An Post Rás na mBan 2011

The Ras na mban was absolutely superb.
RobFowl, I had an amazing team around me that worked really hard for me, especially on the last day to protect my 2nd place on GC, sacrificing their own chances for a stage win. I had the easiest ride of them all on Sunday - all I was allowed to do was sit in!
It was great racing all around and everybody loved the new 5-day format. Even Ryan is jealous of us having such a fantastic stage race with hard, challenging stages in such a beautiful part of the world.

Phew!!

I am in a whole different league to the awesome melaniespath, finishing Ras na mBan over an hour down on her incredible time. I never finished in the lead bunch, I never sprinted for the line.

But I did finish it. And it was both the worst and best thing I have ever accomplished (well, on a bike anyhow). As Vladimir Kurtains or Raam will testify, I was so overwhelmed by everything I'd gone through in five days of racing that when I finally threw myself over the line yesterday I broke down in tears. I had to sit on the kerb spluttering for 5 minutes before I could relieve Vlad of my pint of Guinness, from the tray of pints he brought to the line for his clubmates!

For me, everyday was a physical and mental battle to stay with the bunch for as long as possible. After finishing in the second group home on Day 1 (Moll's Gap), I spent the rest of the week trying to minimise the speed of my inevitable slide down the GC. On Day 2 (Valentia) once I'd slipped out the back on the big climb of the day, the bleak open roads & high wind made it impossible to the bridge the expanding gap, and a small group of us dragged ourselves home in the spitting rain.

Day 3: "a classic Ras stage" they (the men) all said over breakfast, .....as the rain lashed down outside and I pondered the non-pro option of racing with my gilet on. Midway up the glorious Healy Pass, despite my Team Manager's words ringing in my head ("Bury yourself to stay on, or you'll be on your own all day!") I was shelled out the back. The up side of this was that I did a decent solo descent (I can say this knowing only the sheep saw me) through the hairpins that might have been tricky in a big group. The quote of Day 3 goes to the team car driver who pulled up alongside me while I sat up & chewed on a bar on my long solo spin back to Kenmare, and said "It's not a feckin sportive you know!".

Day 4: 4 laps of a 17km circuit with a Cat 3 climb up a pot-holed road midway through the circuit. Despite the encouraging "Dig deep!" we shouted at each other as we hit the hill first time around, the pace was so savage that people fell off the back in droves, and we finished in two and threes, in rain and hail.

That afternoon was the Time Trial. Despite the thunderous rain I actually really enjoyed this. I guess I'm just not cut out for those longer-than-3km races....

Day 5: over and back up Coomaciste. My teammate encouraged our breakfast table with the happy mantra "Today we're cycling home, T-minus 95km and counting!!". The bunch actually stayed as one unit for the first ascent, a rapid descent and then on through Waterville and the pace soon hit 60kmph:eek:, obviously I wasn't hanging around for those kind of numbers. My solo re-ascent of Coomaciste was awarded with the vision of one man-sized chicken, and no less than two Borats in 'full' man-kini's running alongside tooting their horns and shouting support as each rider topped the climb .......awesome!!!!!

Participation in 'The Night Stages' wasn't really an option for us ladies until last night. I won't go into details, what goes on tour stays on tour etc. , let's just say that today our legs are sore from dancing as much as cycling, and one of the reportable memories of the night was walking around Sneem in the pitch dark looking for a chipper that clearly didn't exist, then finding ourselves so far from our pub that we did up-and-overs on our trek back across the village to it. Yes, we found this hilarious, beer does that.

Okay I'm nearly done. I met and cycled with some great people on Ras na mBan, some I knew before, some I never met and may never meet again. We did this together, as MAWS said this morning, "it's like being in 'nam"! I was so impressed by how encouraging each rider was of every other rider; we may not all be of the same standard but we each held our heads high despite the suffering, and we rode safely and well. Thanks girls.

Of this parish, Big Thanks for the company, and mega congrats on their superhuman efforts to MAWS, Godihatdehills and LDB, you each inspired me in your own way, thanks. Massive gratitude to RobFowl for getting me back in shape for last night, those drugs work man!! Thank you to What's a Derailleur for materialising on Day 4 with hugs and support, just when we needed you most!!! Thanks also to Raam (aka Mr.LDB), and Raam's Mom, for the shouts for the cheers!! And there are no words to say what a fantastic job Vlad did as our Team Mechanic, above and beyond the call of duty doesn't cover it, I mean really, washing our dirty undies was just the cream on the cake

Roll on next year!!!!!

fat bloke wrote: »

For anyone who hasn't vids

It's one thing to sport a Borat mankini in 35 degree heat on the side of an alp, but this takes real....ah.... well I hardly need to spell it out do I?




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuzIm4PCqXU&feature=player_embedded

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=z94gVDrvSNc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fPUsFYNaGA&feature=player_embedded

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