Return to IRL

(above is a pic of me racing "im in the red kit")

The journey was long and draining but I finally made it back to Ireland. With the Suir Valley 3day literally around the corner, I can happily say all my prep is near completion. The final hard blocks of training and racing in Belgium broke me to my last and with some quality rest my body is back fighting fit and ready to rumble.

I took my Colnago C50 out for a small spin of the legs last night after my long bus journey from Dub, it was nice and enjoyable and I can honestly say Ireland's weather has only gotten worse since I left. Over the coming 3 days before the race kicks off on Saturday I intend on getting plenty of sleep and rest with a few light leg spins thrown in between to keep me loose. I also intend on meeting with my Nutritional sponsor "Molloy's Lifestyle Pharmacies And Health Food Stores" for some talks on how we can take our experimenting with new sports products to the next level and in turn relay the info back to the public. I am also in deep need of a quality massage as I don't get that many in Belgium and 3 days before the event will give the masseur plenty of time to work hard on me and allow my legs to come round for Saturday and no better man to rub me down that Simon from the massage clinic in Bunree, Ballina.

I am intending on keeping the video blogs going over the next few weeks and have number post number 2 on sports nutrition attached to this Blog post. I am intending on setting up a E-mail address where I can be contacted direct by those who may have any questions on my posts.

It was good to see all the local faces when I returned, my brother Ciaran who is training hard and putting in some quality miles in prep for the up and coming national B catagory champs, Also Bernard Twomey who after his bad crash during the Fbd Ras was off the bike for almost 2 months recovering with broken bones, but now is back on the road dishing out pain.
looking at the course for the Suir valley it is 3days long, consisting of 4 stages. Stage 1 is on Saturday and is a 120km road race. Stage 2 is on Sunday and also is a 120km road race. Stage 3 is on Saturday evening and is a short 2.5km TT around Clonmel town centre. Stage 4 is on Monday and is a final 120km road race, so all in all it will be a tough challenge. this year it has one of the strongest and most diverse fields it has ever had, with riders from France, Belgium, Isle of Man, UK and home riders competing for the spoils. Updates will most probably be available on both of the following sites:

Irish cycling: www.irishcycling.com
Suir Valley Off site: http://www.suirvalley3day.com/

As the days roll by!!

"Check out my 1st of many video's to come on Cycling nutritional and performance products"

Living in a town where ones only outlet is to cycle to the local shop and laugh at how ridiculously expensive the food is goes to show how boring Lierde is. But I am not here for entertainment, TRAINING, TRAINING, TRAINING, RACING, RACING, RACING, RACING AND EATING is all that's on my agenda. My time here is passing by pretty quick, most days I follow my usual routing of breakfast train or race and back in the evening where I work on my blog, chat on facebook, or just relax in the evening sun. Whats a shocker to the system is that Belgium is like one of the warmest countries I’ve been in for a long time. It was 36 degrees Celsius yesterday and since we have no air con or fans it got pretty warm in the house, I ended up going for a cold bath to try and cool myself down but the cold water from the tap was luke warm.


Most of the races I'm riding at the moment are kermesse events; I haven't had anything major since oomlop het niewsbland. But the kermesse's aren’t easy, usually up to 50km from home you have to ride there complete the 120km race, try your best to get a prize and earn some money for food and then battle your way into what always seems to be a block head wind on the way home. I am feeling pretty strong these days, managing to get a few top 20's even with the races being day after day and with all the mileage to get there. I'm taking care though to make sure the adequate rest is in there since I'm not super human, if I over do it I will be in a body bag for weeks to come.


Did some interesting training rides using my Garmin edge 500, I'm really impressed with it as a training tool, managed to find a website were I can pre plan my rides and set up a virtual partner whom I have to keep ahead of. This is great since I only know a small portion of the roads here in Flanders and being able to pre plan rides allows me to set in place routes that involve climbs, cobbles, flat roads for tempo work and rolling countryside.


In terms of my diet and body weight, I can honestly say I'm steadily losing the lard and leaning out, focusing on getting a high carbo breakfast prior to training and making sure I stay fuelled on the bike is giving me the energy to train and race hard. After events I make it my number 1 goal to get in the Kinetica recovery shake, which is magical stuff, in that narrow glycogen window the body is craving carbs to replace what has been lost and when taking on this drink you get the carbs and a small dash of protein to kick of muscle recovery. I have also changed what I'm taking on the bike; the bottles of sweet tasting carbo drink are killing me in the heat so I’ve turned to 1 bottle with a dissolved caffeinated zym and one of water. To make up for the loss of calories that I was getting from the carbo fuel, I’m simply just taking in an extra gel or bar instead. Up until recently I had been very influenced that High-5 products were the route to go, they offered reasonably priced, energy food and drink which was not overloaded with caffeine or stimulants and I found during hard bouts of exercise or racing my cramping was minimal whilst using them which was my major reason of my choice. Last Month my nutritional Sponsor Molloys Lifestyle and Healthstore provided me with some of Maximuscles new Viper products, at first I was highly dubious of the high caffeine content and felt in the warm conditions it could lead to dehydration and cramping, but I was ensured that I would see an improvement in performance and an increase in time till exhaustion by using them. In order to test them out I would need a race that would 100% fatigue me and push me to the max and during which I would use the products to keep myself going. I choose the next interclub event that I was scheduled to ride; it was a 170km race across cobbles and up savage steep climbs which would make it perfect. on the day I was fully rested and had consumed my normal breakfast, the race as expected was very hard and when the times came for me to feed I consumed my Viper extreme bars and viper Boost gels, I am happy to say that I rode well and didn't at any stage feel any drops in energy or feeling of hunger knock, I mostly noticed the kick that I got from the gels, possibly due to the caffeine content in them. It was a very warm day and another thing that surprised me was the lack of Cramping that I sustained during the race. Each gel has magnesium and electrolytes which increase hydration levels and replace salts and minerals lost through sweating.

Here is a cycling training Article that i picked up on Peak Performance:

http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/strength-training-and-leg-exercises-for-cyclists

My prep for the Suir Valley 3day is going as planned and im hoping that if progress continues on a positive note then I will be in for a chance of a good result. Looking back on the season and my past blog posts I have seen a lot of room for improvement in both performance and story telling so stay tuned to "The Chronicles Of The Cobra"

Elite Het Volk

"In case your wondering that isnt me, Its the winner of Elite Het Volk from Beveren 2000 U23 Quick Step Team"

Upon arriving back in Belgium after the National Champ’s one would have thought I could have steadily gotten into some racing again with some cremmese's (circuit races around towns, usually 15+ laps of an 8km loop) but I was in for a shock. I was in the country for 1 day and I was contacted by the team manager who informed that he wanted me to race Omloop Het Nieuwsblad AkA Het Volk.... to pass up on such an opportunity would be madness, but I was soon to find out it was accepting the challenge which was to be the mad part.
The prep for Het Volk was vitally important, after arriving back on Wednesday and the race being on Saturday I had 3 days to prepare. After having a quality chat with my coach Scott Mc Donald from Winning Solutions Training Company, we set in place what I would need to do in order to have myself ready such as nutrition, training, equipment prep and tactics and over the following 3 days I made sure everything was in place. Saturday came pretty quick and with so did a change in the weather, on Friday evening it had been mid 30's and sunshine but on Saturday morning the dark gloomy clouds were hanging on the horizon slowly advancing on Zottegem which was the town from where the race would depart.

As usual the team travelled to the race as a group, the riders all getting into the old death trap of a mini bus that we have nicknamed the ‘funbus’ and the backup crew driving the van that houses all our bikes equipment and etc, and the manager driving the estate follow car. We made it to Zottegem in good time, and already there were a lot of teams there getting ready and signing on. Once my bike had been prepared for me, I gave it a final check over to make sure all was set, made my way to sign on and began my warm up. At this stage the nerves were seriously kicking in as Quick step, Lotto, and other top Belgian teams rolled by me, among which was the An Post crew sporting their new national champion Matt Brammier.
I heard the Comm blowing the whistle to alert all riders to assemble for the start, so looping on the road I made my way there. I positioned myself up beside my team mates and almost instantly we rolled out. Neutralised for a mere half Km with the drop of the flag it took off like a gun.

I had to battle super hard to keep what position I had in the bunch, the tempo was insane with speeds almost constantly in excess of 50kmh. with the array of street furniture scattered all over, and the daunting racket of bikes smashing into obstacles was almost constant. Lying in the rear section of the bunch was far from the safest place to be so making a massive effort I battled my way to the front, with handlebars clashing off each other and other cyclists leaning on me in an attempt to unnerve me, I had to use all my bike control skills to advance forward.

After 20km the race was set to turn up a narrow road and climb the Volkemberg, a steep 1km climb which is followed by an extremely rough cobble section of 2km. This made having a good position upon turning the bend vital, which after all my smashing, handlebar crashing and battling for position, I had achieved. The pace up the climb was insane with a large split taking place as the riders in the bunch hit the cobble section; I dug in deep and used all my power to haul my bike over the cobbles. The lashing rain and greasy stones was bringing riders to the floor left, right and centre, but I managed to keep up in the front bunch and avoid disaster. Next we descended into Oudenarrde at speeds in excess of 90kmh, the large open main road making it possible. With wet roads and large looping bends all I could do was lean in and hope that my tyres had what takes to carry me out the other side. After Oudenarrde we once again turned up a narrow Back road only to be faced with the Eckenburg which was a 1.5km cobbled climb, which was covered in mud which tractors had dragged from the fields over the morning. This made riding central on the cobbles impossible with a few trying only to find their bikes sliding right from beneath them as their tyres span in attempt to gain grip.
This forced the main bulk of the bunch to make their way upward in the gravel and mud filled gutter which ran along the side. With the stronger riders up front still forcing the massive pace onwards, more splits were becoming evident in the strung bunch as the steep gradient and rough conditions were becoming too much for many of the riders. All I could do was hold my position as I suffered heavily and hope that the riders in front of me were able to do the same.

When we finally touched tarmac again I glanced up the road only to see groups of riders scattered all over up to 1km into the distance. There were about 20riders with me, 1 of whom was Matt Brammier and another An Post rider. They were putting large turns in at the front in attempt to regain contact with those ahead. It was at this stage I was really suffering with heavy cross winds bearing down on us and no sign of it letting up.
My morale was taking a serious blow. I was really struggling to hold the wheel in front of me and my legs were loaded with lactic and begging me to stop, but I couldn’t give in. Pressing on hard and taking serious chances I lodged myself up the inside of the rider in front in attempt to get a small quantity of cover. I was riding on a piece of tarmac half a foot wide at 50kmh and if the rider in front moved in on me at all I would go right into the gutter and most certainly come down, but I had to take the risk if I was to make it through and it paid off.
As we suddenly entered a wooded section the winds died, and with it the pace. It happened so quick I don’t really know what caused it, but the large peloton of riders in front of me seemed to lock the brakes. Maybe it was due to fatigue and slow reaction times but all I could feel was my bike sliding helplessly toward them. At this stage I had both feet unclipped from the pedals and cleats dug into the ground in a final attempt to come to a halt, and just as I expected to go clean up the ass of the guy I front I was struck from the side by riders in the same situation.
Forced onto the grass verge I found a soft landing. I slowly found my way to my feet immediately noticing my new Specialized Muira sunglasses had fallen off my face, I quickly glance around but in the rush of team mechanics running with wheels they were no where to be found... someone had obviously swiped them in the commotion. I wasted no time remounting my bike and joining the other riders as we chased back on through the cavalcade (the cavalcade is the string of team cars that follow a bike race, they provide riders cover and aid as they have problems during the event)

Riding mere millimetres from the rear bumper of my team car I was fearless as we made massive ground on the bunch ahead. That was until I witnessed a rider 2 cars in front, who doing the same thing went clear through the back windscreen as his team car hit the brakes to avoid an obstacle and with his bike being unable to slow in time he went straight in. The scene obviously shocked me, as I was unable to bring myself close behind my team car any more.
The weather was now insane with it raining cats and dogs and winds blowing me recklessly over and back across the road. It was Vital I made it back to the pelaton immediately as looming in the distance was nothing other than the Muur of Gerrardsbergen, the decisive climb upon which the Tour of Flanders has been decided upon over the years, with gradients in excess of 20% and it lasting almost 1.5km. If I was not in the bunch starting the ascent my race was over. I had 2 cars to go and then I would be in the bunch but as the road steadily rose and the cadence of my pedals reduced I could feel I was fighting a losing battle… as I could offer no more, on the steepest part I came to a near halt as the shock from the crash, savage climbs, howling cross winds and horrific weather had stripped me to my bare minimum. GAME OVER!!!

I made my way to the finish totally drained, got in my Kinetica recovery shake which is all my stomach could handle and was dropped home.
Looking back on the race I am still happy enough with my performance, I gave it my all and that is what is most important, I didn’t give in when the opportunity arose, it wasn’t until my body gave in on me that I was forced to admit defeat.
With more cremmese races to come over the next few days it would be back into the strict regime of recovery and racing once again. So Stay tuned for more Blog posts over the coming days.

National Champs.

Sorry about the lack of posting since the nationals, I’ve been up to my eyes in travelling, training, racing and sleeping. Things have been pretty mental the last few weeks, but finally I have some time to sit down relax and update all you readers on my mayhem upon my bike.
In my last post I spoke of a few races that I had done out here in Belgium, and I can honestly say my form is steadily improving. After the last 160km inter-club I travelled back to Ireland were I began my prep for my National Champs in Sligo town. The journey back home was rough, train after train, sleeping in Charleroi airport and then that daunting train from Heuston to Ballina. But I made it back, greeted by familiar faces I quickly relaxed into home life once again.
The following day I did a light spin and literally slept the rest of the time as I did my best to get my body back online. That Friday I paid a visit to the Tour de Tourlough which is a local Team time trial, were we literally ride ourselves into the ground for an hour and a half, but I used it as a light leg opener making sure that I only rolled through and didn’t tire myself for Sunday. With Saturday consisting of a light spin and with all preparation in place it was soon to be show time.
The day of the National Championships came and like any athlete, nerves were already kicking in. I overcame this by sticking to my well rehearsed plan which would take me from waking up, to the starting line. I began this with a race breakfast of double portions and keeping hydrated. Arriving at the race early is essential for me, in order to get my race face on and eye up the competition.
I quickly signed on, geared up, completed my warm up and made my way to the start area. I was surrounded by many well known names such as last year's Champion Nicholas Roach, David O'Loughlin and the An Post Team, local Sligo man Desire Foley and last but not least my brother Ciaran "the EAGLE" Clarke.

BANG! The 160Km race was underway. The pace was frantic, riders jostling for position and attacks from all angles made for a challenging start. I battled hard to maintain my position and keep an eye on the race favourites. There was little sign of the big hitters on the first lap and only upon ascending Tully Hill did they show their cards. A massive attack from Roach and other favourites left the field decimated. My legs were suffering and negative thoughts crept through my mind as my race plan fell apart. Down but never out, I quickly gathered my composure, escaping the clutches of the main field in a chase group.
Lap by lap we worked hard to limit our losses to the group of riders in the lead. As the miles ticked by and as the heat, wind and climbs took their toll on my fellow escapees I laid in place my plan of attack for the closing miles. With 5Km to go, I launched an attack, throwing all my eggs into one basket. I raced up Tully Hill and in the Donegal Road with other riders in hot pursuit. I maintained the gap and crossed the line in 14th position. Biggest surprise of the entire nationals is that Matt Brammier put in an excellent ride to take the win ahead of Roach, with Dan Martin taking 3rd and Sam Bennet taking the U23 prize. It was a big improvement on last year... but back to Belgium with omloop het nieuwsblad waiting for me and a blast of cremmese races which will hopefully bring my form on more.
Till next time stay real.