Another week of our summer has disappeared without the sun really showing much of itself but we’ll stay hopeful we haven’t seen the last of it!
Thursday we had the last of this year’s Road Race series and due to members being away on their summer holidays the numbers were down a little on previous weeks but this didn’t stop it from being a very good race with plenty of challenging climbs and rolling roads to contend with. It tested everyone. Three groups were set off, group 3 having a 4 minute head start on group 2 and the last man to start 2 minutes after them. Group 3 managed to stay out ahead despite a very tough headwind heading back towards the Silvermines turnoff on the old N7. The 3 groups mostly merged somewhere between the Silvermines and Dolla and by the Dolla climb turnoff Eoin Woods was leading the charge with Joseph Donnelly jnr, John O’ Carroll, and Nanno Vuyk in hot pursuit. The climb was tough up to Bolingbroke and in turn proved too much for some and we had a few riders strung out along the road. Eoin Woods took a fine win on the night, well done Eoin, with young Joseph Donnelly digging deep to finish a very close second place and John O’Carroll who took the last place on the podium. Link to photos of the evening here and here. Furthermore a huge well done and congratulations goes to Joseph Donnelly jnr on winning the Road Race series, putting in an unbelievable few months of racing and was consistently strong during the whole season. Also a massive thanks and well done has to go out to all our members who were out on the night racing and who have been out every Thursday evening supporting the club races and making our race season a huge success. Thanks to Jan for timekeeping, Conor and Mike for marshalling and to Selina, Vic, and Tracy who were busy on the roads taking lots of pictures for you all to see. We look forward to the first of the final three championship races which starts Thursday next 14th of July… The cyclist of the year trophy isn’t won yet, remember all three of our championship races count towards this and anything can happen in racing…
Saturday again due to holidays the usual suspects were away and numbers were low but a few of the lads still got in a good 90km spin over to Roscrea on to Birr and back to Nenagh via Borrisokane. Well done lads.
Sunday we had a great turnout of over 20 between all the groups on the road despite the horrible weather. The anticipation (or maybe it was intimidation….) of Mizen to Malin being just around the corner is getting people out of bed even on the wet mornings now! 😉 Some of the leisure group came along with the seniors out the lumpy Puckane road and they stayed together for a good few kilometers before breaking off and notching it back to a more reasonable rate of knots while more of the leisure group decided to take the main road straight to Borrisokane and on from there. Even though the weather started out ok, it wasn’t long before it turned into a properly miserable morning!! The rain was saturating making it hard to stay warm so they decided to stop off in Tuamgraney for a quick warming coffee before returning back to Nenagh all glad to have gotten in some good training miles even in the bad weather. Well done everyone!!
Also we heard late that we had a few more members who took part in this years Ring of Kerry cycle, Liam Chadwick, Bernard Fahy and Gerry McGarry so well done lads.
Open Racing
We had only the one member out racing this weekend. Well done David Kyle on completing another tough race, the Moynalty GP A1/2 race on the Meath/Cavan border.
Final Mizen to Malin meeting.
This will take place this Wed 13th July in the Dapp Inn at 8pm. If you are taking part please make every effort to attend…
This week’s Club Training spins are as follows:
Tuesday: Club training spin leaving from Moynans bike shop, Nenagh at 6.30pm sharp. Route decided by the group.
Tuesday: Club spin 2 leaving at 7pm from Moynans where the avg speed will be in and around 25kph mark. Short distances of 40 to 50km will be covered on the evening. Everyone is very welcome to give this spin a go.
Thursday: Championship Time Trial: It’s a 30km Time Trial on the old N7 starting at the usual spot in Birdhill and the route being Birdhill – Fivealley roundabout – Birdhill. Sign on will be at Moynans bike shop, Nenagh at 6.15pm or at the start and start time is 7pm sharp from Birdhill, entry is €5.
Thursday Club spin for our leisure / intermediate riders leaving at 7pm from Moynans, the avg speed will be in and around 25kph mark. Short distances of 40 to 50km will be covered on the evening. Everyone is very welcome to give this spin a go.
Saturday: Intermediate cycle 40/50km in distance, leaving Woodies at 7.30am. Anyone who wants to is very welcome to join in on this spin. You can contact William on 086 2447888 for more details.
Mizen to Malin training spin will be leaving from Woodies car park at 9am. The route will be decided on the morning by the group. Keep an eye on WhatsApp for details closer to the time.
Sunday: Club spin leaving Moynans at 9am. Route: Moynans – Moneygall – Army Hill – Borrisoleigh – Upperchurch – Milestone – Rearcross – Newport – Birdhill – Nenagh, 105km. For anyone who may want a shorter spin or needs to be back early turning back from Borrisoleigh will make it 59km, returning vis Templederry and Dolla would make for a 63km loop and travelling on as far as Milestone and returning via Dolla would make it a 77km spin. Link to route on Strava.
