From Brendan Kennedy, our clubmate in Ireland.

 

 

 Brendan 'contre la montre', 2 Sept .

Hi everyone, hope you all had a great summer, with plenty of mile and racing.

I am only back from my ventures in Kerry, Cork & Wexford and have a few result to give you. Its only a short mail as I am knackered and just about to head off to bed.

Aug bank holiday weekend July 31st - Aug 2nd Ras Na Mhuna 4 Day (Kerry) 22nd overall

Aug 15th 25mile TT, Fermoy, Co Cork. (58.26)
Aug 18th 10 mile TT Fermoy Co. Cork ( 22.43)
Aug 22nd 25 mile TT Enniscorthy Co. Wexford (57.14)
Aug 24th 25 mile TT Enniscorthy Co.Wexford (Evening event) 56.52 A super night dead calm,warm and a super fast surface. this course is PAN FLAT, and a super fast surface.

Aug 26th 10 mile TT Enniscorthy Co. Wexford (Evening Event) 22 26.

I had a loan of a TT Bike for all of the above TT,s from a very close friend of mine, (thanks Brian) and I am well chuffed with my performances, the machine certainly does make a difference. Its a pity we do not have many TTs in Ireland, & the ones that we do have you mostly have to travel to them as you can see. If we had more TTs I would certainly consider purchasing a TT machine.

Aug 29th 36 mile RR Arklow, 17th. This was my last event for the season, and so I am going to take 4-5 weeks off from the bike before I restart back to training at the end of September. PHEW thank God that's the end of the season, I am Knackered.

I hope you all had just as good of a season as I feel I have had. Talk to you all soon


best regards

Brendan

 Irish Founders RR, 27 June.

Hi Everyone,

hope everyone is ok and in great shape, just a message to update you on my recent result, Irish Founders 60 mile RR held on Sunday 27th June 2010, in Rathmoylonhan, Co. Meath.

A very good turn out for this event, I have never rode this event before as in the past I never really thought I had the form for this race its a very difficult event. A lot of good riders show up for this race and it is a difficult course, run on some narrow country back roads, they are draggy & the route passes through 2 small country towns, & that is on top of some very bad road surfaces, it reminds me a little of the Pennypot circuit, near Harrogate?? I had this event in mind prior to the season starting & depending on how well I was going coming up to it, depended on whether I would enter this one or not.

After last Tuesday evenings event I knew I was in good shape, so Wednesday, Thursday & Friday of last week I did some short but brisk spinning spins out on the bike, did,nt ride any big gears (small gears for training, big gears for racing) well that,s my motto. Two weeks prior, to the race I had put in some hard training, mainly spins of around 3-4 hours with mostly climbing involved riding with 2 companions (Italians), with the last 10-15 mile riding up & over, just to test the legs & keep them sharp.

The race was to complete 3 circuits of 20 mile laps. Shortly after the start at about 5 miles you have the main hill of the day about a 1 in 6 climb, not very long, maybe about 300 yards, but !!BYE HECK LADS!! it tests the legs not to mention your lungs, you can hear all the gear changes happening, & guys trying to find the right gear to get into, I am very familiar with the hill, so I know what,s coming and how to ride it, best to be up in the 1st 10 or so on this one. Because this is a Vets only event, some of them where given a H/Cp at the start (8 mins) because of their age & some were women.

Lap 1 I say there was around 90-100 riders set off from the start, (not including the 20 or so who had gone before us) and with 60 miles to cover there was no real panic in the bunch about the few up the road, so the 1st lap was not to fast and the real racing would start when we started the 2nd lap. (time check at end of lap 1 to a small breakaway group from the 1st group was given at 9min.18secs, ahead of us with 41 secs to a chasing group behind them).

Lap 2 at the start of the 2nd accent of the main hill a group of 4 riders attacked and managed to get clear of the group of which was smaller in number now from my group (maybe 23 secs?), but there was no real panic from the bunch, by this time it had started to spit rain a little, not much but enough to make the road surface a little slippy. With the bunch having to go through the 2 small villages, I was not to comfortable with the idea of sitting in this bunch being the size it was, and having to deal with some of the twist & turns through the villages in the slippery surfaces. I could still see the 4 riders up ahead maybe only 15 secs on us, I decided to attack and try to close the gap. Just before we got to the 1st of the little towns, for the 2nd time (at 30 mile race distance) I bridged the gap (took us about 3 or so miles to do it !PHEW! that was hard),(see photo attached) but I had some help from about 6 or 7 other riders, this swelled the break to about 12 riders. Going through the village for the 2nd time we had a gap of 28 secs from the bunch behind & with 2 groups still ahead ,the leaders up front were only at 4 mins or so ahead of us, with a small chasing group now only at 10 secs behind them, so we had done some good work over the 30 miles,cutting the gap down by over 5 mins. 20 secs approx. since the start of the race.

Lap 3 By now the rain had eased off, & the sun was beginning to shine again & with 20 miles remaining the chase was really on to get the riders up front, we had closed the door behind us and we were up by over 2 mins on the main bunch behind,(their day was over), with 12 miles remaining the gap to the front group (6 riders) was down to 2min 05 secs,from us & we were working really well together, maybe 2 or 3 riders sitting in at the rear. By the time we had reached the 1st of the small towns we had them in sight, (8 miles to the finish) (time check given up to them was 30 secs), 6 miles to the finish we had caught the leading group and this increased the number to about 18 riders. At 2 miles to go there is a final little hill, nothing much, but it is a leg breaker after such a long distance of racing, when you get over this you can see the finish up the road, as it is a complete straight run in, with the road slightly running down to the finish line. I went to the rear of the 18 man break readying myself for the sprint, we were coming in fairly fast 35 mph, I was on a 53 x 14, at around 500 yds to the line the sprinting starts, and some riders just cannot hold the speed,& the long distance at which the sprint started from, I am flying, I change down onto the 12 sprocket & kick, passing a few riders before getting to the line and finishing 6th place.

Conclusion A great race, hard, but enjoyed it & pleased with my performance. (now its over).

60 miles in 2hrs. 22 mins/ Ave speed = 25.32mph / 42kph.

 Super 2nd for Brendan , 22 June.

Hi everyone,

Just a quick mail to give you a result from Last Tuesday evening race. 22nd June 2010

36 mile RR held on a testing course, a lovely evening humid with a light breeze. about 46 riders signed on for this event and with it only being a short distance I had it in my head to go straight from the off. After only 3 miles I made the move which would be the move of the night getting away in a small group of about 8-9 riders, I made a huge attack, riding on a 53 x14 to get the gap and giving it full on, so if anyone wanted to come with me they would have to make a real effort to get up, I did,nt even turn to look behind to see if anyone was coming with me. Eventually 3 riders did get across & by the start of the 2nd lap we were then joined by 5-6 more riders, but by then the damage had been done we had blown the field apart, at the start/finish line we had already opened a gap of 1min 20sec, and with 1 lap remaining I still had lots of aggression and fight left in my legs. With 4 miles to go & on the last climb before the finish I kicked (53x 15) and got the gap 2 riders were swinging out of me and managed !!SOME HOW !! to hang on to my wheel, but with 200 yds to go to the line I kicked again but could not sustain it after all the hard efforts throughout the race & just got taken by a rider from Orwell Wheelers (Stephen Roches old club). (see Pic attached)

I am delighted with the nights performance, it was fast, hard & very aggressive throughout. I am now preparing for the Vets RR champs and hoping for an really good ride on the day.

How is everybody else doing? Lets see some reports on the site guys & girls, it makes interesting reading.

well everyone take care my best regards to all of you.

ciao

Brendan

 Results update, 18 June.

Hi all,

Best wishes to Mike & Barbara for a speedy recovery after their horrible accident, I do hope they are on the road to a good recovery and I wish them well.

Just a quick mail to update you all on how I have been performing with some results listed below.

APRIL
April 18th CP 45 mile Kentstown (10th)
April 25th DMS 55 mile Slane, Co Meath (5th)


MAY
May 2nd Cp 50 m Curragha Co. Kildare (12th)
May 11th Tues evening Crit 36mile (3rd)
May 16th RR Wexford 60 mile (9th)
May 23rd CP Co. Meath 65 mile (18th)
May 30th RR Warrenstown 50 mile (10th)

JUNE
June 5th,6th & 7th Dual Glass 3 Day finished 11th Overall.

Well my next event is on Tuesday evening June 22nd a 36mile Crit.
I can see the cyclo-cross guys are going well in the summer league, how about the TT guys how are they getting on? I may have a go at a couple of 10m TT,s & a couple of 25m TT,s later in the season maybe end of July or August, Generally I ride them down on a course in Wexford as the course is really good and fast?? well that is all from me at the moment, wish everybody well, especially Mike & Barbara, and all take care.

regards

Brenda

 Dick O'Brien Memorial Road Race, 18 April .

Hi Folks,

hope you are all well, and are not hoping to travel aboard in the next few days or so, especially with all this volcanic eruptions etc. Can you belive it England & Ireland effected by a volcano?????????????

Just to bring you up to date with a race result from today (Sunday 18th April 2010).

115 riders in this event, for a 3 x 18.5 mile course held on a testing circuit with 3 accents of a tough climb, with a very fast decent which has 3 "S" bends on it, with a very sharp left hand corner at the bottom. (speed coming off the climb was 42 mph).

with such big numbers signed on for this race it was decided to H/Cap it & so the event was split into 4 groups, depending on category. I was off semi-scratch 8 mins after the limit group, with the other group in front of us at 4 mins. It was a lovely morning, slight head wind finish, cross wind up the climb, with a slight tail wind on the rear of the course.

There was about 45 riders put into my group & we really had to work hard to try and catch the 2 front groups and hope not to get caught by a very good scratch group behind us, of which we were given 3 mins on them.

Lap 1. as usual not everybody rode up and over, I would say maybe 18 riders at most & going up the climb for the 1st time I knew there would be a mad dash to get rid of some of the guys sitting on, so I got myself up near the front. There was a few attacks and we did manage to split the group and probably reduce the number down to about 30 riders. There was no sign of the 2 groups in front of us, & we got a time check at the start/finish line of 2.30 to the front group & 1.30 to the group ahead.

Lap 2. By the time we had reached the top of the climb for the 2nd time we had caught the group immediately ahead of us & we could see the limit group up ahead, at about 30 secs. it was all on to get them back, still hoping that we would not be caught by the scratch group behind. With us catching the 2 groups this swelled the bunch to about 75-80 riders, but with still 20 miles to go & another accent of the climb to come, again it was time to stay up near the front or you could easily get caught up in the middle and miss the fast decent with the leaders or if any splits came.

Lap 3. 1 lap to go and up the climb for the final time, still no sign of the scratch men, and looking good to stay away. I was riding in 5th place up the climb and it was 1 long line out behind, this I know because no one was trying to pass anyone else, it was a matter of hang on to your place. Its hard to visualize this decent with its S bends and then the sharp left hand corner at the bottom, but the speed went really up 45 mph, down the climb and 32 mph into the corner. with this speed the group had started to splinter into smaller groups, & with a flat run in at the rear of the course a group of us totaling about 22 riders had made a split form the rest, & we still had not been caught by the scratch group of about 38 riders. There had to be about 60 riders in total chasing behind including the scratch group. It was just 1 line out to the finish, I was riding on 53 x 14 sitting on the wheel in front, hoping as you do the rider in front of you dose not let the wheel go, or worse still rub the wheel in front of him. Last corner to go, 400 mtrs to the sprint I need to get up a bit in the line, steam coming out of my ears (ha ha), no its not funny, sprint starts at about 200 from the line, BIG bunch sprint, gears getting cranked and changed, switching all over the road, I am jumping from wheel to wheel, (thinking where is this finish line, cant come quick enough), & in the end finished 14th out of a bunch sprint of 22 riders, "Phew" legs dead & knackerd, & glad thats over "safely".

Over the next few mins lots of smaller groups of riders came in,along with the scratch men, last group of 12 or so riders were more than 8 mins down after I had crossed the finish. I believe out of the 115 starters there were 76 finishers on the day so my 14th place was,nt bad I guess.

I hope you are all enjoying your racing,as I do ( especially when its over) My next event is Sunday 25th April 60 mile RR.

I know most of you ride TT,s so I guess some of you have rode a few already, I would like to hear about your results & how to rode the race. Well that s it form me, so stay safe on the roads, & lets hope this volcano dose not give us to much problems.

Regards

Brendan

 Warrenstown Road Race, 28 March.

Hi all,

hope everybody is well and fit and in better shape than some of the riders after today's event in Ireland.

We were greeted to a nice warm and mild morning with a temp of 12 degrees, with a southerly wind. I did not expect to see so many sign on for the start of this race as there was another event on in Dublin this morning, but I guess there were about 115 riders in my event. We were treated to a slightly new course on the Warrenstown circuit, due to a new road completion, a very wide open exposed road with some rolling drags and 4 roundabouts on it to negotiate (not easy when there is a big field) the road surface is fantastic really smooth and with this part of the circuit having a tail wind the speed was up to 34-36 mph on it, (scary at times folks, especially when approaching those roundabouts).

With the total race distance of 50 miles to do, 4 x 12.5 mile circuits. I wanted to get as near the front as was comfortable, (about 12th-15th back from the front) so not to get caught out on the roundabouts?stay out of trouble etc, by the way the finish would be on the new road 2 miles after the last roundabout & not at warrenstown as in past years. We have used this circuit many times over the years and those of you who have read some of my race reports will have heard about warrenstown hill, !Yes we still have this to climb every lap, Unfortunately.The start was on Warrenstown hill.


First lap was reasonably tame, with most riders weighing up the new course and each other, first time onto the new road the speed was incredible 36mph, (I was riding on 53 x 14 tucked in down the line around 14th) I was not going to move from here. The turns at the roundabouts were all left hand ones (just as well), and in the line out, going in & out of these roundabouts was fast, if you lost the wheel in front or took the wrong line in or out you were gone, with no way back on or hit the deck.
The bunch was in one big mad line out & some guys just could not handle the speed in these turns they were getting whiplashed at the back, and so we lost a good few on lap 1. Up Warrenstown hill for the 1st time and there were a few little digs been made but I was keeping my powder dry (to early) (warrenstown hill comes in two steps, the 1st part is the hardest, it then runs down for about 200 yds and then kicks up again for about 500yds. If you can make it over the first part anywhere near the front you have a great chance of getting away in any moves that may happen.

2nd Lap
As so happens, up the hill for the start of lap 2 and the jumping started, groups of 3-4 riders at first & then another 3 & by the time we were hitting the second part of the hill there were about 12-15 riders getting it together and starting to go clear, I knew that this looked good especially with some decent riders in the group & with me after training hard all winter and losing 7kilos in weight jumping across on the climb was a doddle, 53x15. I tagged onto the rear of this group which was about 22 strong and recovered for a while. 1st roundabout onto the new road, tail wind, speed goes from 26mph to 34,35,38mph, get myself up in the group about 11th, approaching 2nd roundabout at 34mph I need to get a good wheel someone I know I can trust, (just as well I did) on entering the roundabout I here a almighty smash behind me, I am not going to look back, no chance, not at these speeds. The group down I reckon to about 16 riders. !Phew! what a relief I had moved up when I did. At this point we had 30 secs on the main bunch and with most of us working it looked really good for us to stay away & as happens we did until the end. Not much happened in lap 3, except we increased our advantage over the bunch to 46 secs & the speed was still as fast over the new road.

Lap 4 (Final lap)
there were a few attacks on the back of the circuit, 4 riders jumped and managed to open a gap of about 200yds on us no one took up the chase "me included" which was really stupid of me, because these guys hung to the finish, & I know I had better legs then they had, especially with the climb to come before the finish, I could have jumped them????? however, it came down to a bunch sprint for the rest of us & in the sprint I ended up finishing 8th on the day. Not a bad morning work,happy enough with my current form, I no there is more there to come.

the average speed of the event was as follows: 50 miles in 118mins = 25.42mph.

The news on the crash was 2 riders with broken collar bones 1 of which also has 2 broken ribs, the other 3 riders in the crash had cuts and scracthes.

If & when I get some photos I will email them on.

Regards to all & remain safe

Brendan

 Off to a good start, 17 Jan.

Hi all in the club, hope you are all well and in good health.

I hope you are not to depressed with the run of crappy weather you all have been getting. I on the other hand have managed to get out on the mountain bike a couple of times last week, riding off road for 2hrs.30mins on Tuesday & Wednesday & looking a bit like the Barnes gang after a cyclo-cross event, I was covered in muck, from head to toe, and the bike was not much better.

Thursday I managed to put in 3hrs on the road as the weather had turned a lot better, & today Sunday 17th Jan I rode a training race over 55 miles, In the Phoenix Park which is really fast with just 1 climb in it, (Finishing in 11th spot), which was a good test to see what level my fitness is at the moment, & I am more than happy with it, legs feel really good, & my climbing is good, as I have lost 3kilos in weight over the winter (all the gym work I guess). So I am going to continue to build on it, with some good steady miles over the coming week as well as continuing with my gym work until the end of January. I hope you are all well and in good spirits & working on some fitness.

I have attached a picture taken today of me before the start.

I look forward to reading all your race results for the coming year & I would like to wish all of you who are competing in the upcoming Cyclo cross Champs all the best of luck, GO ON THE BARNES.

Best regards to all

Brendan

Brendan is working with Gym.

Hi all in the club, hope you are all keeping well and reasonably fit. Just a quick and short message to update you on what I am up to at this time of the season.

Good to see all the cross guys are out and about and doing well, Keep up the good work all you Barnes guys.

I have been putting my time into some good quality Gym work of late, generally doing 3 evenings a week, Monday,Wednesday & Fridays,(doing light free weights, consisting of Squats,Lunges, Dead lifting, Leg Extensions, Leg Curls, Bench Press, Abs, Bicep Curls, in between these sets I will do some Cardio work,i.e. a 1.5km run on a Treadmill (fast,about 6 mins), 40 floors on a stepper machine (fast, about 3mins 30secs) & X-Trainer 5 mins (fast) with 15-20 min cool down after work out on the Stationary bike .Tuesday & Thursday I will do about 2 hours on the road bike of about 40-45 miles with a small group of 5-6 riders, riding up & over at a nice pace of about 33kph. I am not training on a Saturday as my young lad goes to football & on a Sunday I have not started to go out on the bike yet, I Generally leave Sunday riding till after Christmas, as I feel I am doing enough at the moment.

I hope you are all getting in some miles at this time of the year as it will help keep any fitness you gained in the season, I am sure Mike Farthing will have you all on your toes with his training programme, and no doubt some of those Sunday morning spins turn into a bit of a burn up.

well that's it from me for a while, & any of you who are still racing or riding cyclo-cross good luck to you all.

stay safe and keep fit

Regards

Brendan

 Hi to you all,

hope the weather has been good to you over in Leeds, the past couple of weeks in Ireland has been very good, especially down around the Wexford/Waterford area anyway.

I was in Waterford to see the finish of the Tour of Ireland, as I was riding an event that evening just outside the city, It was a great performance of Russell Downing, only for his age (31) I feel he would make a good continental pro.

Great to see Mike & Barbara did another good performance in the recent 100tt, they have had a fantastic season & my heart most congratulations are sent to them both, no one deserves it more.

well my final three results for the season are as follows:

August Results

2nd, 36m RR Monaseed, Co Wexford. 4th place
5th, 10m tt Enniscorthy, Co, Wexford 22.36 (evening event 2nd)
21st, 30m Crit Kilmacthomas, Co. Waterford 8th.

Well that's the racing season finished for me, I am heading home to Dublin on Saturday 29th Aug, as my kids return to school on Monday 31st Aug, I will take about 2 weeks off the bike & then I will look to my winter training, of course I will have to work to stay in shape as we have the very hard & competitive Christmas races in early December, so not much time to rest and take it easy. I will stay in touch over the autumn and keep you updated on how my training is progressing.

I wish everyone well and say hello to all in the club

stay safe

Brendan

 Summer successes for Brendan.

Hi all in the club,

Just a quick mail to update you on some results I have to give.

Firstly let me congratulate Both Mike & Barbara on another tremendous ride in the recent 12 hour, well done to both of you on a super ride and a brilliant achievement. Thats the 2nd record breaking ride of the season Excellent.

my results to dateare as follows;-

June 2009

Sunday 21/6/09 Camolin ,co wexford 55 m RR (14th)
Tuesday 23/6/09 Raheenduff Co Wexford 36 m Crit (evening event 4th)
Sunday 28/6/09 Bunclody, co Carlow 50 mile RR (8th)

July 2009

5/7/09 Oyliahe, Co Wexford 10m TT (22.25)
7/7/09 Oulart, Co. Wexford 25m TT (evening event 1.02.31) a very bad night wet and miserable?????????????
12/7/09 Togoat, co wexford 55 m RR (3rd)
21/7/09 Enniscorthy 25m TT (evening event 58.26 a BP for me and what a great course this is smooth and flat) I took a break from racing for a couple of weeks and this seemed to do the bussiness for me I was really on good form tonight.

26/7/09 Red Cross, Arklow 45m RR (3rd) I seem to really found some good legs and my form is really good at the moment, this coming Wednesday is a evening event in around Castletown & up a climb called Tara Hill in co wexford this climb is 560mtr above sea level and rises very quick over a very short distance maybe a Kilometer???? so I am hoping I go well.

29/7/09 Castletown 66m RR (3x 22mile circuit & 3 times up Tara Hill. finsihed in 2nd chasing group 54secs down in 9th place, not bad but a bloody tough course and event, I will think twice about riding this one again, especially at almost 50yrs old).

August 2009

There is only 2 events left on my racing Calender and they are Aug 2nd (a 36m RR) & Wed Aug 5th a 10m TT. I will send these onto you later in the month, as I am going to enjoy a couple of weeks away from the bike As I celebrate my 50th Birthday on Aug 10th. I will be going to start my gym session in the beginning of September.

Again well done to Mike & Barbara, hope everybody is well and fit my regards to all of you

Brendan

 Results up to 16 June .

Hi All, I hope you are all keeping fit and well, sorry I have not been in touch in a while but unfortunatley for me I have just been made redundant from my job in the cinema. The company I worked for have decided to cease their operations in Ireland and so 80 of us are now looking for new employment, I guess its the same everywhere with this bloody world recessen, however I have managed to get in some racing over the last couple of weeks, so I will quickly give you the results of the events I have ridden.

Wed 3rd June (evening event) 30 mile criteruim,. Graig Na Maicha (8th place)

Thurs 4th June (evening event) 25mile,TT, Enniscorthy- Maolan na Gabhar - Enniscorthy . 58.47 (I was delighted with this time, the evening was perfect a slight wind which favoured you on the return, This TT course is my first time to ride it, & it is pan flat, with really good smooth surface, an excellent TT course. By the way the winner did a 52.19(not bad eh).

Sunday 7th June 50mile RR. Muine Bhneage memorial. (15th place) this is a real stinker of an event as it takes in the Co.Carlow area of Ireland which has Mount Leinster on the circuit. this was a very hard race and I found the going very tough on this one, I however managed to finish in a chasing group, but the leading group where more than 8 mins ahead of us at the finish, My age must be showing a bit.

Thurs 11th June. I had a choice this night whether to ride a 30m RR which was a bit of a distance to the start & fairly hilly or ride a 10mile TT on the new Gorey bypass, which was quite near to me, in the end I opted for the latter as I was still not recovered fully from the weekend event. This was another lovely evening, again with a good tail wind back to the finish, the road is a bit undulating but it is a fast course, I have been training out on this TT course over the past few weeks so I had an Idea what gears, & how I should ride it, I wanted to ride it in an event so I could post a time, & see what I could do.I have not rode a 10mile TT in a long time,but with my recent posting of a good 25TT,I felt it was worth a shot at, & in the end I managed a decent 23.37. (That's not bad for a non specialised TT rider is it & almost 50 years old, I take that one maybe I can improve on it before theyear is out???????????????)

An Abhainea Dubhn Blackwater 3 Day( consisting of 1 day event & 2 evening races)

Sunday 14th June (56mile RR day event)(Stage 1) This stage is held on the Sunday morning over very rough and narrow roads, which go up and down all over the course reminds me of the old Pennypot circuit, and is run on a H/Cap basis. Ladies off 1st, 3rd cats, Jnrs & Vets (including me),2nd Cats then 1st Cats. Between Ladies back to 1st cats was 8 mins which is pretty bad considering the distance and the terrain, anyway as you can imagine it was not very long before the 1st cats had caught us and very shortly after about a couple of miles we were altogether. There where some attacks with little success and in the end it came down to a massive bunch sprint, Myself I finished in the group ending up 22nd on the day.

Stage 2, Mon 15th june 25mile Crit Wexford town, about 1hr of racing over a very flat and fast around the town, finsihed 9th up to 16th overall.

Stage 3, Tues 16th June 30m RR, Enniscorthy. this was a very windy night and nobody was really intrested in racing by the seems of things,as we had very heavy squawlly showers, and the bunch stayed very much together for the whole race however a small group of 23 of us did mangage to break clear of the main group towards the finish and I ended up finishing 7th on the night improving my overall by a couple of places 14th overall.

well I am sorry its a bit short and sweet, but I am rushing to bring my son to football training(not interested in bikesthese young kids????).

say hello to all, take care and best regards

Brendanmph, 150 mtrs to the line I can see a few riders shadows just behind me, so I move over to the middle of the road a little hoping to force them up my inside where the road surface is not so good,it works for a while but my 49 year old legs are saying "What are you doing" and they just do not have the capacity to keep up with 3, 1st cats a 2nd cat & 2 jnrs but I take the next spot & only just beaten. Between the 7 of us for the sprint there was less than 4 bike lengths between 1st & 7th place,not bad BUT (glad it was over though). I never did get a win this year, BUT Hey, never did Danilo De Luca, or Cadel Evans.

I hope all the cyclo cross men are going well,I will be looking out for the results on the website, How about some race reports on the races??

regards to you all & have a good and safe winter.

Brendan