The blood, sweat and gears of an amateur cyclist.
Let’s face it, A4 racing in Ireland has a bad rap. Every year we in A4 get a kicking from everybody else in cycling. There’s a full catalogue of complaints out there about what is essentially a beginner’s category; ‘there’s too many riders in the bunch’, ‘it’s a crash-fest’ or ‘everybody is just waiting for … Continue reading The Undefendables
Any bit of fitness and form I had built up was now being coughed out my lungs in the form of green junk. I did what comes natural to any good cyclist and reached for every drug available to my disposal Sudafed, Lemsip, Exputex, Antibiotics, Vicks, Multivitamins, Berocca, Ventolin, Caffeine and Chocolate. Basically, anything I could get my hands to try get me back in working order.
By the end of the week the 9 to 5 office working cyclist is like a dog on heat. We can almost smell the weekends racing, and are eager to get that last session in that will make absolutely no difference to Sundays race. We take great pride in strutting into the office, necking the … Continue reading Johnny Big-Balls
“I was thinking….” “Go on” “….well you know…” “Go on….” “…how I was saying….” “What, just spit it out??” “...I was thinking of buying a new set of wheels, Now hear me out they are €800 reduced from…………………..” “Hello, Hello???” ***Dial tone************** Later and in not as many words due to the unrepeatability of the … Continue reading The Arms Race
Climbing is never something I’ve ever found easy. A tough climb can feel like somebody is holding your head underwater and it all comes down to how long you can hold your breathe. You can see the surface up ahead but don’t know how long it’s going to take or hard it’s going to be … Continue reading Drowning
I spent my Saturday cosied up by the fire with one eye on the closing stages of Milan San-Remo and the other winking out the window at the clouds. Yeah, it was absolutely freezing but there was still no sign of this “Orange” snow forecast. Sunday’s race was sure to be on. Ding! A Facebook … Continue reading Slaying the Beast
Where is it? Where’s what? My Glove. What glove sure ye’ve a heap of them? The glove I’ve been looking for this past hour and a half. I’ve found one in with all the socks and god only knows where the other one is. Is it any wonder ye can’t find it, sure there isn’t … Continue reading Stock-Take
In between the latest month of snow showers and sub-zero temperatures, there have been small glows of clearer days and on one occasion the feint feeling of heat in the black back panel of my jacket. The mornings are getting shorter day by day and there’s a “grand stretch in the evening” but we are … Continue reading A whiff in the air
120km, a 4 hour slog with over 1000m climbing and returning into a headwind. That was intense as it’s gotten. There was no hiding place. Each turn off the front felt like an hour, each recovery at the back felt like 10 seconds. The tiredness after this was unreal, barely able to stand in the … Continue reading Burnout
We’re almost there, a six week block and we’re pinning on numbers and praying we don’t crash for the next six months again. If I were to go by feeling and numbers everything seems to have worked out well enough since I started my winter plan way back in October. The plan was always to … Continue reading The Lives of Others
Up The Road 