin for a sprint finish in which Paidi O'Brien won. I rolled in mid-bunch in 38th place. Safe and sound, no time lost. Happy days!
Next up was the Queen stage around the Dingle peninsula. The mountain top finish on the unforgiving Conor Pass! Before the difficult ascent to the Conor Pass we had to cover 120-odd kilometres of difficult Kerry roads. Luckily for me I managed to stay very close to the front around the Dingle Peninsula which was the most dangerous part of the race. Even at the front it was a little sketchy, I remember nearly overcooking some of the corners on the narrow, twisty, coastal roads - I can only imagine what it must have been like deep in the peleton.
 |
| Sitting 4th wheel around the Dingle Peninsula! |
Going into Ras Mumhan I was never too sure how I would fare out against the big boys on that day. First, it was the biggest race I had ever done and second the biggest mountain I would have raced on to date. Generally I see myself as someone who could always pull himself over hills pretty well but the big thing I asked myself was -"Can I climb?" and I knew that I would find out; no doubt about that.
I thought I was in the perfect position on the roads leading to the mountain, roughly 20 back sitting nicely behind the yellow jersey. Turns out I was wrong! When we hit the foot of the climb Ryan Sherlock rode to the front with Mark Dowling and a few International riders in the wheels and a gap opened straight away. At this point of the Stage I think everyone was feeling the full effects of Kerry's heavy roads!
I managed to get myself into a nice group on the mountain containing the fantastic Paul Griffin who has won many stages in the Ras Mumhan and placed on the podium on several occasions. Also in this group were 3 riders from the Dutch "West Frisia" team and 2 riders from the UK. I suffered my way up in this group, even managing to find myself a new max heart rate! I knew this stage would decide a lot so I really pushed myself to my limits. Paul left our group with roughly 1km to the finish, and looking back I should have followed him as it would have put me in the blue cat2 jersey. At that time the jersey was the last thing I was thinking about and in reality I probably would have blown! I surprised myself and nabbed 20th on the stage. I was now laying in 19th on GC going into Stage 3 in Waterville @1.32mins behind stage winner Mark Dowling.
I thought most of the suffering had been over going into Stage 3, but the 143km leg around west Kerry with 6 KOH's (x2 Category 2's) and 4 primes the stage proved to be a very difficult indeed! Almost straight away a breakaway managed to establish containing around 10 riders or so. I tried bridging the gap with Conor Murphy (KOH Leader at the time and eventual stage winner) and Mark Dowling (Race leader-Yellow) but we were caught by a chasing peleton after a few kilometres leaving the breakaways gap to grow.
 |
| Seen here on an early move on Stage 3 |
For the majority of the Stage I managed to stay near the front out of trouble but on Valentia Island was around mid-bunch and eating when we hit a steep Cat 2 KOH with grass and gravel in the middle. I dropped my bar and coke and weaved my way up a peleton which was really fragmenting! This hill really split the race and it was here that I heard a few riders had left the group to bridge the gap to the breakaway. I probably had the legs to follow, just a school boy positioning error! If I had done the race even once before I wouldn't have been so silly. I desperately tried to bridge gaps solo for the rest of my time around Valentia Island, but with strong winds and 45km still to race it wasn't long before I swallowed up into a now small peleton of around 50-60 riders.
The race from here on was controlled mostly by D.I.D Dunboyne as they had to try and defend Mark Dowling's yellow in which he was at a big risk of losing. After my efforts on Valentia I wasn't the same, I was suffering over the remaining KOH's and on the run into the finish I did manage to stay near the front in the strong crosswinds, but I was swinging in the last few kilometres I really feeling the effects of the earlier parts of the challenging Stage. The break stuck and came in scattered between 1 minute 10 seconds to 30 seconds ahead of us who were @1.48 behind stage winner Conor Murphy of Eurocycles. 1km to go an Isle of Man rider left a gap open in a line out in the gutter forcing me to come around and close it which really put me in a bag. I was lucky to even get the same time as Paidi O'Brien who won the bunch gallop. I dropped 2 places on GC to 21st as some of the riders in the breakaway pulled back time on me. The stage was described as "epic" on Stickybottle.com! Ryan Sherlock, had now taken over yellow going into Stage 4!
 |
| Stage 4 |
I had a crazy idea in my head going into Ras Mumhan that Stage 4 would be some sort of parade or ceremonial race - something like Stage 21 in the Tour de France where we would ride easy until the circuits and then the racing would be on. It was a nice thought! The rain poured down all night in Killorglin and continued to rain all morning which straight up would make the stage mentally hard. Getting out of the warm camper into the cold and wet was a hard thing to do, but only 115km and Ras Mumhan was complete for 2012!
The Stage is basically flat with a number of cat.4 climbs on each lap (4km or so) of the finishing circuit in Killorglin after 3 bigger laps of roughly 25km. The stage wasn't too difficult it was just the harsh conditions which made for a mentally tough day. I stayed close to the front for most of the day avoiding a few crashes and I ended up finishing in 13th place on the stage. I secured a joint 17th place on GC but listed as 19th and 5th in the u23 category. Dutchman Dennis Bakker won the race and writes his name into the history books as the youngest ever winner, at 18, after taking a fine solo win on Stage 4.
I am really happy with how my Ras Mumhan went, I didn't expect to get a top 20 in one of Irelands biggest and hardest stage races and with a joint 1st in the cat. 2 blue jersey competition and 5th in the u23's I have to be happy! All in all a great weekend. I have many people to thank. Firstly my Dad and brother Dion for bringing me and looking after me throughout the weekend and my Mam who catered for me all week with mainly nutrition, preferably red meat (I needed to get them Iron levels up) and general care. To everyone who sent me messages during the weekend and afterwards a big thank you if I haven't written back. And finally to all the photographers in which I used pictures from in this post! Wanda Clancy, Pat Doherty, Karen Dunne and Davie Mac...
Full reports on the race can be found on both the:
Ras Mumhan Official Website ( http://www.rasmumhan.com/ )
and Sticky Bottle ( http://www.stickybottle.com/ )
Next up for me is the N7 Visit Nenagh Classic on the 22nd of April. Really looking forward to that one!
Thanks for reading.
