Sunday 12th May

To mark Bike week , LSP treated us to a coffee stop spin to Cabra Castle. Approx 70 of our club members took to the road on sunday for their normal sunday spin but with one thing on their minds.... The coffee and scones stop. As normal each group had a different distance to do but all stopping in Cabra. It was a nice morning , no sunshine but better still no rain. We did have a bit of head wind on the way home but nothing that was going to break our spirit. Capra castle looked after us very well with tea, coffee and delicious scones with cream and jam , just what we needed to get us all back home. Two of our crazy members, our chairman Andy McAfee and his partner in crime Pete McKeown done the Solstice spin in aid if Sean Lynch at 4am on sunday morning before heading back to the village to do our club spin so both clocking up a very impressive 245km. Those lads are machines . Well done also to our C2100k group who clocked up a very impressive 90km .

Here is a quick summary of my Dolomites Trip We set out to do all the major mountains or Passo's as the Italians call them in the Dolomites area of the Italian Alps. The challenge was that over the 4 days we would ride each Passo from both sides with different routes each day. We ended up doing just under 400km but almost 10,000metres of climbing. We crossed famous Passo's such as Campolongo, Falzarego, Sella, Valparola,Pordoi and Gardena . All of these Passo's have featured in the Giro many times albeit at much faster speeds than our brilliant attempts haha. It was a super 4 days in wonderful sunny weather doing some of the toughest climbs I have ever done, but well worth it for the views and the experiences

There was rain on the cards and high winds but that didn't stop us from heading in numbers to Dundalk to take part in the Tour of Louth cycle sportive .......well sportive for some , race for others. There was 50 plus of our members took part and 13 of our C2100K group, some done the 50km route while the majority done the full 112km. Group picture done and it was time for the 112km group to hit the road and 10 minutes later the 50km group took off . Team work is our ethos and thats exactly what the day was about . It was nice early on in the event but the wind really picked up and meant that the second half was tough going especially for those doing the longer route . This event was the first taste of a sportive for our C2100k and we let them off to get the full experience . All reports back were very positive and they all enjoyed the experience . Everyone got back safe and sound and with a new bit of bling hanging round the necks it was time to head home .

We are now on week 7 of our C2100k training and Sunday saw our cyclist take on 65km challenging route . We left Dunleer and headed over the Ardee link road then took the turn for Tallanstown. From here we headed on to Louth Village, Knockbridge then decended into Dundalk were we had a coffee stop in the apple green garage on the old Newry road. After much needed refuelling we all headed back towards Castlebellingham were we took the turn for Annagasson and back to Dunleer. There was 18 in the group and everyone worked well together. We had good smooth change overs and everyone is getting more and more confident on the bike with each spin they do. Next week sees them take on the 50km tour of Louth and for the majority of them this will be their first sportive.