The Cycling Ireland Yearbook is available on request through the C.I. website at http://www.cyclingireland.ie/Home/News/Yearbook-Requests.aspx

Preparations are underway for The 4th Dingle Peninsula Cycle Challenge on Saturday 4th May (Bank holiday weekend). Two routes to choose from – 125km / 75 miles or 56km / 35 miles. For more information join us on Facebook Dingle Cycling Club or phone Breege @ 087 1346566.  This cycle is held annually as part of Féile na Bealtaine celebrations and money raised goes to local charities.  Pre-registration will be available, see facebook for updates on this.  Route one (35 miles) starts in Dingle and goes to Camp via N86 and returns to Dingle via Connor pass. Irelands premier mountain for cyclists – classified as grade 1. Route 2 – 40 miles departs Dingle and takes the full Slea Head route incorporating tourist hotspots such as Ventry, Slea Head, Dunmore Head (Europe’s most westerly point) Dunquin, Ballyferriter, Ballydavid and Feothanach. It is €30 for either the short or full route. Free T shirt for first 200 cyclists to register. Any excess after costs goes to charity.  Sign-on is at the Marina  from 8am, with riders leaving at 9am, and heading east for Annascaul.

Following performances in the Johnny Drumm, and with the County League rapidly approaching, Le Directeur has decided it is time to get serious.  See what he has to say in ‘The Directeurs Chair’ here.

Well done to Robert McCarthy and John Kelly who both rode very strongly in the senior A4 category of the Johnny Drumm race at the weekend, even managing to instigate a breakaway between them at one point.  Mikey Moriarty improved considerably on his 2012 performance in the Junior category, while brother Tom managed to continue his successful run by taking first place in the Under 11 race. 

Congratulations to J.P. O’Connell who came second in a track race in Germany a few days ago.  Reports coming in from the former East German city are sketchy, but according to ‘Günther’, our local correspondant, the race was notable for an early breakaway.  He writes…

‘Herr O’Connell (ze crazy pixie-headed Irishman) had a good time on ze track last night following a change in ze tactics. Zhere are normally how-you-say two ’warm-up’ laps, followed by ze bell (or is that ‘Zabel’) indicating ze start of ze 48 race laps. Normally ze first of ze 48 is taken at ze ‘blitz’-pace, so Herr O’Connell decided zat he would roll off ze front before zis crazyness, very innocent like in a pixie-headed sort of way, und see what would be ze reaction.  Knowing zat a sudden jump would be verboten, und closed down very quickly, Herr O’Connell had a quick look behind, as you would beejaney,  and ze bunch were all sleeping (a bit like ze Greek Finance Minister) so he put ze hammer down und got half a lap of a lead’.

Asked after the race about his tactics, Herr O’Connell stated ‘I knew I could hold out and take my first points at the end of the 4th lap, and I thought they would catch me soon after that sprint, but I saw that I still had 100 metres lead and I stayed going’.  In fact Herr O’Connell ’stayed going’  for the next 20 laps, and took 20 points in doing so. 

Günther goes on to report ‘ze bunch caught O’Connell and upped ze pace considerably (like Michael Schumacher on ze EPO), but ‘beejaney’ wasn’t he able to stay with zhem.  ‘I didn’t know who was close to me because I could not understand what the commentator was saying, but at the end of the race I got second overall ,and I am totally delighted’ 

A veteran of the track race scene was interviewed afterwards, and said he thought the bunch would let ‘ze crazy Irish scoop-monkey’ go because he wouldn’t last too long on his own’, (a bit like ze Irish economy) but after the way the race panned out he said ‘ze bunch won’t let what happened tonight happen again; next week we must see a new tactic from ze green pixie-head’. 

Asked for his own reaction to the result, Günther smiled knowingly and said ‘well, no doubt ze crazy Irish ’f**k’ will go ‘on ze lash’ tonight, und enjoy numerous ‘scoops’, a few Jaffa Cakes, possibly a Toblerone, und maybe even a potato, and of course ze incorrectly spelt craic’, but he went on to say that ‘ze authorities would be taking a wery dim view of ze proceedings’…he stated that tonight’s race result was ‘outlandish like a malfunction’, and ‘next week zhey will be checking Herr O’Connell’s ‘papers’ wery carefully, und if zhere were any irregularities found, zat he would be sent back to pixieland with hiz potato’.