Monthly Archives: May 2014

  • Cyclists the underpaid Kings of Sport

    Some of the top riders in the World do earn good money, but the majority just make a living. These Kings of Sport do not do it just for the money. They do it for the love of the sport and of competition. They do it because they are bloody hard men !

    Read more
  • The Trois Etapes

    The experience seems to replicate that of being a professional for three days. Each team of eight has a professional team leader like former Tour de France winner Carlos Sastre, and a fully logo-ed up team support car. Each rider has a race radio and has to sign on up on a podium on a glass sign on billboard each day, just like the Tour de France itself. It is even featured on Eurosport with an hour long programme about the event each year.

    Read more
  • When steel was real !

    As a teenager who read every inch of 'Winning' magazine each month some pages held my attention longer than others. One such page was this full page advert for a Rossin Bike. At the time these colours were exotic. The delta brake calipers bordered on erotic and the Columbus SLX steel tubing was the materiel…

    Read more
  • The real Dan the man !

    Ever before Dan Martin came on to the Irish cycling scene another Dan was making a huge impact. For many years Dan Grant spent his days organising league races and ferrying the youth of Carrick to parts of Ireland far and wide. All the hard work paid of in the creation of a Champion who…

    Read more
  • How to win like ‘Bling’

    Yesterdays stage win has much to offer any young cyclist who wants to rise to the top, or indeed anyone in any field who wants to know a golden rule about what it takes to succeed.

    Read more
  • The Dole Gang from Carrick

    Stephen Roche was in an Airport recently when he bumped into a cyclist from Dungarvan. As the conversation went on Roche remarked that Sean Kelly was flying on the bike, going better that he has been in years and Roche put it all down to Kellys' training with the Dole gang in Carrick. Whilst it…

    Read more
  • Pink is the new Green !

    8 am yesterday morning Jamie calls to the door, we hop into the van and hit for Dublin. The Giro was on it's way and so were we. It was a while since we met up so there was plenty of chat and gossip to catch up on during the journey. Newlands cross appeared after…

    Read more
  • The Irish Giro Renaissance

    This past weekend has been a spectacular success for everyone involved in bringing the Giro d'Italia to Ireland. Darach McQuaid and his team deserve huge credit for attracting the second biggest bike race in the World to our shores. Today there is a subdued feeling as the event has moved on back to Italy yet…

    Read more
  • 5 ways to be a real cyclist plus 5 more

    1 : GET THE BONK - At some stage you must go too far with too little food at too high an average speed with too little training done and push yourself so far that you loose all sense of your surroundings and find yourself in a trance willing your legs to keep turning around.…

    Read more
  • The Great Western Greenway

    After a very enjoyable trip to Rathkeale to ride the Southern Heritage Trail last week I was left with a taste for more Greenway cycling adventures. This week I found myself in Galway midweek so decided to head on up to Westport just over an hour and a half further north to try out the most…

    Read more