Read on for Jenny McCauley’s race report, and check out the photos of the girls below, provided to us by Marian Lamb, from www.cyclingulster.com . Looks like they raced well in tough conditions - the pictures say it all!!
Ras Dhun na nGhall - first stage only 33.5 miles, next day a 3.3mile TT, followed by a 53mile road stage and another 54mile loop on Sunday. Short stages, sure how hard could it be?
I’m still getting over the shock of stage one, the Friday evening stage, by far the worst of the lot. Starting at half 7 on a lazy sunny evening, the shadows of the boats starting to stretch in the harbour, all very relaxed and picturesque, and feeling kinda sleepy and dopey after a long hot drive up to Killybegs.
Well Holy God. Evidently I was the only sleepy dopey one there because everyone took off like hot snots leaving me swinging out the back before we even left the neutralised section - then the flag went down and a world of pain opened up before me..
There was no flat section to ease us in, straight away we were on a roller coaster road, lungs on fire until there were no wheels left to hang onto. That was it for me; game over. I glanced at my watch - only 10minutes had elapsed since the start of the race - including the neutralised bit. ‘Sh*te!’ I thought in disbelief, ‘5hrs driving and I only last 10mins of a 3-day race.’
At this stage I was thinking that if I could just finish this stage for training, I could maybe go on home afterwards, and I spent the next few minutes trying to figure out how I’d make it home on a bank holiday weekend without my car - I had got a lift up with a teammate - hard luck, I was going to have to hang in for better or worse til my lift home on sunday. So I put my head down and plugged away on the first KOM climb, and presently other hapless souls got spit out of the bunch and drifted back to me, while I got a rhythm going and tried to keep it up.
Eventually a group coalesced around me, picking up Fiona who had doggedly stuck in with the bunch ‘til near the top of the KOM, and as a group we rode over the rolling roads, working together and getting over the 2nd KOM about 12km from the finish.
Eventually we made it back to Killybegs, relieved to be back before dark. 18mins we lost on this short stage, won in a time of only 1hr 28, with Sarah losing even more time, proving how unlucky it is not to find yourself in a group, thus losing time hand over fist.
I was pretty disappointed with myself after this, but was assured that it was the most difficult stage, and I began to think, well if I can just get through tomorrows stages, that much would be a good weekends racing. So off to bed to try and recover before the next days ass-kicking.
Well, its hard not to be in good humour when you wake in such spectacular surroundings, shown to best advantage in the incredibly good weather we were getting. The TT was only 3.3 miles long, starting out a flattish road and coming back into Killybegs, so the thoughts of a pot of coffee and a bowl of porridge waiting at the end of it gave me some added motivation.
It started up a short hill, so I felt it was important not to overextend on this in order to be able to push hard over the top and beyond - it was a pleasant course which felt mostly downhill after that and not too painful. Breakfast was ready at the end of it and the next stage didn’t start til 2:30 in the afternoon, so we had time to recoup and to determinedly NOT think about what was waiting for us later..
Stage 3 was 53 miles - sure how hard could it be? After losing time the night before, we were allowed a handicap, so under the hot sun we 3 took off at a pretty high tempo in order to try make it over the first KOM before the bunch caught us. Unfortunately they caught us halfway up the hill; Fiona the savage upped her pace to slot neatly into the front of the bunch while I sank like a stone through the field. As we went over the top, I was in that desperate position just off the back of the bunch grovelling to try and make it back across but helplessly seeing them pull further away.
This feeling has become to me the definition of despair. Again, I was lucky to have some people around me and we worked together, but didn’t make it back up to the main field. Unbeknownst to me, Sarah was in a similar position behind me, not quite making it to the back of the group I was in - how frustrating! Luckily she did ride in with another group so did not have to suffer alone.
I was determined to get through this day better than the previous day, so I worked my ass off and fortunately there were others in my group who were willing to do the same.. I struggled mightily to stay on the wheels on every hill and drag, of which there were many, but determined not to get left on my own, and hang in ‘til the last KOM at least, which was only about 14km from the finish.
I had a panicky moment when I dropped a chain and had to get off to put it on again, but lucky for me the group waited - I couldn’t believe it, I could’ve kissed them - one of the lads said they thought they’d wait for me seeing as I was working so well on the flat - I’m sure he was being nice to make me feel better, it was a nice ego boost to keep the spirits up!
The group split up on the KOM, but I managed to stay close enough to the second half of it, and over the top came the hardest riding of all when they chased like mad to get back together. Luckily I stayed in touch - barely - and about 10km to go we caught up to Fiona - my heart went out to her, as she had put in such a great ride to hang in for so long, only to be caught by us so close to the end of the stage. It made me think that the only real ladies racing is in our ladies national league, where the results are not distorted by us riding in groups of men.
So it was that after about 2hrs 30 of savage riding we finished stage 3, about 11mins down on the winner, an improvement on the day before. After a generous carvery meal in the lovely Bay View Hotel (race HQ) which restored body and mind, I found myself thinking, well it looks like I might make it through this stage race after all!
A 12:30 start on Sunday allowed a bit of a lie-on and a relaxed morning, which I spent lying on bed hoping to maximise the recovery to my burning legs - it didn’t work, my legs were shot! A generous handicap saw the 3 of us ride hard together for an hour and a half over hard roads before the leaders caught us on the epic Glengesh Pass.
The preceding days racing had done for me, and when Fiona surged ahead on the ramping slope I had no answer and knew that if I was to survive at all, I would have to stay seated and ride up at my own pace. I was thinking, well this hill isn’t soo bad when I turned a corner - and the tarmac rose like a wall in front of me, rising around a couple of horrific hairpins.
I could see Fiona was bent double over the front wheel to keep traction as she went around the bend. Oh Sh*t, I thought, I am actually going to have to get off and walk, in front of all these people.. she told me afterwards she was thinking the exact same thing!
Thankfully this crazy gradient is only for two bends, and the road straightens out and becomes a more civilised slope again. As the leaders came by going over the top, Fiona again demonstrated her superior strength as incredibly she upped her pace to grab a wheel and pull inexorably away from me.
As individual riders, then whole groups, streamed by me on the windy open hillsides beyond I struggled to up my pace and hang on to someone, anyone, but the legs refused to respond and I fell further back. Eventually I managed to get into a group for a while but went straight out of it again as soon as we hit the last KOM, and I resigned myself to riding the last 12km or so on my own, while the neutral service took pity and plied me with some much-needed cold water.
The drags and kickers on the road back into Killybegs felt twice, no three times as big as they had on day one - and they felt bad then! A few miles out from the finish a large group caught me and I suffered hell to stay with them on every incline, but managed to stay in until the last km when I finished just out the back of the group, just over 4mins down on the leaders,exhausted but delighted to have finished the race.
Fiona finished in a group just ahead of me, 36th on the stage, only 3mins 55 behind the winner, to take the prize of first lady, a well deserving victor in a tough race. Sarah rolled in behind me, all 3 of us delighted to have finished ‘the toughest 3-day in the country’ and are hoping that it will stand to us in upcoming races. Fiona reckons that riding the Kanturk 3-day really helped her for this race, and goes to show that there’s nothing like a stage race to put a bit of strength in the legs.
At this point I’d like to say that this was one of the best organised races I’ve ever done, and although it has a reputation of being really hard, the fact that the stages are kept very short makes it really manageable.
We girls had a good handicap, our own lead car and motorbike marshal, and the prizes were generous. The organiser, John Curran has said that he would love to see more women in the race, and he will give us a good handicap again next time. Results of stages were out quickly and the hotel which was race HQ did great food.
The roads were really safe with excellent marshaling and I had absolutely no hairy moments with traffic, what a luxury. The countryside, for the few hurried, sweat filled glimpses I had of it, was absolutely incredibly beautiful and we were so blessed with the great weather.
It finished on Sunday, which meant no bank holiday traffic coming home either. It’s left me wanting more, and I would really love to do this race again, but to be stronger next time - next year! And I hope more of you will do it too! All in all a great weekends racing. And we even got a tan!
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