Rás na mBan

After hearing great things about it for the last couple of years, I finally gave in to road racing and went down to Kerry this weekend for the Ras Na Mban, a 3 day international women’s stage race. There were loads of top roadies including the Irish team headed by USA based pro national champ Olivia Dillion, as well as top teams from the UK, Holland and Germany. A good test then! Based in the Sneem hotel on the ring of Kerry, we had 3 days of luxury living and spectacular scenery.

Stage 1 – too much scenery

We started Friday evening in glorious sunshine with a 60km loop taking in two fairly big climbs including the Conor Pass. After a parade lap of the village we set off along narrow, pothole filled roads in a bunch of 70 riders flying along at high speed – pretty damn scary! However, I soon felt more comfortable and managed to move up towards the front. After 20 minutes or so I heard a loud psssstt as we hit a descent, uh oh, puncture. I had to let the whole bunch pass before I could pull over and wait for the last neutral service car to pull over and give me a wheel.

The change took a while and by the time I was back on the bike the group was long gone. The car drove off into the distance rather than pacing me back so for ten minutes I had to go flat out to chase back on. A few times I got within sight of the last of the support cars as the road went uphill but they’d soon disappear again. I couldn’t keep that speed up for long so cut back to a fast tempo pace, hoping if I attacked again on the climb I might have a chance. I picked up a couple of dropped riders along the way so took it in turns to ride in front but as soon as the road sloped up 10km from the top of the climb I left them behind and was out on my own. I put my head down and began picking off others who had fallen behind. As the summit came in sight I could see the bunch again but as soon as they were over the top they had the advantage of group shelter on a windy descent and I had no chance to get back – Kerry needs bigger mountains! At least I got the chance to look at the view a bit since the scenery was pretty spectacular, but that’s not what I was there for and I wasn’t in the mood for enjoying it.

All day I hoped one of the girls I passed might be someone strong who’d had mechanical trouble so we might work together to chase, but no such luck. So I probably spent 40km out on my own and working hard for no benefit and most frustratingly, missing all the action of the day. My legs felt great too. I made up a few places to finish 48th , 11.5 minutes down. Not impressed.

Stage 2 – more drama

More good weather and another chance, this time 4 laps of a course totalling 80km passing through Sneem village each time. There was an undulating section that would have been easier on a mountain bike with the number of potholes, one longish draggy climb along a very narrow country road, and an open fast descent.
The first lap felt easy, my legs much better than expected after yesterday. I was starting to feel much more comfortable riding in the bunch and was able to move up near the front as I needed to. On the climb on lap two one of the Dutch girls attacked and 5 or 6 of us got up and chased like hell – suddenly the climb felt much bigger. I held on but was in the wrong place to sprint for the preem at the top, no problem though, I knew where to be for the next time. This was more like it, starting to get interesting!

Lap 3 and still going strong – towards the front but restraining myself from getting sucked into doing to much work. Descending into the village was super fast and a little scary, theres no freewheeling, its actually much harder than climbing to pedal flat out into the wind! There was a sprint for the line and I came through in a good place, then ppsssstt. NOT AGAIN!! This time I pulled over instantly and got a fast wheel change but of course the bunch was off round the corner and up the hill by the time I was back on the bike. There was no way I was getting dropped again, it had all been going so well. I went like a maniac and quickly got back to the support cars. I probably should have take breaks to shelter behind them but wasn’t taking chances – it was big ring, lungs bursting, flat out pedalling to overtake the cars and get back to the bunch. Massive relief, I managed it but was pretty wrecked. I put in another effort to move half way up the group before we hit the narrow road for the climb – at that point I’d intended to be at the front since it looked like the race would come down to an attack on the last climb. I was right but I couldn’t get up there and missed the breakaway.

We hammered down the final descent into the village and there was a big sprint for the line. I’m terrible at timing these things but better than usual to finish 10th on the stage 1.5 mins behind a small break group. So I probably should have been happy taking the puncture into consideration but I was pretty gutted at a wasted opportunity. I was feeling much more confident with reading the race and am sure I could have got into the breakaway if I’d had an issue free day.

Stage 2b

Saturday afternoon was a 2km time trial mostly downhill into the village. Had a good lunch a lie down and a sneaky massage after the first race but my legs felt wrecked. 3 minutes of extreme pain wasn’t much fun at all, longer would suit me much better, it wasn’t enough time to get up to speed. I’d got myself a reputation at that stage and there were people waving spare wheels at me as I raced down the road, I had to stop myself laughing! Finished 27th and moved up to 34th in the GC. Olivia Dillion showed us all how it’s done with a very impressive ride, putting 14 seconds into the nearest rider.

Stage 3

Last chance! Today was the longest stage, 90km mostly on good wide roads with views out to sea and a long climb up either side of Coomaciste. Since I was out of contention for everything I hoped I might get chance to attempt at a break and challenge for the stage. Unfortunately the good weather was over and we woke up to rain and cloud covered mountains – the thought of those fast descents and close bunch riding in the wet scared the hell out of me but no time for that!

It was all getting very interesting, for the first time in a road race I was starting to understand what was going on – who to watch out for, what each of the different teams were aiming for and what they might try to do, which people were worth following into a break and which should be ignored. It worked out ok being the only UCD rider, I didn’t have to work for someone and could let the teams sit at the front. I realised that whenever we were coming towards a climb I needed to be towards the front – I could keep up with the fast climbers so that was my best chance of joining a break.

The pace up the first big climb was pretty savage, someone jumped and a stream of us went, hammering into the drizzling rain and doing everything to stick to the wheel in front. I nearly lost it when the girl in front dropped back but just managed to jump up past her. We finally got to the top but little did I realise the hard bit was yet to come, the descent! Water spraying everywhere, pedalling flat out, hurtling down the hill. Mental!

After a flat loop getting cheered on tour de france style through the villages we hit the climb again. This time I was on the front for ages but it was fairly sheltered and steady so felt ok and when the attack finally came it was only short pain. The descent was slightly drier now and the pace went bananas again, I went from being towards the front to clinging on for dear life at the back of the lead group. There was a nasty crash at one stage which I somehow missed by inches but seeing a girls head bounce off the road as we hurtled by wasn’t nice.

The road flattened and I went up the outside to get into a better position but found myself riding alongside Olivia at the front. I looked around and couldn’t see many of the girls I was watching out for so decided to have a dig. If I wanted to do well in the stage I thought I should try to avoid a final sprint since I’m rubbish at them. So head down, sprinting like a maniac and I was off. God that hurt, my heart nearly popped out my mouth. I got a bit of a gap but now had to ignore my burning legs and calm my donkey breathing to maintain it. I stuck out there for a while but eventually got chased down. Worth a try!

I just managed to recover enough to stick to the group as the pace kicked up again climbing the final hill, but I wasn’t able for being at the front. For the final 7 or 8 km there was attack after attack and as the group got smaller and smaller I had to dig deep to hold on. The pace on the climbs was fine for me but pedalling descents was really hard! We came around the last bend before the village and I was too far back – I thought before that that was the place to be in front since we had to cross a narrow bridge before an uphill sprint to the finish. Somehow though the sprint seemed to wait and I got over the bridge and started to pass people. I went flat out and managed to get 9th on the stage with slightly improved sprint timing. It was cool to have my name painted on the road by the local kids too!

So results wise it was an incredibly frustrating race, I won’t be racing with old tyres again! I was 29th in the GC but it was a race of what could have been. I have to admit it was brilliant though and I’ll have to go back next year to do it justice. Coming back to a luxury hotel with dinner cooked for you every day after the race, and staying with so many other girls all into riding was great. Thank god there is one more weekend of mtb racing before the end of the year or it might have a funny affect on my brain!

A massive thanks to my UCD team mate Louise for all her help with tactical advice, race support and running around finding tyres for me – made my life a lot easier! Also to UCD CC for their assistance and to everyone at the CI women’s commission for doing a fantastic job with organisation. Now I’m off to buy some new tyres!

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