Back in Belgium, with a bang! Literally...

So here I am, sitting in Oudenaarde writing another one of these blog's. Just before I start blabbing, I'd like to thank all the kind and generous people who have kindly sponsored me and helped fund this trip, really appreciate every bit I get. Thanks guys! After a long days travelling last Thursday I finally arrived, with a broken back! Trying to haul around a bike box and massive bag on your back while jumping in and out of trains and up and down stairs is not fun, not fun at all!

So Ive been getting everything organized for the next month or so of my life that I will be spending here. At the moment I am staying at a very nice B&B but its not ideal. I can't cook and have no where to store food, wash clothes etc.. Which is definitely needed as a cyclist!

Tielt (Kanegem) 1.14.3 Juniores - Sunday 24 July:

First race back in Belgium after roughly a month, and oh did I forget how fast these guys can go! With the race in Tielt the closest one to me at 35km I got a taxi to bring me there so I wouldn't be wasting any energy which I'd need for the race.

Unfortunately the race turned out a bit rough for me. It started very quickly and never really slowed down. It was very sketchy and I could hear people cash behind me but didn't want to look back it was too hectic! The course was 6.8km and we had 12 ronde. The course was difficult, with 14 corners(1 U-turn), road furniture, rough surface and a drag along with 70-80 odd juniores flying around it! Hectic is the perfect word to describe it.

I was going well, staying about mid-way most of the time (it was pretty difficult to move up!). Until about 8 laps in, some guys started to give me weird looks and sprint off. At first I thought nothing of it just thought it was typical in Belgium, but when a few guys started to scream and shout along with pointing at my front wheel I noticed what they were all cringing and moaning at. My skewer on my front wheel had come undone! Of course I had to stop and tighten it up, I'm not an idiot! Unfortunately I could't manage to get back on, got close on some corners but the acceleration from the front was too much!

Disappointing yes, but after I got everything sorted I got going for Oudenaarde and pedalled my way back. You can't change what happens you just got to move on and think to the next race which was..

Reningelst - Inter-Club Juniores 1.14 NAT - Wednesday 27th July:

Pieter Vande Kerckhove the Junior manger/coach had told me a few days previous to Reningelst that he had lined me up so I was very keen and excited to see what an inter-club had to offer. I met the soigneur Patrick at the shop at 12 and Gilles Merchiers and me travelled with him in the team car to Reningelst. When we arrived, it was bucketing down which wasn't too nice, and trying to get organized in a little team car wasn't ideal either but it worked out. We signed on, got numbers ready, massage, race food, small warm up and we were ready to go.

The course suited me perfectly, a hill after 50metres, continued for maybe 600-700 then did a massive left hander onto tiny roads. The rest of the course was pretty lumpy and had a small stretch of cobbles. Savage stuff! The start line was filled with nerves, people were jumping into every little space there was it was madness. I started close to the back unfortunately and the race took off amazingly fast and there was splits with poeple dropped in the first 2km, fortunately this time I was on the right side.

My legs were feeling good and every time up the hill more and more people were getting dropped. A rather large break got up the road and on the 4th lap or so I attacked and tried to ride across. This was when disaster struck, I was on my own so I thought I could gain some time on the corners as I could take my line perfectly. Sadly the roads were wet and I was going a little too fast then my front wheel washed out, leaving me sliding for about 50 metres into some grass! The impact immediately hurt my elbow and hip and I got a nice bit of road rash to match.

It was something like this! but more like the video below..

I was nearly as bad as Menchov!!!

When I stood up, I was in a bad state and the chain was wrapped around the bottlecages so I didn't continue. I was put into the ambulance and checked thoroughly. I was very disappointed as I had great legs and watching the rest of the race was a bit depressing! But at the end of the day, I am lucky I didn't hurt myself too badly. There are plenty more bike races!

So thats a quick update of how things are going so far. I am sure I'll have another blog soon - stay tuned!

Eoin

Junior Tour of Ireland Report

I know I said in my last update that I would try and get an update written every night but with no internet connection it was impossible.. So now that I have connection here we go:

Stage 1 - Junior Tour of Ireland (4km Mountain TT):

Not much to say about the TT to be honest. I rode like a sack of sh*t but still reckon my time given was wrong. I was given 9.12 but when I stopped my clock it was in the 8's not 100% sure exactly what second but I definitely wasn't in the 9's! I'm surely not going that bad?

Stage 2 - Junior Tour of Ireland (110kms Westport-Westport):

After my unpleasant result on Tuesday night I was in the mood to try something on Wednesday. Tried a few times in the opening 10-15km and got pulled back each time, I think the biggest the gap I got was 25 seconds! Shortly after that two of the "Hot Tubes" riders (Yannick Eckmann & Paul Lynch) got away and rode very well together. After 50km we had the first KOH at Lenane. I attacked again over the top and thought I might have picked up some points but that wasn't the case! I was brought back and a few km's later I attacked again and rode pretty steady in hope someone would join me, they did, but after a minute or two we were brought back as "Hot Tubes" were marking everything!

Over the next KOH which was only a few km's later the race split to bits! The pace was set high and when someone left a wheel go it was very hard to close. Over the top there was a group of 10 or so riders, so I got a bit unlucky to just miss that! After the climb there was a terribly rough decent where my chain came off the outside and was almost wrapped around my foot! Luckily enough I could get it back on without having to stop, but all hopes of getting across were lost.

For the rest of the race I was in a group of around 20 riders and by the end of the day we were down @5.15 on the leaders, lets just say lots of guys were riding the glass cranks!

Stage 3 - Junior Tour of Ireland (113km Castlebar-Ballycastle):

The longest stage of the Junior Tour and what a long day it was. When the flag dropped I attacked, as you do! After about a minute I looked back and saw a group of 5 riders bridging and when we joined up started to work together well. Quickly enough we had 47secs, then 54, then well into the minute and at one point we were over 2mins. Although we were riding well and had a big gap I knew being in that particular break was a recipe for disaster and as the gap was falling I tried to save my legs and not go too deep over the climbs, as I knew I'd need that energy for the last 15km. Roughly an hour into the race 4 of us were hauled back by the "Hot Tubes" outfit and 2 brave boys stayed out in the war-zone!

When I sat back into the bunch I had sore legs from the earlier efforts and found it very hard to recover and I didn't, at all! Being honest, the rest of the race was a struggle until the last 15km where I somehow found some sort of legs and made the vital split over the KOH's. All 3 of them! I had no water or gels for the last 20-25km so I was just waiting for that moment when the tank ran dry, but luckily enough it didn't and I rode to Ballycastle in the group contesting the win. It contained roughly 25 riders! The reason I had no water or gels is because I was being a little girl and was scared to go to the car incase I didn't have any legs to get back on - played it safe! Thats how sore they were, but hey I'm only human!

I'm very happy with how the stage went, especially as my legs were sh*te, could have went a lot worse.. But I'm not happy with how my GC was going, I deserved to be in a lot higher position than I was in, again the glass cranks were being used but I guess that's racing!

Stage 4 - Junior Tour of Ireland (91km Achill):

On paper, stage 4 was going to be decider and Achill never fails to disappoint! The conditions were windy, slightly wet (Not lashing) and not so warm which left the roads greasy. The select group was decided only 2-3km into the race when there was a mass pile-up, which saw up to 20 riders including myself involved!

 Unfortunately for me I was just moving up when the crash happened, still not sure exactly how it happened, but I was going pretty fast at the time. Luckily I didn't hit the ground, it's still a mystery how! I had my head down while moving up (just for a second) then when I looked up I had no time to stop quickly enough so I ran into the back of someone putting them into the ditch and just about saved myself from going over the bars while there was a bike hitting me from the right! On the save, I came down very hard on my right knee and smashed it on the top tube which immediately gave me a dead leg. Being so hungry to do well, I was one of the first to get going again and chased as hard as I could, but the bunch (or select group) drove on which gave us no chance. After sitting behind the car for 10mins or so I knew that my leg was dead but thought it might go away, until we started hitting some hills which put my knee under some strain. Some strain went to pain and pain went to not being able to put much pressure on it, so I wasn't it a good way! Thoughts started running through my mind of people who I knew with bad (long-term) knee injuries and I definitely didn't want one especially as I was going to Belgium a few days after. I had to abandon the race..

So that's my "Junior Tour" story. Not the mot enjoyable and it was really upsetting having to leave the race.

Now I am preparing for my long trip to Belgium and I'm leaving on Thursday. I'm back to Oudenaarde for more fun and games. So expect a blog update soon, stay tuned

Slan, Eoin

Junior Tour "Just around the corner"

It's that time of year again, only one more day until the "Junior Tour of Ireland" starts. The main focus point of the 34th edition is again the Lough Lannagh Holiday Village in Castlebar and the route is unchanged from last year, apart from the Achill stage taking place on the Friday and not Saturday. Not sure how my form is, but hopefully being in Belgium will have given me some benefit especially when it comes to the fast stuff! As it's my second year I hope to do well, but like Cadel Evans has said at the "Tour de France" - all I ask is, for a bit of luck this year. I have a plan in my head and I'm going to try and stick to it!

For the 6 days I have 3 new team-mates who are Ryan O'Donovan, Shaun Rigley and Kyle Cole and were the Ireland Development Team. During the week, I'll try my best to give an update after each stage and hopefully I'll have some good news..

“This race is very important to all wannabe hopefuls, who may some day cycle on a bigger stage. You only have to look at former JT riders who are participating in the TdF.” Alice Sherratt (Race Organiser)

Read Tommy Campbell's Weekend Round-up to get the Junior Tour build-up:

http://www.irishcycling.com/publish/news/art_5747.shtml


Stage 1 - ( Sponsored By Ken Duffs Pub, Bray) will remain the same, with a 4 kilometre Mountain Time Trial, finishing on top of the Windy Gap.

Stage 2 - (Sponsored by the I.V.C.A) is based entirely out of the Coastal town of Westport. 105 kilometres in length, the riders will travel from Westport to Louisberg, taking in some magnificent scenery on the road to Delphi and Leenane. Three categorized climbs including the Category 1 climb of MaamTrasna, all come in the second half of the stage before finishing back at Westport outside the Railway station.

Stage 3 - ( Sponsored by Chris Farrell of Ballycastle) is the Ballycastle stage. Starting from Race HQ at Lough Lannagh Holiday Village in Castlebar the riders will race 113 kilometres around the North Mayo Coast. Three Category 2 Climbs will greet the riders along the Atlantic Coast by the Ceide Fields before the hill top finish in Ballycastle.

Stage 4 - (Sponsored by Achill Tourism Board) promises to be an epic. 91 kilometres based entirely on Achill Island and finishing on Achill sound. Again the riders will never be too far away from the Atlantic Coast as they tackle the hilly island roads including the stunning Category 1 climb of Minnaun.

Stage 5 - starts and finishes 88 kilometers later back in Castlebar. Although there is only a Category 2 and a Category 3 climb on the stage, the heavy Mayo roads along with 4 days racing already in the riders legs could still throw up a hard days racing for all.

Stage 6 - starts in Castlebar, and although is only 68 kilometres in length, the various competition leaders will need to have their wits about them as no doubt, they will have a fight on their hands. For anything can happen in the closing stages of the 2011 Junior Tour of Ireland when the riders tackle the WindyGap Category 1 climb up to the finish.

http://www.juniortourofireland.com/

4 days after the JTOI, I'll be jetting off to Belgium again until the end of August. So that will take a lot of preparation and currently I'm trying to gather some money to help fund my trip (flights, accom., food etc..). Feel free to help me out with the "Donate" button on the left side bar of my blog. Any donations are greatly appreciated..

Stay tuned for some Junior Tour updates..

Eoin

Donations..

Hello everyone, this is just a quick blog update (more like a tweet or Facebook status!) to inform everyone of the new feature on my blog.

<---- I now have a "PayPal Donation Button". Here, anyone who wishes, can make a donation to help me on my journey. To donate, you do not need a PayPal account. You can click the button and donate from a number of different cards, accounts etc.. All is explained when you "click" donate!

I would really appreciate any help that anyone would be willing to give me on my mission to chase down my dreams.. I need the money to fund me while I race in Belgium in July and August, I will be using the money for Flights, Accommodation, and living..

Thanks

Munster TT Champs & RR

I've been back from Belgium for nearly a week now and I have to say, I am missing the place! My week consisted of "lie-ins", small rides, a TT and race! So here's how things went...

The TT was held on Thursday night at Patrickswell in Co. Limerick. I was excited to be riding it as I missed the Cork 10 the night before, and because I'd be on my new bike! The course was brilliant, massive main roads and good surface. We had 17.8km which was interesting as I'd never ridden a TT that long in my life before, so I was looking forward to see what kind of time I'd put in.

Turns out I didn't feel as good as I thought I would! I just couldn't get comfortable on the bike, nearly got knocked down twice and lot's of other bad mistakes left me with a 26.03 which is around 41km/h average ! So I reckon a bike fit is in need! Although I rode crap, I still managed to come home with something. A bronze medal from A2 and the Junior TT title!

Now onto the Road Race which was held in Whitechurch, the same course as the Ken O'Keefe Memorial earlier in the season, the only difference being it was run the opposite way! On the few days leading up to the race I was unsure whether I would ride or not, as I might still be a bit tired after Belg! But I said I might as well give it a shot and see how things go. I was looking forward to a good hard race with the 1's and 2's, until I was told Juniors had to race with the 4's which was a definite no no. When I turned up at sign-on, thats what the organisers had in line for us, but with a bit of negotiation I said I was willing to ride for no prize (Junior) just as long as I got to ride with the big boys! Turn's out the organisers changed it and it was the first junior in the main race..

So when everything was sorted it was time to start pedaling. The race was run with 3 categories, with the cat.3's getting a 3min handicap on the cat.1's and 2's. So as I was the only Junior in the 1,2 race it was going to be hard to grab the Junior prize. The first few laps were really fast and very tough! There was a lot of attacks and I managed to be in most of the moves, killing myself in the process. 

Can you spot the ASFRA?

We caught up the A3's just going onto the 3rd lap, which was pretty fast! Attacks continued to go and as always I missed the one that stayed! 10 riders had got away and after a few kilometres it was clear what way the rest of the race would go. At this point which was well over half-way into the race, I was feeling quite tired and my earlier efforts were starting to catch up with me!

For the rest of the race I was in the very much fragmented peleton trying to fight off cramp. The last lap up the climb I was in serious pain, and it was game over when I launched my sprint for the finish! After about 5 revolutions, my left leg completely locked up and I was cramping badly! I finishing 2nd Junior.

In conclusion I am pretty happy with the way I was riding for the first half of the race and it was good tarining regardless of the result! The plan now is to rest up for the Junior Tour of Ireland which starts on the 12th of July.

Eoin

PS Congrats to my brother Dion who is now the U14 Munster RR Champ! What a boy