English
Meet the Team
Richard Hoult – rides for London Dynamo and holds a 1st category licence. Age 30 and it’s his first time riding the Ras. Rich is a strong rider who has bags of determination even when the riders around him are making him hurt. Does not give up and will fight to the end.
John Heaton Armstrong – rides for Fit-For and holds a 1st category licence. Age 24 and like Rich is his first time riding the Ras. John has entered his 2nd year of racing and always willing to learn the ropes from the more experienced riders in the peloton.
Chris McNamara – rides for Corley cycles and holds an Elite licence. Age 34 and has ridden the Ras on four occasions. Chris is a strong Worthing based rider who loves racing and is not scared in having a go and giving it all when needed.
Steve Calland – rides Norwood Paragon and holds an Elite licence. Steve is a well known cyclist and full of talent. He has represented GB various occasions. Steve knows how to ride in a stage race and when to attack with devastating results.
John Veness – rides for Pendragon Calas and holds an Elite licence. Age 39, John is the oldest in the team this year. Don’t be fooled by his age though as John can whip up incredible speed when he wants to. A quick spoken chap, but has anger to release when required of him whilst racing.
Today’s stage (Stage One)
It was 7.00am in the morning when I woke up from my good night’s sleep. As assistant manager my job starts fairly early. It involves getting the van ready for the day’s work either by clearing out any rubbish left over from the previous day, getting petrol just in case I don’t get the time whilst driving and also making sure everyone gets down for breakfast on time.
Well everyone did get down on time and we also left the hotel on time too. After leaving the hotel, we drove onto the M50 and started our short 40 minute trip to Killcullen, the start of stage one. When we arrived in the town of Killcullen we drove straight to the HQ which was now filling up with team cars, team vans, press vehicles and the local Garda. Once parked up, the first job is to sign the riders in. In the meantime I unload the van and get the bikes out. The mechanic, with comments from the riders, makes sure that the bikes are ready to ride. Whilst Ray is doing this the riders then get ready and prepare themselves and their bags. They must do this before I leave to drive to the hotel and eventually the stage finish.
At 12.00am, I and about twenty others team vans start our journey. The remaining team cars, 39 for this year’s events, start to line up in specific points on the road ready to jump on the back of the field (also known as the peloton or bunch) as they pass. The team cars also must take their correct place in the convoy. This means that every team car has a number and this, leading form 1 to 39, must be adhered too. After the stage has ended, the team cars are then rearranged in order through the riders GC position.
With the race on the way and with me ½ hour in front of the race I must get to the hotel then the finish before the riders come through the finish. Today (SUNDAY) the quickest route was actually the race route so I drove the exact course down to Wexford apart from a 15 km loop. The drive down for the first part was uneventful. Nothing much to report on really apart from me a convoy of seven other vans heading south to our destinations (hotels).
About half way into my journey the weather took a turn for the worst. Instead of being damp and overcast, the rain decided to make an appearance and boy it certainly did. It now started to rain extremely hard and with the wind it was making driving difficult. I decided to ring Ray, following the race in the team car with the news of what they were heading into very soon. Giving Ray this info means that Keith can let the riders now before the event so they are aware of the conditions and then can prepare by coming back to the team car for their gilets etc.
As the miles drove by, in the wet, I entered Wexford. Doing my homework prior to coming out to Ireland I knew where our hotel was. The week before the Ras I spent many hours looking up the hotels on the net and printing maps off. Doing this then says so much time and hassle if you leave it to do when in Ireland. Many other teams also do this and it does help a great deal.
Once at the hotel, the Maldron Hotel, I then park up, jump out and head for the lobby to sort out the rooms. Easy I hear you say, but when 8, 9, or 10 teams all descended at the same time this does cause a headache for the staff. This is because we all bring in at least 10 bugs of luggage plus any massage tables etc into the lobby causing a blockage so to speak. As in previous years we just have to wait our turn and let the cleaning staff finish of the rooms as quickly as possible. This does annoy us though as we need to get back to the finish before the riders finish. Luckily for me though today, I arrived fairly early and before other teams, but I was not the first and still had to wait for about 20 minutes before getting at least one of our rooms ready so I could place all the luggage in.
When this is done it’s then getting to the finish as quickly as possible. Usually we have a private car park just for the team cars and this is where everyone goes to. Once parked up I then get the food ready as the riders are hungry and sometimes soaking wet, like today. As I just finished sorting the food out, I noticed the lead car whizz by the entrance to the car park, it was then a quick walk up the high street, passing the crowd of spectators and then congregating just after the finish as the riders will be looking for me. When the riders finish, the first person they are looking for is me because I have their jackets, recovery drinks, and the food which they now need. Plus I also have the directions back to the hotel, which today was about 3km’s further up the road.
The riders went back to the van, freshened up quickly, took in some food and drink, put on extra warm clothing then cycled to the hotel with the cars in tow. Once at the hotel, the mechanic then starts his job as the bikes today were completely covered in crap. With all the other mechanics also cleaning bikes, the car park is full of bikes and people running around sorting out broken wheels etc. In the meantime the rest of us take it easy and unwind for a bit before dinner, which was 6.30pm. All the teams have dinner together and you can hear the riders talk about the stage they have just ridden. Usually after the dinner we all then meet up in Keith’s room for a team chat to discuss the plan of action for tomorrow i.e., me travelling and the close proximity of the hotel to the finish, any addition race food needed, race tactics and how everyone is feeling.
In all today’s stage went very well for Surrey League. All the riders finished in the main peloton avoiding a tumble on the last corner and had a good ride.