CLUB NOTES

YOUGHAL CYCLING CLUB NOTES 11^th July 2010

THE REBEL CALLING – Sunday 11^th July 2010

It was the Munster Final weekend and it was decided to take a trip up to the Vee to wish well the many traveling Cork supporters as well as the odd Deise fan. A group of 14 gathered at Moby Dicks at 8.00am for our grand depart. Up the Tallow road was the chosen direction which was comfortably done before the Tallow Road Conditions took their first victim of the day with a puncture. Repaired, we dropped down into Tallow and took the lazy climb out of Tallow towards Lismore which we made in good time. From there, we started the climb up the Vee and rode well on the climb all the way to the top where the traveling supporters were waved on. We then did a u-turn and dropped down past Mellary and into Cappoquin where we stopped for the coffee ( ice cream for some ). Refueled and all feeling good, we took off again for Dromina Drive and Villarstown. From there, we rode on to Aglish and up over the hill for Clashmore, and back into to Youghal to hit a wall of wind as we climbed up the bye-pass. Well spent at this stage, we dropped down the new line and back into town for 12.00 pm with a challenging 100km route completed. There was no notable nature calls for the day as the usual suspects were all gone to Thurles.

The 10 O’ Clock group consisting of 6 riders also headed East out the main road to Dungarvan on the good main road up to the Shanchie before they turned left and dropped down into Aglish. From there, they rode back to Clashmore and Youghal where they also tackled the Bye – Pass and finished their spin of 50km at around 13.00pm.

Ring Of Kerry 2010

Our annual trip to Killarney was completed on Saturday the 3^rd July past when a group of over 20 club members travelled to Killarney for our second biggest objective of the season. Many bodies travelled down on the Friday afternoon with the remainder making the early journey on the Saturday morning. The day started early for some with the first group departing at around 6.00am. The next group followed shortly when the departed at around 6.45am and the final group ( the lazy ones ) departing at 8.15am with a belly full of full Irish from the Gleneagle.

The weather was good only for the slight headwind that was a blowing all the way from Killarney, through Killorglin and onto Caherciveen where we all had our first food stop. From there we rolled on again into the headwind as we made our way to Waterville and the first major climb of the day up the Coomatloukane. All rode the climb true and strong within our groups but as always, the usual suspects, took off near the top to claim the bragging rights. From there we turned for Sneem and with the wind on our backs, we rode the bumpy road back to Kenmare for the second food stop of the day. Fully refreshed all departed with our relevant groups from Kenmare to tackle our second major climb of the day ‘Molls Gap’. Again all rode well together up the climb as a group before they went at it again within the last 1km of the climb for the bragging rights ( there was none of them claiming bragging rights that night in the Grand Nightclub ). As always due to the high altitude at the top of ‘Molls Gap’ it was raining so our decent was taken with caution until such time at the roads dried up. From the bottom of the climb each group re-grouped and rode back to Killarney in the Sun. A total of 178km was completed on the day by the three different groups which all covered the 'parcours' in a time of between 6 and 7 hours. A fine ride by all who participated with the other confirmed 7000 + cyclists.

It didn’t stop there dough. A certain element of the club decided to stay on for the second night to celebrate with the local natives. Unconfirmed reports tell us that they should have rode the Ring Of Kerry for a second time that evening / morning because they were partying for longer than what it took to complete the cycle earlier that day. In addition and on numerous occasions, they were also mistaken for being part of the countless ‘Hen Parties’ circulating within the pub scene due to a certain electrician chasing everyone of them that moved and the rest of the group following him like mountain goats. Why does this sound so familiar. Anyway, that’s all we can say about that before we get in trouble.