Blogging has been slim over the last few weeks, it has been mainly due to the fact that I simply do not have the time on my hands to sit down and put a quality article together. But now that its 7am on a Saturday morning I reckon an hour or 2 can be found.
Over the past number of weeks I have taken part in a large number of races both in Belgium and at home in Ireland. I was in Belgium for close to 5 weeks on my first stay, the house I was in “The Hof” was pretty classy and I enjoyed every minute of it. The racing was hard at first but it’s exactly what I needed in order to shake off the cobwebs that had developed throughout my early season bout of Injury. Before coming back to Ireland I had gone via the UK to race the Rutland Cicli Classic but due a blast of flats it was not to go my way, this kind of left me unsure of what my form actually was like but all answers were made very clear over the 4 hard stages of Ras Mumhan. Ras Mumhan took a very challenging route and even though my legs were showing signs of coming round I still struggled to attain a significant result.
The following weekend brought The Tour of Ulster, which again was a 3 day stage race containing a number of very high standard riders. Day 1 I missed the break but fortunately managed to work my way across with a chase group, lady luck was not to be on my side and a dirty mechanical problem caused me to stop and seek assistance. A massive effort was then demanded to get back and just as I once made contact we began the Cat 1 Climb of the day..... For me that was Game Over!!
Stage 2 I decided to take a more conservative approach and ride in the peloton as I was fully aware that the many Koh’s on route would not suit my riding style. In the many cross winds and winding undulating roads I fought hard to keep up front taking no prisoners, between me, and my team mates Eagle, Comanche, Twominator & Matey we all did our best to avoid crashes and splits in the bunch. But at mile 60 an opportunity arose and I took full advantage, I leapt across a 400m gap to a small group that had developed up the road. Once making contact the hammer was down and in a matter of miles we had over a minute on a sluggish peloton. We pushed on further extending our lead to 2mins but the Cat1 climb that loomed ahead took the wind out of my sails. The top riders in the break set a hard pace one which my legs simply could not follow and I was forced to retreat back to the main group.
On the final stage of the day, it seemed it could play in my favour. Having slightly saved my legs the day before and with today’s course being a replica of the many kermeses’ style races that I had raced in Belgium, I felt I may have had the upper hand. Racing began fast with a number of breaks attempting to form, I rode very aggressive to ensure that I missed no moves but with such a strong team in yellow it looked doubtful that anyone could slip away. Lap after lap I held strong in the front section of the peloton, hiding from the wind and avoiding any splits in the bunch, the hard cross winds and short but steep accents began to take their toll on the other riders and with 1 lap left only 30 riders remained. Thing s seemed to be playing in my favour as at this stage my legs felt very good and I was confident that I could put away a solid closing sprint, but disaster struck and with 2km to go a number of riders crashed of which a few collected some nasty injuries, I wish them a speedy recovery but the disaster put an end to my chances as by the time I managed to work my way round the melee of bodies scattered across the road I had lost contact with the lead 12 to 15 riders that had been up front.
With only 2 weeks remaining now until the An Post Ras I am confident that If I can keep my weight under control and complete some steady training that I will have a good ride. Over the past few weeks I have also been helping my nutritional sponsor James Geraghty of Molloys lifestyle Pharmacies with his Bike work as he is aiming for a sub 5.5hr time in his bike spilt on the IronMan Tri event. But keep an eye both on my twitter and facebook for constant updates and news of new blog posts!!
