2010 Irish National Hill Climb Championships

After the physical detonation that was last weekend, the training for the week before the national hill climb championships was pretty obvious – very very little. Recovery was the name of the game. I had overreached enough and my body wanted the time to rebuild and super compensate (those last two words I really like). I took it easy with only a few short sharp sessions to remind the body what hard work was and by the time Friday came along, my legs where itching to tear the pedals off the cranks.

I drove down to Tralee on Friday evening for the Saturday evening race – the plan was to go for a ride up the hill that evening but torrential rain (and rivers flowing down the climb) convinced me otherwise. The race was to start at 4pm on Saturday which meant lots of time for a spin up the hill in the morning to open up the legs. The climb was 3.9km long climbing 300 meters on a rough road surface. The first 1.8km averaged almost 8% but was pretty undulating. Then came a flat (2-3% gradient) 800meters followed by the final cruel 1.3km averaging 11% but again, very undulating with pitches of 20%. Pacing would be a little tricky as it was not a constant grade but with my Powermeter and Garmin 500, I knew I would be able to keep myself in check for the start.

With only a few seconds to go, I was held in place on the start ramp – my plan was simple, stay under 460W for the first 4-5 minutes and the rest of the 12 minute climb would sort itself out. Go hard on the easy (flat) bits, go harder on the hard (steep) bits. With the pacing strategy, the first few minutes where pretty easy physically and mentally, I perform intervals in that power range often at the 5 minute mark and the temptation would be to push a little harder – but I knew, 5 minutes is a hell of a lot shorter than 12 minutes! The pain would come...

Photo from Darragh Crowley

Knowing the climb would have helped and my only real mistake was taking it too easy on the flatter section – I finished strong with the last 90 seconds being over 500W (for your calculations, on the morning I was 72.5kg)

The Lightweight Wheels felt amazing climbing

You don't really notice as you race, or at least, if you are noticing, you are not going hard enough, but our climbs where held under torrential rain with a block headwind – record times for the climb were not going to be set on the day and I crossed the line a touch over 12 minutes after starting. I really wasn't sure if I had done enough for the win, the main challenger in the race, 5 time champion and defending champion, Paul Griffin, is based in the area and is one of the best Irish climbers in our generation.

After a good cool down on the bike, it was back to the signon venue and I found out that I had become the new National Hill Climb Champion. I edged out Paul by 14 seconds and am obviously very happy with the new green jersey.

Photo from Tralee Cycling Club

Many thanks to the Earl of Desmond Hotel for the hospitality during my stay in Kerry, the Tralee Bicyle Club who ran the event smoothly and at a great venue and also to Paul Griffin. I have ridden with Paul on the road a lot this year, and every time I have learned something new – he has been a great mentor and a worthy adversary (last year he kicked my butt up in Donegal at the champs).

There is another report up with some photos here.

2010 BMBS Round 4 - Dalby Forest

It's 3am, I can't sleep – my mind is racing, my body is shot – what happened.

Dalby forest – a personal history. In May last year, 500 meters from the end of the race I hit a tree stump propelling me through the air and into the ground hard breaking my collerbone. April this year, the World Cup, crash hard on my second lap hurting my leg, hip and back – I couldn't pedal anymore – strike two. Like a jockey thrown from a horse, I had to get on, get right back on, so I did – yesterday we had the fourth round of the British National Series in Dalby.

CRASH – but this time of another kind. Road Stage racing, criteriums, marathons, road races, cross country races – all in the last two months – I had raced in 4 countries (UK twice) in the last 14 days. Something had to give, I thought I had considered it all and rested appropriately, but I hadn't. Pop, crash, bang, whollop – that was me.

The race started with a slipped pedal – no big deal, I sprinted on and 4-5 minutes into the race was in around 12^th position – a platform to work from. That was really it though – the body shut down, the legs stopped, game over before it really began. I hit the major climb on the lap, a steep 3-4 minute affair and pushed hard, my heart rate was pegged but a train of 10 riders rode by me like I was standing still – I couldn't do anything – nothing, climbing is usually my forte – it was tough, physically tough, mentally tougher. I rode on, barely turning the pedals, more riders past and I realized I was barely moving. As I came around to complete the first lap, I was fried, mentally, physically I was spent – the great form I had the previous week was gone – was it too much to ask for a fast XC race only a few days after the hardest race of my season?


Horses, getting back on horses, damn me – I had said before I arrived in Dalby that my only goal was to finish, to not be a DNF. Why did I say this, as I went through the first lap, the smart thing would be to stop, pull in, regroup ,fight another day – I was just destroying myself physically and mentally – I need to save these mental matches for when they count (eh, National hill climb and XC Champs in the next few weeks!). But I must finish – I soldiered on. A few more riders past me, I didn't care, apathy had taken hold with my only wish being for the ordeal to be over. I looked at my laptime as I go through the start/finish – I'm not much quicker than Mel today (usually, on a course like this, there is a 15% difference in our lap times – not so today).

I suffered, I hated it, but I did finish, I got through the race, I didn't crash (or at least, I didn't fall off the bike), no hospital trips and the horse was remounted. It was the slowest I have ridden in an XC race in a few years but I did get through it – my goal of finishing was met. Yeah, I was sick afterwards, couldn't eat and felt the worst I have felt in a long time – but sometimes you gotta latch onto the good things.

Postscript (bike nerdy stuff) – I always race with a Garmin bke computer which really is a treasure trove of post race analysis. The big climb on the first lap, it was terrible – I was climbing it at the same power as I was climbing the much longer climbs the weekend before at the END of the almost 6 hour marathon – I was also climbing slower than when I tootled up them on a practice lap the previous day – despite all that, my heart rate was pegged. There was something seriously wrong during the race – a case of over-raced, over-reached or sick. Afterwards, the only thing I could stomach for several hours was a can of coke – a thing that usually turns my stomach.

The next week is rest, pure unadulterated rest, well, if I can ever fall asleep...

2010 European Marathon Championships

It has been a year since my last marathon race. Mountain bike marathons tend to be one of the toughest races out there with race times between 4 and 6 hours with little or no respite.

The Garmin 705 was a life saver on this trip

I had heard some good things about the course for the 2010 European Championships (the 2011 World Championships will be held there too). There were 17 categorized climbs and it seemed pretty much all of them were steep. What goes up, must come down and there was a lot of singletrack descending. The descents, in the dry conditions where not technical but riding them at 35+kmph for the first time, the margin for error drops dramatically.

Waiting to start

The race started with 110+ riders on a hot morning in Montebelluna, Italy. From the gun, the start was super fast as we hit the first major climb, and the only tarmac one. At that point the race already started to break up and I found myself in a group a few too many groups back. I was riding the descents very well and was able to bridge groups but after about 35km, the groups settled into what it would be for the day. The middle section of the race had lots of parts where group riding was imperative, a lone effort trying to bridge was doomed. As the kilometers ticked by I started to feel a little better (I suffered all day, but felt physically sick for the first few hours) and over time dropped the rest of my group and started picking off other riders ahead.

Postcard perfect views

After 130 very tough off road kilometers, and 5 hours 40 minutes saddle time I raced over the line for 43rd. The second half of my race went well but I really should have been in the lead group of 30 over the first couple of mountains - something to work on and get right for the World Championships later in the year in Germany.

I took the follow video a couple of minutes after finishing the race.

My friend Alan accompanied me (took the video/pics you see) for the race to provide support - it was vital and everything surrounding the race went like clockwork. Thanks Alan!

Alan also has a few pictures up here.

Oh, and this is what I ate/drank during the race:
25 minutes before the start - 1 ZipVit Caffeine Gel

During the race
6 ZipVit Gels
1 ZipVit Caffeine Gel
7 750ml bottles of ZipVit Energy
2 500ml bottles of water

2010 Tour Series - Dublin

On Saturday night I took part in the second round of the Tour Series wearing my National colors. Man, was it an experience. Totally different course from Belfast and I really loved it. Half was cobbled, half smooth tarmac and a crowd cheering you on the whole way around.

The race broke up from the first lap and I spent my time bridging up through groups - I had a lot of fun and the closest type of racing and can compare it to is cyclocross racing. I had created a video blog talking through it after the race, but for some reason, I can't get it off the camera :(

Many thanks to everyone who was out cheering us on - it may have looked like I was suffering (and I guess I was) but it was a good type of suffering :)

Pictures are from Keith Arkins

2010 Tour Series - Belfast

My first road crit and it was around the center of Belfast with great crowds and an even better atmosphere - first round of the Tour Series. For me, it was just hang on, hang on, hang on. Once I get a bit of practice at these I think I'll be okay though - not what I'm used to or usually train for but I think it's something I need to do more of. Video blog says it all.

Photo via Graham Boyd

2010 FBD RAS Stage 7 Pictures

Pictures via Alan Donnelly

2010 FBD Ras Summary

A final video blog to close out the 2010 FBD Insurance RAS. It was an amazing experience and I loved every minute of it.

In the end I finished 17th on GC, 1st county rider (1st non-Pro), 2nd Irish rider and our team finished top county team (non-pro team). Great results for my first (of many?) RAS.

2010 Irish XC NPS Round 5 - Killaloe

Although it had been a week since the end of the RAS, I really wasn't ready for another race – especially one as demanding as a cross country race. Anyway, I found myself down in Killaloe riding a pre-lap of their course under sunny conditions. Those sunny conditions where not a feature just a few hours earlier where torrential rain covered the country – this left the technical rooty singletrack in a very challenging state. The course was one I like – it started with a long fireroad climb and when you have been doing that for almost 6 minutes you start to hit steep singletrack climbs before you eventually enter the downhill singletrack. The singletrack weaved it's way around trees and over roots back to the start with a good smattering of technical kicker climbs thrown in to make sure you don't recover too much.

After the preride, I still wasn't in the right mental place to race, I contemplated sitting it out and taking photos and videos – being a good spectator – but with the drive down, thought that that would be a little bit of a waste. At 1:30, I toed the line (well, at the back of the grid as this was my first Irish NPS of the year) and we started up the hill. There was a good elite crowd here for the race, with Robin Seymour, Peter Buggle, Joe McCall and Canadian, Mike Garrigan as well as the usual suspects – with the super techy descents, Robin was always going to be the man to watch – that guy just floats over that stuff that the rest of us mere mortals have to slog through!

Mel says that I look like a spider here :)

The pace up the first long climb was pretty steady, and I entered the singletrack in around 5^th position – my plan was to ride a fun race and get a workout in – if there wasn't a smile on my face, I was pushing too hard! I rode steady for the first few laps trying to clear the techy singletrack – it was very tricky as if you make one slight mistake, the next 30 seconds of riding was just about trying to get into a rythm again. From the 3^rd lap (of 6) we started to lap riders and that was noticable in all of our laptimes. Although everyone was super about letting us through, the break in rythm on such a course greatly affected the speed we rode the sections. Coming into the final lap (after some jostling for 2^nd to 4^th position), I came through in 4^th position with Joe and Peter in sight 15-20 seconds up the road. I hadn't planned on trying to catch them (still riding with a smile) but by the top of the main fireroad climb I was on their tail. I thought to myself, well, I'm here, I may as well attack. I put in a good attack on the steep climbs and lost my companions as I entered the singletrack descent. Towards the bottom of the singletrack, Peter had caught onto me again (probably lots to do with the fact that I was riding like a squirrel) – with a few kicker climbs left, I attacked on each and rode through the start finish in 2^nd position behind Robin.

Elite Podium, Me, Robin and Peter

The course was good (wish it had stayed bone dry, but VERY glad it didn't rain more) and sitting around the lake afterwards in the sun with the rest of the competitors was great. Results are up here, and many thanks for Aine for being the feed support angel and Conor for the photos.

2010 FBD Ras Stage 8

The final daily RAS installment. I kept it steady, finished in the front group and won the county rider overall. 17th overall on GC and second Irish person (behind AnPost Pro, Conor McConvey).

2010 FBD Ras Stage 7

A tough day today going over my training hills - the video says it all.

2010 FBD Ras Stage 6

Another fun day in the RAS - a bit more climbing. I made the front group over the big climbs and thought that was it for the day. But another group of 30 chased on. I got 22nd in the sprint into Gorey. Video blog says it all.

2010 FBD Ras Stage 5

An epic day for me on the bike - crashes, bikes changes, chasing for an hour, got on, pucture, chased back on - gassed. Tough final climb - on a heavy unfitting bike. Still, I survived and no major injuries. Video blog has more.

2010 FBD Ras Stage 4

Another video blog - a good day for me, attacked into the break of the day and scored 15th overall. (2nd county rider - behind my teammate - the only county riders in the break).

2010 FBD Ras Stage 3

A hard day in the saddle today. 47kmph for the first 2.5 hours and we were not even on big roads. 171km with only 800 meters of climb. 3rd 4,000 calorie day in a row.

2010 FBD Ras Stage 2

Another quick video update after the massage. Dinner soon. Easy to see the time I was in the break today. Last 1.5 hours was neutralized after the big crash.

2010 FBD RAS Stage 1

The Profile - pretty tough at parts!

36th today (153 starters), 4th county (non pro team) rider, our team, Eurocycle is 1st county team.

Biking Car Boot Sale - Tuesday June 1st

Many of us have biking bits and bobs that have been sitting around for way to long. An XT mech you bought just when you switched to a SRAM drivetrain... spare mud tires, stems, posts, the list goes on.



On June 1st, from 7pm to 9pm at the Blue Light carpark in the Dublin Mountains we are going to have our first car boot sale. Turn up with your bits and bobs (and cash!) and you never know what space you will create in your garage for your new bike bits. Afterwards, have a beer or two with us - what more can you ask?


View Larger Map

Me, I'll have lots of bits for sale - pretty much all high end and mostly new. Stems, bars, tires, forks, saddles and more.

2010 Noel Hammond Memorial RR

I hadn't planned on racing at the weekend – two long rides, one on the mountain bike, one on the road bike was planned – a weekend away from racing. As it happened on Saturday evening, the temptation was too much – the course seemed to be pretty hilly and with only seven days to the start of the RAS, I knew there would be a good turnout of riders fine tuning their form.

The A1/A2 combined race started on some rolling roads that led to the start of our lap and a very fast descent. The course was a ride out to a lap we cover five times – basically, a long fast descent, some windy rolling roads and then a reasonably long (for Ireland) climb with a few steeper sections. From the start, I stayed in the first few riders to stay out of trouble. Along the bottom of the course, a few attempts were made at escape and I covered anything I felt was dangerous and let one or two smaller ones (with less 'firepower') go. As we hit the climb for the first time it all came together – Niall Delahaye and Conor McConvey made a bit of a go but towards the top they were caught again – it was at this point I decided to have a go – I put the head down and pushed for a few minutes with only Niall coming with me. We stayed away for three quarters of a lap until ten more riders (all the suspects I would expect) bridged across to us. That was the end of the peleton for the day. We were a strong group and worked reasonably well, some skipping turns etc... but mostly good. There were a few attacks and digs as we went around but nothing major.


On the penultimate climb, fireworks went off with Conor and Niall setting a blistering attack, that was neutralized, then it was the turn of myself and Paul Griffin and Mark Dowling, cracks where appearing and over the top of the climb, Conor and Paul led just five of us as a group over. We rode pretty well for the lap but got caught by the chasing seven at the base of the last climb. Mark Dowling attacked on the climb early and got a gap but I didn't worry – despite the group being larger again, it was myself, Conor, Paul and Niall that moved ahead catching Mark and splitting the group again – it was the same five of us off the front. With a quick descent to get the gap and then some cagey riding (need more experience at this) we got the straight for the sprint – I finished fourth of our group of five.

My only gripe about the race and organization (and it really was a very well run event, and one that I will definitely be back at) was that there were no markers for how long it was to the finish. A simple “1 KM” or even “500 M” sign would have worked...

Anyway, it was a great race and I was happy I decided to give it a go. There is another report available here.

2010 Race Bike - Specialized S-Works Epic

For 2010, both Mel and I are racing on near identical 2010 Specialized S-Works Epics. The bikes are basically the stock S-Works bikes with some modifications from our other sponsors: KCNC, Schwalbe and a little help from Stan at NoTubes.


Outside of the paint work, the major changes on our bikes this year are:

• Full SRAM XX drive train, we have a double (39x26) on the front and 11-36 on the rear. Shifting has been amazing – I love the twist shifts that I used for the last 3 years and when SRAM eventually (hopefully!) release a 10 speed twist shift, I'll move to it. I have to admit though, I do like the triggers – shifting has been crisp and perfect – shifting on the front ring (although, with a 39 tooth big ring, it will be a seldom used operation) is especially slick.

• NoTubes Podium wheelset – from NoTubes, we are running the NoTubes Podium tubeless wheels – total wheelset weight is 1.26kg. Slightly heavier than my old ZTR 7000 wheels but the additional weight is in the ZTR hubs which, due to the flange spacing, will give a slightly stiffer (and more affordable!) wheel

• The frame has been upgraded with a stiffer carbon front triangle and the liberal use of ceramic bearings for the bottom bracket etc...

• The rear brain shock has also been updated – a slightly heavier weight in the inertia valve gives better terrain sensitivity. It is also now produced with Fox which should alleviate some of the quality control issues some earlier versions had.

KCNC components are used throughout to also drop the weight down to a hardtail beating 9.4kg (20.7 lbs). This is not showroom weight, but ready to race weight with tires, sealant, bottle cage and pedals. It feels light, very light.

Tires, we stick with our general purpose setup of a 2.1 Schwalbe Rocket Ron on the front and a 2.1 Racing Ralph on the rear. We use this exact setup for 95% of our racing and training.

I have a few rides completed on it now – like last year, the bike wants to go, and go fast. When the terrain is smooth or on most climbs, it's stiff like a road bike – every ounce of energy goes into the wheels with no suspension bob front or rear and with the light wheels and tires you really feel the acceleration. Descending or riding technical terrain, it feels that the bike is running away from you – it wants to go faster than you can handle. It's an amazing feeling – it is like, extra little motors in the hubs giving you a speed boost. Both Mel and I are throughly impressed with our new race bikes and can't wait to get more races in on them.

Many thanks to our sponsors for helping us put all this together - Cycleways, Specialized, Schwalbe, KCNC and NoTubes.

"His and hers"

2010 Tour of Ulster

After the Ras Mumhan, I wanted to take part in another 3 or 4 day stage race before I tackled the much bigger, longer and faster 8 day FBD RAS. The Tour of Ulster has long been the final testing ground before the RAS so on the May bank holiday weekend I made my way up to Dungannon (staying with my sister and her family who live locally – thank you!) for the 3 days and 4 stages.

The first stage was billed as the most difficult, lots of going up and down hills but unfortunately nothing long or particularly steep. I and a few other lead riders missed the break and ended up putting a large amount of work in trying to chase. I was in multiple chase groups as the day went on but none stuck until on one of the longer climbs between Paul Griffin and myself blew the peleton apart (there was a big split, about 25 of us now in the chase). Not many riders wanted (or were capable) of working and I even made a go myself on a solo effort. As we hit 40km to go, heavy rain came down and as we were on small twisty roads so the pace dropped significantly. The final 5 km where dry and a mad dash to the finish line ensued. I finished towards the front of the chase.


The second stage was another long enough one – about 150km around Lough Neagh. The roads were mainly flat but there was a nice kicker towards the end. Breaks came and went during the day and I had to make a few big efforts to make sure I stayed towards the front. There were a few riders out front but in the final few km there were a few nice climbs. 4 other riders and myself broke from the group with a few km to go and on the final kicks, I myself kicked to get a gap. Unfortunately, some of the course marking was not so great (I believe Philip Lavery lost his yellow jersey on this stage for a similar reason) and I made a wrong turn which sent me from off the front of our group to off the back. I chased back and caught some of the riders by the line. A really nice finish – just wish I was directed better.



Stage 3 was a very short time trial. I have not taken part in a (flat) time trial before and unlike a bunch of riders I would be rocking no aero gear or TT bikes. I warmed up fine and felt pretty good. During the 2 minutes 50 seconds (yes, I said it was short), I was careful not to go too hard at the start but ended up having way too much left in the tank at the finish. It was undulating and I don't think I kept in a hard enough gear (cadence average was 110). Power was pretty low too – only 470W...

The final stage was a circuit race with a few sharp corners and a few short climbs. 10 laps in all. I tried to get myself into a few moves and a few things looked promising but groups were getting away and being pulled back all day – I had to choose my battles alternating between attacking and then getting some recovery. On the final lap, 5 of us got off the front and were making good progress to get across to a break – we were off the front for a lap and got within 25 seconds of the break, but with the yellow jerseys team driving the peleton, we were caught with a couple of kilometers to go. I was sitting in 11^th (would have been 7^th only for the wrong turn) but dropped to 15^th overall after the final stage. I had a big week of training leading up to the race and didn't ride particularly smartly during the race as I was simply using it for training – I didn't mind doing big efforts etc...

Guess the efforts - power data is heavily smoothed

I enjoyed the racing, and felt stronger as the days and stages progressed. It was also nice being up north for a change. I could really get into this stage racing thing... Now – less than two weeks until I start the RAS – after that, focus goes back to mountain biking – my MTB racing has really suffered lately as I have focused on the road these last 2 months.

MTB and the Dublin Mountains on TV

Last night, RTE 1 (Ireland's main TV Station) showed a program about the use of the Dublin and Wicklow mountains by various groups: walkers, artists, scouts and most importantly, Mountain Bikers.

My club and I were involved in the mountain biking segment from about 7 minutes in. I think it worked pretty well.

Click on the image below to watch the video until May 27th


Cycling, road, MTB, track, commuting, fixie etc... have been on our National TV channels almost weekly now for months. It's great to see and hopefully secures in peoples minds that Ireland really is a great country for riding in - no matter what your discipline or level.

A video from the 2010 Dalby World Cup

Some footage Mel shot form the final lap of the Dalby World Cup. The riders are descending Medusas Drop

Photos from the 2010 Dalby World Cup

A few pictures from the World Cup at the weekend. Taken while either Mel or I was supporting the other.

2010 XC World Cup Round 1 - Dalby

2010 UCI XC World Cup Round 1

Basically not a good day for me - not going well and then crashed out into the DNF bin. Video blog says it all.

No Bundasliga Round 1

Due to the world ending - I mean, giant dust cloud flowing over Europe, Mel and I can't get to Germany to take part in the Bundasliga in Munsingem. We were both really looking forward to it and were even going to spend two days having a look around the area that Mel used to call home.

With that cancelled and my day off work booked, we decided to go to Powercourt Gardens to have a look - it was closed due to the untimely death of the owner of the estate...

I think I'll now play it safe and go ride my bike or something... Road racing this weekend I guess.

2010 Des Hanlon Memorial Road Race

This is just a quickie report on the 2010 Des Hanlon Memorial Road Race before I get back to talking about the excellent Ras Mumhan.

The days leading up to it I started to get a bit of a head cold (very rare for me) and some pain in my right knee – I think the pain was due to 5 hours sitting in a car from Ras Mumhan or possibly the pedals being a little wider on my training mountain bike that I was riding during the week. Lots of physio, icing, frictioning and massage and I felt reasonably good on Sunday morning for the 145km classic.

Race was simple – I missed the break (stupid stupid me) - chased very hard with Martin Irvine and Tim Regan (both Irish team road rides) as hard as we could but failed. All the 'big' guns were gone so it turned into a training ride. Mid way through the race the break had 3+ minutes but with 45k to go we had it down to 1:25 and I thought we could pull them back. What happened next was just ridiculous, two very large horses (with riders) where trotting along the narrow road. 70 riders coming at 60kmph down hill spooked them and all hell broke lose. I am very happy to say no one was hurt but the incident was terrible and should not have happened – there should be more than enough warning vehicles ahead to give those riders enough time to get off the road. This incident delayed us by about 1.5 minutes and all our momentum was killed off. I continued riding at the front and finished up getting a good workout in with a bit of a sprint at the end.

Funny, I tried to get a break going a bunch of times, say 7-10 strong riders but everything was chased down, and do you know what the people did when they caught us, they sat up - giver uppers!

Power figures were interesting enough - 333W Normalized Power for the race for me (3:40 ish racing time - I was doing a lot on the front). With close to 30 minutes in anaerobic power zones so I did get a good workout anyway...

Next week – round 1 of the Bundasliga – this will be tough!

2010 Ras Mumhan - Stage 2

Stage 2 of the Ras Mumhan was known as the Queen Stage – at 140km it was not massively long but the final 80km would be constant climbing and descending over Kerry's most picturesque roads. We would even have a hill top finish on the world famous, Molls Gap. The climbs were pretty long but none steep unfortunately, still, having heard about the course several months earlier it was a stage I looked forward to.

Mel and I woke on the morning of the stage to a miserable day, high winds, lots of rain and pretty cool temperatures. The final 60km would also be directly into a 40-50kmph headwind – fun... The conditions would only add to the stages epic feel.


At signon, it was announced that the first 8km would be neutralized to get us outside of Killarney – happy days I though, less need for a normal warmup as it was pretty miserable – 3 jerseys and 2 thermal jackets were just about keeping me warm. As we rolled out, a few riders and coaches nudged me and knowing my mountain biking background said that I should really like this stage, well, here goes.

The first 60km were pretty uneventful – there were a few harder sections but not much happened. A break got off the front of about 8 riders but I could see strong climbers still with me and the peleton seemed to be motivated enough to not give much time so I didn't worry much. By the time we hit the first major climb, the Cat 2 climb at Lauragh, I knew it was time to bid farewell to the peleton and bridge to the break. Mark Dowling and 2 others made the faster trip up the mountain with me and we continued pushing it all the way down the descent catching the break just after the roads leveled off. The descent was pretty scary, a lot of rain and high speed kept me on my toes and I was glad to be with the break.

No sooner had we caught the break then we started to climb the Cat 1 Healy Pass – it was 6km at around 5% so not very big by alpine standards but the wind and rain kept it tough. I and a few of the other climber types kept the pace reasonably high on the front all the way up with a bit of a sprint at the top for the King of the Mountain points. I didn't want to go too deep early on the stage and settled for 3^rd over the climb but pushed on through so that I would lead on the long, very windy descent. I would rather ride on the front than sit on someones wheel for the descent so I took us down to the base. A little more flat riding and then a horrible drag on a long straight road. The wind was horrible and a couple more riders made it across to us from the peleton.

Climbing the Healy Pass - picture from here

A few kilometers before the next big climb, Tim Barry, Nial Delahay, Charles Predergast and myself made a break for it. By the time we got to the base of the Cat 2 Caha Pass we had created a 40 second gap. Tim and I rode tempo on the front as we climbed the pass but unfortunately Nial and Charles were paying for their earlier efforts. We slowed the pace as having those riders would greatly help us on the descent and flat section before the final climb of the day. By the time we got to the top it was obvious they were gassed – Tim and I were feeling good so we bid farewell and continued on. The break was pretty close behind us, about 20 seconds but we soldiered on through the wind.

I followed as closely as I could to Tim on the descent, we were descending like deamons and I really had to trust he knew the roads (I found out later he knew them very well). As we reached the bottom, 2009 Hill Climb Champ, Paul Griffin and Dutch man, Wim Botmon made it across to us. We quickly dropped into an efficient pace line and pushed out our gap to the break from around a minute to 3 and a half by the base of the final climb of the day – Molls Gap.

I had been feeling very comfortable all day and my legs felt great, but at 4% with a massive headwind, attacking on Molls Gap wasn't really going to be an option. Wim and Paul stopped working and it was left to Tim and I to pull us to the long climb. I was riding well within myself and as we passed the 5km to go sign wished that the wind would ease a little to allow for some attacks. It didn't happen and we rode to the top at a steady tempo – I actually rode the climb a lot easier than I would in training, but anyway – the wind was simply nuts – looking back, I probably should have tried to get away a few times anyway, but hindsight and all that...

250 meters to go and we were all looking at each other riding at a pedestrian pace, Paul Griffin led out the sprint and I followed, soon, Wim kicked just hard enough that I couldn't catch him but I passed Paul before the line to finish 2^nd. Not the win, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't happy. Shortly afterwards, I was told that I also now lead the mountains classification – I hadn't really been thinking of that but it was a nice surprise and I also moved up from 49^th in GC to 6^th.

The wind howled and I put on more and more jackets as we all became icicles for the presentations. Flowers and a nice new mountains jersey were the rewards for my days toils – I really really enjoyed the racing – bring on more stages like this.

Stage results are available here - the RTE news (Irish National TV station) had a small section on the news about it - kinda cool.

2010 Ras Mumhan - Stage 1

Ras Mumhan has the reputation of being the toughest stage race in Ireland outside of the FBD RAS. It was this reputation and the associated hills that led myself and Mel to sign up for the race. As it turned out, Mel was the only female rider M.A.D. enough to take part so she was going to have a very tough time - lots of hard training for her. We booked ourselves into the Kilburn House B&B (which was simply perfect) and then took the long drive down.

The weather forecast for the race looked terrible – lots of rain, high winds and even some snow – we packed a few extra layers and were determined not to get too bothered by a bit of harsh weather, although by the end of the race, we felt some of our tan had somehow washed off.

The stages lay like this: the first was a mostly flat 100km, second stage was flatish for 60km and then some long but not steep climbs (I had my eye on this one) for the final 80km. The next stage had lots of smaller climbs and was very exposed while the final stage was two 35km laps and then a circuit race around the base town of Kilorglin.

140+ riders started the first stage – basically I spent all of my time trying to stay around the front of the peleton but always being squeezed back – it has been a long time since I raced in a big group so it took a little getting used to again – after the first stage I was fine. It was at one of the times when I was squeezed back on narrow roads that I could see a break get away. There was nothing I could do... 100 meters back on packed tiny country roads – damn – rookie mistake. As the race progressed I got to the front and tried to get a good chase going with a bunch of attacks – at one point we had a 30 second gap on the peleton but they chased us down. We headed back to Kilorglin for a mass sprint behind the break. A crash in front of me on a tight corner caused a break in the peleton and I was a further 10 seconds back. After the stage, I was 5:34 back on yellow (It is important to note the 5:34 for when you look at how far I finished the stage race behind yellow).


It was a windy stage but the scenery was beautiful with Kerry's finest snow capped mountains being our backdrop.

Later – stage 2 (much more interesting!)