Tour of Kildare 2008

This is an annual tour and my first time taking part. It's a 100K cycle which starts in Naas, travels North to Maynooth, then West to Kildare town, then East towards Newbridge and finishes back in Naas.

I arrived in Naas early and wheeled my bike through the crowd to get to the registration desks. It was a friendly crowd and one guy commented on how new my bike looked, little did he know that it was so new that I hadn't spent any serious time in the saddle.

Almost everyone had proper gear; proper cycling shoes, shorts, jerseys, gloves, even aerodynamic sun glasses. Some guys had aerodynamic clear glasses; I could understand the sunglasses but why would you want flashy clear glasses? The end of mile 2 answered that question as yet another fly bounced off my head... Note to self: buy some cycling glasses.

The first stop was 25K after an easy run to and through Maynooth. The weather was good, no rain or wind to speak of. I though it was a little early to stop but was glad to get out of the saddle for a rest.

The next stage was harder as we hit some rain and strong wind that broke up the pack. It was no surprise that I was bring up the rear with only a handful of riders behind me. As time went on the wind slackened but we did get caught in some serious downpours.

The second half of the race was a struggle but I was in good company and chatted most of the way with a variety of people. All chat came to a stand still when we reached the dreaded hill; I'd heard about this hill and thought we'd climbed it a few miles earlier outside Robertstown. A car would have trouble getting up that hill and I had no chance so for the first time during this race I had to get off the bike and walk. After cycling non stop for some 30 miles walking was quite a challenge, it was yet another comedy moment as I struggled to put one foot in front of the other... but ooohhhhhh... the relief of getting out of the saddle made up for it! By the time I got to the top of that hill it was time for an energy gel, some water, a lash and I was on my way.

The next couple of miles were bliss, a slight but consistent downhill slope meant that I could coast all the way to the next village. I caught up with the next group of riders and stuck with them for the journey to Kilmeague and onto Kildare town where I stopped to help a guy out that had a puncture. He needed a pump and I had one but we couldn't figure out how to use it. In my defence it was a new, compact, lightweight, incredibly tiny gadget that had a complicated connection sequence; that the official story and I'm sticking to it! We managed to stop another couple of guys who had a proper old fashioned pump that worked. The guy with the puncture kept apologising for holding us up but we were all glad to get out of the saddle for a few minutes.

Reinvigorated by the rest we all took off with enthusiasm. I shot past the second and last stop before I noticed it but decided to keep going, everyone else in my group did the same. At about 4K enthusiasm was dramatically replaced by despair as I realised just how far I had yet to cycle. The last 20K were very, very tough and I was so sore all over. The only thing to do was to keep going and ignore the pain...

Before I knew it I was approaching Naas and the finish line was only a few Kilometers away. Entering Naas was fantastic, just a couple of kilometers to go and it would be all over! I crossed the finish line in 4 hours 6 minutes. An awesome time for 100K. Getting off the bike took a little longer that I expected, yet another comedy moment! I parked the bike against a wall and hobbled into the reception area to sign in.

The reception are was a hive of activity. There were freshly made burgers (2 for me please), drinks, t-shirts and smiling faces all around, and curiously a lot of empty seats... most people choosing to stand. I joined them, some things and best left behind.