Starting from their club house Schools Road, Boghall Road Bray.Reputed to be an easy course !

Team Car is getting well used. Today nine Wexford Wheelers travelled to Newbridge,great results for both Simon who came 4th and Albert 5th in A4 race.Luke and Johny finished in the group in A3 race .Conor and Martin had a great ride in the combined A1/2 .     

As the ad currently running on radio or is it tv says “things happen” and last Sunday was one of those days…… an early, in fact, a  very early puncture in the Bullring just as the group left at 9.30 gave plenty of time for warm up as we slowly made our way out the N25 to Ballinaboola giving time for the punctured one to catch up – we are a very chivalrous group : we never abandon one who has punctured unless the airless rider requests the group to ride on !  The original plan was to head for Wellingtonbridge and the statutory stop for cofee or just to catch breath but another puncture near Foulksmills and an increasingly threatening sky produced the sensible suggestion that a shortcut for home might be the best course…. as indeed it was since the aforementioned threatening sky did indeed deliver rain and not just  the  soft rain that is supposed to fall in Ireland but cold and hard  rain  accompanied by an increasingly gusty wind that made sure any dry spot was soon as wet as the rest of the clothing! The only consolation was that due to the intelligent planning of the route we at least had the wind behind us! Needless to add, conditions became such that getting home quickly  became the top priority and the group broke up into smaller groups of cyclists fleeing before the deluge!  Nevertheless I’m sure most of the cyclists congratulated themselves on getting out for a couple of hours on a Sunday in January!

In recognition of the rather cold weather prevailing only the hardy turned up at the Bullring  Sunday 18th for the weekly spin. Having allowed the training spin leave first, the stalwarths of the tour left in the capable hands of the incomparable George Ryan taking a north westerly bearing for Killurin and Bree. Progress was steady along the road to Kiltealy until we reached the grotto at Ballybrennan (a very attractive way side devotional spot built on the site of a well deidicated to St. Cuan and no doubt a Celtic place of worship in pre-Christian times) where we turned left for Adamstown where a welcome stop was made  at the local supermarket to warm those parts our exertions hadn’t reached.

After the break it was straight down to the N25 and a very pleasant cycle back to town with the wind in our backs and the weak winter sun almost persuading us spring had arrived!

Mark, George, Michael, Gary and some really angry depressed looking guy!!!!!

This is our chairman riding the Sean Kelly Tour last August. It was a tough day!!!

Bottom of Climb                                   Top of Climb

On 19 August, the Sean Kelly Tour will take place in Co. Waterford. This will be a fundraiser for the National Council for the Blind of Ireland. There will be three distances, 45, 100 and 160 kms. All members of Wexford Wheelers are encouraged to take part. Sean Kelly has been a good firend and supporter of our club, most recently in his participation in our annual Christmas hamper race.

Further information on the event is available on www.theseankellytour.com.

Well the team of 4 that started the 3-day today finished despite the hand of luck being firmly slapping away at the team. Martin had a better day on day 2 with a blistering TT and managed to break away on the last lap of the afternoon stage but the day took its toll and Martin cramped on the Craanford climb. Patrick punctured on the second day again after hitting a small crater otherwise known as a Craanford pot hole. They say bad luck comes in 3’s so Patrick duely punctured on the last day too and broke a few spokes for good measure. Last year was no different!

Mark successfully completed his latest Gorey 3-day after many-a-year gap and this will surely set him up for the season. Conor unsurprisingly floated through the 3 days effortlessly and is believed to have got a good finish on the last stage.

As we know the 3-day is a demanding even

Wexford Wheelers will be represented this year in the Tour of Flanders, or “Ronde van Vlaanderen” for those of us in the know. The Tour of Flanders takes place on the 8th of April (Gorey 3-day weekend). Yes, the club knows no boundaries in it’s quest for competition. OK, so it’s not the professional race but it is on the same route. Dr. David Curtis will be taking place in what’s called a randonee, or organised tour. This takes place on thr 7th April and David hopes to complete the full circuit (several shorter options are available including a mountain bike route). He will be accompanied by his brothers in law who have completed this circuit in 12 hours.

They won’t be alone – last year some 15,000 competitors took part! Now there’s a sign on I want to see! In an interview during the week Dr. Davd informed me that this was very, very reasonably priced with flights, car, accommodation, etc costing less than a good weekend in Ireland.

This may be one for other members to take advantage of in the future so we’ll wait Davids feedback. We wish him the best of luck…and David, bring us back a stick of rock, eh!

Details are very limited for this event but you may find some information through Google or the following link:

http://www.sport.be/cycling/rondevanvlaanderen/2007/eng/