Asking for directions !
One weekend recently , a group of leisure cyclists from Cork decided to visit Dungarvan Co. Waterford for the weekend and ride parts of the route of the Sean Kelly tour . They were well organised and had even gone to the trouble of printing off the route map online . ( soon this will not be necessary as permanent route signs are due to be put in place within weeks )
The group of cyclists were enjoying their cycling and were making good use of their map until they reached the rural spaghetti junction that is Mahon Bridge . The group came to a halt at the junction and were attempting to figure out what road to follow to remain on the route and face the climb of Mahon Falls .
Luckily one of the group spotted a cyclist approaching and decided to flag him down . The thinking was that this guy must probably be a local and should know which way the route would follow .
The local cyclist , all decked out in green with An Post logos prominently displayed gladly came to a halt in order to assist his fellow cyclists .
It was only then that the group realised that the cyclist they had summoned for assistance in guiding them on the route for the Sean Kelly tour was none other than Sean Kelly himself . The fourth greatest cyclist of all time gladly pointed the group in the right direction after standing in for a few photographs and having a chat with the group .
A good weekend for the group became a great one and the legend of a humble superstar that is Sean Kelly grew once more .
Barry
2 COMMENTS
Leonard Skelton
Thats Gas Barry, and whats even better about this story is that I was in the company of Sean that morning. There were 4 of us from Waterford heading out to Kilmac and then on to Carrick when Sean and two young lads from Carrick joined up with in at Carrolls Cross.
It was a priceless moment when one of the girls starting telling us they were going to enter in to the Sean Kelly tour, they did not believe us at first when we introduced them to Sean, I guess he didnt help when he said that he was not Sean Kelly and that he is always mistaken for him. One the pens came out for the autographs the girls knew he was the real deal. Mobile phone cameras were then out in force.
Andrew
Mahon Bridge was an historic place to have a chance encounter with Sean Kelly . He was on his way home after fetching a tractor from there in 1977 when he was tracked down by Jean de Gribaldi , who had come down by taxi from Dublin to find him. He signed to Gribaldi’s Flandria team and his professional career had begun.