Dromara CC riders out at the sportive and the first MTB XC race
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The weather suggests that everyone should stick to the house but Dromara CC riders are a hardy bunch. The road troops headed over to support the West Down Wheelers “Leisure” Coastal Sportive. Andra decided to fly the Dromara CC flag and take part in the first round at the Biking Blitz at Ballinastoe in Wicklow.
Neil was looking forward to the WDW’s leisure run and his report is below:
Leisure is a word that is as far from the WDW run as the temperature was from 30degrees. Dromara CC had a good turn out for what was a sub zero start. The A run set off on the 63miles. Suggestions of dismounting to cross the ice above the hairpin were muttered on the start line, albeit a number of volunteers stopped the traffic so that we could all cross the ice with less difficulty. A strong group pushed on through newcastle towards Kilkeel and with speeds topping 30mph it was a lot of leg spinning on a compact set up. There was lots of Carbon on show from the DCC men however Jack on his trusty BTwin steed showed he could sit with the big guys. It was a 23ave. to Kilkeel before the group turned into a brutal headwind on the way to Rostrevor. The yellow water climb split the chaf from the wheat and there my coverage ends. I believe the lead group finished in a strong dash to the finish with Nathan, and then Johny Ward and Darren not too far behind. Somewhere in there was Ronnie & Jack also. I arrived later after a 20+ mile solo, whilst the second group splintered and arrived later still. Frozen feet, wet arse, cold as… but the WDW homemade soup and spread and the buzz of the leisurely ride made it all worth while.
Many thanks as always for the photos from the Belgium Project and it was great to see The Belgian project & Children’s Heartbeat Trust ( Royal Belfast Hospital ) received each £400 of the proceedings from the Sportive.
On a disappointing bit of news Nathan didn’t manage to make it home in one piece and neither did his bike as he was involved in a nasty incident with a car. Nathan is back home with a broken finger and a suitably broken bike but thankfully I am informed he will mend and be back on another bike soon. From all at Dromara CC we wish him a speedy recovery.
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Down in Wicklow the snow had arrived and the temperatures were perfect for eskimos. Andra took the MTB of the snowman and headed for the warm up. The course was covered in snow making it a real hardcore course that would test the best bike handlers. The idea of the warm up was to avoid seizing up on the first climb. The higher sections of the trail were snow and traction was difficult so cyclocross technique had to be adopted. The gusts, hail and snow definitely added a nice flavour to the race where she should be delighted on her improvement on her time last year taking 7th place. All in all it was a great opener to the xc season with a great turnout and every rider seemed to enjoy it. The organisers put together a great day as always.
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