The Pace Is Building!!

December has landed, and with it Santa has come bearing gifts, well not exactly Santa but some sound people who have sponsored me for the coming racing season.

(Bottecchia Tourmalet T1)

First off I will focus on my new bike sponsor for 2015/2016 and it comes in the Form of  a Bottecchia Tourmalet T1 from Stephen Mullane of Chain Driven Cycles, now most of you will be aware that Chain driven and Bottecchia sponsored me before when I rode a Supernova SP9 a bike which carried me to a 2nd on GC in Suirvalley, 2nd on GC in Ras Mumhan, 6th on GC in Tour Of Ulster and 9th in the National Elite Road Race Champs over the course of 2013 and 2014 racing seasons. My experience of the Bottecchia was good and when Chain Driven Cycles discussed sponsorship opportunities for the coming season I was super keen on the Idea. I will be taking to the roads on the Tourmalet come January and will be Racing it in some early season events in Feburary.

 


Next up is my nutritional sponsor ''Molloys Lifestyle Pharmacies''. Molloys have always looked after me on the nutritional front ensuring I was in the possession of the best sports nutrition as well as any products that are needed to fend off winter bugs, flu's and cold's'. I will be working very closely with their sports nutrition Brands NUTRISCI and MAG365 which is all available in the Molloy's pharmacy outlets and online. I take the Nutrisci  recovery drinks especially the lemon and lime which has a striking familiarity to loop the loops. After my strength and conditioning sessions I take a Nutrisci protein shake. Reviews to follow on MAG365!

 

 

Over the past 2 years I have been racing in ''Sportful custom clothing'' provided by Thomas Cahill of ROCASPORT and he has kindly come on board as a personal sponsor for the coming season. Above is an image of some of the products he has provided me to see me through the rough weather we are experiencing out here in the Wild Wet Wesht. Im especially excited to pull on the Sportful NoRain bib tights which are designed to bead off any rainfall and keep your legs dry and warm, reviews to come on the kit soon!!

A massive thank you to the above sponsors and I look forward to working with you for the coming year.

If interested in any of the products listed, visit the following websites,

http://www.molloyspharmacy.com/ - NUTRISCI and MAG365

http://www.rocasports.ie/ - Sportful custom clothing

http://www.chaindrivencycles.com/ - Bottecchia Bikes/ Gipiemme Wheels

Tomorrow I will be taking part in the Sandy Cup CX Race in Enniscrone which should be good fun and seriously muddy. I unfortunately never got round to getting a CX bike this winter, but that's the same every winter talking and debating of getting one but never buying one, so I'm going to be taking it on with the mountain bike... Should be good fun and anyone with a Mountain Bike and a set of working legs get down and give it a go!!'
 

Bluer Pastures!!

It has been about two weeks since my last blog and In that short period of time things have changed dramatically in both my sport and my life.

For starters the team which I have trained and competed with for the past 2 years Liquidworx/ Fitscience I will no longer be racing with. I left the team back in September in search of a bluer pastures and turned to Ballina CC the local club based in my home town. I will be competing next year with Ballina CC and with the way my training is progressing things could be very interesting. My choices for changing were very much based on the fact that I wanted a bit of a change and I am keen to help bring on and develop bike racing in the local town and being a member of the local club is simply the logical choice. Also I generally always take a few wins each year and doing so in Ballina CC colors will be a great boost to the club. Since there is already a well established group of riders currently present there including the man who has aided me to most of my greatest results, my brother Ciaran "The Eagle" Clarke it will be great to get mixed in among them and see how we get on. A big thanks to Liquidworx/Fitscience who took care of me for the past 2 years.

I wont be going into any depth on my training and development over the past 2-3 weeks only on the note that I successfully completed the Killary harbour swim of 4.2km in 1hr 23mins. Now this is by no way a superb time but since I only really had a month of prep I'm pretty happy with how I got on. I think I am going to be cutting slowly back on the swimming as I am putting away substantial time away in both the gym and out on the road.

I suppose I best get to the next big change which is comes in the form of my job. Whilst on the team over the past two years I had been working in Fitscience Bicycle shop both on the retail side and the clinical side running the Wattbike sessions and administering coaching programs to athletes. But I have decided to make a change and have returned to Functional Fitness where I will be advancing the spin program and slowly gathering experience to do some work in the other areas of the studio. I worked In Functional Fitness over 2 years ago and truly enjoyed the experience, so to be back is a good feeling. I will be doing all my own personal Strength and Conditioning work in the Functional Fitness where I have structured progressive plan in place to prepare my legs for the road in 2016. A big thanks to Fitscience & James Geraghty of Molloys Lifestyle Pharmacies for past 2 years.

To finish things off I am also back in education 1-2 weekends a month for the next 2 years. When it comes to health and fitness it is a never ending learning process and Im working hard on keeping ahead of the curve, Ill go into more detail on this in future blogs but for now that is it.

(Come 2016 hopefully we will see some serious action, Above stage 2 Ras Mumhan "Line out")

Keep it lit!!

Back on the waggon!!

So I am just after completing 100 lengthes of hotel Ballina pool and now resting on my sofa and about to settle into a nice bowl of veg soup there is probably no better time to catch up on my blogging.

The last 2 weeks have been quite busy with me taking part in the Black Sod Triathlon as part of a relay team, taking on my first open water swim in about 2 years and really upping the ante on my training volume.

I will start off first with the 10 kilometre run that I completed in the Black Sod, having only run this distance twice in the past and both times being on a treadmill I wasn't sure what to expect come the race. I had laid out a pretty foolproof plan whereby I was hoping to run at a Pace of about 4:30min per kilometre, from what I had heard the run was quite difficult with a large number of hills and a beach with deep sand to overcome on the route. Upon my teammate getting back from the bike leg it was up to me to embark on the run, I used my GPS running watch to set an initial pace about 4min per kilometre, I stuck with this for the first 3K and at that point I picked up the pace dropping the average speed per kilometre to about 3:45 unfortunately this did not last long and the terrain  slowly started to fight back, I dug in deep and maintained the best pace possible to come across the finish line in 40:14. This is a personal best for me and I'm keen to increase my performances further.

The week after Black Sod I decided to take part in a bit of open water swimming, I have swam in open water a few times in the past mainly in the salmon run triathlon and once or twice in the pier in Enniscrone, so I knew this was going to take some getting used to. I borrowed a wetsuit from another triathlete hear in Ballina and luckily it fitted me pretty good, from there I went to the pier in Enniscrone and joined by 3 other swimmers we completed about 2 kilometres of open water work.

I could really feel it in my body the following day my neck was quite stiff and I could tell my arms have worked very hard battling in the choppy water. I suppose a lot of people might be wondering why I am going so crazy into the swimming it is mainly down to the fact that I I'm looking to take part in the Killary Harbour swim which is 3.9 kilometres in length, I know for a fact that this is going to be quite a challenge but if I can keep the work up over the next 2 weeks I have no doubt that I will be capable of completing the event.

Pretty much to finish off this post I'm going to give a little recap on the bike training that I have been doing over the last while I mentioned in my previous blogs I have been working on a nice and progressive strength and conditioning program with my free squat now up to 100kg for 3 sets of 8 reps in the gym. I have started to add some 1 to 2 hour road bike sessions to steadily start building back up my endurance base. All of this in combination with my running and swimming should really increase my fitness and prevent me from gaining any unnecessary weight over the next few months.

More to come!!

Ready to run!!

For the last while I have been steadily introducing myself into some running, it's been quite a while since I have properly ran I'd say about 3 years but when I did I generally operated alright.

I started my running by taking to the treadmill it's the best route to begin, pace can be controlled, the extra spring reduces delayed onset muscle soreness and no one can see me struggling pathetically as I attempt to build my aerobic capacity to a reasonable state.

The one thing I enjoy about it is how aerobically demanding it is, gasping for breath as you fractionally increase the pace in any way shape or form. As equipment goes a pair of €70 runners on my feet some GAA shorts and one of the many ras t-shirts I've gathered and I was off.

I did about 2 week's on the treadmill and then took part in the local park run last saturday, it was seriously enjoyable I started a bit quick and paid later on but I still found it great.

This evening I joined the Fit For Life running group for a bit of speed work on the track where we completed a pyramid session. Honestly it was pretty tough going, my legs are hanging off me now as I type but hopefully it will bring me on a bit more. Unfortunately I had completed a pretty severe crossfit session that morning followed by an hour mountain biking in the woods prior so no doubt that's adding to my suffering ...

More to come.

2015 it's almost gone!!

As the 2015 road cycling season comes to an end I suppose I am pretty happy with how things went throughout the season. 2015 in itself was not as successful as 2014 but having started a full time job and purchased a home I believe I got the best out of it. From time to time I came down with illness and a few niggles and small injuries slowed my progress but I kept positive and forged on through. It has probably been about 5 weeks since I put together a number of good quality sessions one after the other and due to this I have decided to call my Road season to an end.

I recently joined the hotel Ballina gym and pool and will be training there over the next few months as the evenings slowly get shorter and the darkness closes in. I have started a steady but progressive cross training program which comprises of a combination of weights, running, and swimming. This training in combination with my mountain biking will result in my fitness been maintained over the next 2-3 months.

As far as events go I am hoping to take part in the national marathon mountain bike Championships in Mid September. Pending on where my form is at, I also  am hoping 2 also take part in the connacht mountain bike Championships where I will be defending my Connacht title. After the championship the League takes place, I took part in a number of The Races last year and found them very enjoyable the scene was quite relaxed and I found the mountain biking in itself was very good for my bike handling skills. I am still yet to get hold of a cyclocross bike having taken part in all of last year's cyclocross events on my mountain bike, I was probably at quite a disadvantage as cyclocross bikes are far faster on open stretches of ground. So if anyone out there has a spare cross bike hanging in the shed don't be afraid to get in touch and I will attempt to ride to glory.

I have recently joined the Snap Chat revolution under the name "Cyclinggoonbag" so feel free to follow, I'll be aiming to give some insight into my training, nutrition and weight loss / power increasing techniques that I use to get where I do in my sport. I will be posting a lot of the same on my instagram "paddyclk" so again follow if you are keen to pick up a few tips.

2015 it's here!!!

2014 was a big year for me so many close calls when it came to big races, but dwelling on the past gets you no where. I have been knuckling down hard over the past three months in prep for the coming season I dabbled a small bit in MTB and cyclo cross racing I enjoyed both immensely taking the elite connaught MTB title and coming second in the Connaught Cross Championship.

I took part in the both MTB and cross along side my training which worked good especially with the poor winter conditions that we have been experiencing.

2014 The Year to date!!

Having not posted a blog for over a year, I have finally returned to composing stories of my adventures in the Bike racing world. I left my blogging last at a pre Ras post but having not amounted to much during the race I decided to call quits for a while. After the Ras I managed a number of great results which included 9th place in the National Road Race championships and the taking of both Connaught Road and Time Trial titles among many other victories and top results.
I entered the winter of 2013/2014 in great spirits and having finished the season of strongly I began focusing heavily on preparation for the 2014 road race season. It was at this point that I joined the West of Irelands latest racing team "Liquidworx Fitscience". The Team was put together by Derek Bowyer whom was owner of the Liquidworx Company and was backed with the coaching advice and testing facilities of Simon Walsh of Fitscience. Together we built up a strong team which consisted of some very strong riders Myself, Jason Prendergast, Chris Reilly, Gareth Mc Cormack, Eddy Barry, Mike Storan and Brian Canty. We all worked collectively with Simon our coaching began putting the building blocks in place over the winter which was to prove to be a solid foundation for the team. As the season approached we attended a pre season training camp in Lanzarote where we fine tuned our bodies in preparation for the racing season ahead.

From the start of the 2014 season I proved to be riding strongly taking a number of great results all shown below.

(1st Race & 1st win of the season in WCW Race)

 

 

(7th Place in the Cycleways cup got me off to a good start in the large national races)

 

(Finishing 4th in the Des Hanlon and a picture of the days breakaway)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                           
After the Des Hanlon I rode the Tour of Connaught where I managed to get a solid 3rd place behind Eddie Dunbar and Dylan O'Brien

This was quickly followed by what was my best performance of the season so far acquiring the yellow jersey in Ras Mumhan on the 3rd stage and in the end finishing 2nd overall by a mere 10seconds.

 

 

From Ras Mumhan I proceeded to the Shay Elliot, After Initiating The days break away I rode strong until the climb of glenamure from which I was distanced by 2 riders, in the end I managed a solid 4th place.





The Following weekend I raced the Tour Of Ulster. I managed to get into a solid 8 man break away on the first day, but was struck by disaster when I punctured with 30km from the finish. The break away itself held out front to contest the stage win among them selves. After a bunch finish on the first day and again on the second stage I managed to finish very strongly taking 7th on the final stage and moving up into 6th overall.

After the TOU my next stop was the An Post Ras, I raced for the Mayo Centre Ras team alongside Sean Mcenerny, Derek Joyce, Padraig Marrey and Paul Brady. After the 8 days I placed in the top 50 overall and managed to get some decent stage placings.

Upon completing the ras my next goal was to win the newly founded Connaught Crit Series. First round was in Claremorris where I placed 4th and my team mate Jason Prendergast won. The next round was in Galway where I took the win. Next was Sligo where I defended the yellow jersey for the series with team mate Gareth Taking 2nd. After Sligo was Westport where Jason won, Our other team mate Chris Reilly was 2nd and I finished off the podium by taking 3rd a Fitscience clean sweep. with only one round left I was guaranteed the win in the series bar a disaster, with Tuam being the final round I rode strong to take second behind Daire Feely and in turn I won the overall series.

 (Claremorris Crit)

 

(Galway Crit)

 



(Tuam Crit)

 

 

During the weeks that the Crit Series was in progress I managed to sweep up a few other victories such as the T Bourke Memorial in Westport and Then I managed to win the Connaught road race champs for the second time running by riding clear of the field from the drop of the flag and hold the lead by over 3mins at points right to the finish.

 (Driving the break in the T Bourke 5km to go)

 

 (Winning the sprint from the break in the T Bourke)

 





(Winning the Connaught Champs from my break away companion Sean McEnerny)

 

After the large bout of Connaught racing it was time once again to hit the national scene and this time take on the Suir Valley 3day, having had good form for this race in years past taking 9th,3rd & 2nd overall in consecutive years I was keen to show good again. on the first stage I got into the days break along with team mate Chris Reilly where I managed 6th on the stage. after the second stage and the evenings crit, I was sitting in 7th overall. On the final stage I helped Chris keep the KOH jersey and managed to move myself up to 6th, all in all it was a good success.

 

 

(Stage 1 Break away in Suir Valley)

 

 

 (Stage 1 Break away working in the break)

(Crashing During the Evening Criterium)

 (Driving the pace for Chris on the Cat1 Vee Climb to help get the vital points he needed to get the KOH jersey)

 





 

(At the finish ontop of the Nire Chris maintained his King of the Hills jersey and I moved up to 6th on GC)

 

 

 

 

The following weekend after Suir Valley we raced in Ballinrobe, this time it was myself Derek & Gareth. we rode strong the first day and I took 6th on GC. I then finished th on the following mornings mountain time trial up lallys mountain which moved me up to 5th on GC. On the final stage I managed to get into the break which stayed clear to the finish where I managed to gain enough time to slip into 3rd on the GC.

 

(Stage 2A Hill Climb TT Catching a few of the riders ahead)

 

 



                    (Attacking the bunch on the final stage)

 

 



 

(A few quick words with local journalist Martin Aires at the finish)

 

 

 

As it stands Ballinrobe was my last race, I am hoping to take part in the Bog Man 2day this weekend in letterfrack hopefully I can ride strong there. A lot of my training as of recent has been on the Mountain bike which I have being slowly working with the fast approaching Connaught league coming up.

 

I will shortly be doing a nice blog post on my preparation for the MTB/Cyclocross season and the equipment that I will be using and the training techniques I will be implementing and skill work that will be involved in it. Also for anyone who may be interested in the up and coming winter training season don't be afraid to get in touch with us here at Fitscience (096-24782) or on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/fitscienceltd?ref=hl We will be running scheduled winter training classes on our Watt Bikes to help improve base fitness as well as strength and conditioning for anyone who may need help in these areas. But as I said above Ill be going more in-depth into this in the next blog.

Another point to note is the fast approaching Andy Walsh Fitscience Memorial Crit on September 6th here in Ballina, Poster is below.

 

 

 

Bye for Now