caitelliott.co.uk » stage race https://www.caitelliott.co.uk/blog Sat, 04 Mar 2017 11:34:51 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 Ballinrobe 2 Day road race https://www.caitelliott.co.uk/blog/2011/08/08/ballinrobe-2-day-road-race-2/ https://www.caitelliott.co.uk/blog/2011/08/08/ballinrobe-2-day-road-race-2/#comments Mon, 08 Aug 2011 16:33:07 +0000 Cait http://www.caitelliott.co.uk/blog/?p=2457 Continue reading →]]> I was selected to ride for the Irish Road Development Team at the weekend in the Ballinrobe 2 day in Galway – a race I did last year and really enjoyed.

Saturday Stage 1 – 82km, 5 KOH primes
This was the most hilly part of the race so my best chance to do well. The race was a mixture of categories A1-A3 with a handicapped start so the women were off first. How much of an advantage this was I’m not sure since it meant a small group of us working fairly hard until we were caught by the larger men’s bunch after 25km. We were caught on a dodgy narrow lane descent and with the guys coming screaming past at breakneck speed it was hard to jump in. We soon hit the 3rd KOH of the day (the first that I would class as a hill!) and by the top I’d worked my way clear of most of the girls. The next climb was bigger again, still short enough to hammer fast but fairly steep, and at the top I realised the bunch had split and I was in the second half. As the climb eased off before the descent the guys around me stopped pushing with only one person keen to go on, shouting at people to work since the gap was only a few seconds and could still be closed. Nobody seemed to react so I squeezed up the inside and joined the guy to push the pace at the front – also thinking it would put me at the front for the descent which is where I usually struggle to keep up! My descending must have improved as I led down the hill and since the gap was still tantalisingly close to the main bunch we continued to ride hard trying to catch on. Eventually our group was whittled down to 5 of us and we worked well together to minimise time loss from from the group ahead. From the few glimpses I caught I think we rode through some pretty spectacular Conemmara mountain scenery but I was too busy to notice much.

photo credit: Conor Mckeown


Just as I thought I’d succeeded in gaining time on the other girls, a bigger group caught us from behind, one of whom was Sandra Fitzgerald also riding for the Irish dev team. Dammit, advantage lost. We were both pushing the pace at the front and approaching the finish sprinted for the line with Sandra getting half a wheel on me as I went far too early. Our group lost about 4 minutes to the leaders but Sandra and I shared the award for the most combative riders of the stage!

Sunday Stage 2a – 7km Time Trial
A lovely way to wake up with 10 minutes of pain. I lost time starting in the wrong gear and felt half asleep for the first half, when I saw the 1km to go sign I suddenly though shit I better start riding and got into the zone but it was a bit late. Finished in 10.49, losing 51 seconds to Sandra who was first of the women – of the faster ones I was the only one not on a TT bike though. Half a minute faster than last year at least.

photo credit: Paddy Doran


Sunday Stage 2b – 4 laps of 20km, 2 KOH
Another handicapped stage but this time the course was much flatter, you needed a spirit level to find where the King of the Hill primes were! We got in a lap before getting caught by the A3 bunch who were really drilling the pace. I spent a good bit of time near the front as we worked doing up and overs to hold off the chasing A1/2 bunch (which we succeeded in doing) but averaging over 40kmph for the day meant it was fairly hard at times. I would have needed to get into a break to make up the 50 seconds I lost in the TT but it wasn’t going to happen, the course was too flat. 10km from the end it started pissing down to the extent where we had axle deep river crossings on the road, water spraying everywhere, sketchy corners – I was in my element! With a few km to go I got up at the front with 4 or 5 of us pushing the pace on but somehow in the last km 100s of riders appeared from nowhere and I was swallowed up as everyone sprinted for the line. More mountains please! Finished 19th on the stage, 45th overall and 2nd female.

Cash prizes make road racing tempting, pro weekend – enjoyable too, if only I could have a parallel life I would do more of them (report on IrishCycling here). Thanks to Western lakes CC for a very well run race and the Irish Development Team for the support over the weekend.

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