Phoenix Cycling Club
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Emyvale GP (23rd May)
Well today was not a great day!
I wasn't sure how I was gonna race with the firsts, I know I can race
with
seconds e.g. at Bann Valley Classic, but riders like Dennis, Slaner,
Murphy
and a few others like him are definitely a cut above the rest.
So as we rolled out so did I no game plan really, just see how the
legs bore
up so I went up the road and I continually followed the wheels, I guess
it
kept me up the bunch, but when it hurt it hurt more than last week.
As we
went over the tough bit at the back, I lost a bit of room, quick left
hander
then narrow twisty road then stop!!*$%&*! shouting all over the
place. We
were doing easily 30 maybe more attacks going on the right hand side
of the
road when the bunch came to a screeching halt, I had to use all the
breaking
that I had to stop going into the pack luckily no-one went into me
and I
went into no-one. But Paul Brady was on the floor having had a big
off over
the bonnet of a stationary car. After standing around for 20mins the
Comm
(Don) sent us round to the start, after an hr we set off again for
a reduced
race of 2 laps(30 miles).
By this stage I was unsure whether I would ride or not but Lennie and
a
couple of others kept the chat reasonably bouyant. So at it again,
I don't
know how hard it was for anyone else but I was always in the top 20
or so
riders, following wheels waiting on a lull then off again, it hurt
but I
wanted to bag myself.
Going into the last lap it looked like nothing was going away, I was
even in
a break with Murphy Doc and Creer at one stage and they still came
up to us.
In the second lap I had contemplated just going to the back but I stayed
up
and followed the wheels, go, then follow. Just before the rolly side,
Murphy was up the road with big Gerry and a couple of others, I went
with a
guy from Toyota then Creer and Alhadef came up to us with Bo and someone
else. As we hit the rolly bit you could see that we where half way
between
Murphy and the bunch about 10/20secs. But my legs where hurting and
as last
man when we went over the hill I had no chance of even seeing Creer
and
Alhadef ride off, someone had dropped the wheel, after I'd noticed
I shouted
at Bo but I don't think he had the legs, or no more than I did, so
Creer
rides off with Alhadef and they get 3rd and 4th unfortunately for the
rest
of our little group we got caught, I managed to stay up the front for
a
while longer following wheels as they presented themselves, but I didn't
llike the thought of the finish and I cowered a little towrads the
middle
back of the bunch, what was the point with about 6/8 men up the road
and
feeling jittery from Paul Brady's fall was enough.
Not sure how I went today, the HRM painted a tough ride continually
hitting
180s and I guess I was up there, (the average speed was up towards
27mph),
racing trying to be competitive. Hats off to Mark Creer, he rode over
to
that break which wasn't going easy, I'd love to see if I could have
ridden
with him, but not having the legs to come round Bo did me there. I've
gotta
figure a way of deciding a good race, funnily enough getting in the
top 5 is
not as easy with the firsts as it was with the 3rds.
I think I need more races at that sort of speed and intensity to be
able to
be more comfortable riding with the firsts.
The only S2 race between now and the end of the season looks like the
FPM 3
Day
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