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rossi colin

New year and Club Dinner 07 Jan 2012 Click here for photo's

Its January again and we decided that an early start was on the cards so Brian and Colin passed the early start around via Teamer text and for the less tech minded (Tommy via a phoned call). We met at the lay by Brian brought some of the Harps club cyclists along and there were a few others making a total of 18 on the road. We decided that we would have a brew at Coalisland so we set off toward Portadown which we skirted and headed to the Bann foot through Maghery and over the foot bridge. We carried on towards Coalisland and a few miles out split into two groups to stagger the arrival at the cafe. Refreshed the two groups carried on their separate ways with a shorter route home and a longer more hilly route. All were back at the lay by by 2pm after a very good day out on our bikes. That evening we had our Club Dinner at Tandragee Golf club a really good night had by all very well organized by Francis. We had a quiz to finish the evening off thanks to Francis and Heather for that. I do have to report that apparently Paul cleans his bike 30 times a year to the uninitiated this may seem a trifle excessive but to members of Steady Know better after all there are 52 weeks in the year allowing for injury's holidays that takes you to 48 ish in the summer, you may be out three or four times a week and the bike will need cleaning and checking after most of these, so this should add at least 30+ cleaning sessions. I feel that it may fall upon me to report this to the relevant authorities (RSPCB) the Royal Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Bicycles taking all this into account if Paul has only cleaned his bike 30 times and Heather denies cleaning it then who did?

Etape Hibernia

Etape Hibernia 21st August 2011. 84 miles and 1140 meters of climbing. This was a club tour to lovely Co Clare. 8 of us made the trip to Ennis to participate in this 84 mile closed road event organized by Sky Rides.
Having eaten at a local Italian restaurant the night before some of us started the ride bright eyed and bushy tailed fueled with last night's pasta meal , others were not so lucky having eaten some dodgy lasagne which caused some serious gastric upset ! However we ladies are made of tough stuff and with timing chips securely fixed to the front wheels off we set at 7.05 am determined to stay the pace and take advantage of the Steady peloton. We started at a nicely sedate pace to get all the muscles properly warmed up, dodged a few light showers, stopped once or was it twice to admire the behind the hedge countryside, and to take on food and drinks. Bananas, flapjacks, energy bars, water and energy drinks were supplied at the feed stops. For the first 30- 40 miles the 3 girls wisely stayed at the back of the group making the most of the tow provided by Colin, Terry, Rossi, Charlie and Tony.
The weather picked up by mid morning and the sun shone, there was a light breeze and high white clouds..... ideal conditions. The route undulates through rural Co Clare over the Burren and along the coast from Ballyvaughan to Spanish Point.
There were a few mechanical problems and some extended feed/toilet stops which meant that by 60 miles we were becoming aware of the approaching sweeper van! The sweeper van was an extremely menacing looking vehicle which traveled round the course at 13mph and it was highly desirable to keep ahead of it, rather than forfeit your timing chip! It was also a support vehicle for those who needed a wee lift to the end. After 72 painful miles suffering from mega mechanical problems and gastric cramps Jenny reluctantly took a lift.
Not wishing to lose any street cred the 5 men soon lost Arlene and Frances in a mad 20 mile sprint to claim their medals.... suddenly admiring the scenery lost its appeal, weak bladders got glued and all chivalrous deeds were abandoned.......... it was every man and woman for himself!
Spurred on by the threat of losing the chip Arlene and Frances also raced the last 20 miles against the sweeper van, the other cyclists, against each other , and I think Arlene deserves a particular mention for her sudden change into Nicole Cooke. She ate and ate and drank and drank and assumed an aggressiveness never observed before! She practically nudged anyone out of the way (closed roads give you great confidence) and was heard to mutter 'If that van gets near me I'll kill him'! There wasn't much chat from her on the last absolutely brutal hill but a grunt reassured me that she was still there!
Thoroughly elated we all made it in time for a medal and in a good Steady time. Well done to us all and particularly to Jenny who battled against the odds! ( I hear she's already training for next year's Etape).
A very enjoyable club tour but maybe we'll avoid that particular restaurant next time!

Frances

 

Sat 6 Aug No Hills

We met as usual at the lay by Paul had texted ahead to say that he was running late, a short time later he arrived and told us that we would be going to the cafe Moygashel. Jeff introduced Brian to all present and we set off into the first rain of the day there was plenty to follow as the day went on the rain coats got good use today. At the cafe the subject of sprinting was brought up specifically a couple of Tuesday's ago when apparently there was a sprint for the lolly's coming into Armagh which Zoe won and soundly beat the Portadown Projectile This time!!!!!! There seems to be a fault with my computer it appears to have altered the text size ah well I tried. we set off back to the lay by again a relatively flat route with the Steady cc members were drifting into a state of shock waiting for the hills to appear but they didn't . It turned out that Paul had been out on Wednesday night and been over most of the hills in Co Armagh and his legs were still sore

Just a short spin

We met as usual and not knowing if Paul Stewart was back from France yet we discussed a route then Paul turned up it appears with a predetermined route that himself and Benny had agreed upon the only problem they had was how to break it to the rest of the group so they chose to break it to us in stages each one when we arrived at the end of the last point mentioned. It went something like I thought we could head for Newry and maybe Warrenpiont then possibly Rostrevor and past Santa;s cottage to the Cross road where we could turn left and head home. Then we arrived at the cross roads and went right over Spelga and so on. Anyway to go back a bit we met at the lay by and were let down by the marching band and fireworks neither turned up to launch Tony's new Felt road bike. We set off and went through Richhill and on to the main Armagh Newry road over Crankey and through Newry and on to Warrenpiont where we stopped for a short break before hitting the s bends and Spelga Terry was about to launch an attack for the KOH points only to find that the rest of the group had stopped at the car park oh well next time, At the top of Spelga Jeff went off the front like a man possessed starting a full bore sprint down the hill reaching speeds of over 50 Mph . After going through Attical we went back to Rostrevor. I forgot to mention the sprint on the way into Rostrevor Benny says that it was close well I am sorry but we don't use light years to measure with in Steady CC Terry won by a country mile (the author of this report is of course completely impartial). Anyhow after Rostervor we went through Warrenpiont and on to Newry where we joined the Tow Path to go home. It was about this point where Tony Blew up so Terry went back and rode home with Tony We have all been there the tank was completely empty and the speed dropped until at one point a bird landed in front of us and was able to walk faster than we were cycling. As each mile counted down Tony grunted and whimpered more and more feigning sympathy Terry asked him what was wrong the list was endless but he couldn't help laughing when Tony said that he had saddle sores going from his description it sounded like his bum was like the dark side of the moon no, may be a volcano just after eruption. no that is still not right especially if you are eating , you know when you get really bad sun burn that blisters and gets really sore so sore that you can't even bend over well that's what happens if you ride 90+ miles on a brand new saddle.