It has been over 7 months since my last post, Apologies to all whom have been waiting patiently for updates on my cycling. When you last heard from me I was finishing off my season in Belgium and was awaiting news on whether or not I would be joining a British Continental / Premier Calendar team. I left Belgium in September and returned to Ireland, at that point I continued to train lightly until taking a full break in October. During my break I made the most of my freedom from regime and training but as any cyclist knows sooner or later the thirst for the bike always wins and after 4 weeks away I was back on the road. For the first year in a long time I was going to attempt a full winters training developed by myself and without the aid of a coach. I spent a lot of time studying old programs and reading up online on new training sessions I could adapt to my winter training. Anyone who knows Ireland knows the biggest obstacle for any cyclist is the harsh weather, Cold, Wet & Ice are the plagues which make long mileage and intensive work hard to complete. It was for this reason that I decided to join a local gym "Functional Fitness Ballina" and take part in there spin classes and core/circuit sessions to rebuild condition in my body. I religiously began attending the classes’ day in day out mixing it in with some road work when weather permitted, this steadily brought on my fitness and soon the month of December was upon us. For December I upped my work in functional fitness to 2 spin classes in the evening after 3-4hrs on the road in the morning, my ambition was to put away as many hours on the bike as possible before the new year at which point my brother was getting married and I was always under fear that bad weather would hit, snow etc. I put away a solid 4 week block of 20-25hrs a week for December which helped my fitness develop and has provided me with a solid base to slowly begin building some intensity on. Luckily enough the wedding came and went without too much disruption to my training. January again followed much the same lines as December but I began introducing some low end threshold work for 10mins at a time as well as some longer tempo work which I hoped would develop my ability to ride steadily at a higher pace for my long rides, I also did some heavy gear work on a local climb "The Windy Gap in Bonniconlon" 10mins from bottom to top. As the month went by I stayed focused on my training and did my best to eat healthy and get plenty of rest, but unfortunately I was struck with a dirty chest infection that demanded anti biotics to move. This slowed me for a week but I managed to keep going after and again put away over 80hrs of training in the month. In February I focused heavily on developing my intensity side of training, I dug deep on sessions to bring my threshold work up to 2 X 20min efforts. I started introducing some Vo2 work as well which would help me survive at high intensity during races. It is in February that the Connaught training races take place and I rode strongly in both which I was very pleased with. I really felt things were looking up until I was struck with what seemed like a nasty knee injury. I spent close to a week with very little training attempting to reduce the inflammation and get it diagnosed. Luckily enough I have a solid support crew and my Physio Simon Walsh, Based in Garden Court Ballina sent me to a great contact of his whom diagnosed it as one of my hamstring muscles which were in spasm and in turn was pulling the tendon at the attachment point on the knee. Simon treated me for the injury and steadily brought me back to full competitive fitness which allowed me to complete a 7 day block of training in Lanzarote and then move forward to my first race of the season in limerick.
(Limerick Climb)
Limerick was a pretty solid race over 6 laps which included a tough climb every round. The scratch group rode a solid race reeling in the A2 group but unfortunately we were unable to bring back the few remaining A3 riders and I had to settle for around 13th place.
The following weekend I raced in Kinnegad on Saturday and it was at this race that I would be debuting my new bike a "Bottecchia SP9 supernova" The Bike had been supplied to me by Stephan Mullane from http://www.chaindrivencycles.com he generously has sponsored me the frame for the 2013 season and I will providing you all with feedback on the bike and how I feel it is performing beneath me and its account was opened with a 9th, I put a lot into the break away, possibly too much and was left wanting in the final dash to the line.
(In the Break in Loughrea)
On the Sunday however my luck changed as I took part in the Loughrea GP I managed to get my way into the break and we set about reeling in the A3 Group up the road. The original break of 8 riders steadily whittled down to a mere 3 as we came into the final kilometre. My two break away companions Charles Prendergast and Liam Frawley were both ahead of me and I took my chances jumping both with a mere 200m to go coming by with solid momentum I managed to keep the gap until the line and took the win. This was my first vistory of the season and to take it so early on was great, I felt the Bottecchia performed well during the race, the road surface was rough and the route was flat and the stiff make up of the bike allowed me to transmit the power to the tyres without to much issue, I also found it comfortable to ride especially over the rough tarmac.
(Sprint to the Finish)
After a solid week of training which consisted of 2 turbo sessions and 2 long rides I focused in on Ras Mayo in Westport on the Monday after Paddy's Day. I prepared for the race as usual but unfortunately things didn't go to plan and I woke the morning of the race with a bad stomach. From the off I could feel my legs were weak and this was verified when I began struggling on the climb out of leenan, but I stayed committed and did my best to keep with the front over the climbs. Upon reaching the summit of Maam Trasna I began feeling that if I could hang in maybe I could do something in the sprint if it came to that. Attack after attack went off the front and the Castlebar team did a superb job of ensuring we were represented in each. But it was not until leaving Partry with 15km to go that something began to develop and with a lot of tired legs in the group about 8 of us managed to slip away. I put my head down and worked hard creating a gap to the chasing bunch behind I was aided by about 4 others in this, but unfortunately all wouldn't commit which always makes things hard for those working in the break away. My brother Ciaran rode flat out on the front doing his best to keep the group moving forward until the final few km were those with fresh legs began their attacks, at this point I had to give it everything but with my bad stomach and fatigued legs from my work in the breakaway I could only manage 3rd.
(Sprint were I took third in Ras Mayo)
I am now taking 2 days rest to ensure my body can get back into full health and will be providing another update come Monday after this weekends Des Hanlon!!Keep an eye on this blog for constant updates on Diet, Nutrition, Training and My Race Reports!!
