Have you ever sat into a car and just gone for a drive ? It’s nice every now and again but most times when we sit into a car we have a destination in mind and we go from A to B. Going through life in general or especially life as a cyclist without goals …
Mudguards are only for kids bikes, or so many a battle hardened bike rider might tell you. For years we all heard about training groups in exotic locations like Dublin who wouldn’t let you join them in winter without mudguards. But we wondered if this was just an urban legend. Then some of our group …
Today I saw a picture taken at six AM in Dundrum shopping centre of the queue to get into the NEXT sale. Why anyone would want to stand in line to get into a clothes shop at 6 am the day after Christmas day is genuinely beyond my realm of comprehension. My immediate thought was …
Just the other day I was cycling along a lonely country road with another cyclist. As often happens when two cyclists ride side by side, alone on the road facing forward, conversations vary from general chit chat to deeply insightful and back within a few turns of the pedals. This guy is a much better …
For over thirty years a training group has left the old ESB offices in Carrick at 9 am every Sunday morning. Some winters that has been put back to 9.30 am in order to allow frosty roads to thaw out. At least 50 out of every 52 Sunday mornings the group heads up the Clonmel …
Guinness is the answer but what is the question ? Well the question is what can save cycling ? and the answer really might be as simple as a few pints of Guinness. Pat McQuaid as president of the UCI is the most powerful man in world cycling. Paul Kimmage is the crusading journalist who …
Lance Armstrong has been famous for quiet some time now, but in the past few weeks he has become one of the most infamous people on the planet. On the face of it there have been a few stages on his journey to Global infamy which could be labelled as follows ; The good : …
Part of what makes life worthwhile is the anticipation of getting something that you really, really want. Whether that be a watch or a car, a house or a pair of shoes, it’s often the case that the looking forward is almost as good as the attainment. For cyclists the item that dominates day dreams …
Today Rabobank announced that it was ceasing it’s sponsorship of it’s professional cycling team at the end of this year. The Dutch bank has been the title sponsor of all levels of cycling in Holland since 1996. Their support of cycling was huge and very beneficial but their departure at this moment in time is …
Cycling has become a two tier sport. Last week, just two days after Philip Gilbert had become a deserving World Champion a customer who has clocked up over five thousand kilometres so far this year came into the shop. As we chatted about various things I remarked how impressive Gilbert was in the Worlds. The …
Recently I was asked ‘what’s the best way to get to sleep at night ?’ and here are a few things that came to mind; 1 – Get up at five am. After a few mornings of getting up out of bed at five am you will have no problem getting to sleep at eleven …
Throughout Ireland many people earn names other than those chosen for them by their parents. Usually these new monikers are inspired by the actions of the person involved. There’s ‘The Cake’, who fell into a wedding cake at a reception, ‘The Runbuddy’, a builder who constantly walks at a pace even Rob Heffernan would have …
This evening I stood alone on the side of a desolate windswept mountain waiting for a lone cyclist to pass by. Why, you might ask would I want to do something like that. The answer is easy. Not as in, an easy answer, but it was easy to sit in the van and drive 30k …
Last weekend whilst doing back up service on the Sean Kelly Tour of Waterford I noticed quite a few people who made the 160k challenge even more difficult for themselves than it needed to have been. Preparation and energy conservation are the name of the game when it comes to a six, seven or even …
So much has been written and spoken about Lance Armstrong over the past few days that there is no point in me rehashing any of it here. Let’s just say that there is no doubt whatsoever that he had the biggest budget for the ‘best’ doctors and coaches who enabled him to have the ‘best’ …
Cycling in Ireland is in the midst of a Renaissance. Not since the days of Kelly and Roche has there been so many lycra clad smooth shaven legs on display throughout the highways and byways of Ireland. But whilst the last cycling boom produced a huge influx in the numbers of racing cyclists coming through …
In life there are many lines that should not be crossed. There are a few on a bike too. The most common being the thin white one that can be found in the middle of almost any road. It sometimes seems as if the iridium lenses of cycling glasses block out the sun and the …
( Great pics of The Suir Valley 3 day can be found on www.tipperaryphotos.com ) Right now as I watch a track sprinter from Trinidad in the Olympics I am reminded of a rider who has overcome many a hard road and come out on top. Mehall ‘Fitzy’ Fitzgerald was doing a bit of track …
Watching the coverage of yesterdays Olympic road race from an impartial distance left a number of impressions on many a neutral observer. The evening before Sean Kelly whilst being interviewed on Eurosport once again called it spot on. He could not see the British team being able to control the entire race with such …
There is a key ingredient in cycling success that none of these elements cover and that has become overlooked to a certain degree. There is an element beyond the max wattage and heart rate, a place that many cyclists are unaware of that is a key to success on the bike.