Dunboyne 3 day 1-3 June 2002

Stage 1

I arrived at 1.00pm and signed on as Number 30. I had something to eat and warmed up prior to the race. Once I saw the number of riders I began to get a little nervy. One Hundred and Eighty I believe, yes 180. We headed out the Summerhill road and turned left and did four laps of a 10 mile circuit. Making a total of 57 miles. No hills to speak of but to be honest with you I wished there were because the group may have got smaller and a little safer. I never though I'd be wishing for some drags. Well there you go!!

The First 10 miles the pace was really fast as attacks went off the front. Then a break formed with about 10 riders. I stayed somewhere in the middle of the bunch so I was not really in a position to see who was in the break. The eventual winner was in the break along with some team Ireland Junior riders.

The bunch was really nervous and breaking hard every now and again, sometimes when cars were coming in the opposite direction and at times for no apparent reason. I knew I should be at the front but getting up there was another thing.

The first crashed happened early on as a few lads veered off the road and disappeared into a drainage ditch. I think they were forced into the gripe as the bunch veered to avoid an oncoming car. God only know why *uckers insist on coming up the outside when a car in only metres away.

Onto the 10 mile circuit and at some stages very narrow roads. On the second lap a really bad crash occurred. As we approached a car some *astard decided to come up the outside and nudged me as he moved in to avoid the car. I nudged another guy and his wheel touched the rider in front as the bunch slowed, down he went hitting his the back of his helmet on the ground. If he had not been wearing a helmet he was a dead man.

Images of this rider slapping his head off the ground haunted me for the next lap or so. I was relatively comfortable sitting in the bunch although I never tried to get to the front because I had not got the nerve to run the gauntlet of running into a car. Most of the motorists were very courteous and pulled in off the road, however, one English Car and a Volkswagen refused to pull in and kept driving. The driver of the Volkswagen returned the abuse he was getting while the poor woman in the English reg Car looked shocked.

As we headed back toward Dunboyne we hopped over potholes on the left-hand side of the road. At least someone was calling them.

I had a few words Andy Lakes (another 3rd cat) from St Tiernans as the bunch sped back toward Dunboyne on the main road. He'd had his head down and nervous also and not had much of the chance to eat or drink much so was beginning to hurt from lack of food.

We crossed the line over 1 minute down on the leader and 30 seconds behind the break with an average speed of 26.2 mph.

I was fairly happy with my days racing albeit a little concerned about the number of Marshals at the race. The Marshals that were did a great job but could really have done with a little more assistance.

Stage 2

Got to Dunboyne at 9:45 and warmed up for a 10:31 start. I arrived at the start with my Heart rate at 140 ish and ready to take on the 3.5 mile TT ahead of me. There was little or no wind (maybe a slight tailwind) out at the start of my run. It was my first ever TT so I was a little apprehensive. Off I went making sure to keep my HR under my Vent Threshold (175 - I worked it out at the gym over the winter). I kept my head down and arms on the TRI bars ensuring my HR was under 175. Down past Garden works and round the gravel on the Black Bull (ever heard of a Yard brush) and past the IVCA TT. Yes there were there too. Says a lot about the Organisation capacity of some people. The VETS should have known about the DUNBOYNE 3-day. It does run every year, doesn't it?

Anyway I rounded the corner taking it very easy ensuring not to go down and up on the pedals and back into some rhythm again. I crossed the line with a time of 7:03, the fastest being 6:24 by a Junior. So I was happy with the result.

Stage 3

At the sign on for stage 3 the results were posted and I was lying in 48th position. I was delighted. In with a chance for first third CAT, even though there was no prize OR point for this Honour. A crazy situation, you can six points for winning 3rd Cat race (with no J or Vets) and none for finishing a stage race in a respectable time with 2nd Cats. It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

It was bedlam at the start with no Marshall in sight riders all edging out on the road to get out towards the front. Then the lead car tried to get out but 160 riders on the road there was no chance. All the riders on the road should have been told to get to the back in toward the car park. But NO there decided to ride on out the road with no lead car. What a bunch of twats. We must have been out a good half mile before the lead car managed to squeeze through.

The race got underway out the Summerhill road and then right into Batterstown and on towards Trim. The pace was pretty fast as attack went off the front but nothing too serious. Out the main road I looked up saw no cars coming and reached down to get a drink when the chap in front decided to slam on his brakes. Needless to say I touched his wheel and went down. At least two riders rode over me and have the tyre marks on my short to prove it. When I composed myself I found my front wheel was buckled. I got a front wheel and was ready to rumble but the Chain had come off the chainwheel, which delayed me, enough to allow the Cavalcade to slip past. Race over I thought to myself. I got back on the bike and caught up with some others who'd been caught up in the crash or else been dropped. I decided to give a go and at least finish the race. We got a rhythm going. We plodded along for the remainder of the race working as hard as I could. Then on the last lap we met a herd of Cows heading for their daily "Milk". We had to wait while they ambled up the road and into the milking parlour. That's all we needed a another 3 mins onto our time, as if it was not bad enough. Well I figured since we'd not been lapped we had not lost more than 25 mins + the lost time for the COWS accounted for 28 mins dropped.

Once we got onto the main road a Guy with a tandem on his shirt and I worked hard on the Summerhill road back toward the finish.

We crossed the line 28 mins down on the leader.

I went to the Ambulance and got my wounds attended to.

Stage 4

We headed out toward the main road (N3) and then turned off at the black bull heading towards Trim. The pace was handy enough and the bunch had got used to the oncoming cars and was not nearly as nervous as previous days. We then turned right toward Dunshaughlin and left towards Athboy. At this stage the roads got a little narrow and littered with holes. Then I ran into a crater that nobody seemed to call and my bottle hopped out of its cage. Then the bike started to slow, a wheel wrecked I thought as the wheel rubbed against the break blocks (or so I though). I put my hand up and waited for Neutral services, just like three or four others. I whipped the wheel off because I had assumed it was buckled.

Got a spare and put my chain back on but it was too late I was out of the Cavalcade. I then met another victim of the hole (Lenny Kirk). We decided that we were sure as hell not going to catch up, so we headed toward Trim and then back to Dunboyne.

I went to collect my wheel, but it seemed to be perfect. I concluded that all that happened was that the wheel jumped out of the hangers (lugs) and was rubbing against the Frame. Ah well, you live and learn. Next time I'll not be so Naïve.