Irish Road Racing 2023

I was a bit disappointed the TT was back on, zero craic for me. Must start annoying others to see who has a spare TT bike they can lend me for the race. Hopefully I am far enough down the list I can guage the time to ride within not to get knocked out. Have to learn to have manners this year. Last year I started at the back on the rollout, overtook everyone on the first hill and then stayed near the front for a lap, even pushing at the front. Then promptly blew up, went out the back, caught the back of the Cavalcade, rode up through it, past the comms car who I'd say were confused, got dropped again and then done the same twice more I think before blowing out the back door completely. Need to learn to have manners. Great race though and the organisation was superb for the weekend.

It's a great race either way and highly recommended.

The second time I done this race in A4 it didn't drop below 50kmph for the first half a lap, then there was a crash and my front tyre got speared by a chainring (no one was hurt). Second time in A3 it was more sedate, I was one of the people driving it, then just as I decided nope, no more, two lads went and people looked at me to chase so I sat up, they got a gap and took 1st and 2nd after 2/3 of the race away on their own. There is only that one lump through the finish line, it slows almost instantly after as everyone has brain fog and forget it's still a few more 100m. It is windy after the finish as well and what I would consider the only truly narrow part of the course.

I can't wait for them to be upgraded 😃 The race is a training race for me, so I am going to take the piss for the first lap and get shot out the back, if you have any specific stupid ideas for me to try, please let me know.

I do remember a comms pulling a guy for cutting the sponsors off (was that you). Yes they are big and I'd prefer if they were of a size that didn't cover pockets of smaller riders. I think the funniest I seen was a new rider wearing A2 numbers that the club gave him but no one told him to tell the commissaires so as we were approaching the finish line (not the final lap), the comms car pulled up and started giving out as the rider tried to explain. Eventually the story made it across and the bunch were nice enough to sit up for the story to go back and forth.

My favourite comms story for me was the Roundwood GP, really hot year and the A4 bunch only had 15 in it, race was delayed by 2 hours as the A2/A3 race had riders dropping like flies from dehydration. It started so late and with the small bunch there was no motivation I eventually had to pull out after the 2nd lap as I had promised to be home by a certain time. I dropped back to the comms to say I was pulling out and they were concerned it was medical. The look of amusement as I explained I was X km from home and I had Y minutes to make it down the long hill to Kilmacanogue. I think they were also annoyed as I was the only one driving it as I had more than winning on my mind. I got a text from another rider afterwards who thought I had heat stroke as they seen me pull off and take the turn for home.

I also had a comm at the A3 national champs tell me I was the most coordinated rider they had ever seen, which gave me a small sense of pride.

If you get enough speed on the slight descent I'd say you could big ring it all the way to the end. Its only 1km of climbing.

Absolutely fine, two climbs in it over 17km laps. Always a sprint finish and nearly always comes back together in the last 3km. The first climb is the easier despite having the worse reputation (Boston Hill), its only 3 minutes at most in a race. (about 5-7%) The second is shallower but twice as long(about 4%). After which you descend into the finish line, the turn after the finish has you on flat roads all the way round till you hit boston Hill again.