8 months training for 8 days of racing. The time has come once again, Bags are packed and body is primed all in advance of Irelands toughest bike race “The An Post Ras”. The Ras is an 8day stage race UCI 2.2 which over the 8 days covers 1180km split between 8 stages. It has been running now for years and every year the level of competition grows; former winners of the Ras have gone to be World cycling champions. Below is a layout of the Race stage by stage.
An Post Rás route 2013 (UCI 2.2):
Stage 1, Sunday May 19: Dunboyne to Longford, 135.4 kms:
Stage 2, Monday May 20: Longford to Nenagh, 160.4 kms:
Stage 3, Tuesday May 21: Nenagh to Listowel, 141.1 kms:
Stage 4, Wednesday May 22: Listowel to Glengariff, 153 kms:
Stage 5, Thursday May 23: Glengarriff to Michelstown, 150.2 kms:
Stage 6, Friday May 24: Mitchelstown to Carlow, 154.6 kms:
Stage 7, Saturday May 25: Carlow to Naas, 141.2 kms:
Stage 8, Sunday May 26: Naas to Skerries, 144.6 kms:
I have been working towards the event every single day since September when my 2012 season finished. Constant attention to Training, Diet and Lifestyle has all been paid in order to bring my body to the event in the best condition that I can achieve. As always sickness, injury and logistical issues can slow ones preperations, but genuinely I feel things have gone to plan quite well.
Hammering up the cobbled climb in Lincoln last week!!
During the winter months I worked hard on developing a solid base which was greatly aided by attending http://functionalfitness.ie/functionalfitness.ie/ spin classes and circuit training which kept some intensity in my legs as well as bringing on my endurance base. From this I worked with http://www.fitscience.ie/ to bring on my road training and develop a program which would give me the fitness that I needed to compete with the best. All this combined with the nutritional and diet support provided by www.molloyspharmacy.com/ helped get my weight down steadily as well as providing me with the fuel to power my engine through the countless hours on my bike as I ploughed through rain, hail, snow and lack of sun.
When the racing season closed in I was very lucky to be chosen to be a sponsored athlete of http://www.chaindrivencycles.com/ who provided me with a top of the range racing bike “Bottecchia Supernova SP9” and a “Powertap Pro” training wheel. The bike was great performing well with no issues and the Powertap allowed me to take my training to the next level making the most of every mile I rode.
After all the races and training sessions I am finally here, The Ras begins on Sunday and I will be competing at the top level, Last year I finished a solid 33rd overall & 3rd Irish rider in the race. This year I would hope to perform the same or improve on it further. So keep an eye on my twitter https://twitter.com/PaddyClk or my facebook https://www.facebook.com/paddy.c.clarke?ref=tn_tnmn for constant updates over the next few days on my performances on stages. That’s it for this blog and with a bit of luck hopefully I’ll have some good news in the next post.
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