Phoenix Cycling Club
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The Barry Murphy Memorial
Things have been quiet for a while, the last two weekends I spent out
with the the club, with Barney giving me a hard time over Slieve Croob,
more
times than I care to mention. So the 500 Euro race was gonna be a bit of
a wake up call, plenty from the club were there; local men Conan and Zuelle,
the Da and Son, Paul, Finbar Gemma and Tim, Mert went to Ballyfore and
Sean & JR were earning a living.
It's funny the thirds Vets and Junior bunch is beginning to look like our
club scratch group but we also have Shaun Gray, Lennie Kirk Adam Petrie
and a few other tasty riders just to make sure things don't get too easy.
This is a separate race from the main event so all tactics go out window.
I was looking for an break early, so I went several times before Drew and
Maurice finally hit the front and looked like they where gonna ride away,
we had them in sight for ages and a couple of times I tried to get accross.
The most promising time was with Petrie who's a Vstrong junior, but the
two boys where not letting us get up. The legs felt just OK not strong
but ok so I was reasonably happy, I do too much work anyway. After that
I was very weary of towing the bunch our letting anyone get away but the
bunch wasn't letting anyone go anyway in this first lap. I kept thinking
4 strong men would have been good but would just two be enough.
After the first of two 25mile laps things started to slow with the main
bunch seemingly tiring. A very dangerous group edged itself clear going
into the second lap and I busted myself to not let it go away with the
help of a couple of others we managed to hold them. The legs are sore the
breathing is heavy please don't let someone attack here. Within about 2/3
miles I'd recovered enough to let it rip again. This time I waited for
a lull then somemone went then another then I thought time to go. I caught
the first man then I rode round the second, when I looked over my shoulder
the bunch were about to catch us, they sat up and I went again. This time
one or two went with me and we started to get a gap. A junior from Kaners
came over and I could see the bunch chasing, straight line, then McCall
came over and we started to make the gap stick and opened it up.
The break was tough at the start cause all the guys where buzzing, after
a while things settled down but my legs where sore, the undulating terrain & probably
doing too much, draining them a little too much me thinks.
It wasn't very long before we could see the lead car and Maurice and Drew
came back to us fairly quickly. What do you do, do you sit on claiming,
man up the road and let someone else come round you or do you ride through
and try and stay away from the main bunch but bring back your team mate.
What am I talking about this is Phoenix and I wanna ride so both McCall
and I choose to ride through.
Coming into the downhill finish, there was only one man to watch, and stupidly
I lost sight of him. Next thing I know, I can hear clik click Click on
the right hand side of the road and McCall has stolen a march on me with
a couple of others, 4th I'm happy with that...
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