MIL 3 – Dysart (Darrans A/B Report Added)

The Cat That Got The Cream

MIL 3 – Dysart 3-5-12

MIL 3 in Dysart was another exciting nights racing. As always it was well organised by the Lakeside Wheelers who specialise in race management. In previous years the Dysart race included the Lakeside Wheelers own club race. Luckily the MIL and LW Club race have been separated this year as 98 people signed up the MIL !! We are surely going to break the 100 mark very soon.

C/D race Report

The big numbers signed up for the C group, 42 in total I am told. There were at least 22 in the D group. After the hounds in the A & B groups departed (Darran promoted himself and went B, more on this later as he had a great race), the Ds went off. They were given a 5 minute handicap on the Cs. The general opinion in the C group was that the Ds might not be caught with a 5 minute handicap and a short 24km race to contend with. In fairness The Tank and DSchlack went immediately to the front and 5-6 of the SSCC squad started working. The Mullies and Tullies also worked their backsides off and there can be no complaints about the Big 3 clubs not being honest. The first lap was completed in 40kph which was a sign of the effort by the workers in the bunch and the relatively flat nature of the course.

Lap two saw the first breakaway of the night and this had three riders get about 150m on the peloton. Flash managed to bridge accross to them at the top of the drag so it became four. The break lasted about 2km but the Wheelers did well to ride us down. We were all still together at the start of the third lap and the gap was given as one minute to the Ds so the catch was definitely on. We could see them up the road on the straight stretches of the road. Coming into Castletown Geoghegan for the last time there is a slight drag and Seamus Buckley from the Tullies instigated an attack which was tactically well timed and it opened a little gap for about ten riders. We were also about to catch the Ds so with almost 65 riders coming together there might have been a chance for the front riders to get away. A small slow down to get around the Ds scuppered these plans.

There were only about 3-4km left at this stage and a mass sprint was inevitable. Staying at the front was paramount as picking your way through 60 plus riders inside the last 500 metres on a narrow road would be impossible. Flash positioned himself but fcuked up big time by thinking the finish line was another 200m up the road. He got third with Eoin O’Donnell gettting 2nd for SSCC. Michael Murray got his first MIL points by claiming 5th, Chapeau Mick!! Oliver Kelly from the Mid Westies got the win while Flash got a shock when he saw Oliver sit up and raise his arms what he thought was 200m premature !! Well done Oliver and personally I am delighted to see the Mid West club get a win.

It is early days yet but the overall lead changed on the night with SSCCs DSchlack taking the overall lead from Joshua Francis who missed the race. Eoin O’Donnell sits in third with Michael Murray and Flash in 8th & 9th respectively. We have a week off next week so we will be back live in Mount Temple in two weeks time. Other notable achievements from SSCC riders came from Andy M & Eamon B who finished in the bunch and had a go at the ging!! Great stuff lads, there may have been other Shanners who did this too. Well done to Darran who jumped to the A/B race and came a serious 6th, great result Darran but can’t you ever finish higher than 6th in any race???

Thank you to Midlands 103 Radio  for giving the league some coverage last Sunday on their sports show. We hope this will become a regular slot that will give the league a good platform to promote itself and the member clubs. Full results, league tables and fixtures can be viewed by visiting the sponsors website by cicking here: http://www.buckleycycles.ie/

A/B Race Report by Darran

Darran pulling well with the Bs

I’ve been considering the move from the C’s to the B’s for a while, and decided that Dysart was as good a place as any to make the leap. After the MIL 2 event in Clara several of us declared our intentions to move up to the B group for the Dysart event. I arrived early and was one of the first SSCC’er to sign on and signed on as a B. Then as the rest of the C’s appeared they all decided to try one more race as a C before moving up a division for the next race, so I was left as the only C to move up a division. That’s when the panic set in……..

I looked around and recognised the SSCC riders in the A group who be chasing me down ……Keith Fox, Tinman, Goldfinger and Bionicman. It was only David Connellan and myself with the B’s and at this stage I thought to myself “What am I doing here?” It was announced that the B’s would go first with a 2 min head start over the A’s over the usual route (4 laps ~35km in total). Off we went and the pace was immediately in excess of 40kph. I thought to myself, If I sit at the back and manage to last two laps I’ll be happy. But then the group started to work together and my plan went out the window, so I changed my mind and decided to do my turn at the front (a first for everything) So this went on for most of the first lap, nearly everybody working together and doing their fair share at the front.

I crossed the line to start lap two feeling alright still, but I thought that maybe this pace was slow for the B’s at any second someone would open up and leave me for dead. The drag out of Dysart came and went again without much trouble and I found myself at the front for the sharp bend at Castletown. I managed to get around it in one piece, maybe took it a bit wide and went over the Manhole on the exit, but no damage done so I kept rolling. The straight from Castletown to the finish was into a slight wind, and not too many people were hitting the front. Gary Bracken and Shane Scally, some LSW’ers and myself were doing more than our fair share at the front. DC told me to that there were only around 5 people doing all the work at the front so not to kill myself. (Good advice), but as I was feeling ok, like an idiot I kept taking my turn at the front and kept the group moving. Again feeling alright into lap three, up the drag again, and it felt easier than the previous times. So at this stage I was thinking I might actually hang on with the group until the A’s catch us, and they weren’t too far behind at this stage. They caught us just after the turn out of Castletown, and flew past us like we were standing still, most of us reacted and managed eventually to jump onto the A’s. At this stage my mind was racing……How long will I hack this pace……what speed will they do over the hills…..what will the finish be like!!!!

Darran only gets 6th place !!!!

As we passed the finish line they rang the bell for last lap and I snapped back to reality. I was in the back third of the group at this stage and thought to myself it’s probably not the best place to be, so moved up the outside towards the middle of the group. The hill came and I had no trouble with it, actually moving up a few places. At this stage my fear of the A’s was gone and I did a stint at the front coming into Castletown. I still thought that everyone was going to up the pace and I’d be gone. But as the pace increased I just kept following the lead group. I then spotted the finish line and as I still had something left in the legs, I put the bike into a big gear and gave it all. There was a few in front that I had no hope of catching (Stephen Franzoni, Peter Rimmer, John Murray)…. And I was waiting for everyone else to fly past me…..but that never happened. I locked sights on DeeCee in front of me and followed his wheel until I made a break out past him and hit the finishing line. I quickly counted 5 bikes in front of me….. What?? DAMN IT….I was 6th again!!! (I was 6th in Mount Temple and in Clara) But this week I was delighted as it was my first race with the B’s. Turned out I was first home out of SSCC too. DC was 7th overall with the rest of the lad rolling over the line just outside the top 10. Garmin stats for the race shows an average of around 40.5km/h for the B’s.

I’m sitting in 9th position in the A/B league table at the moment, just behind Keith Fox. Never thought I’d ever write that! Can’t wait until MIL 4 in Mount Temple to see if this race was a once off for me or will I manage to keep with the B’s again.