Having raced Ras na mBan in 2012 and 2013, this race is proving to be one of my season highlights. Its a 5 day, 6 stage race based in County Clare, Ireland, with superb organisation! This year I was a guest rider for the Lakeside Wheelers from Mullingar and I can't thank them enough for what an amazing week it was! Well in advance of the race the team had been out riding the parcours so we were well prepared for what to expect with each stage.
Easy to spot in the bunch, the Lakeside Wheelers kit.
The team had a meet and greet on the Tuesday night at Steve's (DS) shop in Mullingar, where we had a nice leisurely club chaingang. This was the biggest chaingang I had ever been on, with easily 30 people. It was really good to meet the club and chat to them about the Ras, although I did find myself saying "pardon" a lot struggling to tune in to the Irish accent and then trying to think up interesting and varied answers when asked a fair few times if I was looking forward to the Ras and we were in for some great weather. Everyone was so supportive and it just made me even more excited to start racing. The weather didn't disappoint either, topping out at 26 degrees and just helping me to re-cultivate my previously razor sharp tan lines (Rule #7 http://www.velominati.com/the-rules/)!! Its probably time to introduce the team starting with our awesome support crew: Steven Franzoni, Stuart Cox, Colin Robinson, Paul Daly, Sharron Barret, Lenny O'Mahony, and Billy Cunnane; and riders: Michelle O'Halloran, Sonja O'Mahony, Karen Robinson, Jessie Walker and me. The banter started right from the off!
Stage 1 was a 66km road race, starting in the evening, which gave us plenty of time to drive from Mullingar to Ennis and get checked in to our hostel. The stage was to finish right outside our hostel later that evening, so no long transfers for us! After a long wait at the start (a girl had gone off to warm up on the road only to get a puncture and need rescuing...) we finally got underway. We hadn't even left the car park of race HQ when there was a crash, I hoped it wasn't a sign of things to come!! The start of any race is always quite twitchy and I pretty much hate the neutralised section where everyone is nervous and fighting for gaps that aren't really there and it can get quite sketchy. Eventually 5km later the flag was dropped and the race was on. The attacks started fairly early on, but nothing was sticking until Anne Ewing nipped off the front and opened up a gap. It wasn't until we hit the only categorised climb (Cat 2) that we had Anne back in our sights and she was reeled back into the bunch. Apparently we had done this climb last year, but I couldn't remember it at all. Maybe I had blocked it out...it was by no means the worst climb ever though. The final 20 km was full of attacks and counter attacks and made for a fast fun run in to the finish! We had been strictly warned not to go round the final roundabout at the finish the wrong way, but this didn't happen!! The poor marshall stood on the roundabout looked a mixture of terrified and confused as the speeding bunch cut the roundabout and opened up the sprint to the finish only 200m away. I just made sure of finishing safely in the bunch and not losing any time, no kamikaze sprint manoeuvres. Unfortunately Michelle had crashed on the descent, but total respect to her for getting back on and finishing the stage! The Wheelers were all good for stage 2.
Stage 2, the longest stage of the Ras at 120km. This would be on some familiar roads from last year, taking in the Cat 1 climb of the Cliffs of Moher. I always think this sounds like something out of Lord of the Rings! The race HQ was at Loop Head Lighthouse, the most Westerly point of Ireland, next stop Boston. We arrived with over an hour to spare before sign on opened (that's army planning for you!) so there was time to take in the stunning views over the cliffs. In all seriousness though, I much prefer to be early with lots of faffing time rather than be rushing around getting stressed and using up precious energy!
Taking in the view from Loop Head Lighthouse, before the start of Stage 2.
The race was neutralised back down the bumpy narrow road from the Lighthouse and eventually got underway. Positioning from the start would be key, with the first categorised climb coming after only 13km. This was where the first decisive split happened, as the pace ramped up with the QOM contenders racing to take maximum points at the prime. It was then another 60km of rolling coastal roads until the next QOM prime at the top of the Cliffs of Moher. This climb starts off quite steep but is then more of a drag to the top. Cresting the top of the hill I was in a group distanced by the leaders so the chase began to reel them back in. With only 4 or 5 of us in the group willing to work, it made for quite a hard chase, but we eventually caught the leaders as we neared the final climb of the day. As would become the norm for the run in to the finish, there was a lot of attacking and counter attacking but nothing stuck and it came down to a bunch sprint finish, albeit a much smaller bunch than stage 1. Finally the finish appeared as we rounded a corner and sprinted for the line. I crossed in 11th place and was happy enough with that result given that I'd made hard work of it for myself at times!...
Recovery is key during a stage race and thanks to the awesome Robbo, we were extremely well looked after! His massages were spot on, well maybe apart from when he worked on my feet...I'm really tickly and this was a cross between being really tickly and excruciatingly painful. I couldn't help but laugh but inside I was dying, it was so sore!! Our recovery methods didn't stop at just massage though. Robbo had brought along an electric handheld massager that also had infrared for any injuries. Steve had been loaned some inflatable trousers that inflated and compressed your legs and then deflated, letting the blood flow back in. This felt so weird, but in a nice way! Robbo also introduced us to Qigong (pronounced chi gong) which involves opening the energy gates of the body with dry needling. Needles are placed between each of your big toes, thumbs and forefingers and in the middle of your forehead. I felt so relaxed afterwards and definitely slept well that night!
The inflatable recovery legs
Friday was the double stage day with stage 3 the individual time trial (ITT) and stage 4 the circuit race. I'll be back soon to blog about these...
Cheers,
Jools.
