Wexford Cycling League 2014

[BShaugh]

great stuff lads!

[johnd]

Anyone fancy a spin out in Gorey tonight?
Inch for a 7pm start

[Patsymc]

5th in the A4 John , very well done.

[johnd]

Thanks Pat

That was a really enjoyable race last night, full of attacking and hard fast tough riding on a very windy night. It seemed like we dropped almost half the group before the first lap was over. There had been a break allowed go just after Inch heading towards Arklow on the first lap. When it became obvious that the SERC lads were happy enough to let it develop I jumped and bridged across, picking up Ronan Ryan on the way and we both went to the front of the break immediately to drive the tempo, the 16 year old Seam Moore from Barrow Wheelers not afraid of a bit of hard work either. The main group then gave chase and a large number of them reattached at Kish roundabout but there was a significant number that had been dropped already. A bit of cat and mouse then the first time working back towards Gorey and into the wind, nobody wanting to get stuck out front for an extended period. After passing through Inch again on the way back there was another group allowed go. Sean Moore missed it but quickly made up his mind and jumped hard to bridge across, no one giving chase. I was at the back of the chase group trying to make up my mind what to do. There were two Wexford lads, one Barrow Wheelers, an unknown lad and a whole heap of SERC lads in the break and they were being let pull away into the wind. Around about Bakers Cross I made up my mind and tried to get another non-SERC lad to come with me but he stayed put. I had about 250m to close and a little over a kilometer to catch them before the roundabout and they turned back with the wind behind. I made my move and quickly made up ground, looking over my shoulder to spot Martin Askins catching a free lift, the cheeky fecker!! I knew by the look on him that he had no intention of working and I needed to make the break so head down and plough on.
Caught the lads right at the roundabout and then things really took off. Everyone working well together we flew along with the wind behind us and made sure there was little hope of the main bunch catching us.
At the top of the hill in inch it became obvious that most of the SERC lads had stopped working, not sure if it was tactical or did the hill get them, Liam Redmond and Derrick Evans certainly looked strong throughout. Sean Moore and me were doing all the work out front at this stage but I was getting annoyed. Sean then asked me to work with him to pull out a gap and along with Matt Heaney from SERC the three of us worked hard and managed to blow several of the breakaway group out the back door and string everyone else out chasing us. We turned at Kish roundabout for the final run home into the wind and in hindsight should really have pressed on, if we had of had another 2 bodies willing to do a bit of work we would have made it.
Anyway, Derrick Evans caught us and sat at the back of the three of us refusing to work, waiting for Martin Askins, Liam Redmond and Andy Laughlin to catch up again. I think that was it, there may have been 1 or 2 other SERC lads I'm not sure. Anyway after a few rough words we started working together again until the climb from the creamery to the top of the hill in Inch, again it was left to me, Sean & Matt to do the work, and Matt and I both refused but Sean did for a while. Then the cat and mouse crawl and weave to the finish line really started in earnest, Liam Redmond came up to the front to keep me and Sean busy whilst the others considered their moves from behind.
I was happy enough at this stage to try my hand at a sprint finish, but in hindsight if Sean and I had of managed to make a break from there I might have fared out a little better. Anyway we weaved left and right and left again following each other into the wind and towards the finish line until the SERC lads pounced. I managed to get in among them and suffered my way to a 5th place finish, but I was delighted to see Sean win the sprint. A 16 year old from Barrow Wheelers he raced aggressively all night and did more work than anyone else. Well done Sean.

Edit: almost forgot to say fair play to the SERC lads for the way they mostly managed to control the race in tough conditions. Racing against a lad like Derrick Evans when he has a plan ain't easy, and SERC carried out their plan very well.

[lazyboypops]

Fair play John that sounds like savage racing. You just need to find a few team mates to hide behind and give you a hand with the breaks.

[Patsymc]

Sounds like a cracker , well done again . That young lad Sean is a real talant and is only riding the bike a year so hopefully a bright future. If you're gonna ride the Sam and Betty D'arcy gp make sure you practice your sprinting before it , the lap is difficult enough to soften up the bunch before the sprint and very seldom does a break get away in the A4 race there. It's a big wide road for the finish so if your positioning is good for the run down hill from Cloch you'll give yoursef every cjance . I won that one as an A4 so no pressure

[DavidF]

Deadly stuff John. i reckon if you could get some of the Roth-ers, namely Frank the Tank and Ross the Hoss to tow you around you'd have no problem winning one of those

[MickF]

Fair play John. Savage stuff on a tough course in windy conditions.

[don]

Excellent report John and even better result. Gives a great feel for the nuances involved in road cycle racing and of course the pitfalls with poor Mick. Won't be joining for a while, but will definitely hit a race of sorts before the year is out

[BrianM]

Well done John, keep it up and flat out