West Cork – Ireland
Neil rode in the Crotty Cup on Saturday the 11th of May. The oldest race on the Irish calendar. The A3 riders were given an 8 minute head start and it took all of 120KM of the 132 KM race to catch them. Two riders got away and took the Prize. Neil also made a break for it and came in 4th.
A grand day out.
Watch a video here below
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It has been a few weeks since the last finished race. Missing a weekend with a cold then going to the Ras Mumhan and being brought down on the first stage and bruising the knee. The Kanturk Three Day was therefore the first race in three weeks. Hoping for some good results, in the end form was not good and Neil gradually improved over the weekend to finally get a second place on the fourth and last 120KM stage. Well done to Stephen Gillman on the win.
Watch a video of Stage 4 below
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Neil has now moved up to A2 which means most of his races in the next few months will be with A1 and A2 riders. The North Tipperary Road Race was held on a 40 KM circuit starting and finishing in Cloughjordan. Three laps of this flattish circuit on a cold Sunday afternoon.
Three men went away from the bunch early and stayed away for half the race until the bunch decided to work hard to catch them. At the beginning of the third lap there was a chasing bunch including Neil that managed to close the gap.
In the end two riders came in a few seconds before the small bunch which included Neil. Neil got twelfth place, which is a good result for his first race at this level.
The A3 and Junior race was won by Archie Ryan an old team mate of Neil, he rode away from the bunch to win solo. Great effort.
Watch a short clip of the A3 race passing by
A3 and junior race 80 km done 40 to go. #beara #allihies #kilarneycyclingclub #bike #cycling #cyclingireland #race #velo #ireland #irlande #irlanda #irland #huntwheels #planetx #NTW #northtipperarywheelers #cloughjordan
Posted by Balooz on Sunday, 24 March 2019
The A4 race had a team mate John Crowley getting Third place in his “first road race in a while”, John runs Performance bike fit in Killarney.
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On Patrick’s Day the Tom Sheehan Memorial A3 and Junior Race was run over five laps of a 20KM circuit near Carrick on Suir. It is a classic race that has been won by some illustrious riders, including the current top man, Sam Bennett. To get there from Allihies is a 550KM round trip, so we left on Saturday and stayed in Blarney with some friends. Neil deliberately missed a race on Saturday as he wasn’t feeling his best on Friday, deciding instead to save himself for the Tom Sheehan event. This turned out to be a wise choice as he subsequently went on to win the Tom Sheehan race in fine style. A break went away on lap one and it got a two minute lead before anybody seemed to feel the need to chase. The break was eventually caught though and on the start of the last lap Neil and four other riders broke away.
On the last corner coming into the steep uphill finish, Neil powered on and came home with a good few bike lengths for First place. Neil needed fifth place in the race to move up to an A2 race license. Neil now has 19 points from his two races this year. His next race will be with the A1 and A2 riders so it will be longer and faster. A great start to the season.
The first four in the winning break were
Some reworked photos of the race
Neil now has 19 points from his two races this year. His next race will be with the A1 and A2 riders so it will be longer and faster. A great start to the season.
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Well Neil’s second go at Gorey and what a story. Riding for the Munster team again which had seven riders. Unfortunately two dropped out on day one so the team was left with Tom O’Connor and Neil Hodges from Kanturk O’Leary Stone, Jamie O’Donoghue from Kilarney cycling club, Sean Lynch from Cork County cycling club and Pat Sheehan from Sliabh Luachra. Lot’s of training and extra experience one year on. So a good first stage riding strongly to finish with the bunch. A few lads up the road with over a minute lead. But finishing same time as most riders.
Second day had the time trial and 99 KM road race. The time trial was not too bad and made up some time on other riders bringing him up the GC rankings. A few lads with some very top class Time Trial bikes made it hard for others to be competitive, maybe fairer if all riders at this level had to use the same bike for all stages…
The road race some some aggressive riding with a group finishing ahead of the main bunch, Neil was chasing this group with an other rider so got 50 seconds advantage on the main bunch which put him into 14th position on GC.
Third day the weather was terrible and the bunch finished together with most riders getting same time as winner. The 14th place on GC was held and the race was over. These stage races really make for great races and interesting weekends. The next one will be the Kanturk Three day beginning of May. Between then and now though a few Sunday races.
Watch a short video here
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Took part in the B race of the De Ronde cyclo cross race located at the Tramore Valley Park on the outskirts of Cork city. I was told to get to the first corner first and work from there. It worked out fine and I built up a strong lead until the finish line where I got first place.
Delighted
Watch a short film below
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Gorey Three Day Cycle Race was great experience. Three stages of 103KM, 123KM and 93KM over the bank holiday weekend. Had a bad stage one but did well on stages two and three. Here are some pictures of the race and a short film of the start and finish of stage 3.
The average speed for the whole race was 40KMH, not too shabby.
Watch a short film here below.
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Viner Super Prestige Cyclo Cross Bike from Planet X .
Watch the video review here