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RIDER DIARIES
Gavin Haberlin's Diary Entries from his first few races of the 2006 Season: Bray G.P: Bray was a tough race from the start. I took off in the first group with about 70 Senior 3’s, Vets, Women and Juniors. It looked a bit like a Murphy & Gunn club race because there was just so many of them. The pace dropped riders straight away. After about 5km, a small group of riders riders broke away and had a 2min lead by the time we reached the Beehive Pub. When the gap went out to 3min 30sec the pack got organised and we started rolling through. That worked really well and the gap dropped to under 2min. Jus as the group came back into our sights a group of B riders went by on the outside. Naturally we all latched on but eventually that group and a number of vets broke away. With only 15km left, it was attack after attack down the N11 with the wind blasting into our faces. With about 7km to go the A riders and some more Bs got up to us. This time we held on to them and we began making ground up on the B group. We soon caught them and with about 1km to go we caught the original breakaway group. There was a big sprint to the Fassaroe Junction but I left my attack until the climb to the finish. That worked really well and there was less than 20 of us in the first group going to the line. I caught some riders in the last 200m and finished 12th overall. Back at the club house I was told that I had finished first in my C class! I was really delighted with that.
Dundalk Traders Cup: The first lap was ok for me. All the breakaways broke down very quickly, no one was willing to do any work, so no-one was getting away. On lap 2 my gear problems started up, they got progressively worse until at the end of lap 3 I was reduced to using the first few gears and the small chain ring only, which was a real killer, I was revving way too high to try and keep up. on lap 4 we were really reeling in the sole breakaway rider when we got word of an accident up the road. Seeing the ambulance load up a fellow rider in a neck brace into the ambulance, isn't something you'd like to see. I was disappointed by the way some of the riders tried to break from the accident area, using the fact that we had to go single file through the debris to their advantage, it wasn't very sporting. Then on lap 5 we were told the race had been abandoned. I hope next Sunday will be better!
SOME INFO ON UCD RIDERS FOR THE 2006 SEASON
Gavin Haberlin
Gavin Haberlin is the Club Captain for the 2006 season. He is a 21 year old 2nd Science Student, who took up cycling in 5th year and joined UCDCC as a 1st year student last year. “I tried my hand at racing last February. The speed and intensity was a big shock to the system for the first few races but I did manage a 4th place finish in Balbriggan. An unfortunate accident in training ended my season early in July but thankfully I'm back fit again and am really looking forward to tackling the new season ahead!”
Robert Donnelly
Robert Donnelly is a 19 year old 2nd year Commerce student. He joined UCDCC this year after spending the last 4 seasons racing for Orwell Dundrum C.C where he progressed from racing at U-16 level to Junior, and is now currently a B Cat Rider. Robert’s main aims for the season are to get a few placings in races and hopefully progress up to A Cat.
Brian Higgins Brian Higgins was promoted to the position of Club Secretary having spent last year as Junior Treasurer. This is his second consecutive season racing and his main aim will be to finish as many races as he can. “I've been cycling from a young age and took it a little more seriously in transition year with the acquisition of a road bike. When I joined UCDCC in 2003 I started 'training' for racing. Up till now, I’ve only done 4 races, all of which I got dropped! I'm looking to get much more racing experience this year and just generally be that bit better than last year.”
John Walsh
John Walsh was the 2005 Club Captain. “I’ve always been sporty, played rugby for 9 years at school, then did rowing in 1st year of UCD, which was awesome. I’ve always loved cycling and often MTB around the cliffs of Howth. I’ve been involved with the club for a good while now and have participated in cyclo-cross, road and MTB races for UCD. It’s my final year of B&L this year so I’ll be taking it leisurely on the cycling front this season but hopefully I’ll get one or two races under my belt!”
Simon Reddy
Simon Reddy is a new Club and Cycling Ireland member, although he is not a newcomer to cycling. He is a keen tri-athlete, and as such has undertaken a lot of time trialling as a result. “This year I hope to participate in road racing, and compete in time trials for the UCD CC, hopefully with some results!”
Jean O’Connor Jean O’Connor had a fantastic first season in the colours of UCD. She excelled in the Boot Inn league in particular and finished a highly impressive 3rd overall in that. This year she will have Niamh Stephens for company so it will be interesting to see how that might benefit her.
Anthony Walsh
Anthony Walsh is a new addition to the Club and is also new to competitive cycling. His aim will be to finish races and to gain valuable experience for the following season. (Pictured on the right)
Anthony Walsh's diary entry for his 2006 Season so far: A little bit of background on me. My name is Anthony Walsh, this is my first year cycling, I am in the C category, riding for UCD and this is only my second race so I am still very much in the learning phase. My first race was the Navan GP, I finished comfortably in the bunch. The Roundwood GP (My second race) The race covered two laps of a course of Roundwood, Annamoe, Rathdrum and Laragh. The total course length was just over 71km of mainly a rolling course with only one climb of note. The day started out promising with blue skies and an air of expectation but as the skies turned grey so did my fortunes, a puncture mid way into the first lap effectively ended my race. I did get the puncture repaired but lost almost ten minutes before my race re-commenced. I was determined to finish the race for my own mental piece of mind despite the ever worsening weather conditions. The Christy McManus Memorial race was won by Sean Rock of Swords with a time of one hour and fifty three minutes. I did finish the race, a long way back from the winner but I will fight another day...
Kevin Harnett
Kevin joined the Club during Sports EXPO and has been a regular at Club training spins this year. He is looking forward to his first taste of competitive action in late February.
Niamh Stephens Niamh Stephens is another new member of the Club and racing will be new to her. She hopes to compete with and against Jean O’Connor during the ladies season.
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