Got up at 7am for one last attempt at the Massrock record this season. Weather perfect. Sunny, no clouds, no wind, no rain and dry roads. Got to the foot of Massrock faster than ever before (9 secs ahead) but fell away after that. Lost 1 minute on the mountain and two on the short stretch into Freemount. Finished in 2hrs 39min. Third fastest time. Don’t know why I dropped away after such a good start

Stopped in Macroom on my way home and found this on the wall of the Hotel bar

Reckon I’ll have my hearse go around the Bearra peninsula and make my friends and family walk the 160Km behind 😉

The Bearra peninsula is The most beautiful place to cycle in the word! 160Km of bliss. Left Glengarriff in the morning sunshine and headed up the Caha pass. Other cyclists were friendly and the day past quickly. I worked hard on the flat but dropped back on the climbs. Coming down from the Healy pass I tired to rejoin the group that dropped me on the climb. They were a group of ten and I was on my own into the wind. 20Km to go I saw them ahead (300m), 17Km and could hear them (70m), 15Km to go and I plan to close the gap with 10Km to go and maybe leave them behind me. I get out of the saddle and stomp for 1 minute (30m). Head down. I push harder- look up (20m). I decide to rest and try to close the gap later 11Km to go. There is no later. The road climbs and they disappear ahead of me. I do not see them again. I catch and pass some Southside Wheely wheelers but in truth I am not stronger than them. They are nursing one of their number home. This was the most enjoyable Irish sportif of the year and maybe the toughest

This cycling lark is not all hardship. A beautiful sunny day spent up in the Wicklow mountains. A short spin up the Sally gap followed by a slow spin down to Laragh where Scones and jam were waiting. Off to the All Ireland final tomorrow- Galaimh Abu

Beautiful sunny Wednesday morning. Today would be the day I would set a new record for the 76Km Massrock route. I ate lunch at noon and managed to finish work on time. I headed down the road. All went well until I arrived in Dromcollagher. I got delayed behind ‘Mr Binman’ and my 42 sec lead was down to 6 secs. ‘Nevermind’ I said to myself ‘What difference 30 secs?’. What difference indeed. After 2 hrs and 36 mins I finished 25 secs slower than the record!

Inaugural St Joseph’s foundation cycle. Great trip to Tipp. After tea stop we raced home to Charleville. Thanks to a well organised group of Southside Wheely Wheelers we made it home averaging 35kph. Managed to get KOM on road from Knocklong to Kilmallock.  Don’t get many of them so I did a quick screenshot to capture the record for posterity