Diary of My 2009 Season

The year of the challenge.

This is a quick recap of some of the activities that I took part in and in some cases organised.

After a disastrous 2008 season 2009 was always going to be a year to see if I could do the things I previously did with ease.

Pre season kicked off early the goal set late in 2008 was to cycle from Mizen head to Malin head inside 20hours, early January training camps got the season of the mark with a series of training days, this followed quickly with a range of camps from cycling to Triathlon scattered around the country.

The racing season kicked off in early February with 2 training races, first indications were good as I was very strong in both.

Navan was the first open race of the year and again I was strong going away in the early moves and finishing strong at the end of the race.

Waller cup cycle race March , this was my first proper result of the year, I was away all day in the break, the race broke up near the end with rider escaping to win alone ended up a narrow 2nd in group sprint.

Result 3rd

Derroura challenge April 4th : Organised this event for the Red Cross, it was a 16k Mountain bike TT over the beautiful designed trail. A good crowd turned up so was not sure how I would do, ended up setting the fastest time of 44mins 24seconds

Result 1st

Gorey 3 day, placed in every stage except the TT,

Result best stage placing was 3rd and finished 5th overall.

Got up graded to a first category rider

Majorca 7 day training camp, based in Alcudia, a great place to hone your cycling fitness

Diamonds adventure race., this was a very hard day at the office, started off in Carlingford in torrential rain and ended up in Newcastle, after completing nearly 70k of torture, well maybe not that bad. 16k of cross country/ MT run, 2k Kayak, 49k of hilly cycling.

Result 2nd

Gogarty cup: this was an unusual race was dropped early on, on the tough windy section, clawed my way back to the break and was the strongest in the last 18k.

Won the sprint for the win.

Result 1st

Wicklow 200 K : the goal was to break 7hrs for the route without stopping, we didn’t achieve this but ended up in doing it in 7hrs 13mins but cycled in well under the 7hrs if only you could cut out the stops for food and water…

Ras Connachta 2 day: Had a terrible 1st day, where I was thinking of packing, continued on and finished in the main bunch. Had an ok TT, and was physic for the 3rd stage, got away in the break early and was very strong at the end over 80 miles to win the gallop.

Result 1st on stage 3

Connacht Road race champs: Frustrating race, all year we were given lesser riders a handicap now these same riders started with us and we could not get away from them, it was a tactical race so had to make the most of it.

Result: Finished 3rd on the day and 2nd in the Senior A category.

Mizen to Malin in under 20hrs : I thought this challenge would be easy considering I had done a solo effort over a longer distance in 17hrs 48mins. The group were strong but the wind took the wind out of our sails. We were away ahead of schedule early on, towards the end we barley broke the 19hr mark, Goal achieved regardless, all participants finished inside the 20hr Goal.

Connacht Time Trial champs: My TT riding this year was never up to scratch, but on this particular evening I felt good and did a 55. 29mins on what was a windy evening.

Result 2nd

2 Triathlons: every year I like to do a few Triathlons so that I keep in touch, my swimming was poor at Rosses point in the big swell, the cycle only average and the run was ok considering I hadn’t ran in a few weeks. 15th overall

Carna was better, swim much improved, bike section not happy but run was again pretty good. I used these events as preparation for Gael Force. Result 8th

I also think I was now begging to feel the effects of not resting properly after the M2M, did 2 races in the 5 days after the challenge, you think I would know by now…

Gael force: this was my 3rd time doing this event, the previous year I felt super and was well on my way to winning the event when I punctured inside the last 8k while in the lead, 2009 was to be my year, I had put in 5 weeks of specific mountain/ hill running and had scouted the whole route. The days coming up to the event I tapered off maybe a little too much, because on the day I felt blocked and a little nervous.

Did the first 12k in a PB of 53mins, the kayak section we flew and after that it was all down hill…. Re performance, no power on the bike and died a million deaths on the reek, when I got to the last bike section my head was not in it, even though I bombed home with the fastest time for the section. What I couldn’t believe was that I was very close to getting second, so the lesson is never give up regardless of how bad you feel… why because everyone else might be feeling the same.. I will crack this event yet…

Result 4th.

The Mask swim challenge: This was another event I organised, earlier in the summer the goal was to swim to mile rock, this we did with ease so then a few of us thought about swimming the full width of the Lough…. Sure why not.

We has started training proper in late June with swims up to 4 and 6kms at ago, a week after Gael force and here we go again another epic, 24 starters on Cushlough bay with only 7k of open water between us and a pint of Guinness in Paddy bar Tourmakeady.

The day started of lovely, but that soon changed, at the half way mark a strong South West wind was blown us backwards, one stroke forward 2 meters back… only 14 made it to the other side thankfully I was one of them.

My time of 3hrs and 9mins was no record but the goal was achieved…

National TT champs: It was supposed to be practice for the Race Around Ireland, it ended up one of my best results of the year, and ended a life time of cycling trying to win a goal medal at a National championships.

Joe my brother teamed up on a borrowed tandem which we only got a few days before to win the National Tandem champs over 30kms.

Result 1st.

Achill Roar adventure race Sept 12th . This race was one that I should not have done, (RAI starts 3 days later) but my ego got the better of me, so did it anyways.

Still soothing after Gael force I was hoping to make amends here even though I had no running done. Well it was the run the let me down for the first time this year, was over 8 mins behind Gael force winner Peter O Farrell going into the bike and lying about 10th overall, a strong bike over 49k and on the last corner caught all but 2 of the leaders.

Result 3rd

Race around Ireland September 16-19th: this was the main event of the year, 1350 miles over the hardest climbing terrain that Ireland had to offer, the only restraint .. Time, An Post sponsored our quest, we cycled night and day as a 4 person relay team (Dara Mooney, Michael Brady, Noel Brady) but were beaten by a stronger and more astute team.

This was the adventure of the year, no sleep, eating on the go, sleeping while on the move, this event had it all. For me the descents down the mountains especially Mount Leinster where I bunny hoped the cattle grids at over 80k an hour had to be the best thrill…

Result 2nd.

Connacht MTB Champs October 18th : I love Mountain biking even though my skills are not the best, I even design courses that do not suit but its all for the love of the sport.

A gang of us spent a huge chunk of time making the woods in Cong into one of the finest courses in the West of Ireland.

All the work paid off, the biggest ever entry for a Connacht MTB race. What people didn’t know was that our club had its club awards the night before which left me very ropy… on the Sunday morning, going into the last 5k lap of the race I was lying 3rd at only 20odd seconds, so never look a gift horse in the mouth…. so put the hammer down and by the end of the race had 40seonds to spare to lift my 2nd Connacht championship of the year.

Result 1st

To all the organisers/ Promoters thank you very much for promoting your events because without you there would be no events and sport would be at a great loss.

Analysis

2009 was a good year taking part in so many different disciplines and challenges even ones that do not suit me.

Results and performance were good, if I was to make a change I would have left my recover time after the M2 M especially after talking to other who did the challenge, everyone felt wrecked even cutting their seasons short as they had lost the motivation to keep training.

Key thing is to eat well, keep hydrated and rest as much as you can after training, but most importantly plan out your year, when to train hard when to race when to rest.. the results and performance will come…

I would like to thank all my sponsors Marrey Bikes, An Post and the Days Hotel Castlebar, It would not be possible to race without your valued support.

All in all a good year role on 2010.