Crashes Everywhere

I am new to this blogging lark, so thought I'd start somewhere.

After watching all the crashes in Le Tour, it often makes you wonder how dangerous cycling can be.  Only this week in the club cycling scene there was two crashes.  I didn't attend the Bann Valley Race on Tuesday night, but oncoming cars and sprint finishes don’t mix. A recipe for disaster. 



Two of the Carn Wheelers lads were in the middle of it, with Stephen Walsh acting as a landing pad for Cathal Doyle and a few others.  I usually finish in the bunch and could very well have been in the middle of the chaos as well.  Stephen was quotes afterwards as saying “I fell as if I got an awful kicking”.

Then on Thursday night at the Inter Club race on the Wood Road circuit, Martin Bradley of Bann Wheelers sustained a nasty shoulder injury.  So cycling can be a risky game, so it makes you appreciate the Schlecks, Evans, Voeckler and Hoogerland who are going at much faster speeds than I can ever dream of.

Last year I was in a crash (Martin was also involved in that one), the difference was we have to fix our own bikes and get up for work the next day.  The pros just get another bike, get on with the job and let the medical team get them back ready to race.

The interclub race the other night was on the Wood Road course, the venue of my one and only race win.  That was in the days when the first time racers got away with 3min head start to see how they got on.  I am not in the first group now, so no head start.

Our group were going very well including Hugh Evans, Paul Duffy, Gerry and Mickey Kelly from Carn Wheelers.  I thought the pace was going well and kept pushing away up at the front, hoping we could have held off the chasing scratch group.  They caught us going through Tobermore for the third time, and went past opening up a gap.

I was feeling in great shape and kept powering away up at the front and helped get us back with the leaders.  On the final ascent up Tobermore the sprint started and I just hadn’t got the legs for the sprint, but was happy with my overall “workhorse” performance.

Well done to Cathal who finished in 3^rd place overall.

It was a tough week with 40mile on Saturday (including Cullion) followed by 60 on Sunday on the Greencastle route.  On Monday and Wednesday, I had a solo cycle to and from Ballymena (42mile round trip @ 20.5avg).  Then the tank well and truly emptied at race on Thursday.  210 miles in 6 days.

Cousin’s wedding tomorrow, a few stout, but not too many.  Have to think of Sunday 14^th August…..Inishowen and my old friend Mamore Gap.

This is my first attempt at this, so we’ll just have to see how it goes.