English
Stage 5 – 21 May 2009
Day five of the Ras and again the weather starts off cloudy and damp. Thankfully though the rain had passed over earlier in the morning, but you could see dark clouds building up over the higher mountains in the direction of the race so you knew at some point the riders would be getting wet. Breakfast this morning was at 8.00am so I had about 15 minutes to get dressed and ready before joining the others downstairs. Richard Hoult, the chap I was sharing the twin room with, also started to stir thanks to his alarm calls on his Blueberry device, which is far more modern than my alarm clock.
Today’s stage started back in the town of Killorglin at 11.00am with the race then heading to Scariff 155 kms away. The route is mostly rolling with a couple of 3rd category climbs thrown in to spice things up. With the strong tailwind these climbs would be fast and I was sure some of the riders would find this very hard and be dropped off. Hopefully our riders would be ok, but time would tell. Over breakfast we all mulled over John’s situation and the pain he must be in at the moment. It’s hard for everyone knowing that your team mate lies in a hospital and you can’t do anything about it. All we could do was to wish him well and hopefully John would be back in the UK with his family.
It was now time to leave Maureen and her lovely B&B. We loaded up the van and started the short drive to Killorglin to prepare for today’s stage. Once at the HQ it was the usual routine which included the riders signing on, Ray checking over the bikes, and myself sorting out which bags go into the hotel and which bags stay in the van. These smaller bags contain a couple of clothing garments usually compression tights (2XU LINK JASE) and something warm like a t-shirt/shirt or fleece/jacket. Also the riders pack their preferred recovery drinks as well as any specific food bars to munch on directly after they finish. I also prepare a shopping list with the rider’s requirements. Today I had to buy some water, a few copies of the Irish Independent as John Veness was headline news in the sports section, apples and some more Mars Bars.
At 10.35am it was time for me to leave. After checking with the riders that they had everything they required for the day on the bike and after speaking to Keith regarding the route, I locked the back and side door of the van then left to start my journey to Scariff. I was not the only one who left at this time either. Like many other days the majority of drivers leave ½ before the race starts with the utmost intention of getting to the hotel then the finish before the riders. Leaving Killorglin over the main bridge I, and others, set off. Today we had a convoy of 10 vans and 3 cars. It’s customary with the local schools in the area to allow the children out of class and to sit on the side of the road and wait for the passage of the race. As the race passes they show their support to the riders by screaming loudly whilst waving their flags at the same time, which were handed to them before hand. After that they attend school as normal.
As the convoy passes the schools we all tot our horns and make as much noise as possible, which the children love to hear. They respond with making as much noise as possible back to us and practice very hard waving their flags. The riders have told me on numerous occasions that they always remember the children at the side of the road cheering them on and in return sometimes throw bottles near them for souvenirs. As we progress onwards some of the convoy peel off either into supermarkets or petrol stations. I personally like to get over half distance before doing this and/or try to get through the biggest town first as this can sometimes really hold you up. Today I did need to stop as requested earlier this morning when compiling my shopping list. Just outside Newcastle West they is a large Tesco’s, which I visited last year, and today I planned on stopping here to purchase the goods. As we approached, I noticed that the van in front of me was also pulling probably with the same intention as me. 10 minutes later I left and carried on with my route. The rest of the trip was pretty much straight forward with no real problems to mention.
Our hotel for the night, named The Kilmurry Lodge Hotel and situated off the N7, lies just outside of Limerick in an area known as Castletroy. Looking at the picture I printed off back home it does seem a very nice hotel and by the description has plenty to offer its guests. Locating the hotel should not have been a problem for me as I also took a wise decision of printing a map showing the exact position of the hotel in relation to the N7. Sounds easy I know, but somehow I managed to miss the correct roundabout exit carrying on a further 7 miles until realising something was wrong. After checking the map and cursing myself, I turned the van around heading back the way I came to the roundabout. Approaching the roundabout I noticed why I had gone wrong. The reason was road works on the roundabout. Some of the directional road signs were missing and I just did not realise I had to exit at this one.
Anyhow, I was now correctly back on route, but unfortunately lost valuable time as the journey retracing was slow due to traffic build up and the road works. From here on locating the hotel was no problem and within minutes of the roundabout I was turning into the car park and looking for a spot to park up. Other team vans had already booked in and were finishing unloading and ready to travel up to Scariff. For me though it was a race against time as I lost at least ½ hour of time and with the incredible pace of the bunch who, thanks to the tailwind, were motoring along the N7 and catching me up. I was seriously at risk of returning back to the N7 with the race in front of me which would have been a disaster. I quickly threw the bags on the floor ran into the hotel and hired a hotel chap to help me with taking the bags to the rooms. Another 15 minutes had passed and I was now jumping back into the van heading back out of the car park with the sole intention of getting to the junction as quickly as I could.
As I approached the junction horror hit me as on the roundabout I saw the Garda and Ras motor cycle marshals holding up the traffic. Thankfully I arrived at the junction being second car. An eagle eyed Ras marshal noticed I was a Ras Team Van and pulled me out of the queue letting me onto the N7. As I accelerated off the slip road and looking in to my rear mirror I could see the flashing lights of the red lead vehicle coming onto the roundabout. I had made it with moments to spare and now had to get to Scariff as quickly as I could, but with heavy traffic in front of me and the Garda clearing traffic behind me I was still not out of the woods. If the slow moving traffic took too long the Garda would shortly come up to me and tell me to pull over to the let the race come through. Don’t forget the race does not stop at the junctions or for slow moving traffic. The only exception is at level crossing, the emergency services or for an accident.
Soon I arrived at the left turn taking me off the N7 and onto quieter roads. The way was now clear for me and with the race behind me I was ok. Approaching Scariff you could see many people waiting for the race to arrive and entering the small village everything was set for the arrival of the race. The barriers were up and crowds had gathered by the roadside all holding the FDB flags. I quickly parked the van behind the finish, put on my team jersey, placed coke cans into my bag and walked up the finish line also checking the doping control for numbers. None of the Surrey team was selected so all that was left for me to do was wait and within ten minutes the lead car was coming up the hill.
The finish was quick even though it was an uphill sprint. Once the riders hit 5 kms to go it was all downhill. The last 400m though went up, but that would be no problem for the multi-talented riders and again with the tailwind we were expecting a high speed finish. A few moments later the bunch was in site and where nailing it up the climb to the finish. A bunch of 8 riders did have a slender lead, but at the 1 kms sign it was altogether again. Roaring up the hill the bunch, spread right to left, were eye-balls out.
Who would get the win?As the riders crossed the line it looked like Kirsipuu had the victory, but after the photo finish result the victory went to the Australian Nicholas Walker of the Cinelli DownUnder team with Kirsipuu a close 2nd and Britain’s Ian Wilkinson claiming third spot.
The Surrey team rode well with Chris, Steve and John finishing with the bunch, but Rich had a bad day losing contact early on in the stage. All found the race extremely fast especially the final 20km.
Some stats from the stage:
Speed: 44.15 kph/27.45 mph
Average: 40.41 kph/25.13 mph
Distance: 154.60 kms/96.14 miles
Winner’s time: 3h30’06”
Number of starters: 151
Number of finishers: 150
Total distance covered so far: 823.50 kms/512.09 miles
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