Paddy Neary Memorial - Sunday 28/02/2010

Chips Lovell

Anyone else thinking of racing in Dundalk on Sunday? All the details are here.

RobFowl

Bit too soon for me the ice fecked up my training. The circuits not too bad though. up and down with no big hills. The finish is well ropey though especially when wet. Fast descent into a round about then up a drag into a narrowing road.
There was a bad crash there a few years ago with a car hitting a cyclist (not sure if he was overtaking or bikes were on the wrong side as I heard both versions), so if you do ride it be careful ....

LCD

Finish line has been moved on the ciruit. Is not a 400m hill up to the finish. Note sign on is in Dowdalls Hill GFC which is a few miles from the race circuit.

Chips Lovell

Thanks guys.

I don't think I've ever done a race that had sign on in a different place. What usually happens? Is there a neutralised roll out or does everyone just make their own way down to the start?

Raam

el tonto wrote: »

Thanks guys.

I don't think I've ever done a race that had sign on in a different place. What usually happens? Is there a neutralised roll out or does everyone just make their own way down to the start?

I did Coombes Conor last year, and it was the same scenario. Neutralised roll out to the start line.

Chips Lovell

Raam wrote: »

I did Coombes Conor last year, and it was the same scenario. Neutralised roll out to the start line.

You racing Raam?

Raam

el tonto wrote: »

You racing Raam?

Doubtful

RobFowl

Have developed a sudden renewed interest here as they are now running a seperate A4 race

Chips Lovell

See you there so. Be sure to introduce yourself.

Lumen

Race reports?

zzzzzzzz

Lumen wrote: »

Race reports?

Ouch

The Crunch

Martin Ridge (Orwell) won the A4 race. El Tonto punctured after just a few k. Philip Lavery won the main race. Shane Baker was second.

zzzzzzzz

Seriously though, not much to report from me anyway. Got dropped with about 7k to go.

The A1/A2 bunch caught us with 2 laps to go and the pace was crazy from then on. Heard there was a crash in the bunch before the finish.

Chips Lovell

I was in the A4 race, which took off a few minutes after the main race. Felt grand as we got going and was positioned nicely up near the front and even chased down an attack from a Lucan rider. Then disaster struck while still on the first lap and I got a rear puncture. Pulled over and got some sealant into the tub, which took a while to work its magic. At that stage I'd already been lapped and I didn't fancy riding the rest of the race on an unglued tub when I had nothing to ride for so just finished out the lap and watched the rest of the race from the finish line.

Aidan.offbeat was in the main race in the A3 group and was looking very comfortable until he got dropped on the last lap. I thought it was a great showing by him as it's his first real season of open racing this year and the pace on the last couple of laps looked tough with Lavery up the front driving things on.

The Crunch was looking good in the A4 race, riding near the front the whole way and I thought he might be in with a shout of getting a result but apparently got some severe cramps just before the finale.

Chips Lovell

Average speed for the A4 race was 35kph I believe. Average for the A3s was around 40kph. I'd wait a few more weekends, but on today's evidence, A4 was definitely an improvement in terms of making open races more accessible to newcomers.

Also, I really like the circuit. Good roads with some nice rolling drags on it. I'll definitely race this one again.

shaungil

What sort of numbers in the A4? Any hairy moments with newbies?

Chips Lovell

27 signed on. No terrible riding from what I saw and heard. One crash, which I didn't see, but apparently the guy seemed to miss the first corner and ended up hitting someone else's back wheel and went over his bars. He was the only one who went down.

There was a bigger pile up in the last lap of the main race and apparently a lot of people went down in that. I think it was the reason why I saw a guy angrily chucking his bike in the ditch near the finish line.

zzzzzzzz

Some pics of the race here:

http://www.bebo.com/c/photos/albums?MemberId=8819664360

Chips Lovell

I even made it into the pics despite my brief appearance.

zzzzzzzz

Videos of the finish of both races:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7mmVNzidZw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHLC3v1RpU0

IM0

aidan.offbeat wrote: »

Some pics of the race here:

http://www.bebo.com/c/photos/albums?MemberId=8819664360

please tell us that was a parody astana kit and not a real one (pic 34 or so)

zzzzzzzz

me@ucd wrote: »

please tell us that was a parody astana kit and not a real one (pic 34 or so)

It's probably the south dublin kit:
http://www.southdublincc.com/artman2/uploads/1/hamish_in_sprint.jpg

Slideshowbob

aidan.offbeat wrote: »

It's probably the south dublin kit:
http://www.southdublincc.com/artman2/uploads/1/hamish_in_sprint.jpg

it's a homage to Vinokurov !

RobFowl

Slideshowbob wrote: »

it's a homage to Vinokurov !

Like this one ?

zzzzzzzz

RobFowl wrote: »

Like this one ?

I vote for that as next years orwell kit

IM0

aidan.offbeat wrote: »

It's probably the south dublin kit:
http://www.southdublincc.com/artman2/uploads/1/hamish_in_sprint.jpg

parody kit so.