Ring of Kerry July 5th 2008

This was the 25th anniversary of the Ring of Kerry Charity Cycle we drove down on Friday afternoon , on arrival the weather was terrible , cold windy and raining .We booked into the Melton Hotel , a fine spot ,and then sought some spiritual comfort in a few pints of the black stuff in a local bar ,then back to the hotel for dinner where we were joined by David ,Connor and "Tank" who were joining us on tomorrows cycle . Up early Saturday morning to find that it had stopped raining and the sun was trying to make an appearance. Down at the start line , loads of cyclist (at least 1,000), lots of photo's ,some speeches from local dignitaries , a glamorous Swedish model giving us sweets and after a priest had sprinkled us with holy water we were finally off !! .

After 4 miles Jerome punctured ,van pulls up ,out jumps two lads , new tube ,new tyre all fixed in 3 minutes at an all inclusive astronomical cost of €20. As the day went on our "team" became some what fragmented , there were a few long drags ,the most spectacular one being Moll's Gap the watershed of the Iveragh Peninsula, from the top we had a great panoramic view of the Macgillycuddy Reefs . It rained quite heavily for the final 20 miles but we all finished , some in better shape than others ."Tank" deserves special praise as he is a footballer not a cyclist and only did it for a bet after being egged on by his work mates, he also had a bike that should have been scrapped years ago or presented to a museum .

We then retired to the usual format of drink, food and craic somehow even believed that Eric Clapton was staying at the hotel and would be singing a few songs in the bar . Great cycle , well organised , must do it again next year .

Etape Caladonia Scotland May 18 2008

Once again the gang headed out into the unknown , this time to Pitlochry in Scotland for the annual Etape event . There was no need to take any "back up driver" as the event is run on closed roads ,this was also a bonus as our driver for the past two years had now transformed himself into a cyclist !!. We stayed at the Atholl Palace Hotel , a really nice well positioned residence with an old world charm , good food and a late bar .Throughout the day more cyclists arrived and soon the town was full of bikes,power bar sales persons , and people signing on , plus all the cycling regalia and outlets one would expect the day before the big event .We visited the famous "Salmon traps " which turned out to be a large locked concrete hut with a digital counter on the outside ,about as interesting as watching a slug trying to eat a piece of burnt toast.



Sunday morning arrived , weather quite cold , decisions to make , tights or shorts ,winter jacket or rain proofs , we settled for a mixture of both . The 81 miles took us through some very nice countryside ,round the Grampians with a maximum assent to 1,950 meters , the climbs were steady and not to steep ,except for a nasty little one about 6 miles form the finish,this caught a lot of people out , the rapid grinding of cogs ,changing of gears and the bad language had the local lady sheep covering their ears and diving for cover .



We all finished ,no accidents ,then it was back to the hotel for the now well established ritual , shower , drinks , dinner , drinks , talk shite , more drinks ,laugh a lot ,talk even more shite (this time with strangers) even more drink then off to bed absolutely convinced that the wobble legs were as a direct result of the hard cycle . Great week end .The complete list of runners and riders can be viewed on

http://www.etapecaledonia.co.uk/