Gael Force 6... stage 6

Our downhill jaunt came to an abrupt end as we swung left onto a semi-off road track that took little time becoming a fully off road track. There was no way my road bike could handle this terrain and I had to walk while the occasional mountain biker flew past me. This was where the mountain bikers caught up with the normally faster road bikes. This off-road bit was only supposed to last for 200m or so but someone miscalculated as it ended up lasting for 2K. The road got so bad in places that we had to carry our bikes but after climbing the Reek this was easy.

Eventually we reached a gate with a decent road surface on the other side. There was a sense of urgency as we felt we had lost so much time. I was in a group of about 15 cyclists, most of whom were in front of me, when on a downhill stretch one cyclist skidded suddenly and lost control. She came of her bike and ended up on the road but some of the following cyclist didn't have time or space to avoid her resulting in at least 3 other cyclists coming off. I was OK and pulled up to assist getting bikes of the road. We heard another crash behind us, I think it would be safe to assume that this stretch will see more than its fair share of accidents before the day is out.

Back on the road everyone was more cautious. After a few more kilometers the narrow rural roads began to give way to wider, safer carriageways as we got closer the Westport. The final straight was filled with excitement and for once in a race I felt a surge of energy as I put everything I had into moving those wheels as quickly as possible. Passing through Westport House gates was fantastic, we were almost home an the crowd was growing in number and enthusiasm .

After 12.5km of cycling we were filtered into a separate lane that led to a bike park where we dropped the bikes and ran the last few metres to cross the finish line on foot. What a feeling! That was the hardest thing I have ever done, harder than a marathon for sure. It took me just short of 7 hours to complete (06:57:11) and I came 1639th out of 2084 , not bad at all!!

My trusty Garmin lasted the entire race and, like myself, ran out of stream a few minutes after crossing the finish line as the battery gave up it's last spark. Here's a link to the entire route: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/11789048