Think Racing, Inc.

Crack. Not craic, as the Irish say when talking about good times, but CRACK. That is the sound my body made with 10km to go in Friday?s 152 km stage to Seskin Hill in Carrick-on-Suir.

With each day of this race, I have been getting progressively more tired. This is to be expected with over the course of an 8 day stage race, but it has really hit me in the past two days. Since I?ve lost so much time on the overall classification due to my ill-timed mechanical problems, it has been my job to look for the early breakaway of each day. As you know by now, stage 5 didn?t fly. Stage 6, however, was looking more promising. I started at the front and immediately went with a decent sized move that included most of the big teams. The field, however, was still amped and ready to pounce and they snuffed out that move pretty quickly. After a few volleys of attacks, with Norty getting in on the action as well, I found myself with one of the Slovenians riding up to a promising move with a Murphy and Gunn guy (British pro team) and an Irish Natioanl Team guy. As we got up to them, the field hotted up again and absorbed our break. As we came back, up the other side of the road went one of the race favorites and eventual stage winner David O?Loughlin (Irish national), Eugene Moriarity (also Irish national) and a few others. Watching it go up the road, I knew that was the move of the day. I was spent from my previous few attacks and had no legs to get into that break. Norty had also just returned from a flurry, so without a Stelvio counter-attack, we were caught out.

I spent the rest of the day looking after Norty, who is the highest placed rider for our team on the overall, making sure he had bottles, pushing him when he needed a piss, and keeping him out of the wind. At 20km to go, the Slovenians, who have the race leader but no one in the break, started ramping up the speed over a cat 3 KOM on a highway, The KOM wasn?t that bad, but the downhill and rolling roads after it were. The field was lined out at 50-55 km/hr and guys started popping left and right. I kept moving around splits but my legs, which were feeling sore all day, really began to feel my early efforts and began to go away. Right as we hit the 10km to go banner, I popped. Running on fumes, I drifted through the caravan and found Pud. We rode up the 1.5km finishing climb on Seskin Hill together and came in about 6 minutes down on the winner. As the climb was steep and we were riding up very slowly, I had some time to have fun with the spectators lining the side of the climb, asking them for sandwiches and pints, and making all sort or witty banter.

Back in the car and off to the hotel, we wound up staying in another of a string of great B&B?s. This one was near Waterford, and I was able to have a single room. I?ve enjoyed rooming with my teammates, but it was really a treat to have some time to myself and enjoy the quiet of the countryside. Of course I almost stayed up too late as ?Enter the Dragon? was on TV. I forced myself to turn it off and was asleep by 10. We also went out to a nice Italian restaurant for dinner, which was a nice change of pace from the pre-planned menus we?ve been eating off of since we arrived (usually a choice of soup or melon, chicken, meat or salmon, two vegetables and potatoes of varying quality depending on where we were staying).

Stage 7 to Tullow was?well, it was. Smilie told me before I left that I may have a day where I get dropped on the speed bumps as we rolled out of town. Today was that day. And this wasn?t promising given that over the next 149km, 9 of the Ras? 30 categorized climbs lay in wait (including 3 cat 1?s) I was supposed to look for the early break, but I had no legs. Short of that, I was supposed to take care of Norty, but I couldn?t even hang with him. 10 miles into the stage, on the first KOM, I got popped. I wasn?t the only one, and I grouped up with some guys coming from behind and we mounted a FAST chase through the race caravan. But as fast as we were going, the filed was going just as fast. Guys were shooting backwards left and right. Our small group made it up to the 7th car in the caravan and could see the filed not 200 meters away, but we couldn?t get there. We all sat up and rode the next 70 or so miles at a talking pace, getting over the climbs and making the time cut.

Even though I know that I just didn?t have the legs to do it today, and I went deep earlier in the week during the break on stage 2, chasing after my flat on stage 3, trying to get ino breaks on successive stages, I am still a bit disappointed. At this point, all of the missed opportunities of the race start popping into your head. The ?what if? syndrome. What if I hadn?t flatted on a day that I had great legs? What if I chose to go with the O?Loughlin move on stage 6. Bike racing is bike racing, though, and it?s as much about character and luck as it is about physical ability. The character comes in when you keep going despite bad legs or bad luck. And luck, that affects all at one point or another in this sport for both good and bad. Nevertheless, I came here to race my bike, not to be a tourist. So it stings a bit when you wind up riding in 50 minutes down on the winner not having raced your bike at all that day.

Last night w went out for dinner and finally had a pint of Guiness (just one). It was nice to go out and loosen up a bit. At this point, we?re all so tired that the sense of humor dulls to the point where almost anything is funny, so there were lots of laughs. I?m sure if we had a tape recorder and listened to it in a week?s time, we wouldn?t believe that we found what was being said so funny. But it?s funny now and that?s all I care about. Things can get so tense at times, that laughter seems to be one of the only ways to cut through the stress.

Sunday is the Phoenix Park criterium. One fast hour of racing at 3:00 in the after nooon. Depending on how Pud feels, we are going to try to set him up for the sprint. Hopefully I?ll have just a little bit of gas left.

Unil the next, and last, Milk Ras entry,

MH

Apparently, when you arrive in Ireland you don?t automatically get the luck of the Irish as well. Today I had another unlucky break. To make a long story short, my seat binder bolt loosened with 25 miles to go in today?s stage and I once again lost a lot of time.

Here?s how it unfolded: My job today was to try and get into an earlybreakaway.After a 10 mile motorpace session from the hotel to the start to warm up, I started the race at the front and looked for the moves. The crosswinds were severe and we were going slightly uphill from the start. My legs were very sore from the efforts of the past few days and each acceleration was brutal. I infiltrated a few good groups, but the Slovenians were riding a very defensive race and not letting anything get away. I even had a go on my own, which was a bad idea given the severity of the crosswinds we were facing. After it became apparent that nothing was getting away, except for a pair of Scandanavians who put 3 minutes into the group and then blew to pieces, I put myself back in the bunch to get over the first cat 1 KOM of the day.

The KOM started just 7 miles into the race and was a 4 mile drag along the Atlantic and was fully exposed to the wind. The Slovenians set a hard, but manageable tempo, but the crosswinds kept things tough going for a while. Every little rise made my legs ache even more. I wasn?t having the sharpest day on the bike.

About 70km into the race, there I was caught in a bunch up on the left side of a narrow road. A bunch of guys went down, but I managed to stay upright. I rejoined the group, but again had a tough spot in the bunch toward the back. I was able to move up a bit before the next cat 1 KOM, Inchee Mountain. The KOM was 2 miles long, but the climb started well before that. In total it was probably 4-5 miles of climbing. I cracked a bit toward the top, feeling the efforts from earlier in the day and the combined fatigue of 4 hard days of racing. As I was about to rejoin the front group, me seat slipped. I hope no little children were around at the time, because there was quite a string of explicatives coming from my mouth. Neutral service decided not to stop for me and I waited for our team car. JT had to look for the right tool, but tightened the thing up while I had the time to chill and drink a coke. I thought the day was completely over and I would be riding in on my own. Well, my day was over, but I didn?t wind up riding in alone thanks to JT and Chris who had me hold onto the car until I rejoined a small group that was off the back of the race. This is HIGHLY illegal in bike racing, but it made the last 25 miles of the event much more pleasant than if I had to slog home alone in crosswinds. I probably would have finished over an hour down.

Tomorrow is another day, a hilltop finish in Sean Kelly?s hometown of Carrik-on-Suir. Again, because of all the time I?ve lost due to mechanicals, I?ll be on the lookout for the early breakaway. Maybe tomorrow something will stick. The Irish weather is finally moving in after 5 great days, so tomorrow is bound to be another brutal one.

There is one thing that I know for sure, this experience is going to make racing in America seem much more relaxed. If you?ve ever done Univest or an event like it in the States and you know all of the build up around that race, imagine doing Univest 8 days in a row, but harder and there you have the Ras.

Today was a hard f?in day.

I was woken up this morning by the well timed mooing of a cow. Swung my legs out of bed and as soon as they hit the floor I knew that my wooden legs from the evening before were still there. Even though I rode the last 1/4 of yesterday?s stage essentially on my (with help from teammate Isaiah), there was still stress on the legs. There was stress during the racing prior to my flat, stress from 30 minutes of motorpacing, and stress from riding a steady tempo for 90 minutes (if there?s one thing I?ve learned in my training it?s that tempo deadens the legs pretty well).

Ok, so sore legs, deal with it. We hit the start town of Charleville and there was a different energy about the race today. Stage 4 is both the longest stage of the race as well as the host to 7 categorized climbs (not to mention innumerable other undulations), including the first Category 1 (hardest) climb of the race ? Coonaspig with pitches at 20% gradient.

We rolled out of Charleville and the fighting for position started as we were riding 5 miles an hour behind a group of local boy scouts. When the flag dropped a kilometer 0, all hell broke loose. I was at the fron t of the action, but feeling very stiff. Each effort felt like it was in slow motion. We quickly turned onto more of Ireland?s finest narrow country roads. These roads are gorgeous from a scenic perspective (not that we get a chance to admire the scenery), but hell on a bike racer. Other than the motorways, there is no such thing as a flat and straight road in this country, not to mention the road surfaces. The narrow roads and the undulations make the racing mentally stressful as well as physically. You always have to be thinking, alert, and ready to move. Whether you are moving around a rider crashing, avoiding crashing as the group bunches to get a round a car, avoiding the car on the side of the road, or plotting how to get yourself to the front and into the action, your mind is on all of the time. I?m going to need a vacation when all of this is over.

There was one very odd yet serene moment in the race for me today, though. We were rounding a bend on one of the aforementioned roads and for a split second, everything was silent. It was as if the whirr of freewheels as we rounded the corner actually became so enmeshed in the ambient sound of the environment that everything fell silent. Then once we were around that corner, we hit a wall of cheers from flag waving school kids. A beautiful moment in the middle of a very hard day.

Anyway, an early break went and the group was controlled at a hard, but steady tempo (sometimes called false tempo ? hard enough to both discourage attacks and to keep the break close). Life wasn?t so bad then. But was we got closer to absorbing the break, the pace was whipped up at the front. And just as the pace whipped up, so did the crosswinds. We were lined out in the gutter (no echelons were formed except for the first 5-6 riders in the bunch) for a long time. Cruelly, about 80 miles into the race we passed through the finish line in Cahicivareen only to be sent out again on an agonizing 25 mile loop with 2 cat 2 climbs and the final cat 1. The cat 2 climbs were brutal as they were exposed to crosswinds and we remained lined out and in the big rings. A bit earlier, I had been caught behind a crash. While I got myself back into the main group, I was in bad position. As guys got spat out of the back in the crosswinds, I was left closing gaps to stay with the bunch. After some swinging and some touch and go moments (who am I kidding, the entire last hour of racing was touch and go) I made it to the base of Coonaspig with the lead group. Then the shit hit the fan. This climb was steep, and for those of you who know me, once a gradient exceeds 20% for longer than 500 meters or so, I?m in a spot of trouble. I was at the back of the lead group of about 60 heading into the climb, which is not the place for me to be on a climb like that. I need to start it at the front so I can lose some ground without losing contact with the lead group. Well, that didn?t happen. I came off of the lead group about midway on the slope as we approached the first of 2 brutal hairpin bends. Pud was with me and Norty was about 50 meters up the road. Norty crested the climb in the group ahead of us, and Pud and I were in a small bunch about 15 seconds back.

No problem, I thought, we can see the leaders, they?re about 20 seconds ahead, we?ll whip up this grou p, get rolling, and chase back on. No luck. Alongside Pud and I were a Germand and Brit who were happy to share in the pacemaking, but the 4 Irish County riders with us just sat on and then would attack us, completely breaking the rhythm of the chase. It was very frustrating as we watched the lead group roll away in the last 10km.

I?m not sure how far back we were, as I haven?t seen the results yet, but in the end I think we finished respectably.

Unfortunately, we slipped quite a bit in the team overall classification today as out 3rd rider on individual GC was dropped in the crosswinds and lost some time. If I hadn?t flatted yesterday and lost as much time as I did, we?d still be up there. That?s a bike race, I guess.

The highlight of the day undoubtedly goes to Norty who, along with riding well, has become the American ambassador for underage drinking in the western part of Ireland. As we were walking back to the team car after the stage, we passed a group of girls who couldn?t be more that 13 years old. They were cheering us as we walked past and handed Norty a bouquet of podium flowers that must have been given to them by one of the stage?s leaders. As a return gift, Norty gave them a can of Guiness that was sitting in the back of the team car. They were grateful, to say the least.

Tomorrow is another hard climbing day with a cat 1 climb just 7 miles into the stage. Dan, team manager, has informed Chris, director sportive, that he ?wants some fireworks tomorrow? that means one of us is going in the early move. Should be another fun day in the Ras.

MH

In bicycle racing, you have to take the good with the bad. Yesterday was good. Today strarted well, but ended bad.

After a refreshing stay in a hotel that served food that wasn?t left over from the previous evenings meal (if I saw another piece of cannelloni I was going to vomit), I woke up this morning feeling tired from yesterdays efforts but feeling good about by 38th place on the overall classification, just 2minutes and 6 seconds behind the race leader. And what?s more, being in yesterday?s breakaway gave me the confidence that I could ride with the best of the riders here. I was a bit nervous about how my body would react to today?s speed given that I went fairly deep into my legs yesterday. But in stage racing, apparently you have can?t focus on how tired you feel, you?ve just got to ride.

The race was very nervous at the start, with guys fighting for position in the neutral section before the official start as today?s roads in the west of Ireland were to be the narrowest we?ve seen to date. The race started on an open motorway and was very active, with guys attacking incessantly. I was able to stay near the front and go to the moves on good wheels without taking too much wind as well as avoid getting hit by loose stones from the chip seal on the road. We then took a left turn and the road went from very wide to very narrow. Position was key here as these roads held the stage?s 3 KOM climbs. I had a good spot in the bunch and held it over the climbs. The roads meandered through the very green countryside and I found myself split between focusing on the race and enjoying the scenic views.

We exited the first narrow section and I moved toward the front after Norty said that it looked as if a big group might roll off. I got myself to the front and was once again in the thick of the action and feeling really good. The legs were there. And then it happened. Riding at about 35 miles an hour through a small town I hit the lip of a protrudingmetal something and blew out my rear wheel. This was bad. The field was flying and I pulled over to the side of the road and waited for the neutral service car. I stopped and I then got the worst wheel change ever. It took over a minute (a long time for a wheel change) and the mechanic put a 10 speed wheel on my 9 speed bike. Because of the difference in spacing on the cassettes, this didn?t work and I then had to get another wheel change from our team car. JT, our team mechanic, did a great job, then it was back on the bike and time to motorpace my way back onto the field, if possible.

I was sitting behind the car at about 55-60 kph as Chris tried to give Pat, our driver, the lowdown on how to motorpace a rider. I was on the bumper for a good 20 minutes, but the roads were so narrow that we were going nowhere. Eventually, the car had to go back to the race, so I took some bottles and food and rode in the last 60 km. Isaiah was dropped form the main bunch, so he waited for me and helped me keep the tempo reasonable for the ride in, but I wound up losing over 20 minutes on the day. There goes the sport on the overall and my good legs.

On the bright side, JT took a really cool movie with his digital camera of me motorpacing off of the back of our team car and, if I?m lucky, riding a steady tempo into the finish gave my legs some time to recover before tomorrow?s 112 mile stage with some serious climbs. Right now, my legs feel like wood. With hope they?ll come around and maybe I can begin climbing back up the ladder in the overall. I won?t make up the 20+ minutes I lost on the road today, but I may be able to get myself back up to mid-pack. And who knows, maybe a high stage placing is on the cards in one of the 5 stages to come.

As for now, I?m going to try and enjoy my time left in the very Irish, very quaint, Bed and Breakfast we are staying at in Mallow. The grounds are right out of an Irish tourism ad with horses and dogs and the house St. Bernard has already managed to slobber all over my Stelvio-TeamWEAR fleece vest. Dinner was excellent, too. If you?re ever in the west of Ireland, I highly recommend trying the salmon.

MH

Stage one was at once both quite a bit of fun and a complete shock to the system. We began the day as usual; breakfast. But today, the energy in the breakfast room was undeniably different. You could feel the edginess of all of the riders and support staff ? it was tangible.

We went up to the rooms after breakfast as we had some time before rider sign-on and assembly. From the window, we looked down on a horde of vans, riders, and support personel all preparing for the race start. All of a sudden, this began to feel very real.

After sign on, we changed into our Stelvio TeamWEAR kits and had a brief team meeting. The goal of day 1 was simple; keep it rubber side down, stay near the front, and set Pud up for a sprint if he felt good. We weren?t looking to infiltrate any breakaways. Just feel out the racing.

At 12:00, the entire race assembled in front of the West County and we began our ceremonial roll out into Dublin. When we hit the River Liffey in Dublin, we stopped and were called up by country to ride behind a school girl carrying a USA banner. As the weather was exceptional ? 65 degrees and sunny ? there were plenty of American tourists out to cheer us on. As those of you who know mw well are aware, I am not the biggest flag waver in the world, but it sent a bit of a shiver down the spine to be cheered on in that way. Afer a pause by the Dublin GPO (General Post Office), we were announced and rolled off for a neutral 10km before the ?official? start of the race at a roundabout on a motorway. We rolled out calmly, stopped for two minutes, peed, and were off. The smack was laied down from the word go.

The racing was fast and furious. These guys do not joke around. One word to describe it: SWARM. Everybody was pushing for the front.After about 20km on open dual carraigeways (highways), we began to hit the undulating back roads of Ireland. I felt ok over the first KOM (King of the Mountains), but had a hard time figuring out how to race this thing. I?d find myself 10 guys from the front (where you want to be) and then 2 minutes later I?d be 10 guys from the back.

About 35 miles into the race, I decided to go back to the team car to get some bottles. Bad timing. I waited, and waited, and waited for the car as we had drawn a bad number in the caravan lottery (car #29?about 2 miles back from the race). Byt the time I got the bottles and returned to the field, I was at the back and we were starting the second KOM of the day. Bad news. I was swinging. The next KOM wasn?t much better for me as I still hadn?t been able to move up successfully through the bunch and was last man over the hill. We crested the hill into a crosswind and I was doing all I could to stay on the wheels. I did, but I had started cramping in my hamstrings. Some way to start an 8 day stage race! While I was doing my thing on the back of the bunch, the winning break went. By the end of the day, they had 2?06? on the big group that included the entire Stelvio TeamWEAR ? Orbis Properties team. Pud also had a bad day, so the re was no sprint in the cards for him. All in all, we finished the day alright.

Woke up this morning for stage 2 and felt like crap. Sleepy and achy. We had to drive to the start in Trim, so we were out of The West County by 9am and on the road. Got to the start and did the usual pre-race stuff; sign-on, bathroom, check the results, get a pre race rub, get on the bike (in that order). Today was 106miles of undulating roads through the countryside heading west towards Galway. From the start, the roads were narrow and the racing was fast. I started near the back, so spent most of the first 100km (62 miles) in the middle to the back of the field (with the exception of one foray off the front on a major motorway). All of the schoolkids in the towns we passed through came out to cheer us on, as did all the townfolk. It just made you smile.

After averageing about 28mph for the first 60 miles, I was feeling pretty good as the legs were opening up. I moved up to the front just in time to watch a break go off. It had the race leader, the sprint leader, a few Swedes and an Irish national team guy. I watched the break form and get a gap and then I went. Up a little hill through a town, I was drilling it on the tip of my saddle (for those of you who own a Fizik Arione saddle, you know how far forward you have to go to get to the tip on that one). Since I was alone and I was hammering through a town, I was driven forward by the cheers of all of the people on the side of the road. The feelings in my body vascillated between pain and the chills I got from hearing all of these people cheer me on. I made the bridge and had the pleasant surprise of finding Pud there , too! We were a group of about 8 and it was game on. And when a break forms here, guys don?t sit up and look around, guys just go.

My job in the break was to keep Pud safe and fresh, so as riders started attacking the break, I had to do a lot of work to either bridge to the split group or to bring it back. As we were attacking the hell out of one another rather than working together as a smooth group, group after group starting joining us from behind until we had swelled to a group of about 35 riders. No longer a break, now officially a split, we were the race. Xavier had joined us as he bridged in a group containing the tireless Brit Malcolm Elliott. It was good to have another teammate up there to help with the work of keeping Pud from going too deep because I was starting to cramp (again!) from the exertion. This time, however, I was cramping because we were drilling it for the last 40 miles of a 106 mile event.

It was a lot of fun to be racing rather than riding in the bunch. In the end, the tricky finish got us as I got pushed to the wrong side of a sharp right hander and Pud got boxed in. I?m not sure what the results were (by the time you read this, we will know), but Pud thinks he took 10th and I was at the back of the finishing group of about 20 or 25. While not a great day, it was certainly a satisfying one for our team as we placed 3 riders in the lead group and Norty was in the next chase group not too far behind. I ?m pretty sure we got some TV time as the cameras were there when I was at the front of the break, so Dan will be pleased with that I?m sure.

So,one of my pre-race goals accomplished. Got into a good breakaway and did some bicycle racing. I dig deep, though, so now it is time to focus on recovery and getting at it again tomorrow. The climbing stage loom close.
MH

Our mechanic J.T. and soigneur Terry (the person who gives us massage and takes care of our feed during and after the race) have arrived and things are starting to feel more and more like a bike race.

Slowly but steadily, the international cadre of teams stream into the West County, too. Thursday, when we arrived, we were it, the only team in the place. Now, there is a constant buzz of activity as mechanics piece together bikes and team managers and support staff get everything prepared for their riders. New York City?s Sakonnett Technology Team was the first to join us here yesterday. It was good to see a familiar face in their manager Basil. Then came the Germans, now the Slovenians, Swedes, Kazakhs and Brits.

After a so-so night of sleep, we went down to breakfast. Breakfast wasn?t all that it was yesterday, so I went to the front desk to make sure that tomorrow?s breakfast is all that a pre-race meal should be; oatmeal (or as they say here, porridge), yogurt, muesli, fruit, eggs, and of course coffee. The West County hotel restaurant has a penchant of re-serving food left over from the previous evening (or evenings). So this morning we were greeted by a plate of watery eggs and the same cannelloni pasta from the past two night meals. Last night, Chris ordered the ?nights of passion? cake for dessert. It came out and it was the carrot cake from Thursday night. But, no complaints, it?s a bike race and the promoters are kind enough to foot the bill for our meals, so we eat what we?re served.

Yesterday, before writing my last post, we had a debacle of a ride that took place mostly on busy motorways. Today, we met up Isaiah?s friend Collum who is doing the Ras as well (his 19th ) and he took us on a very nice ?opener? of a ride through the countryside. The legs felt a bit heavy and wooden, but that might just be nerves. The roads were narrow but the countryside was gorgeous. The oddest thing about riding here is that we have to ride on the left side of the road. Slowly but surely, I am getting used to cars coming at me from what seems to be the ?wrong direction?. Roundabouts and turns are still tricky as I want to go to the right side rather than the left. It?s amazing how conditioned we get in certain environments. Learned behaviors are hard to shake.

Luckily, the weather has been very cooperative so far. It?s been 55-60 degrees during the day and SUNNY! I don?t want to jinx our good fortune, so knock on wood, the fine weather will hold through the Ras. The five day forecast looks good, so fingers crossed. Some might say that we?re not getting the full Milk Ras experience if the weather isn?t horrible, but I?m more than happy to spend the next 8 days racing in sunshine.

Tomorrow is a big day. We roll out in a parade procession at about noon, ride through the center of Dublin, and then we?re off into the country. Tomorrow?s first stage is a 90 mile jaunt to the town of Trim. Apparently, it has some hills in it and guys will be racing form the gun. I think that our strategy is to stay safe and feel out the race a bit. There are a lot of days of racing to come and we definiitely don?t want to go too deep into the legs on day one. We?re all getting ramped up and fidgety as the race approaches.

Well, it?s time to get ready for dinner and then have a pre-race massage before hitting bed. Ah, the life of a bike racer. Sounds pleasant doesn?t it? If only the suffering on the bike weren?t so bad, life would be pretty plush.

Until tomorrow,

MH

If it was a game of baseball they would have invoked the “mercy rule” by now - but its not and at FBF Ken Harris further improved his “batting average” by taking another win in the 3/4 field. Usual story - if Ken wasn’t creating the breaks, he was joining them and driving them - but again - true to form - Scott of Metro would work tirelessly to bring them back. So a trimmed down field of 25 or so was all together at the bell. Another gift for ace sprinter James Joseph - one would think - and yet…not. Ken leapt off the front with just under 1k to go and simply rode away to the finish - sprinters be damned ! Behind Ken, Ted Neu rode a strong race throughout but there was a breakthrough performance of sorts from Andrew Cohen - who led Ricky Lowe out beautifully - only for Ricky to get blocked in coming into the home straight. Still - a shame to waste a good lead out so Andrew simply kept going and hung on for a strong 6th place - the lads got the talent.

In the 1-2-3 Alex rode hard. (’nuff said)

Along with a bad bike racing habit in high school, I developed a fascination with things Irish. From its rich literature, history and politics, to Guiness and U2, Ireland held me in thrall. When I was at university in Montreal, I used to frequent Hurley’s Irish pub to drink Guiness, listen to Irish music and read James Joyce or W.B. Yeats (until the Guiness did its work, that is). Yes, I was a young pretentious wannabe intellectual/literati. Although those days are (thankfully) long gone (as are my tan courderoy pants and pony tail), I still hold those interests that I held then. And now, unlike then, I find myself in Ireland, but not to walk St. Stephen’s Green, check out Trinity College, or follow the paths of Joyce’s characters through the city of Dublin, but to race my bike. In his poem “In Memomoriam: W.B. Yeats”, W.H. Auden wrote that “mad Ireland hurt you into poetry”. Well, mad Ireland (and probably some made Irishman) are about to hurt me into, well, hurt.

I am about to race the 8 day, 8 stage FBD Milk RAS aka the Tour of Ireland. I am racing for Dan Plitman’s Stelvio TEAMWEAR/Orbis Properties squad along with Mike Pudlinski (hereafter Pud), Mike Norton (hereafter Norty or Noodle), Xavier Melendez, Isaiah Adams, and our director sportive Chris Harnish. Like Irish literature and history, the Ras is filled with lore. It is a pretty big deal over here, with most of the top racers in Ireland competing as well as some heavy hitter from Slovenia, Sweden and Germany. The course looks quite demanding, taking us through narrow carriage roads and over some pretty steep climbs. It’s going to be quite hard. As was the case with Redlands earlier this year, I will be following the followiung credos: 1) Day by day, 2) conserve energy. But to these two mottos I have added two more: 3) maintain good position in the field, and 4) race SMART and RELAXED. Number 3 will be very important because no matter how strong you are or how fit you are, without good position in this bunch of 150 racers, you are bound to loose all sorts of time on the narrow roads and climbs. As for #4, well, that us pretty self explanatory. I’m a bit nervous about the climbing stages since the climbing here is not known to be the steady “power” climbs where I can get into a good rhythm and climb well. Rather it’s quite steep and I’ve been having some problems with grades exceeding 15% as of late (and these climbs will be that steep if not steeper). But I’ll take it all in stride and hope to get into a good breakaway on one of the days, maybe take a top 10 placing on a stage, and finish in the top quarter of the overall standings. Meeting those reasonable goals would be a successful tour for me (although more than that would surely be welcome). I also think that we can set up Pud for a win in a sprint finish on one of the days which would be awesome! At the very least, this is going to be a great trip, a rich experience, and an excellent foundation for the rest of racing season back home.

We arrived in Dublin yesterday (May 20th) after a an easy flight into London, a hellish connection at Heathrow, and another easy flight from London to Dublin. We were greeted at the airport by Alice, one of the Milk Ras workers and taken to the race headquarters hotel, the West County Hotel, about 4 miles from Dublin City Center. The West County isn’t a bad hotel, if a bit worn, and everyone there is really excited to have the Ras coming aroung again. After unpacking, a quick nap and some dinner (there will be many more potatos eaten in the next 10 days), we headed for Phoenix Park (the site of the last stage of the tour on May 31) for an hour spin to unstick the legs a bit. Phoenix Park is very cool, with a number of ring roads, a gas lamp lined main road and the U.S. Embassy of all things. The legs were tired from all the travelling, but overall ok (I wore compression socks on the flight and they worked like a charm). Then it was off to bed. More of the same today, although we had a frustrating stop and start ride after making a trip to the bike shop in the morning. Now, here I am in an internet cafe on the River Liffey near Temble Bar, Dublin writing this.

I am going to try to update this diary as much as possible, although I think my internet access is going to be limited to when I can get to an internet cafe. For those days that I miss, I’ll write a report and post them after I return. Although you’ll already know the objective results of my trip, I can still fill you in on the subjective details of the experience, becuase after all, this is going to be an experience. You can check the results and the course route at www.fbdmilkras.com or www.cyclingnews.com. With hope, I’ll be toward the top of the results sheet! And if not, don’t fret, all good things will come with time.

Best,
MH

After a disasterous opening round of the B Cup Challenge VisitBritain righted the ship somewhat in this mornings 6 lap Points Race. The pre-race mantra was that the sprinters of Blue Ribbon and Bennett’s wouldn’t have their way this time, hence Justin and Roger would launch attack after attack in the early laps to ideally tire out the chasers before Ken would launch his patented attack after a lap or two. This plan played out to perfection, Ken spending the whole race in a 2 man break with ML’s Mike Sherry - sharing the work and the points until the last sprint when Mike came around to take the win. A terrific performance from the 2 of them - averaging just over 26 mph for the race. Behind the breakway VB scored through Ricky Lowe who ened up 4th overall and Justin who locked down 7th place with the final charge up Cats Paw.

In the A field VisitBritain was represented by Leon, “birthday boy” Suter, Henoch and big G (ulla). I shalln’t attempt to retell a scenario from an entirely different field but Alex again showed his pedigree and locked down a solid 2nd place overall - with a 1st, 2nd and 3rd spot on the middle laps. Perhaps the most encouraging single aspect of the day was Leon finally showing his “fast legs” and taking the first sprint. Theres life on the Cat for the old Dog yet! Could there yet be a return in coming weeks of the old Red (and now white and blue) train ? ………remember the days of 7 in a row ?

The threatened thunder storms held off but confusion took the place of raindrops as Tuesday nights race degenerated into something of a farce. VisitBritain’s Ken Harris, fresh off another win last weekend at the Cateret Criterium took off after 1/2 lap and successed in catching the 1-2-3 field. At this point normal race etiquette appeared to go out the window as instead of neutralizing the slower riding pack (in this case for once the 1-2 field) the organisers neutralized the faster moving 3/4 break. No-one appeared too clear of this at first, but the golden rule of “you don’t pass the pace car” unfortunately meant that Ken, along with the other top hitters, our own Ricky Lowe, Dan Byrne of Metro and top sprinter James Joseph were all disqualified with 3 laps to go. This left a pretty timid pack fired up only by Metro’s Scott Willingham and his individual TT practice session that he was conducting during the race. Some measure of the lack of ferocity in the sprint can be gained from the fact that I secured 5th spot………….but points are points no matter how you come by them.

The VisitBritain team is now eagerly awaiting the upcoming weekend with Smilie looking to build upon his fantastic start to the season at the Tour of Connecticut, Mike Henson about to do battle in the Milk RAS in Ireland and the 4’s with an important CRCA Team Challenge race in Central Park on Sunday.

Saving the day for the VB 4’s at Harriman today was Alex Gulla riding a superb but again tactically questionable race. 4 laps of ups and downs, surges and lulls, cold and hot blasts - it came down to a group of around 25 at the bell - including Alex, Andrew Cohen - riding by far his best race of the season, Justin Reid and Roger Freidman. Alex’s pace up the final hill shed Justin and Roger (cheers mate!) - but Andrew hung onto the back of the leading 10 or so. Andrew’s game race came to a crashing halt with less than 3 miles to go with severe cramps - but up front Alex was charging down the final hill looking good for the win - but for the second time in 2 weeks another rider (this time a superb performance from a Hells’ Kitchen rider) who had sheltered alot more throughout the race came around Alex on the line to take the win.

The upshot was Alex now has the points to upgrade and join Ken in the 3’s. The higher category should bring out some more aggressive riders to work with Alex in breaks etc. which in turn can only be a good thing.

Is it penance for not being their with our mothers, or is there something about this race?

A cold start to the day and the Pro, 1, 2 field riding piano for the first lap, which was just as well as the race was stopped due to lack of medical support. Oh well … 30 mins later we were back in business with an Ambulance in tow. Tough course and soliding riding proved to the mood of the day … Craig Upton (Me) feeling pretty good proved to one of the 3 best climbers of the day consistantly finding myself takes laps with Kevin Brochard-Hall and Stig Somme at the front of affairs string out the bunch at the same time. As usual the race whittled down to a medium size peleton until the last lap when a group of 4 got a small gap on the climb… During the approach to the final ‘feed zone” climb, I managed to free myself of the remainder of the bunch to bridge across to the front group… upon arrival disaster! I somehow managed to break the rear mech on my trusty Giant bring me to a stand still on the side of the road with a mere 2 miles left in the race.

Somehow things never work out in this one.. Its a great race, but there is always problems with race, and then for some weird reason you need luck to be able to finish.

Another Saturday, another Prospect Park win for VisitBritain and Ken Harris. In the lull before the Harriman storm tomorrow - Ken again showed he knows how to read and dominate a race - especially in this Category. A break of four was again thinned by Ken’s powerful surges - and with 5 VB’s blocking the field - it was a winning breakaway of minutes at the line. John Kuhn (something of a stranger to PP) and Roger Freidman (definitely NOT a stranger to PP) led out Ricky Lowe to win the pack sprint for 4th place.

Fear not fellow Cat 4’s - Ken has now upgraded ………that still leaves Alex (at least till after Harriman anyway….)

It was VB all over the 3/4 race tonight at Floyd Bennett Field. A short opening race of 8 laps meant a good chance to stretch some legs and get a few intervals in. Justin Reid rode solo off the front for 2 laps early, but solo breaks seldom seem to work there - so with 3 laps to go Ken Harris launched himself off the front with 3 other riders. This was cue for Roger Freidman and Justin to go to the front and shut down any action, as its clear Ken has the legs to drive these type of breaks. Up front riders were dropping off one by one -so at the bell Ken was solo c.10 seconds off the front - he wasn’t coming back either. Into the final stretch Justin had jumped clear into second by 20 meters, but got swallowed up just before the line - not to worry that pack was led by VB Brooklyn sprinters Carl Roberts and Ricky Lowe. Roger too was in the points - not bad considering his intervals on Perkins Drive that morning.

1st (the wins keep coming for Ken), 3rd (by a tire), 4th and 7th - another impressive outing for the team

Though falling just short of bagging the all important “W” - the VisitBritain 4’s put in a sterling performance at Jiminy this past weekend. A full field of 125 rolled off from the start for 3 laps in glorious weather. On the first set lap a group of 4 or 5 gapped the field - Ken Harris bridged superbly to ensure VB representation but it all came together into the wind on the 2nd half of the first lap. Up the hill first time all 6 VB riders made the selection of the first 40 or so riders with Alex Gulla, Ken and Ted Neu leading the way. Status quo remained till the hill after 2 laps with this time Justin Reid leading the field over the line with a lap to go. At this stage it seemed pretty clear that a group of around 40 would be all together to contest the placings up the final climb, and so it proved - with Ken launching himself off the front with just over one kilometer to go. Briefly this looked like the winning move, but lactic acid is a terrible thing when the road points upwards and so it proved as a group of 5 caught Ken with less than 1/2 mile to go - including Justin and of course big Alex - So 3 in 7 with 1/2 mile to go looked good for a VB win but it wasn’t quite to be - as Alex’s 52 mile stint at the front of the pack finally caught up with him and he was nipped for 1st by a very strong climber from NorthEast Cycles. So near and yet…….not quite.

Still 2nd, 7th (Ken), 10th (Justin) 21st (Ted) and an aggressive 25th for Roger Freidman represented solid packing and a good result on the day for VB.

The plan all season was to “ride” the park races but “race” the out of towners - with Harriman, Housatonic and Fitchburg all on the horizon - this was a solid start.

The flyer suggest a tough circuit with a tougher finishing climb… In fine print at the bottom was a suggestion of a 39×25 or 27 gear ratio. For those who didn’t read the flyer, this was to be a sufferfest… for those that read the flyer it was also a suffer fest. In possisbly the toughest circuit in the North Eastern area Craig Upton manage to make the front group over the KOM climb by the skin of his teeth. Early in the second lap after recovering and collecting a second wind, Craig broke clear of the remains of the bunch and rode across the breakaway group only to realed in by the bunch during the 2nd accent of the KOM climb. Again hanging on by a thread managed to remain in the front group for the finale … Having nothing to give elected to ride the climb, managing a respectable 9th to make for a great opening weekend.

The traditonal season opener, and the first chance to test the winter training against some of the better regional racers. Saturday dawned sunny, warm and perfect spring weather. The race was fast and attacking throughout the entire distance. The race winning break formed early on lap 3 a good working group containing most the significant players and VisitBritains own Craig Upton. Kevin Brochard-Hall showed his fine form after winning the best young rider award at the Tour of Georgia the week prior to breakaway from the break with Canadian National Champ Perras (Ofoto) to win the race. In a sprint for spots 7 - 10 Craig manage to beat the remainder of the break to claim 7th spot.