Notes 13/03/2022

Cycling more than most other outdoor sport is hugely affected by adverse weather conditions. When the RTÉ forecasters from Friday night onwards were suggesting high levels of rain and accompanying wind coming up from the south on Saturday night, this turned many people off the thought of joining their regular Sunday group spin. Be that as it may, come Sunday morning, 14 of Lakeside Wheelers finest were ready for the roads. We stuck to the prescribed route, however, for some reason only two people had successfully downloaded the route to their bike computers. This meant that directions for roundabouts and intersections had to be shouted down the line as we approached – we managed and were happy to see Kilbeggan after 56 km as the wind had been pretty tough up to that point. The wind was our friend on the return leg back to Mullingar and the average speed was considerably higher as we left Kilbeggan heading for Clara and then returned to Kilbeggan to come home via the racecourse and Dalystown. We did suffer one puncture though and it’s been my experience that it's at these times when the roadside repairs are being carried out that the jokes and gentle slagging goes on – usually at the expense of a kind cyclist who has offered to help the puncture victim! All back together and rolling again we got back to Mullingar with 105Kms on the clock and we even avoided a massive rain shower which had drenched the roads as we were entering the town. As always happy to have made the effort to get out despite the wind. As we get further into the Spring the road racing season really starts to get into high gear. Watch out here and on our Facebook pages for updates on how our racers are performing in the open races around the country.

On Saturday 12th of March and what a grand morning for it, 17 of us took to the road. Our route was Dalystown, Ballinagore, Kilbeggan, Clara, Tullamore, Rahugh, Tyrellspass and back to Mullingar. We lost 1 in Kilbeggan due to a mechanical problem, but he made it back home safely. Well done to everyone our distance of 80 kms with an average speed of 26km/h although at times it felt a lot faster as we kept a good steady pace. A few went on to do a little more at the end of the spin with a distance of over 100 kms and well done to these also. As always great craic was had and it was great to see so many out with a few getting back into it. Micky braved a pair of shorts while showing off his tanned legs. As always many thanks to Pat and Ulrika for always organising our spins.