Report by Adrian Finnegan
| Lap the Lough 2011 Report by Adrian Finnegan | |
| Sunday 28 August 2011
Registration
took place in an erected tent between 7 and 9am where participants
could pick up their complementary T-Shirt and cap and those fortunate
enough to have been there early would have received a Chain Reaction
Cycles goodie bag, filled with water bottle, energy tablets, cable lock
and various pamphlets squished in. Unfortunately I was too late for a
goodie bag and they had subsequently run out of Medium T-Shirts (tsk
tsk). Departure took place at
9:30am sharp and plenty of the locals came out to cheer on the
2000-strong group that had assembled on their adventure. After about 5
miles and escaping the main bunch it soon felt like the event should be
re-named “Beat the Wind” as alone at the front you couldn’t get the
speed up without getting beat back by the gusts coming off the
Lough. As we headed out by Portadown the weather took a little
turn and the rain came down heavy – but it wasn’t to last - as the
riders strung out heading towards Craigavon in search of the first pit
stop. I had spotted a mate ahead in a bunch led by Banbridge CC. As I sped towards them, overtaking on the right, it soon became evident that I wasn’t going to be able to squeeze in to their group and I was going far too fast. Rather than scrub my speed I leaned in and had anticipated shouting “scalped” to my friend only for it to bellow in the direction of the 20 others in the group. This didn’t go down too well....but I managed to break away for a few miles at least and have a wee giggle to myself. The first pit stop was around 25miles at what looked like someone’s farm house, where riders could fill up with bananas....and not much else. Water was only available from an outside tap and like many others we decided not to chance it. As I was leaving, I met up with Dennis, his son and Kyle and Dianne plus a few other club jerseys in the back ground. Pleasantries exchanged, it was off in search of lunch! Lunch was provided at Shane’s Castle outside Antrim and the queue was already quite large by the time I got there. People scrambled to find arm-bands which they had lost along the route or tap a buddy for a loan of theirs to pick up some grub and as they stood in line a traditional group played some “fiddle-e-dee” to get people warmed up. Food came in the form of tea/coffee, pre-packed sandwich, some biscuits and bananas or apples. Massages were available as well. Again no water! Suitably miffed, we set off in search of our bikes and I was glad I wasn’t still standing in the queue – IT WAS MASSIVE!! Every club in Ireland must have had a representative and it was pretty impressive hearing how far some people had come for the day. Police held the traffic at the end of the road and the residents came out to cheer (or jeer) us on as Kyle, Diane and myself set out to prevent the cramp from setting in. Randalstown to Toomebridge and then to Ballyronan for the next stop. High 5 energy drinks supplied gels to riders for the last push home and some stopped to avail of the ice-cream vender that had opened beside the Lough......but no water!! A little cheesed-off I and a number of others made use of a kitchen tap to fill the empty bottles -at the owners annoyance – but there was nothing else we could do. The last 20miles was a mixture of “are we there yet??” with a few breaks in the wind to get the speed going, met with a large crowd of supporters at the finish line to welcome us back from our ~80 mile jaunt. I was one of the lucky ones who was treated to a Hog Roast, tea/coffee and a massage was available to sooth those tired legs. Here we caught up with some noobies in addition to vets who had completed the event all 6 years in a row. Overall a
good day on the road bike, slightly hampered by logistical problems at
the pit stops. Roughly 4 hours 40 for me at an average of
16.9mph...everyone loves their stats ?. Cheers, Adrian |