The season of 2012 has finally started and to be honest, it feels great to finally have my legwarmers off and getting stuck into racing again! All the ever-so dreaded preparing for racing is now over and all the common chat within the last 6 months or so about racing is also over and it's finally time to do what I love doing the most and that is racing my bicycle, and to be honest it's a great feeling!
I began my 2012 season on St.Patrick’s Day this year at the Carrick Cabs Cup in Carrick-On-Suir, 3 weeks after the season began at the Lacey Cup in Tralee. Of course I was nervous. There are a lot of questions to ask yourself when you are coming into your first race, but at that point it is too late so you just have to trust that all your training would have paid off!
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| No. 57, give me luck! |
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| Following eventual winner Stephen Halpin (Metaltek-SCOTT) |
The rest of the race was still pretty quick averaging 41.5km/h for the 100km race, but I was concerned about the race I had the next day so tried to save my legs to a certain extent so I could get the best out of Sunday, so I didn't contest the finish and rolled in around 19th place I'm guessing (going on photographic evidence). Stephen Halpin of Metaltek-SCOTT was the eventual winner from the breakaway group.
After being a bit disappointed about the race the day before in Carrick-on-Suir I was determined to go out at the Newbridge GP and do a good performance so I would be a bit happier. Although I had a bit of a scare before the start. While adjusting my headset one of the nuts on the stem had broken leaving a piece stuck in the stem! So me even riding the race was put into question, but I continued to get geared up incase someone could help and thankfully Will Curtin helped me out and I was up and running again (kind of). Cheers Will! It was still a bit dodgy, but I wasn't after travelling all the way for nothing, I had to race!
Hopefully some of the pictures (courtesy of Peter Purfield at Irish Cycling) will help to tell the story of the race. The race was 6 laps of a 17.5km circuit around the Curragh race track, more famously known for horse racing rather than bike racing! The 6 laps adds up to roughly 105km's, so some good racing was to be in store as the course consisted of good roads and 2 drags that would make the race selective in the latter stages. I started in the A2 group which had a few minute handicap over the A1 and A+ group and I was very active right from the start.
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| Start of the race, A2 handicap |
About halfway through lap 1, Javan Nulty (D.I.D Electrical) a rider from Orwell Wheelers and myself got a small advantage on the A2 group and rode for a full lap before being caught by the peleton which now contained the scratch riders.
At this point I knew it was then that a possibility of a break going away and succeeding would be high so I kept my position at the front of the peleton well and luckily enough managed to get in a move of 9 riders early on the 3rd lap.
We continued to ride very well together until around the end of the 4th lap when 3 more riders came across then the group got a bit too big and a lot of people were thinking the same thing and started to take advantage of the group size and sit on the back, which in turn slower the pace of the group and enabled an elite group including eventual winner Peter Hawkins (IG-Sigma Sport Specialized), Stephen Halpin (Metaltek-SCOTT), Ryan Sherlock (Cycleways) and last years winner Eddy Barry (Blarney CC) to ride across and join up with us.
When the two groups then joined up about 25km to go, there were attacks, attacks and more attacks. The racing was really positive which was great to be a part of!
When we were caught by this group, cracks began to show and the group narrowed down further to only 11 or so riders in which I was part of. It was a fantastic feeling to still be in contention right until the final kilometres.
The group split in two on the last drag leaving 5 riders up front and 5 in pursuit. After suffering like a dog on the last climb, the final kilometre proved a little too much for me after a very long active day and I began to cramp. I rode in and finished up in 10th place (2nd A2) roughly 10 seconds behind.
I was very happy to see that I could race with the full-timers and some of the top riders in the country it certainly gave me a boost of confidence.
Next on the calendar for me was the Des Hanlon Memorial Classic, which is probably one of the most, if not the most prestigious one-day race on the Irish calendar. It's always a fantastic race with a very selective course around the Carlow Mountains. The line-up was pretty impressive this year. 130 riders lined up for the 1/2 race including "An Post - Sean Kellys" Sam Bennett and Connor McConvey, "IG - Sigma Sport"'s Peter Hawkins, "Metaltek SCOTT"'s Stephen Halpin along with a full team of Dan Morrissey - Speedy Spokes, Eurocycles etc.. All the big names in Ireland were in attendance, and with "hands down" the best day (weather wise) of 2012 so far, it was going to make it that little bit more difficult!
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| In some very good company here! |
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| Ryan Sherlock, Sam Bennett, Me and eventual winner Pete Hawkins on the attack! |
I was in the front group for the majority of the race (100 odd kilometres) and to my amazement was able to make a few moves myself but when crunch came to crumble I started to suffer with cramp and admittedly didn't have the legs to follow some of the big names on the last lap. I rode to the finish in a group of 11, in which my Dad reckon's I finished somewhere in the 20's.
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| Ouch! |
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| In the centre, half of my body showing.... |
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| Suffer time... not long to go now! |
The race was described by Connor McConvey to be more like a Belgian continental style race in which he is more accustomed to. Him saying that and that the race was hard gives us all great hope and shows just how good the standard of racing in Ireland is this year! I was disappointed at first to be dropped from the lead group but I have to be pretty happy with my performance considering it was the longest race I have ever done, and that I am trying to compete against full-timers being the youngest rider in the race...
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| Congrats Pete on another fantastic win... |
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| Here we are, next group in according to pictures... |
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| Rolling in at the finish... |
More on the Connor McConvey interview:
Here I have for the first time ever one of my Garmin files. I started my Garmin 15 minutes late so stats aren't fully accurate but ye will get the gist of it... Have a gander! :
Next up is the Silver Pail GP in my home town of Fermoy.. Thanks for reading!
Stay tuned!
E
